McCain and Boehner: We need more deregulation!

As predicted here yesterday, John McCain swooped in to DC yesterday and worked with House Republicans to kill the bailout deal. After meeting with McCain, House Minority Leader John Boehner’s new solution to the financial crisis: more deregulation and a reduction in accounting requirements!

You’ve got be kidding me. Paul Krugman wishes we had more grownups in Washington…

McCain Admits He Hasn’t Read Bailout Bill

John McCain, campaigning in Cleveland, Ohio today, admits that he hasn’t read the bailout bill

What!?!? I thought he suspended his campaign? If this financial crisis is apparently all of a sudden so important to him, then why hasn’t he even bothered to read the bill that would allocate 700 billion dollars to address it?

Although fear not, he’s apparently swooping into Washington tonight to rescue everyone from a bill that he hasn’t even read. Republican are apparently even delaying the compromise long enough so McCain can be present and take credit. Word on the street is that apparently McCain may even “rediscover” his hidden populist side in the next 12 hours and vote No!

Power to the people, John McCain!

Fox News: Uppity Minorities are to Blame for Financial Crisis

At least that is what Neal Cavuto is implying here:

More here from Media Matters.

In addition, here’s a point-counter point on the Community Reinvestment Act, which conservatives are, of course, blaming for the current financial crisis:

Point: National Review Online

Counterpoint: Matt Yglesias

I invite others to explore this more deeply.

Tip of the hat to Paul Rosenberg at Open Left

John McCain Has Dementia, Will Suspend Campaign

This is not a joke. Well, at least the second part isn’t. And the first part has some truth to it.

Today, John McCain suddenly decided that he cared so much about the economy that he is going to suspend his campaign. He also has asked the presidential debate commission to postpone this Friday’s debate.

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.

The Politco’s Ben Smith puts it best:

But in terms of the timing of this move: The only thing that’s changed in the last 48 hours is the public polling.

As far as the dementia part goes, apparently McCain forgot what he said a week ago:

Maybe now that he’s no longer campaigning, he can join Sarah Palin in hiding. Dick Cheney would definitely be a good person to talk with about the ins and outs of securing a bunker.

Tracking Poll Update: Race Stable at Obama+3 to 4

I think it’s officially safe to say that for the first time since mid-August we have a stable race. The average of the four trackers has not deviated by more than .75 percentage points over the past five days. This is very remarkable:

9/18: O+3.5

9/19: O+3.25

9/20: O+4

9/21: O+3.25

9/22: O+4

9/23: O+3.25

Pollster.com backs up this simple averaging with their own regression line that shows Obama up by 3 percentage points nationally. Notice how you can make out the Obama convention bump, the McCain convention bounce, and the most recent Obama surge.

Of course, I’m sure this temporary inertia will shift somewhat after the first presidential debate this Friday. However, if you’re in the Obama camp, you’ve got to like these numbers.

Here’s a look at today’s numbers and the trends:

9/23:

Gallup Daily: Obama +3
Rasmussen: Tied
Diageo/Hotline: Obama +6
Research 2000: Obama +4

Simple Average–Obama +3.25
Adjusted Average–Obama +3.5

Trends:

Simple Average

9/8:M +2.0

9/9:M +2.0–Height of McCain’s convention bounce

9/10: M +1.4

9/11: M + 1.0

9/12 :M +1.0

9/13: M+1.5

9/14: M +0.25

9/15: Tied—Bounce is naturally fading back to a tied race

9/16: O +1.25

9/17: O+2

9/18: O+3.5—First tracking polls to include financial meltdown numbers

9/19: O+3.25

9/20: O+4

9/21: O+3.25

9/22: O+4

9/23: O+3.25—Race appears to be stable for the time being.

Ah, the Sweet Smell of Corruption

Republicans hate regulation, but they love corporate welfare, unaccountability, and opacity. How best to give big businesses a bunch of money while at the same time not solving any real problems and preventing anyone from questioning your actions? A $700 billion blank-check bailout request, that’s how!

Sure, that covers corporate welfare, and it definitely covers hatred of regulation, because, after all, a whole bunch of money isn’t going to fix the problems that caused this mess to begin with! But will this proposed legislation be outside the realm of any possible oversight? 

Wait for it … wait for it … yes! As it turns out, the legislation contains this proviso: “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” So not only would Congress be handing Treasury a check for $700 billion, to do with what it will, but Congress will simultaneously be surrendering any oversight — at all, in perpetuity, throughout the universe — over the money or the decisions made by Henry Paulson.

That’s unaccountability I can believe in! I was concerned for a second there that the Republicans would leave the door open for someone to question Paulson’s decisions in the future. After all, the best way to go about resolving crises is to give people unquestionable emergency powers.

You’d better believe no one will be reporting on this aspect of the legislation. Instead, they will be talking about the “compromise” that consists of George Bush telling Democrats what to do, and Democrats eagerly complying.

McCain: I Have No Regrets Over Deregulation

John McCain on 60 minutes Sunday night told us all that he has no regrets over being a major player in many of the 1990s deregulation that have led to the current financial crisis. Here is he is in his own words:

Maybe he’d like to sell a few of his homes or one of his 13 cars to help pay off the 700 billion dollar debt that Joe and Jill taxpayer are now most likely stuck with in order to bail out his buddies on Wall Street.

Financial Meltdown FAQ

Demockracy.com has covered the recent financial crisis involving Lehman Brothers, Merill Lynch, AIG, and others. However, we want to make sure our readers have the resources to better understand what caused this crisis in the first place. Therefore, we recommend reading this guest column from the Freakonomics blog by economists Douglas Diamond and Anil Kashyap.

Diamond and Kashyap should provide good background reading for anyone who wants to know more about what caused this situation in the first place. Do note though that this piece was written before the massive 700 billion dollar bailout, so it does not discuss the implications of that plan.

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