Buffet knows that narrow-minded, market fundamentalist ideologues like McCain cannot be trusted to actually run a complex mixed economy. Wall Street has had McCain in its pocket for years and he’s too uninterested in the economy or how it really works to care of course until now when, no longer able to hide behind his lipsticked pitbull, he is attempting a miraculous transformation from small government free-market zealot to a big-government regulator. And while I welcome another convert to the importance of needed government intervention in failing markets, for a man who talks so often about convictions, his seem to be deserting him faster than the buyers of derivatives are fleeing the market.
But sadly all McCain has proposed to do is essentially scream at greedy CEOs (which is similar to his foreign policy approach) and set up – as Obama says now, put your seat belts on – a new Commission to study the issue. Russia invades Georgia and he is ready for war. The economy implodes and the issue needs further study.
And I just wonder what the well-qualified Mrs. Palin has to say about it all. I mean while obviously she’s been watching Russia from across the Bering Straights for years so knows everything about them and won’t blink in dealing with them, what does she know about mortgage-backed securities or collaterilized debt obligations? Maybe she figures that just like President Bush has decided to let Paulson and Bernanke do whatever they’d like with taxpayer money during the last year, a President or Vice President really doesn’t have to know much of anything about the economy – beyond tax cuts of course – either. She can just hire some former Wall Street honchos. No doubt Dick Fuld is available.
And McCain’s chief economic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin (who earlier this week proclaimed McCain ensured the invention of the blackberry) said McCain didn’t need specifics as he’s not running to be Treasury Secretary. I guess McCain’s not planning on being the decider in his administration.
But while we’re talking about future Treasury Secretaries – it strikes me that a good one may be the man who predicted the financial bombs going off today – Warren Buffet. I imagine he couldn’t be lured from Nebraska to Govt but I hope he continues to impart his prudent advice. I am damn sure Barack Obama will listen.
Ron Paul also warned of impending problems. The problem with so many of our politicians is that they are in the employ not of the voters, but their paymasters. And, really, the ones I’ve known aren’t all that b-r-i-g-h-t. When their school grades are made public, often they are down at the bottom of their class. The stereotypical politician of 1930s movies is uncomfortably a reality. Their forte is glad-handing, not thinking about issues. The hope I have is that should Senator Obama win this election, his obvious intellect can understand the depth of the problems.
Of course, Ron Paul also advocates eliminating the Fed and a return to the gold standard, both of which, needless to say, would be disastrous. So he’s not exactly the expert.
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p>Warren Buffett, on the other hand, I think understands the underlying issues quite well. He obviously recognizes both the massive benefits but also the potential problems inherent in the free market system. In that way, I think he’s far more of a true capitalist than the “market fundamentalist ideologues” lanugo mentioned, which I think describes the Democrats (as compared to modern-day Republicans) as well.