Rep. Steve King: McCain Was Right When He Said The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong
Rep. Steve King: McCain Was Right When He Said The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong
Earlier this month, on the same day that two of Wall Street’s major banking institutions collapsed, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told a Florida crowd that he “still” believes “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” Since then, Congress has worked with the White House to put together bailout legislation for the financial system, but it failed to pass the House yesterday.
Speaking to Rep. Steve King (R-IA) today about his vote against the bailout legislation, right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher argued that the financial situation isn’t “as bad” as people say because “we live in an era of exaggeration.” When Gallagher asked King if he agreed, King said that he did because he thinks “the fundamentals of the economy are sound” like McCain said:
GALLAGHER: But I would maintain that none of this is as bad as the pundits and some of the prognosticators have said it is. Would you agree with that?
KING: Well, I would agree from an economic standpoint. When John McCain said the fundamentals of our economy are sound, really, our unemployment is fairly low.
GALLAGHER: Right.
KING: And that’s one of the indicators. We are, our trade deficit has diminished some, it’s way too much yet it’s diminished some. People out there have jobs, they’re working, the economy’s flowing.
Listen here:
In fact, the fundamentals of the economy, as defined by economic experts, are not strong. Though King claims that “unemployment is fairly low,” the reality is that the unemployment rate is at a five-year high. King also says “people out there have jobs,” but this ignores the fact that the U.S. lost a total of 605,000 jobs in the first eight months of 2008.
As Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Christian Weller notes, America’s “employment growth has been the weakest since the Great Depression.”
Transcript:
GALLAGHER: Congressman, I have a theory too that I want to try, I want to bounce off you for a moment. We live in an era of exaggeration. You know, with the media coverage of different issues and the media hype and the intense way we delve into issues, the truth of the matter is, even with as bleak and as dire as this economic condition is, the sky isn’t falling. The market is going to return. What Paulson is going to have to realize is that the world he’s in now is a lot different than the wheeling and dealing Goldman Sachs world where he made his fortune. But I would maintain that none of this is as bad as the pundits and some of the prognosticators have said it is. Would you agree with that?KING: Well, I would agree from an economic standpoint. When John McCain said the fundamentals of our economy are sound, really, our unemployment is fairly low.
GALLAGHER: Right.
KING: And that’s one of the indicators. We are, our trade deficit has diminished some, it’s way too much yet it’s diminished some. People out there have jobs, they’re working, the economy’s flowing. This is just simply a crisis of capital that’s brought about by lack of confidence and because of the mark-to-market component of this that requires these lending institutions to mark their balance sheets down if they don’t have a market.
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WHAT?!!!??
The fundamentals of the economy are strong???
You mean the scary brown people didn’t wreck our economy?
That’s a relief.
September 30th, 2008 at 8:45 pmThese guys put the fun in fundamentals…. Has anyone of these clowns actually defined these nebulous but apparantly A-Okay fundamentals?
September 30th, 2008 at 8:48 pmKing and Gallagher
A pair of complete assholes ……….Oh wait , I’m exaggerating.
Nah , actually , I’m not……….
September 30th, 2008 at 8:50 pmKing and Gallagher
A pair of total shitheads……….Oh wait , I’m exaggerating.
Nah , actually , I’m not……….
September 30th, 2008 at 8:51 pmFundamentals are hard to keep track of. Like houses.
http://snipurl.com/3z99a
September 30th, 2008 at 8:58 pmAnd more fun with deregulation.
In a world gone insolvent, an unstoppable force travels from our past to destroy our future. He is . . . The Deregulator.
http://snipurl.com/3xln8
Then kick back and enjoy America’s least favorite reality game show: Drop the Regulations!
http://snipurl.com/3xlop
September 30th, 2008 at 8:58 pmThey’ve been spinning so long they can’t see straight. To quote the famous Conservative pundit, John McCain, “Horse shit, horse shit.”
September 30th, 2008 at 9:20 pmHave these wingnuts been able to one, just one, economic expert, or student for that matter, who considers economic fundamentals to be:
“And my opponents may disagree, but those fundamentals — the American worker and their innovation, their entrepreneurship, the small business, those are the fundamentals of America, and I think they’re strong,” he said in Orlando.
My guess is no.
Idiot. Dangerous idiot.
PEACE
September 30th, 2008 at 9:33 pmWhere do these repugs live?
How do they get through an average day without crying?
repugs are bi-polar without meds.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:01 pmTrickle down economics, anyone?
September 30th, 2008 at 10:01 pmAnd people wonder what’s wrong with America? I give your Rep. Steve King as Exhibit A.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:03 pmYou’re bound to end up with a circus when you put the clowns in charge.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:11 pmIf Joe Biden doesn’t suffer a massive brain fart Thursday’s vice presidential debate should be the funniest one-time TV event in comedic history.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:18 pmJust another republican ass sounding like just another republican ass.. Since it’s gotten to the point where a six-year-old can discredit each and every one of them day or night this is getting REAL boring…
September 30th, 2008 at 10:36 pmAbove the Clouds Says:
Trickle down economics, anyone?
__________
Oh… something’s trickling down here, alrighty… but trust me on this one, folks…
It AIN’T economics…
September 30th, 2008 at 10:58 pmMy goodness! who are the people who votes for these Wack-jobs ?Any wonder why our country is in such a shitpile.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:43 pmThis is what Michael Moore has to say about the “payout.”
And I agree 100%
repugs can politicized the treasury so the next best thing for them is to steal the money.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:02 amDoes this guy write scary stuff>?
October 1st, 2008 at 12:08 amHELP! another winger email – would someone please direct me to the proper rebuttal info?
“I think this article was written at about the same time that Chris Dodd and Barney Franks were saying the Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae did not need any supervision and were good reliable financial institutions.”
Forewarning of a “Train wreck”. The fall of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was predictable.
i found the whole article here:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
seems the email leaves out page 2… which ends with:
In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.
The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.
.
it’s gonna be forever, isn’t it? always clintons/dems fault…
October 1st, 2008 at 12:34 amHoly SH|T Has anyone put these pieces together???
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/
Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1
“The command is at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., but the soldiers with 1st BCT, who returned in April after 15 months in Iraq, will operate out of their home post at Fort Stewart, Ga., ”
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/business/stories//2008/09/29/gas_shortage.html
“Two more weeks of gas chaos, official says
Atlanta’s chaotic gasoline shortage should be back to normal by Columbus Day, Oct. 13, at the latest, said Randy Bly of AAA South. That means about two more weeks of uncertainty, desperate searches for stations with gasoline and long lines at stations that do have gas.
Bly said Nashville had fuel shortages similar to those in metro Atlanta, but now 70 to 80 percent of the city is being supplied.”
Hmmm, the Army violating the Posse Comitatus Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act
And everyone is occupied with the bailout…
October 1st, 2008 at 12:43 amI smell martial law in parts of Georgia around the corner.
HOLY SH|T
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/whatreallyhappenedtoday2008.shtml
October 1st, 2008 at 12:51 amWHAT REALLY HAPPENED TODAY
Michael C. Ruppert
Tuesday, September 29, 2008, 7 P.M. PDT – For years I have told you exactly what was going to happen and it has. Today’s economic meltdown, with the Dow dropping 777 points and $1.2 trillion in equity lost is no exception. In our second FTW Economic Alert back in 2002 I predicted a market crash that saw $1 trillion in shareholder equity lost in the following three months — $1.2 trillion was destroyed just today. That and much more.
In FTW’s fourth and last Economic Alert (http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/061406_abyss_awaits.shtml) — just 11 days before our offices were burglarized on June 25, 2006 — I specifically warned that this day (metaphorically speaking) would come. What prompted that alert was an unprecedented move by President George W. Bush to give the National Director of Intelligence, John Negroponte, the authority to exempt “certain” Wall Street firms and banking giants from reporting their financial records to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was this move which permitted everything that has happened over the last month. That move allowed smaller banks and investors to continue buying pigs (without lipstick) in a poke while average Americans were led to believe that everything was OK. If you don’t believe me, go read the Economic Alert for yourself. It’s all right there — everything.
And if you had followed every piece of advice I gave in that warning — two years ago — today’s events would have made you money. They would have strengthened your family. They would have made you immune to the panic that today touched American public consciousness.
Gold is likely to explode in price in short order. $2,000 an ounce is possible within six months.
Since 2003 I have told my readers that the destruction of the U.S. economy was planned, essential and a foregone conclusion. It has to do with Peak Oil. There is no economy without energy. The world is running out of oil faster than almost anyone had predicted. Even previously optimistic opponents of Peak Oil have acknowledged that global decline is now between 5.8% and 9% per year. That means that if the world produces 85 million barrels per day this year, it will possibly produce less than 80 Mbpd next year. Demand destruction is conserving a resource for which there is no replacement and this is what has always been intended. An $8 drop in price today has done nothing to reignite demand. The United States, with 5% of the world’s population using a quarter of the world’s oil, was/is the ONLY point of demand destruction available that will save human industrialized civilization. I have said that consistently for many years. I told you that the real Powers That Be had gotten or would get their money out and safe before they crashed everything. They did… It was your money. It was our money.
Those who read FTW for years know that time after time, and year after year my predictions have been proven correct. The United States economy is being deliberately destroyed. The fact that it was Republican House members who blocked the bailout today confirms that they are helping the Bush Administration complete its last mission before leaving office: the complete destruction of the American economy and the financial crippling of the American people. I believe the intent is, and has been, to leave a newcomer African-American president with an economy on life support which will expire early in his watch. Every Obama campaign ad that now promises to “turn the economy around” only tightens the noose around his neck. The subconscious “Jerome Corsi” message is, “Blame the backs” next year when you get it that the Great Depression was a picnic compared to what is coming.
This is now the fast crash scenario. It is further complicated by two things.
First; today’s failure coincidentally occurred at the beginning of Rash Hashana. I am not suggesting that Jewish members of congress had any part of this. It would not be, however, the first time that great crimes have been committed and subsequently blamed on Jews. The subconscious “Jerome Corsi” message is “Blame the Jews”. Congress will now not reconvene until Thursday, October 7. Seeing the meltdown and collapse of the U.S. financial system, and the failure of the U.S. government, a two-day congressional stand down will give other nations time to realign and adjust their finances before it is possible to see another House vote. In my opinion foreign economies will be energetically disengaging from the U.S. economy and the dollar in tranches as big as possible without totally destroying the value of their holdings. During that time, with the markets open, giants like Citigroup (not the only one) will be exposed. They have been counting on the bailout. Citigroup may survive but others will not. The ones who do survive will ultimately be corporations that have been in on this plan. Goldman Sachs will most certainly survive. Berkshire Hathaway will undoubtedly survive.
Just a few days ago China ordered its banks to stop lending to U.S. banks.
Second; Venezuela, North Korea, Russia, rebels in Nigeria, and pirates off Somalia are becoming increasingly more aggressive. They do this not with the intent of physically attacking the United States itself, but with breaking its credibility and economic back. The U.S. has been humiliated in Georgia and North Korea is firing up its nuclear plants again. I have predicted this for years also and it is totally understandable given the belligerent, hostile and bullying foreign policy of the United States over the last eight years. I predict that on the geopolitical scene we are going to see (or not) some very serious realignments beginning over the next two weeks. They will be irreversible. The world is fragmenting along purely geographical lines. Yes, I predicted that too.
I AM IN PERSONAL DANGER NOW
But it doesn’t matter. I have broken an unspoken deal with the government to remain retired and not speak out. The legal harassments against me continue and I have just now crossed my own Rubicon. I am now preparing for physical attacks in the hopes that they do not occur. You who know how right I have been can help protect me by speaking my name in public, by writing to media outlets, to Congress and telling them about “Crossing the Rubicon” and our incredible record at FTW. Given that we predicted all of this, is it not reasonable to expect that someone might look to us and our work for solutions? Isn’t it reasonable to point others to the map we made? Isn’t that the right thing to do?
Given that everything I have predicted is coming true; given that we are witnessing the planned destruction of the U.S. economy; given that it was Republican members of congress who delayed the bailout bill… is it still so impossible to believe that Dick Cheney orchestrated and executed 9-11? They have almost handed off the carcass and evidence to a doomed Obama presidency. Oh yes, he’ll win in a landslide… while the Bushes and their “base” will be laughing all the way to the bank.
Please help protect me. Speak my name. Please help others. Point them to “Rubicon” and the FTW archives and teach them the map so they can find their own paths through this.
It is a good day to die.
Michael C. Ruppert
“Fascism ought more properly be called corporatism because it is the perfect merger of power between the corporation and the state.” — Benito Mussolini
October 1st, 2008 at 12:57 amKILL THE BANKS
REPEAL THE FEDERAL RESERVE ACT.
Just like Andrew Jackson…KILL THE BANKS
October 1st, 2008 at 1:00 amWhere can I get some of what he’s smoking?
Cheers,
October 1st, 2008 at 1:05 am“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it-and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.”
JFK
Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961
Let’s get READY TO RUMBLE!!!!
October 1st, 2008 at 1:14 amSteve, I’ve never bought your story about being abducted by aliens and taken to planet Guido where they gave you all the wisdom of the universe. And I believe in flying saucers, too.
So, Steve, if I’m not going to believe your flying saucer story, I’m certainly not going to care what you think about much else.
I think your problem is caused by your parents taking you to adult amusement parks when you were only three years old. Your nimble brain wasn’t prepared to handle high-speed turns and other terrifying experiences designed to break down a Marine into a quivering, quaking bowl of jelly.
Besides, giving Iowans wisdom has proven to be a lost cause.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:39 amWhat would Rep King say to the fact that because manufacturing has been outsourced to foriegn lands the American investors had no place to go but the Real Estate Market and they went in to it as predators. Like aerial killing wolves that are running on the snow with no place to hide.
King should look at the economic indicators and try to explain what Americans will do to overcome this?
He can also explain which American economy is doing well. The ones that moved their companies offshore and now sell for higher profit and drove up the unemployment in America?
It is a great economy for the top 5 percent of America.
October 1st, 2008 at 2:02 amBut what do they do to live when their gated community becomes a prison?
Ah, an era of exaggeration. So, the terrorist threat and all the rest of it is exaggerated as well, is it? What about your intelligence?
October 1st, 2008 at 4:41 amI have never seen any evidence that this guy is coherent.
October 1st, 2008 at 5:53 amWhat a PUTZ
October 1st, 2008 at 6:54 amI blame Jim Cramer for inciting panic in the market. People wouldn’t know there was a problem with the markets if the media didn’t tell people that there was a problem, and we’d all be fine. We’d have NO IDEA what it’s like out there! NONE!!
It’s the MEDIA’s fault!!!
October 1st, 2008 at 8:05 amNo matter what they talk …
The U.S. industry isn’t competitive enough!
-> huge trade balance deficit
-> dependence on foreign creditors
-> energy inefficient consumer products
-> insufficient private income to match the consumption
-> insufficient private income to avoid a mortgage crisis
-> insufficient state income to balance budgets
-> tiny shipbuilding industry
The failure to keep the industry competitive enough since the 70’s is what enabled the crisis and its real, deep root.
The causes for this failure?
October 1st, 2008 at 8:33 am- education (higher education not for free as in many European countries)
- focus on domestic market instead of the challenging world market
- corporation ownership structures that don’t promote the use of long-term strategies
- insufficient railway infrastructure (bad for industries in states without harbors)
- (probably) insufficient health care
Help! I’m ashamed to admit that I’m “represented” by Steve King.
There is hope. Rob Hubler is running a strong race against King, and there is reason to believe that Hubler can win.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:06 amla martina
hi5
yahoo online chat
avrupa chat
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:48 pm