An angry Sen. John McCain indicated today that as president he would launch a 9/11-commission style investigation into what he called "the old-boy network and Washington corruption" that created the current Wall Street crisis and has endangered peoples' savings and retirement funds.
McCain's stance on the economy has been under attack from Democrats since he released an ad Monday that said the economy was in crisis, but later gave a speech saying the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." He defended himself Tuesday and laced into a denunciation of corporate greed.
"I said the fundamental of our economy is the American worker. I know that the American worker is the strongest, the best, and most productive and most innovative," McCain, R-Ariz., told ABC's Chris Cuomo on "Good Morning America" Tuesday.
"They've been betrayed by a casino on Wall Street of greedy, corrupt excess -- corruption and excess that has damaged them and their futures," he added.
McCain said he wants an inquiry into what led to the current mess, though he did not offer details.
"We're going to need a '9/11 Commission' to find out what happened and what needs to be fixed," he said. "I warned two years ago that this situation was deteriorating and unacceptable. And the old-boy network and the corruption in Washington is directly involved, and one of the causes of this financial crisis that we're in today. And I know how to fix it, and I know how to get things done."
"Americans are hurting right now, and there's going to be a ripple effect of this financial crisis because of the greed and corruption and excess, and Wall Street treated the American economy like a casino," he continued. "And we can fix it, and we've got to keep people in their homes."
But let us speculate on McCain's "9/11-style" economic commission. President McCain convenes this blue-ribbon, economic commission. The commission reports that federal regulators were asleep at the switch, as the housing bubble grew. Wall Street became greedy in pushing the subprime mortgage securities int he market. The bubble collapsed, resulting in huge write-downs and losses to Wall Street investment firms. The McCain economic commission will say that it was the market's fault for the excessive behavior in pursuing the housing bubble and the subprime mortgage securities industry. There will be no criticism on President McCain's role in supporting deregulation of the housing industry, or Treasury Secretary Phill Gramm's role in repealing Depression-era federal regulations separating banks from investment firms. It was the free market's fault. The commission will say that it is the free market's responsibility for correcting this crisis, however the commission will recommend some token federal actions to politically suggest that the government is taking action to correct this crisis. Even worst, the commission might just recommend even more federal deregulation of the investment markets, saying that such deregulation would allow the free market to solve this crisis. In the end, nothing will come from this McCain economic commission investigation. This is all speculation as to whether President McCain would even honor his campaign promise to convene such a commission. More than likely, President McCain would ignore this campaign promise.
The foxes continue guarding the hen house.
Update: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama just blasted McCain over his economic commission. From YouTube:
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