McCain’s Record Contrasts With Promises of ‘Reforming’ Wall St.

[BlueJessamine]

Source: ProPublica

With the market swooning yesterday, Sens. McCain and Obama promised to shake things up. McCain pledged to "put an end to running Wall Street like a casino."

This morning's New York Times probed the candidates' actual records. It concludes that McCain "has never departed in any major way from his party's embrace of deregulation." Indeed, the Times says, McCain "has no history prior to the presidential campaign of advocating steps to tighten standards on investment firms."

A decade ago McCain pushed unsuccessfully for a moratorium on all federal regulations. Asked about that by the Wall Street Journal this spring, McCain said, "I'm always for less regulation. But I am aware of the view that there is a need for government oversight."

McCain added that given the subprime scandal, more regulations might ultimately be appropriate but, "I am fundamentally a deregulator. I'd like to see a lot of the unnecessary government regulations eliminated, not just a moratorium."

The Times also points out that among McCain's top economic advisers are "two outspoken advocates of free market approaches, former Senator Phil Gramm and Alan Greenspan," the former chief of the Fed.


Read more: http://www.propublica.org/article/mccains-record-contrasts-with-promises-of-reforming-wall-st-916/

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Obama has a six-point plan he unveiled this spring that calls for, as the Times puts it, "regulating investment banks, mortgage brokers and hedge funds much as commercial banks are."

McCain has offered few specifics on his pledge to "reform the way" Wall Street does business.

McCain=Bush 44