Enron and Lehman

Let's not forget the McCain team's history as we try to understand today's economic meltdown.

Phil Gramm, who is McCain's financial guru, was a part of the Enron family.

"When Senator Phil Gramm and his wife Wendy danced, it was most often to Enron's tune."

Phil Gramm, "a demon for deregulation", is married to Wendy Gramm, who

"headed the presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief in the Reagan administration. And she was chairwoman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 1988 until 1993.

In her final days with the commission she helped push through a ruling that exempted many energy futures contracts from regulation, a move that had been sought by Enron. Five weeks later, after resigning from the commission, Wendy Gramm was appointed to Enron's board of directors.

According to a report by Public Citizen, a watchdog group in Washington, ''Enron paid her between $915,000 and $1.85 million in salary, attendance fees, stock options and dividends from 1993 to 2001.''

Phil Gramm helped craft the legislation that ended regulations which had historically prevented the kind of collapse we saw today. Since leaving the Senate, Gramm has been closely tied to UBS.

McCain relies on this repeat offender for economic policy.

(memeorandum)

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Comments

[farmer Mark]

I am most pleased to see the bustard back in action. Sorry I've not been checking in recent weeks.

[Outlook 2010]

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