Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Why John McCain’s Experience And Bi-Partisanship Are Essential To Economic Solutions

By Texas Hill Country

Author: Texas Hill Country


We face serious problems and we need serious leaders with serious solutions. We are on the brink of total economic collapse, and our collapse may trigger a world-wide depression on a scale like we have never seen before. The worst part is that the public is still behind the times on the crisis.

Mortgages were, like, soooo last year.

The real looming monster in the room that no one wants to admit is there yet are the credit default swaps. If these start going down the tubes, we are completely screwed. Completely.

The problems we face go so far beyond the basic problems of the mortgage crisis, it is hard to even describe the real problems we face in layman's terms.

On a basic level, everyone broke up their risky stuff into little tidbits and sold them to a bunch of different places… spreading around the risk, therefore supposedly lowering the risk exposure for each party.

Then, at the same time, everyone was buying other places tidbits of risk and paying a premium… because the returns were big and the overall risk was low due to it being spread over a group rather than a single party. And the risk was further minimized because they owned tidbits of risk from several different parts of the financial sector and from several different companies, so if one part had trouble, no big deal… it was balanced out by all the others.

You see, the only way all these little tidbits could pose any real problem is if the whole sector were to grind to a screeching halt. And that could never happen… could it?

Instead of having individual companies running into problems and shutting down, now everyone owns a part of everyone else's risk… and in the aggregate, those little tidbits of risk add up to a lot of risk, especially if the whole financial system becomes threatened… you know, like now.

So the potential for future problems is immense. Mortgages are just the beginning.

We need a leader with honor, experience and a willingness to work with both sides of the aisle.

John McCain has been in DC and part of the solution for the S&L Crisis, 1987's Black Friday, the Tech Bubble burst, the collapse after Sept 11th and now the Mortgage Meltdown. He has experience in dealing with both the delicate political and tenuous economic situations.

In addition, much like Obama's touted "foresight" and speech on Iraq, John McCain put forth legislation in 2005 and warned about the coming meltdown. If we are to give Obama credit that his initial opposition to the Iraqi invasion speaks to some sort of judgement, then this must be trumped by McCain's prediction of the troubles in the mortgage industry because no one will dispute that the troubles with the economy are by far the most important.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, not so good on the judgement tip. Barack Obama not only stayed silent on the coming crisis, but supported the very groups and people responsible for the crisis. Among those in Obama's inner circle you can find two former heads of Fannie Mae and the grand dame and architect of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. In addition, Obama has been one of the top recipients of contributions from Wall Street… second only to Chris Dodd. And then there is ACORN… Oh, God… I don't even know where to begin with these scam artists…

Barack Obama's complete ignorance and total naivete' when it comes to real estate and economics has a long track history of devastation. From the boarded up tenements his buddy Rezko left all over the southside of Chicago to the meltdown of the mortgage industry cheer on by his friends, advisors and former employers… Barack Obama is bad for housing and bad for the economy.

This is a big crisis, one that the majority of Americans agree is the biggest crisis we face. We cannot leave it to an ignorant neophyte with a history of destructive decision making that has shown little propensity to change his stance, even less leadership, a near complete lack of bi-partisanship and an affinity for earmarks.

Barack Obama didn't even want to go back to DC to deal with the mortgage crisis in the first place, didn't even bother to contact any of the Democrats that were on the fence the morning of the bailout vote… but bi-partisanship and an aversion to earmarks are essential.

John McCain has a long and well documented history of bi-partisanship, one which is lauded by just about everyone in DC including both Hillary and Bill Clinton as well as Joe Biden.

In addition, these bills dealing with the economy need to be free of the clutter, partisanship and politics that earmarks represent. John McCain has never once asked for an earmark… ever.

This stands in stark contrast to Obama and his friends, who wanted to earmark the bailout bill to give ACORN, Obama's former employer, BILLIONS of dollars and who sunk the vote through their rabid partisanship (ie Pelosi and her rant.)

When facing the precipice of complete economic meltdown, we need someone that has experience, someone that listens to all sides, has the foresight to recognize coming problems, works in a bi-partisan way and does not use crisis situations to earmark and gain political advantage.

We need John McCain.

This is cross posted from Texas Hill Country


 


 

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