In an interview with the Washington Times, top McCain economic adviser Phil Gramm (yes, that Phil Gramm) has some comforting words for the millions of Americans struggling to pay their bills.
“You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession,” he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. “We may have a recession; we haven’t had one yet.”
“We have sort of become a nation of whiners,” he said. “You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline” despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.
So after eight years of disastrous Republican policies, all the McCain campaign has to offer is a blame-the-victim, suck-it-up attack on average Americans. I’m sure a continuation of George Bush’s tax cuts — ya know, the ones that used to offend McCain’s conscience — will get us back on the right track. Then we can all stop “whining” about losing our homes and altering our lifestyles. Christy at FDL has more…
UPDATE: (Nicole) McCain’s been caught on tape saying that recession is a “psychological problem” too. I tell you, McCain’s surrogates sure are on the pulse of America now, aren’t they? (/snark) Let’s recap:
* Charlie Black says that another terrorist attack would be a “big advantage” for McCain;
* Phil Gramm lectures us that our economic problems are mental and we’re just a nation of whiner;
* Carly Fiorina lies about Barack Obama’s (D) record and then shows her complete cluelessness about McCain’s own record on women’s issues;
* Rudy Giuliani says Obama is “capturing” an “anti-American feeling” that exists in Europe, where Obama is “popular.” (Links courtesy of The Political Base) and just yesterday, Gramm trashed the middle class on Kudlow:
And yet, Obama is supposed to be the “elitist?
UPDATE II: Obama responds: “Let’s be clear. This economic turndown is not in your head; America already has one Dr. Phil”
McCain camp initially stood by the remarks. Now they don’t.
Kos: “Clinging” versus “whining”. Guess which one makes big news, and which one doesn’t.
UPDATE III: Too good to pass up:
Filed Under: Campaigns/Elections, John McCain
Tags: Economy, Phil Gramm
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Shorter Phil Gramm: “Let them eat McCain!”
Turtle head?
I thought we were a nation of criminals…with a small and vocal group ‘whining’ for accountability.
Let’s see here. Take way Gramm’s house(s), his job, his bank account and go make him buy a few tanks of gas and take a vacation with his credit cards maxed out and put his kids (probably illegitimate) in collage in September. He would whine a little too. In fact he would probably be very bitter.
Gramm translated: Fuck all of them
Screw them all!
“despite a major export boom”
A major export boom in what? Weapons? Because that is about all that America manufactures these days that the rest of the world wants to buy. Everything else, for the most part is imported.
Well there is a fair amount of whining from just about everyone about something.
You haven’t even begun to hear whining yet. We will be deep in recession by Sept.
Phil Gramm, lobbyist, deregulator, enemy of the working Americans he used to represent.
A perfect fit for McCain!
Thanks Phil, w/ friends and advisers like you the McCain campaign can fold up and go home early.
“How many people poorer than you have hired you?”
Well since most of us work for COMPANIES, I would expect any company I work for to have more money. Why that means we should give more money to the CEO’s etc of those companies, instead of giving me a tax break I don’t know. Or more money to the corporations for that matter. No matter how many tax breaks you give me, I’m pretty sure the company the company with continue to have many many times more revenue than my income.
Joe O. @ 7:
Cigarettes to Iran.
Poorer people hire richer people ALL the time.
Do you make more than your dentist?
Do you make more than your doctor?
Do you make more than your lawyer?
I rest my case.
Phil Gramm does not have a clue.
It just really amazes me when these rich good for nothing public leaches try to pooh pooh the hardships of normal people. Give me five minutes with one of these fuckers with the knowledge of no repercussions. (With all due respect to Nicolle and Jeffrey Feldman)
Just look at those two smug, elite, OLD bastards.
Is Phil Gramm whining?
Another GOP hypocrite.
——–
Phil Gramm to the American middle class:
“Yes, I want fries with that”.
I just can’t help that wonder why I can’t afford a house when I earn as much if not more than my parents did (after inflation).
They bought a house in ‘72 for 20k (roughly) and now that same house is worth 400k. Meanwhile I estimate that I earn about 20% more than they did after inflation and yet I’m still stuck in an apartment because the monthly mortgage payments for a 400k house are way beyond my means.
Joe O. @ 7:
Whatever we do export is doing well because the dollar is worth nothing. That is the only reason exports are doing well. For him to say that is remarkable.
yup……bush didn’t raise taxes so instead we borrowed the money/sold treasury bills to japan,china,india and the u.k. to name a few….guess who’s going to pay loans
currently inflation is at 4.5% with economic growth at 2.5%
right now people are losing their homes,jobs and some filing bankruptcy and “its mental” i have an opinion about who is mental
7 Joe O. Says: “despite a major export boom”
A major export boom in what? Weapons? Because that is about all that America manufactures these days that the rest of the world wants to buy. Everything else, for the most part is imported.
don’t forget cigarettes!
The middle class in the US is DEAD.
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 4:
You forgot this one, take away his high end FREE government health insurance.
casper46 @ 13:
String beans to Utah? Oh wait…that was an old Zappa song and has nothing to do whatsoever with anything.
Carry on.
18 displssd Says: I just can’t help that wonder why I can’t afford a house when I earn as much if not more than my parents did (after inflation).
They bought a house in ‘72 for 20k (roughly) and now that same house is worth 400k. Meanwhile I estimate that I earn about 20% more than they did after inflation and yet I’m still stuck in an apartment because the monthly mortgage payments for a 400k house are way beyond my means.
Because you make 20% more than your parents did, yet a comparable house is 20X more expensive now.
Joe O. @ 7:
Jobs to India.
Freedom to Iraqistan.
aquarius2 @ 23:
yeah you know that “social medicine” healthcare plan the plan mccain has had his entire life….good enough for him but not us….medical bills are bankrupting people….cost increase per yr. about 10% why paying
pool is too small and people using healthcare system and unable/not paying
Ok guys at C&L, I’m just gonna keep on posting this until you post a thread on the media’s horrendous coverage of these stories:
[And we’ll keep taking them down, for being off topic and spam. You’ve earned yourself a spot in auto-moderation, BTM. Deleted. Comment spamming-Sitemonitor]
Gramm is so bright that he killed federal funding for the LHC in Texas because HE could not justify the expenditure.
http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/
Another Texas shit-bird waaaay out of his league.
BTW the biggest whiners are the wealthy that want taxpayers to bail them out whenever they f%$@ up.
Flim-Flam Gramm……..go back to Texas you con artist.
“And yet, Obama is supposed to be the “elitist?”
They both are.
Sad to say one of U.S. biggest export is porn. There has been a “boom” because other countries middle classes are growing and want porn.
Come to think of it…
President Bush’s economic stimulus plan which involved sending cheques of up to US$1,200 to every taxpayer has provided a boom to the online porn industry, according to market research.
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/.....-porn.aspx
29 Nada Says: “And yet, Obama is supposed to be the “elitist?”
They both are.
That’s
bullshit.oops, “bullshit” was supposed to be bold
Phil Gramm, the definition of corruption, will be worth 10 electoral votes to Obama.
Nada @ 29:
There is a distinction: Obama is elite, not elitist, meaning he is of the best, akin to aristocratic. Elitist is more akin to snobby, and like snobby, it is usually people who are not the best but only have an inflated view of themselves.
(hussien)moondancer @ 33:
I agree. Keep trotting this corrupt moron out there.
A Freebee
My Mother always told me when someone does something nice for you thank them. Today, I want to thank Phil Gramm. It was nice of him to show the American people just how out of touch John McSame is.
I notice CNN did not run this story. I could of missed it, but I don’t think so. I did see CNN’s best in the business commenting on Jessie Jackson’s comments. Which makes CNN selective, bias or not as thorough as they often claim.
Joseph
Nada @ 29:
you may be right……i’m going to take a wild guess and say mccain is much deeper/more established as an elitist than obama….not that possesions fully define but 8 homes,private plane..huge income(wife)
i would rather get obama now before he is further exposed to washington lobbyists/deals…mccain has been their a long time..he has been in the government system his entire life….governmental elitist
Re: Obama has captured an anti-American feeling that exists in Europe (a la, Rudy) - Rudy doesn’t know shit from shinola.
I was just in Spain, speaking to friends of ours, who told us all the European nations are keenly interested in the American Presidential election. They despise George Bush and his administration, and are really hoping Obama wins. There is no “anti-American” feeling, but there is definitely an anti-George Bush feeling and anyone else associated with him - in this case, John McCain.
Rudy, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s time to shut yer piehole.
It’s unfortunate for what little is left of the middle class in having to read remarks like this from intellectual morons like Phil Gramm. No doubt the man does feel for the little guy having to survive on canned Chef Boyardee while he enjoys a glass of fine wine with his porter house steak.
This is not just a Republican problem, but a Democratic problem as well. The corrupt policy and banking practices that are coming home to roost are imbedded in both parties as niether party gave a hill of beans as to what was happening on their watch. If they did, we wouldn’t be looking for a bailout from the tax payer. Both parties were more interested in lining their pockets with gifts from the K Street lobbyists while those on Wall Street literally were laughing all of the way to the bank when they deposited thier millions in end of year bonuses.
For the sake of our country, stop the Fed from increasing its opaque power to regulate and control our economy. They have made a botched job of it, and show no signs of improvement beyond serving the needs of their special interests and the wealthy elite. Our security is in checks and balances, review and transparency, fair discussion and disclosure. The would-be wizards and sorcerer’s apprentices of the Fed are none of these.
So Phil, go fuck yourself along with the rest of your bretherin that looked the other way or at the least, may you choke on that stake with no one around to do the Heimlich maneuver.
Today the great Hank ” I’m full of shit ” Paulson had the audacity to suggest that the Federal Reserve have even greater controll over the economy as if they haven’t fucked it up enough, but better yet, they want the middle class to bail out the banks and brokerage firms after they raped the system of every dollar they could.
Yeah, I’m whining and for good reason you assholes one and all.
Looks like whine is the new malaise. To paraphrase McSame, the republican party is a disgrace.
How convenient! We have the the man behind Enron (Gramm) advising the Keating 5 culprit (McSame).
MSM will give the “maverick” another pass on this one.
Joseph @ 36:
See my post @28.
And media has been defending McGrampa all day. Pretty sickening and obvious. If anyone at this point “thinks” the media is favoring Obama, they are delusional, stupid, or both.
I wonder if Faux News will flash these titles across the bottom of the screen?
“Does Phil Gramm Hate America?”
“Elitist Former Texas Senator: U.S. a Nation of Whiners”
“Gramm Tells Americans Facing Foreclosure to Shut Up and Take It”
Yet again, C&L fails basic economics. I come to this site as a liberal democrat and diehard obama supporter (organizing Democrats Abroad, thank you very much) looking for good ideas, but instead I find the OLD POLITICS OF NONSENSE.
C&L highlights some article where McCain makes a statement that would be seen as bold if made by obama or picks is nose or whatever, and then legions of idiots pile on with gratuitous and empty comments.
What irks me is that some of you claim to support obama.
I’m hardly young or naive, but don’t some of you idiots get it? ENOUGH WITH THE FOOTBALL GAME VERSIONS OF POLITICS! This is what got us into this mess in the first place! Too many of you are the mirror image of the swiftboaters and right wing liethrowers.
It so irks me to defend mccain, but a GOOD IDEA IS A GOOD IDEA NO MATTER WHO SAYS IT AND WHERE IT COMES FROM.
1. Social Secuirty IS in trouble. Maybe privatization (McCain’s solution) is not the best answer. In fact, privatization is a horrible answer. But, far from arguing the economics of that, in that thread so many of you refused to even accept the premise that social security is broken and instead trotted out all sorts of stuff that was just factually wrong and/or based in “economics” that made creationism nobel-worthy.
2. The economic situation IS relatively minor. yes, the dollar is in trouble and a few people have lost their houses - but look around and actually read some statistics. The people who are losing their houses are by in large not going homeless - their $7000 monthly mortages which they tried to afford on $90000 combined salaries or $3500 monthly mortgages which they tried to afford on $50000 combined salaries are turning into $1000-$2000 monthly rent bills. This is called a normal market correction. Why should those of us who bothered to do even the most basic math when entering the most significant financial transaction of our adult lives have to pay to clean up after those who didn’t when those who didn’t aren’t dying -they’re simply being directed into living in ways consistent with their ends.
So.. the value of YOUR house went down 30%? This is the same house that went up for 10% for 7 years in a row for a compounded increase of over 100%? Why should we feel sorry for you, again, especially when now the mess that you homeowners created will ironically lower the dollar further thus allowing foreigners to come in and rescue you partially?
The slumping dollar, as any economist will tell you (and believe me, this pains me as I live in England and get paid in dollars) is probably what america needs right now - it discourages wanton consumption (something that americans have indulged in since about 1995) while encourages reapproachment with the world and its markets - like obama said - learning a language now is a good thing. don’t worry - our economic fundamentals are sound - much more so than europe in many ways and certainly more fundamentally sound than, say, russia or china whose economies are based on exploiting “natural” resources - oil and unenlightened labor. Neither of those are harbingers of long-term success.
people are not in any largescale way starving in america. access to all the basic necessities of life, with the exception of reasonably priced health care, is available to all. houses are cheap by, say, european standards, as are salaries and taxes, food and fuel. consumer goods and food are slightly more expensive than they used to be, but most families simply have to cut back a bit on discretionary spending to afford them. times will be tough, relatively speaking, yes, but this isn’t a recession, this isn’t a depression, and so forth. Yes, paying a hundred bucks for gas is bad, and had some of you had the balls