By Philip Klein on 9.15.08 @ 1:08PM
Here are John McCain's remarks at a town hall meeting in
Orlando, Florida:
"Today we are seeing tremendous
upheaval on Wall Street. The American economy is in crisis.
Unemployment is on the rise and our financial markets are in
turmoil. People are concerned about our economic future. But let
me say something: this economic crisis is not the fault of the
American people. Our workers are the most innovative, the hardest
working, the best skilled, most productive, most competitive in the
world. My opponents may disagree, but those fundamentals of
America are strong. No one can match an American worker. Our
workers sell more goods to more markets than any other on earth.
Our workers have always been the strength of our economy, and they
remain the strength of our economy today.
"But their efforts are not being matched at
the top. From Washington to Wall Street, the top of our economy is
broken. We have seen self interest, greed, irresponsibility and
corruption undermine the hard work of the American
people.
"It's time to set things right. When
I am President, we're going to put an end to the abuses in
Washington and on Wall Street that have resulted in the crisis we
are seeing unfold today.
"Enough is enough. We are going to reform
the way Wall Street does business and put an end to the greed that
has driven our markets into chaos. We will stop multimillion
dollar payouts to CEO's who have broken the public trust. We will
put an end to running Wall Street like a casino. We will make
businesses work for the benefit of their shareholders and
employees. And we will make sure that your savings, IRA, 401k and
pension accounts are protected."
McCain has it completely wrong. The United States has the most
prosperous economy in the world not as a result of the sheer
awesomeness of the American people, but because of a free market
system that allows them to take risks in the name of their own self
interest. Allowing people to make decisions freely can result in
failures like we're witnessing today, but it has also led to the
greatest creation of wealth in the history of humankind. In
McCain's populist view of things, only Washington and Wall Street
got it wrong -- but none of the blame rests on the shoulders of
Americans who bought houses that they couldn't afford. As
president, McCain would govern not based on any understanding or
belief in free markets, but on his own level of outrage.
topics:
John McCain, Business, Oil
