Each morning this week, nervous Americans awakened to news that yet another financial institution is in rough waters or has already hit bottom and been wiped out. We waited to see if the federal government would toss a life preserver to keep an insurance conglomerate or a massive lender or a decades-old brokerage firm afloat. Imagine that! Private enterprise looking to the feds to come to the rescue and bail them out - what a concept. &
Of course, the presidential candidates weighed in on the crisis. Senator Obama insists that the Federal Reserve must protect families that count on insurance (the AIG disaster), but not salvage the shareholders or management who profited during good times. Senator McCain acknowledges that regulation needs to be streamlined and is calling for a commission to study the problem. Meanwhile, he remains opposed to the federal bailout of AIG.
As the crisis deepens, the presidential rhetoric on the economy will develop new criticisms of the opposition, new ways of laying blame, and, we hope, new approaches to solutions. At this juncture, it appears that McCain is not defending deregulation even as Obama points to the flaws of economic policies which give Wall Street free rein.
