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Fundamentally Sound?A Message from President Edwin D. Hill
For once, the tycoons were getting a little taste of the lives of millions of working Americans, men and women whose dreams melted down years ago in an economy driven by greed. President George Bush was noticeably quiet. With his approval ratings in the 30 percent range, he chose not to make grand pronouncements or spread false hope, leaving that to his party’s candidate for president. “The fundamentals of the economy are strong,” said Sen. John McCain, as workers and retirees across the nation, many of whom have lost their defined benefit pension plans, wondered if their 401 (k) plans would keep sinking and leave them destitute. Sen. Barack Obama asked McCain what economy he was talking about. And even TV pundits who had been treating McCain like a beloved uncle said that the Arizona senator appeared to be out of touch and insensitive. So his campaign wound him up and sent him out to attack Obama. McCain claimed that he was really talking about American workers being the strong “fundamentals” of the economy, and that Senator Obama just doesn’t appreciate the American workers like him and his running mate, Sarah Palin. Since when did John McCain become the champion of American workers? Let’s take another look at McCain’s record to see just how much he appreciates workers. McCain voted 19 times against increasing the minimum wage. McCain voted against removing hurdles for workers who want to organize unions to give them some shelter from economic turmoil. McCain voted against repealing tax breaks that encourage American companies to send jobs overseas. Appreciation? Give me a break. But the greatest outrage came later. McCain and Palin went on to talk about how they would take on the “greed” on Wall St. and pass regulations to protect American workers. They even evoked Teddy Roosevelt, the Republican populist who took on the robber barons of the early 1900’s. Somewhere I see Teddy Roosevelt looking down, tapping a big stick and saying, “Who is this man?” The disastrous economy that is breathing down the necks of so many working families isn’t accidental. This tragic train wreck is the result of policy choices championed by John McCain and George W. Bush. Does McCain really want to talk about “fundamentals?” A little over one year ago, McCain told the Wall Street Journal, “I am fundamentally a deregulator.” His top economic advisor, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), the guy who said that Americans are “whiners” suffering from a “mental recession” spent most of his career freeing banks from the kinds of regulation and scrutiny that could have prevented many of the scary failures that are shaking the global economy. Eight years ago, Gramm slid 262 pages of banking deregulation language into a must-pass spending bill. The language, which was authored by industry lobbyists, lifted regulation from some of the new “financial products.” So, banks turned precarious loans into shakier securities that could be bundled and sold to other institutions. And the house of cards started falling. So here we are. Sen. McCain’s party, which has always promised lower taxes and less government, is spending billions of dollars of taxpayer’s money to bail out banks and insurance companies. The self-proclaimed champions of free market capitalism and of the “trickle-down theory” that says wealth will roll downward and “lift all boats” are now engaged in what is called “socializing” risks. Have eight years the politics of greed all been on the side of Sen. McCain’s party? Of course not. Members of both parties too often supported risky deregulatory schemes. The IBEW has never been afraid to tell the truth to power, regardless of party. But, we have a critical choice before us in November. Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama both have established records in their legislative careers that show just where they stand on regulation and deregulation, on trade policy and on the rights and needs of working families. There’s one fundamental in our decision—the truth. Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user aflcio2008.
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They say the Wall Street billionaires were working way into the night the weekend before the stock market meltdown on September 15, worried about whether their firms would survive.