Deregulation

If you are discussing the issues that are affecting the people sitting on the fence. They need to understand that it is the Republican mantra of "deregulation" that has created this mess. Republicans keep putting out there that market forces will correct themselves and if you just have to leave the market alone, it will take care of itself. Meanwhile John McCain runs around saying it is earmarks that are the problem with government. Well understand this. Earmarks equal less than 1 percent of the budget. Earmarks are used to support a wide variety of infrastructure projects in this country. We all know that our infrastructure is crumbling, so NOT ALL earmarks are necessarily bad in purpose. The idea that earmarks might be considered political pay offs might be an issue that we can agree. But know this... In George Bush’s first 6 years, earmarks actually increased. So Republicans take ownership. NOW if you are sitting on the fence wondering who to vote for... Know this... If you are watching the TV today you are watching what deregulation has done to Wall Street. The largest bankruptcy in the history of the US. Everything you have seen is coupled to one of John McCains advisors. That’s right, it was called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, and it was slid in and attached to another bill that the Republicans in control of congress passed cause it contained what was called the ENRON loop hole. Here is the Wikipedia on it... The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 or CFMA (Public Law 106–554, §1(a)(5) [H.R. 5660], December 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A–365, 7 U.S.C. § 1), was passed by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in December 2000 to allow for the creation, for U.S. exchanges, of a new sort of derivative security: the single-stock future. By the way You should know that Barack Obama tried to correct the problem which is also contributing to speculation in the Oil market... Read On (Source Wikipedia) The "Enron loophole" exempts most over-the-counter energy trades and trading on electronic energy commodity markets from government regulation.[1] The "loophole" is so-called as it was drafted by Enron Corporation lobbyists working with U.S. Senator Phil Gramm to create a deregulated market for their experimental "Enron On-line" initiative.[2] The "loophole" was enacted in 7 U.S.C. §2(h)(3) and (g) of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, signed by President Bill Clinton in December 2000.[1] It allowed for the creation, for U.S. exchanges, of a new kind of derivative security, the single-stock future, which had been prohibited since 1982 under the Shad-Johnson Accord, a jurisdictional pact between John S.R. Shad, then chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Phil Johnson, then chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. On June 22, 2008, U.S. Senator Barack Obama proposed the repeal of the "Enron loophole" as a means to curb speculation on skyrocketing oil prices.[ Deregulated Wall Street allowed Greed to dictate how Wall Street operates. Caution was thrown to the wind cause the Republicans threw out over sight. For more information see.... http://www.cftc.gov/opa/speeches/opaborn... I worked for United Airlines for 35 years and have first hand knowledge what deregulation can do to an otherwise stable industry. Wall street on its own doesn't play fair. It has no loyalties to employees or businesses. It gets cut throat with out regulation. I'm retired now and watched as they handed off my retirement to the PBGC (Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation). It cut my retirement by $950.00 per month. They wrote me a check for 1376.23 for the 374,000 dollars in employee stock I had bought. I earned that by not taking an increase in benefits or wages for almost eight years. After they exited bankruptcy, they offered their top 400 managers Millions in bonuses and stock options in the new company, while the Employees suffered millions in wage cuts. So, I know when deregulation fails. The sad thing is that even with the deregulation that is still in place, the budgets to enforce it have been so gutted that it is virtually nonexistent in many industries. We are now chasing after toys with lead paint after they are on the shelf. Food that is polluted with cancer causing chemicals sitting in the stores. Growth hormone feed to animals we eat. Tomatoes with Salmonella, Polluted water, Polluted Air… It is all linked to underfunding and deregulation. An example.... "In California, only eight field inspectors regulate a rendering industry that feeds the animals that the state's 30 million people eat ." John McCains response... Wall Street is "fundamentally strong". but it is far deeper than that. We cannot support a candidate whose party is responsible... Time for a change.