Well DUH, Johnny
We can’t hang Johnny for this one, although he did not vote against repeal; only Shelby of Alabama among Rushpubliscums did that. Johnny didn’t vote FOR repeal, however; he voted “present.”
Among the idiots on the dem side who voted for repeal are DINO dreamboat Bayh of Indiana, “Stepnfetchit” Reid, Landrieu, Feinstein, Leahy, LIEberman (of course,) Reed, Kerry (go figure,) Lautenberg, Lincoln, Schumer (sad, isn’t it?,) Rockefeller, and Wyden.
McCain knew it was wrong, but he could only be half-mavericky. Among the dems, only Boxer, Dorgan, Feingold, Harkin, and Mikulski did the right thing (I am limiting my calling-out to politicians still on the scene.)
As far as I’m concerned, the people who voted against repeal of Glass-Steagall are the only ones who still deserve a job.
However….. I’ll give McCain just a slight nod for showing some courage in the face of damn near everyone else in the Senate getting totally stupid and voting for their campaign contributors, rather than for what was best for the country. I also have to applaud Johnny for stating the obvious, since a lot of dems still seem to be afraid to do it.
We need Glass-Steagall back, in its original form. It worked. We’ve all seen what happened without it.
Major financial firms, such as Goldman Sachs Group, could be broken up under a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate on Wednesday with the support of former Republican presidential nominee John McCain.
The measure, offered by McCain and Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, would reinstate the 1930s-era Glass-Steagall limits on banking by barring large banks from affiliating with securities firms and being in the insurance business.
“It is time to put a stop to the taxpayer financed excesses of Wall Street … This country would be better served if we limit the activities of these financial institutions,” McCain said in a statement.
A push for regulatory reform in Congress, now more than a year old, began during 2008′s international financial crisis.
Passage of the Cantwell-McCain bill would force firms at the center of last year’s financial crisis — such as Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo — to spin off investment and insurance operations, said Demos, a progressive think tank in New York.
House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday at his weekly news conference that reinstating Glass-Steagall was “certainly under discussion … As someone who voted to repeal Glass-Steagall, maybe that was a mistake.”
The Cantwell-McCain bill would bar commercial banks from affiliating with investment banks; bar banks from insurance activities; and set a deadline of a year from enactment “for financial houses to transition and separate their commercial and investment banking operations,” Cantwell said.
The bill is not part of the financial reform legislation passed by the House of Representatives on Friday or currently under discussion by the Senate Banking Committee.
Of course it isn’t. The financials still have plenty of bought-off whores in CONgress who don’t want to upset the gravy train.
Hopefully, enough of them will understand that what they wrought can come back to bite us again.. McCain is right on this particular issue, and he’s been sort-of consistent even. Bring Glass-Steagall back.
Tags: financial crisis, glass-steagall, mccain
December 16th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
That McCain is one strange old dude. Every time I develop a good woody of hate he goes and does something like this. I dunno. I just dunno….
December 16th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Shelby used to be a Democrat, I believe.
bringing Glass-Steagall back is probably an impossible dream,unless the Repubs somehow made it their idea and Dems would rush across the hall to appear conciliatory and vote for it.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if McCain knew absolutely nothing about the act but is trying to get out in front of the other Repubs to avoid any backlash in the future.
December 16th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Oso, I’d disagree. There was a reason McCain voted “present” way back when, and it almost has to be that he at least suspected something like this would happen.
December 16th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
[...] Senate on Wednesday with the support of former Republican presidential nominee John McCain. … [...] Uni Ego / Well DUH, Johnny | Reconstitution [...]
December 16th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
JR,
could be you’re right-but I’ll stick to my hypothesis that McCain thought “present” meant he would receive a gift for attending that day.
But seriously (rimshot) he did co-sponser that S.190 senate bill to regulate the interior workings of the housing agencies.Might have been with an eye to the future.That bill wasn’t what the Right claims it was either. The Rushpubs are (gasp)LYING !
December 16th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Just re-read my post,looks like it was written by a teabagger. I meant to say by his past actions in co-sponsoring S.190 he was likely doing it with an eye to the future, so you may be right.
Or as right as an NDN can ever be, push starting a pickup truck on his way to a 49.