Comparing trickle down to trickle up is rhetorically brilliant.

Now how do we taxpayers treat Wall Street firms when the pain of everyday Americans who can't make ends meet trickle up?

We bail them out.

Why not me too, the voter asks?

Maybe Hon. Sen. McCain will agree to an interview now that he has announced this new policy position. I assume that asking for the same from Gov. Palin would be as unfair as her answers would likely be uninformative (or just plain uninformed).

Fasten your seat belts.

Obama certainly does the better job.

Unfortunately, neither candidate can address the real issue... that our entire financial system is based on smoke and mirrors. [wildly so since Reagan]

Reality time.

Well let's hope Obam's electoral votes increase to a comfortable number. Wall Street is as broken as our current government.

Obviously this crisis is far outside McCain's comfort level. Obama has to drive home the economic message all week. This whole thing makes Palin as VP look completely ridiculous.

Well let's hope Obam's electoral votes increase to a comfortable number. Wall Street is as broken as our current government.

It's time to call Palin out. Biden should say today: "I would like to hear the GOP's VP candidate give us her opinion on the current crisis, beyond talking points."

I've seen a fair amount of difficult-to-follow commentary about this situation, but the most readable one I've seen lately was here.

How to describe the pathology of this ailment? Financiers, now unchecked by regulation or restrictions on leverage, can monetize many kinds of future revenue streams today, generating instant profits they and their clients can capture. That capacity to create apparent wealth out of thin air without limit cannot be matched by any other sector in the economy. Unsurprisingly, it sucks in talent, resources and skills that are not available for infrastructure investment or other economic activities.

Meanwhile, the investors who have made those immediate profits possible still want to ensure that the future flows that underpin them do in fact materialize--and so they will impose their rules and discipline on the underlying economic activity. The result is an unrelenting focus on profits and shareholder value. Struggling to meet "return on capital" criteria, many non-financial activities experience yet further reductions in capital allocation, and relative decline. Meanwhile, public debate is dominated by financial analysts, as "net present value" becomes the standard prism through which to view any human activity.

Public policy attempts to provide balance are hamstrung by the fact that, from the financial viewpoint, regulations and tax are restrictions on entrepreneurship and profit to be opposed and if possible eliminated. As for labor, return on capital is improved if its cost can be reduced. Outsourcing, offshoring, and labor market flexibility have helped keep wages in check. Hence a major symptom of the Anglo Disease is long-term stagnation of the majority of incomes.

"This will be a highest priority of my Administration."

Right! The terrorists don't need to attack us again to destroy our economic power. We've already done a good job of that ourselves.

Well, the scary part is how the major news outlets are portraying these responses.

On Reuters John McCain gets the headline:

"McCain says will overhaul financial regulations"

"Obama: Financial crisis a major threat to economy"

Just the way these two dueling articles are portrayed and laid out makes you almost want to vote for McCain. Why do they pick the most ineffectual quote/message to headline Obama's response which was a lot more indepth. After reading McCain's response I was also confused as to what he was actually planning to do- more or less regulation. But it doesnt' matter, he paints a colorful picture of the economy by using the metaphor of a patchwork quilt (which makes zero sense). That imagery will probably sit with the average person than the reality of how these candidates will deal with the problems they will inherit...

Here's hoping somebody starts printing up McCain/Hoover campaign posters

Watching the meltdown this morning makes me wonder just how "good" the war in Iraq has been for us as a country. A lot of the strange loaning practices by banks,etc spiked during 2003 after our invasion. It was as if everyone thought that going to war would mean greater prosperity (but also an excuse to fleece whomever, and wherever possible).

So now we see the result. Meltdown.

If we had spent 100s of billions on alternative energy and infrastructure instead of Iraqistan , I doubt we'd be at this place today.

But now we know what happens when you have a government for the rich and nothing but the rich so help us god.

Suffice it to say, I'm pissed.

It doesn't matter. The people who will overwhelmingly vote for McCain/Palin don't care what happens in the financial markets, because all they want to do is hate on the gays and save the fetus. Even if they themselves are homeless.

Plus, Obama's gonna raise everyone's taxes, right?

Geesh. The economy is NOT fundamentally sound and only an out-of-touch ass would think it was. We've shipped half of our jobs overseas and created nothing but service jobs in their place. This is not sustainable in the long run. We cannot be a country of white collar office workers and hotel maids.

How I wish we had video of the Bush (de)regulators taking a chain saw to banking regulations.
Here's a pic -
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/hiding-behind-the-invisible-hand/

Obama really needs to kick his ass on that "we'll overhaul financial regulations" bullshit. The fox is telling us, "keep me in charge of henhouse security and I promise there'll be no more shrinkage in the hen inventory". Riiiiight. His main financial advisier, Gramm, was the chief architect of this disaster.

Well looks like McCain-Palin ticket have come up with an "out-of-the-box" solution for this financial crisis.

They rolled it out in their new ad just released:

-Tougher rules on Wall Street to protect your life savings.
-No special interest giveaways.
-Lower taxes to create new jobs.
-Offshore drilling to reduce gas prices.

I wonder how many fellows AEI used to develope this revolutionary policy response to the financial crisis this weekend? What does offshore drilling have to do with this?

but this is good news for mccain. isn't it?

Is there ANYTHING to which he magic answer isn't "drill here, drill now"? Jesus.

The alarm went off in 73 and kept ringing for 7 years. So what did we do? We hit the snooze button for 28 years and convinced ourselves that dreams were reality.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton fires back:
"John McCain has been in Washington for 26 years and hasn't lifted a finger to reform the regulations that could've prevented this crisis. In fact, his campaign is run by some of the very same lobbyists who fought against these regulations and worked to put special interest giveaways in our federal budget. Now he's proposing $200 billion in tax breaks for the biggest corporations in America but not one penny of relief to more than 100 million Americans who are worried about their life savings and their ability to make their mortgage payments. John McCain buys into the same failed economic theory that landed us in this mess in the first place, and we can't afford to take a chance on his disturbingly out-of-touch policies at a time when our economy is in crisis."

Prosperity comes down the hill with a slight trickle, but sh*t rolls downhill like a flood. I'm can tell you that I and a horde of others have spent the morning busily transferring funds from failing institutions to safer harbor.

If left to their own devices, this mess is exactly what hotshot financiers will cause. It's the total lack of accountability, judgment and responsibility, all hallmarks of the Bushies, caused by the lack of rules and oversight that McCain and Palin think is the solution.

When selfish actions cause planes to crash in New York, the nation becomes enraged and seeks justice. When selfish actions cause markets to crash in New York, will the nation find similar anger necessary to take action? It's time to marshal the forces and battle back against Bushist economic policies.

Carlyle Group

I want to know where they come into play with all of the finacial shenanigans that have led to global finaciers cringing today.

Get it? Bush= Carlyle. Iraq war = Carlyle

Oil = Carlyle.

Keep digging folks.

Not 'the past eight years' damnit!

The past twenty-eight years!

Obama should be tying in all the scandals, the pension funds, Enron, Penn Square, Long Term Capital Management, (am I missing any) to the failed 'Reagan-Gramm-McCain' policies.

And not just for 'political advantage.' He's going to have to givern us through this. He's going to have to be a new FDR, he's going to have to bring back Galbreathian ideas of government as a 'countervailing force.'

He's going to have to use the idea that 'deregulating business' is like firing the police force because traffic tickets are a nuisance.

And yes, to go back to the politics, he's going to have to make the point not that McCain = Bush, but that McCain = Hoover.

John Henry:
Burton's comment is a start, but all of a sudden economics has to be the front-line in the campaign.

And fergawdsakes, anyone here who has friends with any money in the stock market, start asking themselves if they want Sarah Palin potentially in charge NOW!

McCain Treasury Secretary Phil Gramm is the main architect of financial deregulation -- and Obama should dump this mess right on McCain/Gramm's doorstep.

I also thought this was a good summation, from the NYTimes financial blog:

Those who were complaining, only months ago, that excessive regulation was making American markets uncompetitive, had it exactly wrong. It was a lack of regulation of the shadow financial system and its players that allowed this to happen. The regulators might not have gotten it right if they had tried to put limits on leverage, or assure that it was clear what risks were being taken, in the world of derivatives and securitizations. But deciding not to even try, and assuming that risks traded secretly would somehow end up in the hands of those most able to bear them, reflected ideology, not analysis.

Is there ANYTHING to which he magic answer isn't "drill here, drill now"? Jesus.

Look up Josh Marshall's article "The Post-Modern Presidency" on Washington Monthly (a simple Google search will find it). Basically, Bush always operated like whatever problem there was would be solved by doing whatever pet policy he wanted to pass. ANWR drilling is mentione din the article.

McCain has just picked that up and is running with it.

"The McCain-Palin Administration will replace the outdated and ineffective patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight in Washington and bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street."

Vs.

Barack Obama: "For years, I have consistently called for modernizing the rules of the road to suit a 21st century market – rules that would protect American investors and consumers."
---

What is the problem ladies and gentlemen? McCain insists his government will be accountable to Wall St. I know, in the jumble of words he's chosen it is difficult to decipher exactly what he means and you would like to doubt he means what is sounds like, but I think it is clear what he labels: an "ineffective patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight" that being what little industry regulation we have left, is the cause of today's problems. The markets are not working themselves out.

Obama understand that an economy solely focused on the market is going to fail the consumer. It is not rocket science. These people just don't know how to govern. Wake Up America!

Obama is an idiot. Everyday he loses one more opportunity to hit hard.

What's this, 'I don't fault McCain' nonsense? Even if you don't why do you have to spell it out.

He is toast. As much as my liberal brethren would like to believe that he and his campaign have some secret campaign strategy up their sleeves to be revealed at some more appropriate time, I hate to disappoint them. There is nothing there. He is John (Mr. Bush, please, pretty please, stop these attacks) Kerry re-incarnate.

"What's this, 'I don't fault McCain' nonsense? Even if you don't why do you have to spell it out."

That is a very very good point.

Bill Mitchell responds, too:
http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/analysis/toons/2008/09/12/mitchell/

Wake Up....This entire senario is a direct effect of the 9/11 attack which is doing just what it was set to do. Don't you see, our focus at that point shifted. We got lower taxes just when we should not have. Think about it, no more lobbyists..no more of what has been going on..lower congress wages....cut their pensions..come on why are we the people the only ones suffering...................Overhaul the system... This is not the fault of Bush..Its what happened to our country and I am not too sure one of our candidates is not indirectly involved.......where exactly does the Democratic campaign money come from, how many times does it change hands to get to the end. Investigate ....

Wake Up....This entire senario is a direct effect of the 9/11 attack which is doing just what it was set to do. Don't you see, our focus at that point shifted. We got lower taxes just when we should not have. Think about it, no more lobbyists..no more of what has been going on..lower congress wages....cut their pensions..come on why are we the people the only ones suffering...................Overhaul the system... This is not the fault of Bush..Its what happened to our country and I am not too sure one of our candidates is not indirectly involved.......where exactly does the Democratic campaign money come from, how many times does it change hands to get to the end. Investigate ....

actually, McCain's statement makes sense... that is if you're a low-information voter.
It also speaks to libertarians, who can read into it what they want, just as any republican (with a small 'r') can read what they want into it as well.

It's a win-win for McCain: The only people who see something wrong with his statement would never vote for him anyway, but he will be able to peel some of those so called independent voters away. Those will think that he makes a lot of sense, especially when you consider that Obama was using policy statement again, and that hurts the ears.

Nothing more soothing to the ears of republicans than rhetorical statements so they can claim to be patriotic and be 'for' the people.

No one, No one knows what these bailouts are going to cost or where the economy is going. We do know that the taxpayer is going to pay, and that the economy is on the wrong track.
More at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4cK06nCtlU