Councilwoman Goldner - Hello The Real World Is Calling

Fort Wayne City Council member Karen Goldner posted on the Allen County Democratic Party’s official blog a statement that shows she really is out of touch once again. She is showing she is needs to educate herself on the facts or stop passing around unfounded Obama talking points

So here is her post and my comments.

One hates to use the term "meltdown".....
A few random thoughts on our economy:
Does the failure of gynormous financial institutions to exercise any reasonable amount of prudence, leading to their collapse and threatening the entire economy make you MORE or LESS likely to think we should privatize Social Security? I'm just asking.

Are you kidding me… A 3rd grader could take the Social Security funds to the neighborhood bank and do two things. The first would be to put all the money in a savings account and earn more money. The second is the 3rd grader could figure out if they want the money to grow for 30-40 years down the road that they could not dip into the account whenever they felt like it. Of course the kid was not the Democrat who first dipped into the Social Security account and has continued on. The Republicans do not get a pass on it either they as they did not stop it when they could have and even are known to draw down on this cash cow.

If you can remember back that far, you might recall that McCain economic advisor Phil Gramm was the key sponsor of the 1999 law that allowed banks to enter the commercial investment and insurance markets. That law repealed the Glass-Seagel Act which had been enacted during the Great Depression as a response to the collapse of the U.S. banking system. The '99 law worked out nicely for Sen. Gramm, who left the Senate for a lucrative banking job, but perhaps not so well for the rest of us.

First she does not know the Gramm act she is trying to talk about is the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Yes the same Gramm that is now working with John McCain. But she forgot that the Leach is one and only Rep. Jim Leach (R), from Iowa. You know Karen, the one you and your fellow Democrats fell all over yourselves when he spoke before your Democratic convention a few weeks ago. The third was Rep. Tom Bliley (R) from Virginia.

Second, the bill was passed both houses by overwhelming numbers. It sailed through the senate by a 90-8 vote. Which I think means a big bunch of your fellow Democrats jumped on board.

Third, the act was signed by one President Bill Clinton. You remember him being the Democrat who could of have vetoed this BAD law that would have avoided today’s nightmare!


And in case you were wondering, John McCain still thinks our economy's fundamentals are strong. (P.S. If you watch the video you might ask yourself what exactly is McCain going to propose to prevent this from happening again? His economic philosophy is the philosophy that got us here.)
Posted by Karen Goldner at 05:51 PM Permalink Comments (0)


While many of are hurting but let us look at the big picture that McCain is talking about. McCain has clearly stated we hurting but the sky is not falling. We have problems to address and all of them will not be a quick fix. I am not so sure after today, but let us look at the real facts.

Phil Gramm is really Dr. Phil Gramm – PHD in economics. He taught 12 years at Texas A&M, economic business consultant for 10 years to some of the largest companies in the United States, former VP at UBS. He is highly regarded by many in congress representing both sides of the isle. Those who disagree with him often lack any real credentials to do so, and do it from afar.

He was asked to become an advisor for McCain because of his understating of economics within the United States, the world, and their intertwined relationships. While many economic professionals have a solid understanding of US economics or world economics few have the deep understanding how the two often meet at the hip.

Now let us look at the facts.

Our exports are at near all time record levels. Our exports to Canada, Japan and Europe where at record levels for the first six months of the year.

Foreign investments into the United States at the highest level in decades.

Trade deficits have shrunk despite increasing imports of higher oil prices.

Outside of the financial segment of United States businesses have return moderate to fairly strong returns on investment.

Despite the mortgage crisis and the high prices of fuel the US economy grew 1% in the first half of the year.

Now those are the facts! It does not make many of us feel better when we think about our own little world. I know I don’t feel that warm and fuzzy but the thing is I also see hopes in those things are ticking forward, ever so slowly.

I personally think Gardner either jumped the gun by not doing her research before she typed away, or was just wanted to pass on Democratic talking points sent to her by Obama’s camp, or is clueless. I hope it is not the last one!