McCain Sticking to Positive Spin, Not Straight Talk. The Economy Is in Peril, But You Won't Hear It From McCain

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Christine Bowman

Republicans can be such morons when they're running for the presidency. Today, John McCain said once again, "… still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

Today -- when 148-years-in-business investment firm Lehman Brothers has gone bankrupt, and it's the biggest bankruptcy in history.

Today -- when investment firm Merrill Lynch, tetering on disaster, had to be rescued from a similar fate by Bank of America. Merrill Lynch had net losses of more than $17 Billion [that's a B, not a typo] this year.

Today -- when Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz finds it necessary to say the current economic crisis is not as bad as 1929 … the crisis that triggered The Great Depression and necessitated the New Deal and lasted until WWII.

Today -- one day after former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that the financial crisis that began with the collapse of the subprime-mortgage market last year "is probably a once in a century event."

A few of today's economic news headlines:

Lehman Brothers crash sparks fears of world slump

Meltdown feared in world's markets

Global scramble to calm financial world Seattle Times

World stock markets sink on Wall Street crisis

Stocks stumble amid new Wall Street landscape

McCain: Fundamentals of Economy are Strong

Already, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have cost taxpayers $200 billion to bail them out. Everyday Americans paid for that, folks for whom incomes are down or flat and prices are mostly up. The United States Government is $9-10 trillion in debt. Home owners can't make their mortgage payments and continue to lose their homes at unprecedented rates. In the auto industry, too, there has been talk of bailouts.

But Straight-Talkin' John McCain says: "… still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong." He 's promising "tougher rules," and "reform," but no fundamental shift from GOP economic policy. The truth is that McCain and his anti-regulatory campaign friend Phil Gramm helped shape the current economic landscape. McCain CoChair Gramm was demoted by McCain July 18, but Gramm continues as a key economic adviser to the campaign -- despite having said this is just "a mental recession" that America faces.

George H.W. Bush lost an election for far less. Typical of out-of-touch Republican elitists, Bush I was so out of touch when he was running for reelection in 1992 that he didn't know grocery stores had instituted scanners at the check outs. Now, John McCain doesn't seem to know that the U.S. economy is more unstable and endangered than it's been in sixty to a hundred years.

John McCain is running for president on the promise to voters of "Change" and "Straight Talk." But how is he different from the two Bushes? He's either out of touch, or lying, and that's more of the same.

John McCain, what do you think the meaning of "fundamentals" is? Are you deceiving yourself, or just the voters? Has your vast experience in Washington taught you nothing?

One other headline from today:

Obama: Financial crisis a major threat to economy

And one last thing: Look at this story from CNN in April, on McCain's personal finances. He and his wife are worth as much as $100 Million, yet in 2007 he received $23,000 in Social Security, $58,000 from his Navy pension, and a Senate salary of $168,500. "'My life has not been one of privilege and luxury. I had the great honor of serving in this country,' McCain has said."

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

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