John McCain's Remarks on the Economic Crisis
New York, NY
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.
Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns. This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward. I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.
It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration's proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.
Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.
I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.
We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night's debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.
I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.
Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.
A great outlook on this financial crisis by Jeff Emanuel
After McCain made this statement, Barack Obama expressed his desire to continue on with the debate this Friday. I don't know about you, but my financial security is more important than a foreign policy debate. McCain has handled this financial crisis in stride while Obama stands by and takes notes. Yet another reason...
3 comments:
I expect the next president to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. This smells like a political ploy to me. Both candidates can offer their views on the bailout, hammer out the details and disagreements with fellow Congressmen and women, and then be in Mississippi for a debate at 9 on Friday night. That's presidential. This financial crisis doesn't need to be solved by the weekend. That's a myth perpetuated by Bernanke and Paulson. We DO have the option to think this through and develop a comprehensive, long-term plan to fix this and prevent such a thing from happening in the future. I'm not saying that the candidates can blow off their responsibility to be a strong voice in these discussions (and neither seem to be doing so), but they are more than capable of showing up ready to go at the foreign policy debate Friday night.
When the housing bubble popped (more like blew apart in a fiery explosion) McCain didn't find it necessary to suspend his campaign to insure millions of Americans didn't lose their homes. Now that the giants (investment banks) have started to fall like dominoes, McCain is all about dropping everything and focusing on the crisis. He only knew something was wrong because his rich friends called him begging him to bail them out.
Investment banking as we know it is dead. Let the giants fall and file under Chapter 11. There's no reason to nationalize/socialize these banks and spend billions disinfecting them, recapitalizing them, and reprivatizing them. The solution should be comprehensive and focused on strong and stable institutions (like most commercial banks) that form the backbone of our economy. I'd much rather see the Feds free up $700 billion for the FDIC to clean up the commercial banking sector than to use it to overpay and take equity positions in these dead firms. These firms made terrible economic decisions and this solution has an incredibly high possibility for corruption. Many became fabulously wealthy, but more didn't realize when to get out. There's no reason to socialize these big companies. That's plain un-American. When will it end? What if Ford continues to decline? Will they ask for a trillion dollars from the government? Why didn't they bail out the Panel House or the Hoover Company?
McCain is just using this as a political ploy. Want real economic leadership? Obama has your plan, and an understanding that fixing this situation isn't about running in and trying to save a few investment firms as quickly as you can with no real accountability or comprehensive plan for the future.
This is the biggest financial crisis of our lifetime. For once, I want the candidates to put aside their partisan differences and act like my representative.
A debate accomplishes nothing when Wall Street hangs in the balance. By the way, why did the Obama campaign need three days of prep for this debate? Our weak market and weak dollar cannot afford to wait on a battle between the parties on Capitol Hill. This effort must be hammered out swiftly and with sound minds. These are the leaders of their respected parties, lets act like it by insuring the success of this proposal...however long that may take.
Barack Obama, FINALLY, has a chance to show that he can actually reach his hand across the aisle instead of pulling it back like he normally does. His Wall Street response has again shown that he struggles with tough decisions. He keeps following McCains lead and has agreed with almost everything, in principal, to what McCain has proposed.
Barack Obama's "plan" is to spend and expand the government by billions, if not trillions, of dollars while increasing our taxes in a distribution of wealth theory. That is hardly what the economy needs.
Although I agree with you on the investment banking, this is not an issue to shelve as the candidates play petty politics.
The terms of the new bailout seem much more responsible. 250 million with an added 100 million if needed. More legislative support, along with bipartisan accountability in Congress and the FDIC.
However, it is missing one key part. The government needs to cut capital gains taxes and corporate taxes to drive and stimulate the economy. Again, cutting taxes and keeping the money in the people’s pocket can only assist and benefit our infastructure.
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