The American Spectator

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Opportunity Knocks

10.2.08 @ 12:01AM

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
Re: Peter Ferrara's A New Opportunity for McCain:

I have read the article mentioned above and wonder if you have also highlighted this to the McCain party? I hope so, because I would love to see McCain win. He is a true American Hero and IF I were a citizen of America, I would proudly look up to him as my Commander-in-Chief. So, please rush your mentioned article to him if you have not done so. Don't let the wrong President take charge of your country!

Cheers,
-- Patricia Wong
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Mr. Ferrara's article is excellent, but let me expand on something and offer another idea that might help. First, mark-to-market accounting was approved by FASB in the early 1990s but gained widespread acceptance in the mid-to-late 1990s when Enron and others used it to fabricate earnings. This accounting theory has played a central role in the two most significant financial debacles of the last 50 years -- it's time to bury it.

Secondly, John McCain was correct: Chris Cox should leave the SEC. Not only has he sat by while mark-to-market has decimated the industry he's sworn to oversee, but his decision to eliminate the uptick rule on short sales hastened the downfall of Bear Stearns, Lehman, Merrill, etc. as short sellers drove their stock into a death spiral with nothing to stand in their way. Short selling is an important tool in market discipline, but the elimination of the uptick rule turned it into a tool to manipulate markets.
-- Stuart J. Wagner

I have never laughed as much reading this article. We had a Republican Congress and Senate for six of the last eight years and Peter wants to blame this on the Democrats.

His suggestions are also laughable. There is a snowball's chance in Hell that McCain would listen to any of these. I was a bit surprised that Peter would risk the entire U.S. economy for a political stunt.
-- Patrick Lee
Kansas City, Missouri

This in an excellent article!

It is so very sad to watch the Democrats point their fingers at the Republicans when I have known all along that most of this mess started with the Democrats. Even though this is truly a fact, at this point in time, it doesn't matter because there is serious work needed by both parties to fix it. I agree with you that Obama does not have the expertise or knowledge to bring us through this.

I plan to email this article to everyone on my mailing list in the hopes that I can sway a few people toward the McCain ticket. Thank you for writing such a great, informative article!
-- Sue Reynolds
Perrysburg, Ohio

This seems like an interesting article. I wish I had the patience to continue past the 2nd paragraph and actually finish it. I was so turned off by the one-sided nature of the story that I started to laugh at certain points. Also, because I am viewing it online, I had to see caricatures of Obama and Karl Marx. That's a turn off. I read as many articles as I can through so many online papers, magazines, etc., yet none of them feature McCain jokes or Bush-Hitler references.

So when I stopped reading, I thought about who the writer is trying to reach. Clearly, the tone is not set for independent voters. You're just going after conservatives, who already have their minds made up. This is not going to help you convince anyone of anything. The article just takes up space in the magazine or on the server. Whatever...

I do not find this style of writing informative or though provoking. Some of it is disturbing.
-- Joshua Posner

In the interest of transparency, may one mention that Peter Ferrara was exposed for taking money from a certain lobbyist to write op-ed articles in favor of particular pet projects of that lobbyist? We know that Mr. Ferrara is justly proud of that practice, so the omission is notable in the brag blurb following his article. If he really likes regulation so much, how about I trade him a dozen regulations tightening up lending under the new Fannie/Freddie entity for a dozen regulations limiting executive compensation at the expense of share-holders or regulating the creation of the junk that seems to be weighing down the financial, credit, equity markets. I'll take a pass on Reaganomics re-dux.

Thanks, but no thanks.
-- Andrea Hitt
Winchester Center, Connecticut

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Trade, John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Bill Clinton, Business, Environment, Constitution, Law, Military, NATO, Conservatism, Energy, Oil