Who's Whining Now? Gramm Slammed By Economists

[RamboLiberal]

Talk about words coming back to haunt you.

Phil Gramm, John McCain's former economic adviser, left the campaign in July when he tried to counter criticism of the Republican candidate's economic policies by asserting that the country "had become a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession."

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"This is a mentality that doesn't understand the nature of systemic risks in financial systems," says Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winning economist and former chairman of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers. "It's social Darwinism."

Economic experts say that Gramm and others are to blame for the current crisis that is shaking Wall Street.

Gramm's successful effort to pass banking reform laws in 1999, which reduced decades-old regulations separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities, helped to create the current economic crisis.

"As a result, the culture of investment banks was conveyed to commercial banks and everyone got involved in the high-risk gambling mentality. That mentality was core to the problem that we're facing now," Stiglitz says.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=5835269&page=1

[PA Democrat]

1. Great article.

Gramm is a deregulation zealot who along with his wife Wendy also brought us Enron and high gas prices.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E0D81038F934A25752C0A9649C8B63

McCain chose a dangerous crash and burn deregulation zealot as a chief economic adviser and an incompetent, dishonest lightweight as a running mate.

[Muttocracy]

2. has he actually left the campaign? I thought he came back. Kinda an off-the-books thing. nt

[CitizenPatriot]

3. he never really left....wink wink.

and McCain has indicated he would appoint genius whiner head of treasury.

Be afraid.