McCain’s First Letter to Edwin Gray
This may be shocking to learn, but back in the 1980s we had a situation where a lot of financial firms that made a ton of money through real estate investments that eventually went bad and wound up leaving taxpayers to hold the bag. Why didn’t someone do something to stop them from putting taxpayer money at risk? Well, in part because the moneymen were able to curry favor with politicians who benefited from their largess, and those politicians were, in turn, able to help stymie regulatory efforts. For example, when John McCain wasn’t partying with Charles Keating at the latter’s resort in the Bahamas, he was signing letters like this one to Edwin Gray, Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board:
The purpose of this letter is to express our concern over Board Resolution No. 84-227, which would impose arbitrary limits on the ability of an insured state-chartered savings and loan association to invest in real estate, service corporations, and equity securities. While we appreciate the FHLB’s concern over FSLIC’s responsibility for insured institutions, we question whether the approach expressed by this proposed rule is the correct one.
Of course the purpose of the “arbitrary” limits was to reduce taxpayer exposure to the risks Keating was taking. But Keating wanted to make as much money as possible playing with house money. And McCain wanted as much of Keating’s money as was possible. So McCain wrote the letter, and taxpayers wound up paying the bills once the shit hit the fan.
31 Responses to “McCain’s First Letter to Edwin Gray”
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October 6th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Link? How about linking to the whole correspondence?
October 6th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Don’t you know it’s “talk about hippie bomber”-Day? Who cares about regulation, or if the Dow Jones is down 300+.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Off the Topic:
Anybody able to sign into Mark Kleiman’s comments?
Trying just gets me a “server error.”
October 6th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Great picture find.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Did you all see the ‘expose’ about McCain’s first marriage that was published in today’s Washington Post?
If anything says that McCain is a honorable man, then the way he handled his divorce is it. He was paying alimony for kids who weren’t his! Even more than his military record, this story confirmed what I’ve always sensed: McCain is a man that can be trusted.
Whereas with Obama…Well, let’s just say…”ehhh”…On the trust issue.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:58 am
You see the expose in Rolling Stone that has him wanting to be posted in Rio during the same marriage because “he’d have a better chance of getting laid”?
October 6th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Good point Ringo, until Obama cheats on his wife and gets a divorce to run away with a 20-something girl, I don’t know if I can trust him either. I want to know how he would settle a divorce first.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
dave :
To the best of my knowledge, The Reality-Based Community (M. Kleiman’s blog) has never enabled comments, and I’ve never read a comment on that site.
I think that the comments machinery was picked up by accident in a template change.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
according to ringo cheating on your wife and lying about it is honorable. as long as you pay money, and your name isn’t clinton. the hypocrisy is astounding.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Troll Feeding Considered Harmful.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Lots of time to go until the closing bell.
Dow is off 520.
That’s turning the page like Mark Foley.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
on a conference call mcccains lawyer just said; “…The Keating Five Investigation was “a political smear job on John [McCain]…” i guess the five letters mccain wrote were not real. this is republican accountability…it does not exist. but it is fun to watch mccains ayers smears blow up in his face. keating will now dominate the news cycles right up to tomorrow nights debate. advantage obama.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Lots of time to go until the closing bell.
Dow is off 700.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
800 Last I checked.
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