Do Wall Street's Woes Help McCain or Obama?

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There is far more anger than reason in most of these thread.
I don't have enough characters left to describe all the stupid things George W. Bush has done, but this isn't one of them. The mortgage and banking crisis is no more Bush's fault than the irrational exhuberance of the tech bubble was Clinton's fault. People with money will do stupid things with that money, like investing millions in pets.com and lending large sums of money to people without verifying their income. People who are using other people's money will do even more stupid things.
Some people want government to regulate away stupidity or to regulate away risk. Sorry, but that's not going to happen. Furthermore, any attempt to regulate away the risk will also regulate away far more opportunities for economic growth.
The banks were stupid and the banks got burned. That's capitalism.
Furthermore, the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, passed in the wake of the Enron scandal, may be making the crisis worse than it should be. By requiring companies to revalue their assets to current market values even when the market is frozen or dysfunctional and even when the assets could be held to maturity and redeemed at face value, a small temporary downturn can destroy the value of a company as the company is perhaps prematurely forced to write down these large losses.
In other words, poorly thought out regulations have as much to do with the crisis, if not more, than any "laisse faire" attitude from the government.
Nevertheless, the only thing most people understand is that Bush is President, Wall St. Bankers are greedy, and Republicans are greedy. Look for Barack Obama to exploit and direct this anger toward his election in November and as an excuse for higher taxes on the wealthy and more social spending. Do not, however, look for him to provide any plan or any solution to the crisis.

JimBeam of SC 1:56PM September 16, 2008

Oversight-Oversight-Oversight that is what the Federal government could have done.
These banks where making large loans over the internet, allowing the person applying to use the honor system to verify there income. Crooks and drug addicts where emptying the banks while John McCain voted against oversight time and time again.

Dave of OR 1:32PM September 16, 2008

John McCain did say the fundamentals are here, I agree with him and if we can all work hard to make any of these problems go away, my funds over the past few years have done nothing but grow, even though some losses show up the return is usually steady, if we go the way of the obama plan I can only see communism coming to this country, we need a balanced plan, and we don't need any more dems in congress with a 12% approval rating, it is time to take the congress seats back to republican and for McCain/Palin for 2008, that is the only answer to keep the optimism going strong.

Richard of PA 1:11PM September 16, 2008

John McCain said yesterday that the fundamentals of the economy are still strong. He's actually right. The 2nd quarter growth rate was higher than most expected. Unemployment has gone up, but we're still talking about near full employment. And, while there are some troubling signs regarding inflation, we're not in crisis....... yet. In terms of economic voting, measurables tend to perform quite well in predicting the outcome of Presidential elections. The bottom line is that while McCain can deflect some Bush-angst, if this election becomes only about an economy in free-fall rather than about the future of the economy (less tangible discussions about green jobs and the like), then the Republicans are in deep trouble. Expect a reverse bounce over the next 10 days with Obama returning to his pre-convention (1-2 point lead). The worse the economy gets, the bigger that number will be.

polisciguy of NY 9:30AM September 16, 2008

Seems like the mccain campaign understands REAL people and their issues, as well as the corruption in Washington. Obama hasn't been around long enough, but has his own Chicago corruption problems. Obama's solution - change the subject. That's the kind of change he brings.

garyw of OH 7:21PM September 15, 2008

The truth is that the economic fundamentals are pretty good for the US economy. We have a talented and hardworking workforce, innovative small businesses, lots of physical room to grow, abundant domestic energy resources (if we use them), the best universities and researchers in the world, etc. Yes, some on Wall Street ran amok and now we face financial problems. But unless you want an Obama version of European socialism (high taxes, high govt. regulation, high unemployment), don't focus on just the negative and try to talk us into a depression that would justify socialist policies in the US.

economics professor of NH 7:19PM September 15, 2008

The savings and loans debacle, the sub-prime loan mess, and the current collapse of brokerage firms have their root in one thing - the attempt to mask investment risk. By allowing investment companies to mask the riskiness of their investments either by repackaging bad loans or relying on the backing of the government have only replaced short term risks and smaller downturns with big ones that come less frequently. It is time to remove the abstraction and let the riskiness of investments become naked for all to see without any significant assurance of the government bailing them out. Let each bad loan and investment fail and hurt those who made them directly. Forget all this layer of bureaucracy that tries to hide or push back the bad news. If you are looking for the ones to blame for setting us up for failure, just look at congress including Obama, Biden and McCain.

sangjmoon of TX 5:57PM September 15, 2008

WHY would America REWARD complete Republican FAILURE ??
Why ? Why would we ?
Never mind your spin ! The GOP IS to blame for this god-damned mess.

PulSamsara of IL 5:15PM September 15, 2008

Add to that the fact that the economy is actually in pretty good shape and I don't see "it's the economy stupid" being all that great a rallying point for Obama. So the Dow was off 3% today? I lost 1/3 of the value of my meager portfolio in one day in 2001. Made it all back in the next six months, too. A 3% drop in stock prices and a 5% drop in oil prices, I know which is more important to those of us out here clinging to our guns. Lehman stock won't get you to work.

Tom Hanna of MO 3:42PM September 15, 2008

Dear concerned citizens of America and Mass Media of the U.S.A.
As a concerned registered independent voter, forensic psychiatrist, disabled American I made my decision to vote after taking into consideration following joint tickets attributes and characteristics.
1. Has the ticket shown adequate calmness, coolness, and connectedness's under pressure to lead our nation [Presidential Temperament]?
2. Has the ticket shown sustained sound "Judgment and Caliber"?
3. Has the ticket shown adequate understanding of depth and degree to address the crucial challenges in their their purpose, policies, and positions [ Honesty, integrity and sincerity]?
4. Has the ticket sufficient "understanding and knowledge" of inside Washington workings [Experience]"?
5. Has the ticket reservoir resilience, wisdom, and vigor to address the present and future f our beloved "Great-grand Nation"?
6. Has the ticket enough joint foreign policy experience and exposure based on " Values, Virtues, Vastness, and " [American moral soul]"?
7. Has their campaign talk, slogans, ads, plans, and programs based on facts and are they free of fear, fiction, frivolous labels, unfair attacks, negativity, and impulsively? [No "imminent danger to national
security and safety"].
8. Has the ticket genuinely kept on message of country first and politics last and avoided copying [Message change"]?
9.Has the ticket message stayed away from Culture divide and war[ Disaster prevention ]?
10. Has the ticket resisted being surrounded, supported and surrogate's by divisiveness, distortion's, and destructive characters, [ Real patriotism VS shiftiness and shameless parrot-ism]?
I have personally and professionally concluded that OBAMA-BIDEN ticket will lift and inspire our greatgrand nation back to its greatness within and restore our global standing with the use of maximum, firm
international diplomacy and minimal force if and when indicated {" Peace thru Strenght "}.
Yours sincerely,
COL. A.M.Khajawall [Ret] MD.
Forensic psychiatrist, Disabled American Veteran and Iraq
Freedom team. Grass roots California leader per Senator McCain's mailings.