Author: Warren Throckmorton

Kudlow likes the plan. He says it is a win-win-win-win.
Charles Martin at Explorations provides a link to an economist’s persepctive.
The investment aspect of the plan is making friends and the Congressional Republicans are insisting profits go toward paying down the national debt. I like that.
Looks like a deal is happening and we get a debate tonight.

The financial crisis is being labeled by all concerned as the most serious crisis since the Great Depression. People on the street, myself included, are scrambling to figure this out. Now Democrats are calling for more regulation of financial institutions. However, in the recent past, they blocked such regulations despite calls from the Bush administration, Alan Greenspan and John McCain. Watch this FOX News report for details.

Now examine the contributions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to politicians. Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd leads the way. He also didn’t want McCain to come to town and mess up the deal he helped construct for the bailout.
The top four receivers of contribution were:

1. Dodd, Christopher J. (D-CT) $133,900
2. Kerry, John (D-MA) $111,000
3. Obama, Barack (D-IL) $105,849
4. Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) $75,550

Now I know John McCain’s campaign manager lobbied for Freddie and Fannie but it is clear that this role by Rick Davis did not prevent Sen. McCain from calling for more oversight. Forgive me if I am less than trusting of a Democratically controlled Congress speeding a rescue package through. I believe the answer has to be a bi-partisan effort but I also am skeptical that the one’s who have been saying everything is fine should be the one’s leading the charge.
See also Bill Clinton’s confirmation that the Democrats stonewalled regulation.

You’re probably not reading here if you want current news regarding the historic meeting between Obama, McCain, Bush and Congressional leaders, but since you are here, check out these links for sites that are monitoring the developments.
National Review – Larry Kudlow
Politico.com
Meanwhile, economiic numbers out today smell like recession…
Bush says the meeting going on now is designed to gain consensus regarding the rescue plan…

According to the Associated Press,

The Obama campaign said in a statement that Obama had called McCain around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to propose that they issue a joint statement in support of a package to help fix the economy as soon as possible. McCain called back six hours later and agreed to the idea of the statement, the Obama campaign said. McCain’s statement was issued to the media a few minutes later.
“We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved,” McCain said. “I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.”

I think this signals how severe the financial crisis looks to the politicians. It appears both candidates are convinced that quick action is necessary in order to stabilize the markets and the economy as a whole. Developing…
UPDATE: Oh my, they are going to argue over who had the idea first. This does not look like a good sign for jointly working out a economic plan. From Jonathan Martin at Politico.

Senator Obama phoned Senator McCain at 8:30 am this morning but did not reach him. The topic of Senator Obama’s call to Senator McCain was never discussed. Senator McCain was meeting with economic advisers and talking to leaders in Congress throughout the day prior to calling Senator Obama. At 2:30 pm, Senator McCain phoned Senator Obama and expressed deep concern that the plan on the table would not pass as it currently stands. He asked Senator Obama to join him in returning to Washington to lead a bipartisan effort to solve this problem.