McCain to Cox: You're Fired!

September 18, 2008 RSS Feed Print
  • Comment (3)

I was carping about SEC Chairman Chris Cox earlier today along with a whole lot of other people. Now, the WSJ is reporting that John McCain would toss him.

"The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president and has betrayed the public's trust. If I were president today, I would fire him," McCain says, according to excerpts for a speech on reforming the ailing U.S. financial markets he will deliver today in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Throwing Cox under a train now is largely irrelevant. Tough talk like that should have come, oh, any time in the past couple of years, and it should have come from more folks on both sides of the aisle.

For a podcast-friendly look at the SEC's failure to step in during this crisis, check out this week's This American Life (it's in Act II, in the second half of the show, during a piece by Alex Blumberg, who also produced an absolutely great explanation of the credit crisis, The Giant Pool of Money).

The short version: Congress offered the SEC greater powers and more cash to regulate what was becoming a meltdown. Cox balked.

I listened to this during my morning run today around the White House and had a very "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" moment ...

Tags:
2008 presidential election,
John McCain,
SEC

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To be frank... I don't like any of our presidential choices. I haven't had anything stick in my head as far as a plan goes.

I needed to hear someone say; "We are going to increase takes for all people in the $65,000+ income brackets based on percenatges. The more you make ... the more you'll pay, all the way up to $75% if your income is that high to warrant it."

I needed to hear someone say they would take America out of debt, fix our infrastructure, increase tolerance for all sectors of the population that don't hurt anyone else, provide laws, rules, supervision to protect the people from greedy business, banks, oil companies, etc. I needed to hear HOW they were going to control spending, increase jobs, medical benefits, control and force the production of energy efficient autos, alternative energy sources, etc. I needed to hear some plans... not just words. No one has said how they are going to accomplish anything. Nothing is concrete and America is swiftly going down the tubes. We have so much damage from floods and storms. These people are not getting the help they need and they continue to build in the same dnagererous paths of these disasters. Help them once to get out of the path of destruction and then if they choose to go back they are on their own.

I have seen lyiing and ignorance and show boating on all sides.

Enough already. Tell us what you're going to do and HOW you are going to do it. Stop bashing each other which only wastes time and diverts from the real issues.

I don't see anyone worth voting for yet. Sad commentary to our country which is quickly becoming a Titanic listing in an open sea with no help in site. Looks like it's every person for themselves.

Joseph of IA 10:15PM September 18, 2008

I personally read McCain's motivation for this statement as an attempt to appear 'decisive' -- he's really put his foot in his mouth on the economy this week and this is an attempt to erase that bumbling impression with a statement that seems 'presidential'.

Lori of OH 3:14PM September 18, 2008

McCain is a liar hiding behind a little Pentecostal (so she says) skirt. McCain wants less regulation, not more. Eat cake, you peons.

of 3:05PM September 18, 2008

The Ticker

Kirk Shinkle is a senior editor at U.S. News. He writes daily about ups and downs in equity markets, sectors and stocks. Formerly, he covered business and economics on both coasts for Investor's Business Daily.

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