Fundamentally McCain

As the stock market continues its plunge over the failure of Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and AIG, "Hardball" reminds us that, until yesterday afternoon, John McCain believed that the "fundamentals of our economy" were strong. Though the writing has been on the wall for months, if not years, McCain clung to his old positions as if they were "fundamental" truths.



Now that McCain has changed his tune, and has offered the vague promise to "clean up Wall Street," it's worth remembering that over the past twenty years, almost no one has advocated policies of deregulation more than McCain. And it is deregulation, above all, which is to blame for the mess the country now finds itself in. When you let the Fox guard the hen house, you have to expect to find a few chicken bones at the end of the day.

Does increased government regulation slow the pace at which business can grow? Sure. But if we've learned anything from the Savings and Loan scandal, the collapse of Enron, the sub-prime mortgage debacle, and the banking and insurance industry train wrecks, it is that we all feel a lot more pain if we give into the very Republican idea that we should let business regulate itself.

The fact is that John McCain's plan to fix our economy is almost precisely the same as the one put forth of a Bush administration that also pledged to fight Wall Street greed: Tax cuts for corporations, and less government interference with industry. In fact, McCain is such a fan of deregulation that he wants to expand the philosophy to social security (private accounts) and the public schools (vouchers). In other words, we'd further relieve the government of its watchdog role, and let people go up against corporate interests all on their own. Well, we've been there, done that. And the results aren't very pretty.