The Hole in Their Resumes

Know why McCain wants to distance himself from former Senator Phil Gramm? It is not just because of Gramm's recent obnoxious remarks calling Americans "a nation of whiners" and that unemployed Americans are in "a mental recession." In fact, those remarks were so obnoxious that I wonder if they were engineered just to provide McCain an excuse for publicly distancing himself from Gramm. This issue is a lot deeper than it looks on the surface.

When Gramm was a Senator he was chair of the Committee on Banking, and in that capacity he was able to push through the legislation now known as the "Enron Loophole." This loophole allowed US investment banks to bypass the Federal regulations governing futures trading, and is the reason why the investment banks were able to falsely inflate the prices of oil, wheat, corn and other commodities through massive futures trading, causing your costs of gas, heating oil and food to go through the roof.

Gramm was a member of McCain's campaign team, but now Gramms' name is turning to mud. In addition to the Enron loophole, Gramm pushed through the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act in 1999, which got rid of the laws that seperate banking, insurance and brokerage activities in America. Essentially, this Act did away with all of the good laws written after the Great Depression to protect us from another Wall Street/Banking Industry collapse. That's right, Gramm stripped the system of it's safe guards nine years ago, and guess what? The value of the dollar has nose-dived, three major economic institutions have failed, Wall Street is highly unstable, and we are in the midst of a worsening recession.

Now you could say that this is not Gramm's fault, that he didn't know what the outcome of his actions would be. However, it turns out that the same investment banks that benefited from the Enron loophole and from the Gramm Act gave more than a million dollars to Gramm's campaign. Uh oh. A Congressional hearing is going to be convened to investigate this. And McCain wants to have noting to do with Gramm, wants us to forget that Gramm has been a key player on McCain's campaign team. Gramm was McCain's campaign CO-CHAIR and LEADING ECONOMIC ADVISER. Previously, McCain had said that he planned to appoint Gramm as SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. It looks like McCain is scratching that idea, now that the public is finding out about Gramm. Didn't McCain's team bother to find out about Gramm before publicly considering him as Secretary of the Treasury?

With Gramm in the driver's seat as McCain's leading economic adviser, now you know why economists and analysts are saying that McCain's economic policy plans are untenable.

Cripes. Reading this drivel, you realize that most people posting here do so to feel good about reinforcing their prejudices.

The amount of data is miniscule. No wonder we were unable to do anything about a looming oil supply problem for over 30 years.

Pathetic.

KOOL-AID??????..From the kitchen of the obama sheeple!! take one heaping spoonful of an inexperienced elitist white male seeking self validation through exploitation of his african-american genetics. Combine two parts black liberation theology clerics spewing intolerance! With two parts of unrepentant intellectuals committed to the destruction of America. Stir in one cup of militant black wife harboring the overwhelming desire to stick it to whitey and one spoonful of typical white person grandmother mix well. Pour a gallon of anti-patriotism into tall glasses and sprinkle with naïve foreign policy ideations. Serve on a platter of meaningless oratorical hyperbole with a generous dollop of wealth re-distribution. Sprinkle liberally with zest of white guilt flip it and flop it till it tastes right. Serve large portions to the undiscerning and spellbound masses convinced that the Second Coming is upon America and now you have a complete recipe for disaster!

The appeal of the Obama campaign is its meekness and humulity.. humble enough to ask all Americans for support, not reliant on old sytems and structures that have failed Amercia... the Appalachian American, the Black American, the Native American have been poor and ignored for 200 years, that is the reality of American political history - that's the common ground bringing Americans together... the well educated and previllaged Americans are also turning away from the status quo, because they too recognise that there is a lot that is wrong with American politics... a lot that has gone astray from the path set out by the founding fathers of America... moreover they understand the increasing importance of real democracy to business and economic prosperity...

The realisation that the Appalachian Ameican has been poor for 200 years, proves that there is no grand racist conspiracy, it proves that even if you are white, black or blue, if you were not considered economically mobile you were forgotten and left on the scrap heap... I believe that both white and black Americans are now realising this, especially as people from these groups become more educated... Appalachia can no longer be appeased by the notion that they are racially superior, when the reality is that they have been bottom of the economic ladder along with blacks for 200 years; blacks no longer believe that they are inferior, they have seen that power comes from organising and focusing their power of consumption... all Americans realise that history has been all about economics, nobody has really cared untill you showed them your money... a new politics is needed to ensure that everyone is enlightened and empowered to deliver what they can for their country and for their families, no matter who they are... because nothing else matters...

So, I am convinced that Americans will vote for Obama... that is the map to victory... no one who is honest about modern America will do otherwise... he is the only candidate who has ever presented truth and enlightenment to the people... he has not stood up for race or money, he stands only for principle... and deep down inside we all know this!!!!

Look what an MBA has done for this country over the last 8 years Mr. Thomas. You say our current presidential nominees don't have proper or qualified Business-running experience to be a president? Management skills are not inclusive to business, and a country is not a mechanism for Capitalism, it is the mechanism for controlling your environment in a civilized and social context. And look at what an MBA or business-background offers the wholeness of the President. Our cutt-throat laisse-faire economics do not operate on morals, growth is its goal and to attain that is to succeed. But sometimes a President will have to take a receding failure to push forward and progress. Like a cleansing fire to a dense forest, sometimes losing is for the greater good. In the eyes of our current MBA President, we can see the inherent conflicts between success as a businessman and success as a President. One constantly seeks growth the other development. One seeks personal gain (whether the entity is himself or his business) the other seeks appeasement across the land. It is the difference between competition and unity. If you develop a state of mind hell-bent on besting competitors, within a global spectrum behind the seat of a single country, one isolates not just himself but the entire population of his country. I refuse to compete with other nations simply trying to survive, this life is not about making a buck, this life is about survival, and the game of politics is for the betterment of those lives that occupy this Earth. We gave our President a cabinet of advisors for a reason, we gave Congress the power of the purse for a reason. We need leaders looking out for We The People. Not the Purse. These men have both served time within our Congress, they know a thing or two about how this country operates from a federal governmental perspective, and they both understand to an extent how the government spends its money, that???s all they need to know. Congress is our regulatory body, not the President. Americans today don???t need a buck, they need a better system of civilized operation, the programs and policies to which we govern our domestic lives are breaking down or simply exist in a past that no longer translates to the present, think about FDR and Social Security and why the age requirement was set to 65 years of age (then look at the average lifespan of an American during the Depression). It is social problems like social security, and health care, and welfare, and the subversion of the American working stiff into the Service Industry that need to be fixed by our Oval Office in the next 4 years (at least if not much more). Businessmen won???t solve these problems the way reality needs them to be solved, they will simply set up another system geared towards making a profit, not making progress. These are the problems Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain are vouching for, they don???t need to make a buck for this country, they need to correct it.

I know it's difficult to run a business. I run a small one. But perhaps government has a more worthy cause. Imagine that. What we need is not a former business owner. We need a leader. We need someone who is practical and smart, someone who has a grasp of economics. Redistribution is exactly what the country needs. I think you need to take a closer look at Sen. Obama's policies because he has never said he intended to be fiscally irresponsible. http://ochairball.blogspot.com

John McCain can't make up his mind where he sits on this fence. He claims to be a "Mavrick," but the only thing mavrick about John McCain is his inconsistency. Despite McCain's honors as a war verteran, the fact is that he graduated as a flunky (894 of 899) from the Naval Academy. His greatest pre-politics achievement seems to have been as a light weight boxer in his academy days. And while we can honor McCain's perseverance as a war hero, we should not forget he was shot down twice in his career after only his 23 missions over Viet Nam. Experienced fighter pilots in that war flew many hundreds hundreds of missions. Some pilots often flew 3 and 4 sorties a day. By that count, McCain lasted all of a week in Viet Nam. Other than touting his war record - who is John McCain? Does he have the "smarts" and intelligence, and mental capacity to lead as president, or is he likely to be another "Bush" - puppet of the Authoritarian right?

The subject of this article harks back to the era preceding the 1929 crash, not totally dissimilar to our situation today, when it was declared by those in power that "the business of America is Business". It is a phenomenon that occurs as wealth gradually works its way up in to fewer and fewer hands and those hands somehow feel a power with the wealth similar to those endowed with the power of the King. "Business" becomes their holy Grail, and vassals, varlets and peasants become their victims as the self image grows, wages fall, retirement plans are discontinued, and the "have nots" have less and less to enjoy. One day, the market experiences an unprecedented dissolution as the inflated values come to reality all at once. Many of those who had worshiped business jumped from the windows of the high rises in The Big City as their money fueled self images disappeared all in one day, before air conditioning had sealed all the windows and you could still open them. I hope that this never happens again, but there are parallels. Delano Roosevelt rescued the country from the folly. Not a businessman. Intelligent, well educated, articulate, capable. I was lucky to hear his fireside chats. Oh well, so much for business experience to run for president.

I don't understand why it wasn't mentioned that Mr. Thomas gave this speech at the US Chamber of Commerce National Convention. Filled with false dichotomies, flawed logic, and subtle innuendo, it is a stellar example extremely good writing, but certainly not journalism. In short, Mr. Evan's premise that not having capitalist executive experience is makes a person unqualified to be president is specious: being a CEO doesn't make you a doctor; being Zubin Mehta doesn't make you a cabinetmaker. And? George Washington?, Thomas Jefferson?, James Madison?, Andrew Jackson?, Buchanan?, Taylor?, Tyler?, Teddy Roosevelt?, Wilson?, Eisenhower?, Kennedy?, Clinton?, Baby Bush (with an asterisk)?, none capitalists in the conventional sense.

So? I'd rather have a community organizer as a president than a CEO. Why? What $75 million a year CEO knows a damn thing about the condition of the poor in America; I mean there is the $100 and the ten pounds of pinto beans every Christmas and the "Hola, Hortensia" every three days...As much as people have drunk the kool-aid of Republicans, this is a class-driven country and the top 5% doesn't waste any time worrying about gas a 5 bucks a gallon. Maybe they'll have to put off getting a new suit of sails for their Cal 39 and foregoing the $300,000 of landscaping at the cottage in Blue Hill. Bill Gates ran a very successful Corporation. He has billions up billions of dollars. He is donating a good deal of that money. I often wonder why the workers who wrapped those billions of Windows CDs didn't get more of that $40 Billion? That's capitalism for you.

My favorite tacticof the Republicans is the absolutely loathsome and snide attitude they tar academic success: name someone in the Bush Administration who wasn't graduated from college? Even Dimbulb could stay sober and out of someone's panties long enough to get a degree from the opium college of New Haven. One of the American dreams is education as a bootstrap endeavor. Few Administration lackeys aren't part of one monied elite in the US or another. These people who use their shared characteristics as wedge issues ("Look at that Ivory Tower Liberal! What the hell does she know about real people?) are shameless.

Finally, I have to take you to task for your characterization of McCain as "a bit of a hothead." As a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I think I have an edge on noticing signposts of the disease. Senator McCain could be the poster boy of PTSD. Your glib minimization of and ignorance of his (probable) condition reminds me of statements about drunks in the 50s-70s: "Yes, Bill does like to be the life of the party; he must have had an interesting ride home."

LACK OF BUSINESS EXPERIENCE. THIS IS AN ASSET.
McCain is a good guy however he promotes misguided policies. THE BIGGEST BEING THE IRAQ WAR.
JUST LIKE HILLARY HE JUST DOESN"T GET IT. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WANT OUT OF IRAQ. THE IRAQ WAR IS WHAT GAVE OBAMA A VICTORY IN IOWA. McCAIN is going to get SMOKED in this election unless he changes his stance on IRAQ.

"NO AMERICAN LIFE IS WORTH IRAQI FREEDOM.
ANYONE WHO DISAGREES IS NOT A REAL AMERICAN" eddiewhere 2008

There is this argument out there that I hear our troops repeating over and over agian. WE CANNOT LEAVE UNTIL THE JOB IS DONE WE CANNOT LET OUR BROTHERS DIE IN VAIN.

NOW THAT IS REAL BUL****. THAT STATEMENT IS GOVERNMENT IDEOLOGY AND NOT MILITARY IDEOLOGY.

COLIN POWELL SAID IT BEST. DEFINE YOUR MISSION CLEARLY SET YOUR OBJECTIVES AND USE OVERWHELMING FORCE AKA SHOCK AND AWE to accomplish your mission.

WE HAVE NO CLEAR AGENDA and NO CLEAR OBJECTIVES. WE ARE NOT SURE. SO HOW ON EARTH CAN WE JUSTIFY THE LOSS OF MORE AMERICAN LIVES. AS LONG AS WE STAY IN IRAQ YOUNG AMERICANS WILL CONTINUE TO DIE IN VAIN. WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE MADE OUR POINT VERY CLEAR. WE ARE SICK OF IRAQ AND WE ARE SICK OF OUR DEPENDENCY ON MIDDLE EASTERN OIL.

OBAMA WILL BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE LAST FALLACY I WANT TO ADDRESS IS THAT THE SURGE IS WORKING.

THIS ARGUMENT IS SO CRAZY THAT IT IS HARD TO EXPLAIN.

SURGE means temporary. OUR TROOPS PRESENCE IN THAT COUNTRY OF IRAQ IS THE MAIN REASON FUNDAMENTALIST HAVE FOR ATTACKING US.

WE NEED A PRESIDENT THAT WILL DO WHAT IS BEST FOR AMERICA NOT WHAT IS BEST FOR IRAQ.

THE LATEST FALLACY IS THAT WE SHOULD STAY UNTIL WE WIN. WE HAVE ALREADY LOST.ESPECIALLY THE AMERICAN TAX PAYER and those poor AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO LOST THEIR LIFE FOR NO LEGITIMATE REASON. THE BLIND JUST CANNOT SEE THAT.

THERE IS ONE CLEAR WINNER IN THIS WAR, HALLIBURTON AND OTHER PRIVATE CONTRACT FIRMS WHO FUNNELED BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, WITH THE HELP OF DICK CHENEY, FROM THE AMERICAN TAX PAYER.
LAUTENBERG REPORT CHECK IT OUT.

YES OBAMA DOES HAVE BIG LEAD AND IT WILL GET EVEN BIGGER BECAUSE McCAIN WANTS TO STAY IN IRAQ.