McCain: ‘I Still Believe The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong’
McCain: ‘I Still Believe The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong’
On her radio show today, conservative talker Laura Ingraham asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) what he believed should be done to address the struggling U.S. economy. Ingraham listed several economic indicators that have declined in recent years to make her point. McCain dismissed the premise of Ingraham’s question, saying, “I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong”:
INGRAHAM: And now look: the dollar’s weak, we have serious competition from abroad, government is running a deficit. … What are the Republicans going to do if China ultimately overtakes us economically and does that matter?
MCCAIN: I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong. We’ve got terribly big challenges now, whether it be housing or employment or so many of the other — health care. It’s very, very tough times. It’s very tough. But we’re still the most innovative, the most productive, the greatest exporter, the greatest importer.
Listen here:
It’s not clear which fundamentals McCain is referring to. Eight years of conservative management have left the economy with something other than “strong” fundamentals:
- Inflation is rising. The U.S. economy is currently experiencing “the worst 12 months of inflation in almost three decades.”
- Real wages are declining. Americans are experiencing a “de facto pay cut.” “Almost everything costs more, even as [Americans] have less money to pay for it.”
- Unemployment is increasing. Americans have experienced “seven consecutive monthly declines in employment.”
- Cost of food is rising. Food prices are quickly increasing and even school lunches across the country will be more expensive in the coming year.
- Optimism about economy is declining. “Optimism in the U.S. economy among CEOs of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies” is at a 16-year low. Americans are similarly pessimistic.
- Foreclosures are still increasing. Home foreclosures were up 55 percent over last year in July and “17 [percent] of all homes for sale in the U.S. are repossessed properties.”
McCain’s economic policies are promising more of the same. As Paul Krugman writes, McCain offers a “combination of irresponsibility and double-talk” that promises to be nothing short of “Bush made permanent.”
Transcript:
INGRAHAM: This issue of China, I guess it was not eight years ago the U.S. was widely thought to be the world’s richest and most powerful country. And now look: the dollars weak, we have serious competition from abroad, government is running a deficit, and the dollar of course plummeted. What are the Republicans going to do if China ultimately overtakes us economically and does that matter?
MCCAIN: I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong. We’ve got terribly big challenges now, whether it be housing or employment or so many of the other — health care. It’s very, very tough times. It’s very tough. But we’re still the most innovative, the most productive, the greatest exporter, the greatest importer. Every new advancement literally in technology that has created this new economy throughout the world has come from the united states of economy. do we have a lot of things to fix, do we have big challenges? Yes. but i also believe America’s best days are ahead of us.
And I also believe, Laura, at some point this contradictions between basically a totalitarian government and aspirations of people for a free and open society particularly as their economy and their standard of living improves. I think there’s going to difficulties within china they’ll have to have to face.
Their environment is terrible, as you know. They’ve still got hundreds of millions of peasants living as Chinese citizens, they call them those. Living the same was as peasants did for centuries. So I think I think China’s got challenges ahead of them, But i believe America — the 21st century will be the American century as well.
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All Johnny’s got is his pre-packaged talking points, sound bites, and ad one-liners. There’s no there there.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:32 pmmcchimpy’s belief on “fundamentals”:
fundamentals = I got my shit.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:34 pmWell of course he does – hasn’t defaulted on the mortgage on any of his multitude of mansions, right?
Oh, wait….
Maybe he paid cash…
August 20th, 2008 at 7:34 pmJohnny: I think there’s going to difficulties within China they’ll have to have to face.
– - You better hope our economic overlords in the Far East don’t go belly up, Johnny. They might call in their markers.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:36 pmMcCain: ‘I Still Believe The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong’
And the day that everyone views you as some sort of economist is the same day pigs grow wings and are re-classified as eagles…………
August 20th, 2008 at 7:37 pmThe “fundamentals” of the economy for the multi-national corporations, the oil companies and the upper two percent may be “strong,” but it is basically just economic crap for the rest of us. Two endless imperial occupations, costing us only three billion dollars per week, the oil futures markets have been rigged electronically by speculators, oil companies, hedge funds, resulting in the theft on billions of dollars from American drivers with the price of gasoline doubling in less than a year. And McLiar wants to give us four more years of this corporate crap? No thanks, my friend…
August 20th, 2008 at 7:37 pmMCCAIN: I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong. We’ve got terribly big challenges now, whether it be housing or employment
Since when is employment a problem?
August 20th, 2008 at 7:38 pmMany businesses are down, even megagiant walmart has had to close stores and scale back plans.
But they don’t care and they are actively warning employees not to vote for democrats.
Given that the economy is hurting their sales (and they have admitted this), some shareholders should file lawsuits because the board of directors and trustees is clearly not working in their interests. They support the politicians that are responsible for the problems in retail sales.
I can only hope that many smaller business owners (and ex-business owners) realize that the repugs really don’t care about them. Many have supported repugs without question.
What they got was an economic disaster that is putting them out of business. Do the large tax-cuts matter if you get run out of business?
August 20th, 2008 at 7:38 pmThe rich man is OUT OF TOUCH!!
August 20th, 2008 at 7:39 pmHe has NO CLUE regasrding the issues we are facing. Worse, he does not CARE!
In the top photo it looks like the kid is wise to the “pull my finger” trick. Or it could be “If I catch on my lawn again…”
August 20th, 2008 at 7:40 pmAnd the current healthcare crisis is rooted in the problems of our economy. Many become uninsured each time their is another round of layoffs or closures.
Even if they are eligible for proper coverage, can’t afford it. They end up in emergency rooms and the costs get shifted.
Of course, the problem is much bigger than that, but the growing number of uninsured is directly related to the economy.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:40 pmThe poor man is simply not playing with a full deck. He belongs in a home, put safely away somewhere, before he embarrasses us anymore. He has become a poster child for imbi-senility, if there is such a thing. The ghost of Ronald Reagan?
August 20th, 2008 at 7:43 pmCheese and Crackers Says:
——————————————————————————–
Germany currently holds that distinction…
———————————————-
Yeah, but Germany belongs to us.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Their statehood was finally accepted ?
August 20th, 2008 at 7:45 pmI never thought that someone could be dumber than GW Botch…but, dar ya go.
McMoron
August 20th, 2008 at 7:48 pmGrampy McSame says – My friends back in the day America was great, that’s right, yes sir, but then liberals came along and wrecked everything, no longer were the elite able to work people 16 hours a day, and gosh, no more children working, what were they thinking, that’s just stupid, of course children should work 16 hour days, brings character, and then those stinking liberals let women vote, damn them all the hell for that one, I sure don’t want that trollop c**t Cindy voting, she’s all hopped up on those pills, and with Bush’s policies we have a strong economic base, yes sir, with the top 1% hold near all the wealth in this country we can surely return to the robber barren days of the past….I think I just sat on a slave.
Yeah, well grampy, I’m sure that you are in-touch with reality about real Americans…sure you are.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:56 pmAre you kidding? A great exporter?
Our trade deficit with China is 117 billion in Jan-June of 08′, and in 2007 altogether it was 256 billion dollars.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:57 pmPutting million of Americans out of work. Thank you, John McCain and the ‘free trade/free market’ Republicans.
McCain’s economic policies are promising more of the same. As Paul Krugman writes, McCain offers a “combination of irresponsibility and double-talk” that promises to be nothing short of “Bush made permanent.”
More than just more of Bush’s policies, McCain wants to continue the supply side economic policies started with Reagan. Enough is enough, tax cuts and deregulation have destroyed our economy for working Americans, though clearly McCain has done nicely.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
August 20th, 2008 at 8:02 pmwere mccain to win the presidency, you can pretty much guarantee that the rest of the world will look at us and say: “wow, they really are stupid.”
August 20th, 2008 at 8:03 pmIn the top photo it looks like the kid is wise to the “pull my finger” trick. Or it could be “If I catch on my lawn again…”
I think he was telling the kid “if you tell anyone what I stuck up your butt or where I touched you, I will hunt you down and kill you”.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:06 pmSince when does being “the greatest importer” mean anything except that we owe other folks money?
August 20th, 2008 at 8:07 pmHow in the he[[ do people in his position end up saying things that they know damn good & well no one with a brain cell is believing ? Then just continue on as if they believed the total lie that just came out of their freaking piehole ?!?
August 20th, 2008 at 8:12 pmIn 1955, 1/3 of the US GDP was controlled by Fortune 500 companies.
By 2000 that share had tripled to 2/3. Within that cold statistic lies thousands of human stories of family farms, Mom & Pop stores and other small businesses trampled by WallMart, Agribusiness and other large companies.
My guess is that in 2008 the share of US GDP controlled by Fortune 500 companies is about 75% domimated by Big Oil with their obscene profits.
Fortune 500 companies do not pay taxes and McCain wants to lower their tax rate to 22%.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:15 pmThere is nothing more sick and sad than being stuck on stupid.
**shaking head**
August 20th, 2008 at 8:19 pmPaul Krugman article said: “According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the overall effect of the McCain tax plan would be to reduce federal revenue by more than $5 trillion over 10 years.”
August 20th, 2008 at 8:28 pmAnd later: “It looks like a giant exercise in pandering.”
Raise your hands if you think you’re a georgian or if you think we want to be wrapped around Germany?
August 20th, 2008 at 8:33 pmDitto #22.
“Greatest importer“??? That’s something to be proud of?
Do you get the feeling he’s just spouting “buzzwords”, and if asked to back ANY of those claims up with facts, he couldn’t?
August 20th, 2008 at 8:33 pmWhy is a “maverick” parroting Bush’s boilerplate?
Bush has been using the same “fundamental” dodge since ‘03, when questioned on the health of the economy.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:34 pmDoes anyone notice how often he passes tough questions with “Its going to need hard work.” as if acknowledging the fact means “don’t think, move on, no specifics please…no answers here.” The Republicans had total control and screwed up our lives and still think they deserve more.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:36 pmThe admiral’s son, with the rich wife is collaborating with the corporations and is a traitor to the working people of the USA.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:44 pmGrowing up, if anyone had told me we would import food from China? I would have made every effort to have them committed.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:18 pmAnd in the immortal words of Steve Martin I believe the Republican party can return this great country to what it once was… A barren wasteland coverd with ice
August 20th, 2008 at 9:29 pm“The Fundamentals of the Economy are Strong” is awfully close to Herbert Hoover’s infamous ‘The economy is fundamentally sound”, don’tcha think?
Whenever a Republican starts saying things like that, I get this creepy feeling….
August 20th, 2008 at 9:39 pmWhen anyone uses the “economy’s fundamentals are strong,” s/he should be requred to explain exactly which fundamentals s/he is referencing.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:47 pmIn the pic, is McCain asking the child to pull his finger?
August 20th, 2008 at 9:48 pmand, he doesn’t disagree with reinstating the draft either…
but, no fear, chuck todd gave him the out he needed – “benefit of the doubt” he could’ve thought he was agreeing to some kind of “national service”, not necessarily the draft…
… even though the woman used the word “draft”, and was referring to following binladen “to the gates of hell”…
August 20th, 2008 at 10:20 pmHomer Simpson has the same “simpleton” view of the economy’s fundamentals as well:
“Money can be exchanged for goods and services!”
August 20th, 2008 at 10:23 pmYet Obama is the ELITIST…
Figures…
August 20th, 2008 at 10:25 pmAnd when McCain was asked what are those fundamentals he said:”I can’t answer that, you have to wait until Lieberman comes back” !!
August 20th, 2008 at 10:52 pmPlease blast a video on every possible player with McCain saying the economy is just honkey dorey!!!!
The economy is hitting people where they live. And even the 20 per centers may be able to figure out the disconnect between their experience and McCain’s statement.
August 20th, 2008 at 10:52 pmOh, C’mon.
Don’t you understand? If we cut taxes on the rich, it will “trickle-down” in the forms of all sorts of new employees being hired!
August 20th, 2008 at 11:16 pmWith all of our arms exports I fully expected the US to be number 1 with China number 2. I didn’t realize Germany exported so many BMW’s and MB’s that they even exceed the European Union. This source (CIA) seems rather odd, too. It might be interesting to see both the exclusions and inclusions the CIA follows. My guess is that the drop in the dollar has caused a shakeup in order on this list.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:50 pmThere are better ways to hit McCain’s history and judgments. I always go back to McCain’s many homes and he did not pay his taxes on one for 1,2,3,4 years!!! If it is too much for him to may his taxes — either his memory failed him or he just did not do it.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:40 amand, he doesn’t disagree with reinstating the draft either…
but, no fear, chuck todd gave him the out he needed – “benefit of the doubt” he could’ve thought he was agreeing to some kind of “national service”, not necessarily the draft…
… even though the woman used the word “draft”, and was referring to following binladen “to the gates of hell”…
I saw that mess too. todd has a ego problems. he’s is the first person, I heard, to call Sen. Obama uppity and arrogant. todd’s answer doesn’t make sense. The woman was clearly talking about military service and mcchimpy clearly agreed about the draft.
todd can blow it out his phoney dyed job butt.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:03 amBush’s view of the “fundamentals of the economy being strong”
Is like John McCain saying earning $5 millions a year is the “rich” threshold……
August 21st, 2008 at 4:02 amIf 72 year old McCain wins the presidency, he will need to re-instate the draft so that the military is large enough to fight all the wars that he keeps talking about. This increase in military size will escalate our deficit and oil prices will soar which will only further damage our economy. McCain is STUPID. He graduated 5th from the bottom of his class and his second wife’s money financed his political career.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:55 amMCCAIN: I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong.
Does this ring a bell?
The President paces, is worried about what Rand is telling
him. Chance smiles through it all.
RAND
…There is no longer any margin
for inflation, it has gone as
far as it can. You’ve reached
your limits on taxation, dependence
on foreign energy is at a point of
crisis, and, from where I see it,
Mr. President, the so-called Free
Enterprise System could be at
the breaking point.
PRESIDENT
You don’t think I should take
that chance, huh?
RAND
Absolutely not.
Chance has reacted to his name, but doesn’t know what
to say. The President sits, turns, to Chance.
PRESIDENT
Do you agree with Ben, Mr.
Gardiner? Or do you think we
can stimulate growth through
temporary incentives?
CHANCE
(a beat)
As long as the roots are not
severed, all is well and all
will be well in the garden.
PRESIDENT
(a pause)
…In the garden?
CHANCE
That is correct. In a garden,
growth has its season. There
is spring and summer, but there
is also fall and winter. And
then spring and summer again…
PRESIDENT
(staring at Chance)
…Spring and summer…
(confused)
Yes, I see…Fall and winter.
(smiles at Chance)
Yes, indeed.
RAND
(interrupts)
I think what my most insightfult
friend is building up to, Mr.
President, is that we welcome the
inevitable saesons of nature, yet
we are upset by the seasons of
our economy.
CHANCE
Yes. That is correct. There will
be growth in the spring.
PRESIDENT
(pleased)
…Well, Mr. Gardiner, I must
admit, that is one of the most
refreshing and optimistic state-
ments I’ve heard in a very, very
long time.
(he rises)
August 21st, 2008 at 8:29 am…I envy your good, solid sense,
Mr. Gardiner – that is precisely
what we lack on Capitol Hill.
By fundementals, McCain means that rich people are still rich.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:11 amOf course, his concept of the “fundamentals of our economy” boils down to “the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.”
August 21st, 2008 at 11:25 amThis is another example that the “old world jounalism of Murrow, Cronkite and Rather is dead and buried. In the case of the Time Magazine reporter Ms Tumulty, she seems to think the finding out the who, what, where, when and how have been replaced with a steno pad, which she records what ABC said in rebuttle to the complaint of Congressman Kucinich. There is a great disconnect with what happened and the points made by ABC. She asks little of no questions to ABC. She takes what is handed to her and repeats it vebatim and then calls that reporting. I call is stenography. Lida Sohbet sohbet sesli chat Gelinlik Modelleri
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January 20th, 2009 at 9:18 amGovernment using the media for propaganda, to use them to purposefully and intentively lie to the people, is not just illegal…it’s another crime for this current Administration’s insanely long list of offenses.
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hen anyone uses the “economy’s fundamentals are strong,” s/he should be requred to explain exactly which fundamentals s/he is referencing.
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February 6th, 2009 at 5:46 amBut we’re still the most innovative, the most productive, the greatest exporter, the greatest importer.
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April 12th, 2009 at 12:43 pmovertakes us economically and does that matter?
MCCAIN: I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong. We’ve got terribly big challenges now, whether it be housing or employment or so many of the other — health care. It’s very, very tough times. It’s very tough. But we’re still the most innovative, the most productive, the greatest exporter, the greatest importer. Every new advancement literally in technology that has created this new economy throughout the world has come from the united states of economy. do we have a lot of things to fix, do we have big challenges? Yes. but i also believe America’s best days are ahead of us. yazgulu
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