Today's Evil Bastard

Hello, boys and girls, allow me to introduce you to today's evil bastard...none other than the master of disaster, Phil Gramm. Grammster recently turned 66 (on July 8) but he is recently known for this comment ...

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.

Well isn't that nice for Mr. Gramm. Oh, by the way, he is the top economic advisor for John McBush... I mean, Mcain. So I guess if you feel the pinch of the economy you just need to buck up, pussy, and get with the program. Hmm, what does Mr. Gramm know that we don't? What is his secret to success?

Between 1995 and 2000 Gramm, who was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, received $1,000,914 in campaign contributions from the Securities & Investment industry. ^(wikidpedia)

That probably helped quite a bit. Wonder what contributions Mr. Gramm has made to American society... well, He was a champion of energy deregulation, which gave us Enron and blackouts and price gouging. He was a champion of deregulating the savings-and-loan industry, the bailout of which cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. And his leadership on banking deregulation helped create the current sub-prime mortgage crisis. - (Huff Post)

Well, at least he has a long, stable, loving marriage with a lovely woman, Wendy Lee Gramm... she is a true patriot, with a record.. oh, who the fuck am I kidding... Wendy Lee Gramm held several positions in the Reagan Administration, including heading the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 1988 to 1993. After a lobbying campaign from Enron, the CFTC exempted it from regulation in trading of energy derivatives. Subsequently, Gramm resigned from the CFTC and took a seat on the Enron Board of Directors. While on the board of directors she received donations from Enron to support the Mercatus Center.

So the rest of us just need to quit whining and let these filthy rich predators continue to lead us to the promised land, a land in which free market capitalism continues to fill the coffers of the rich while we decide between filling our gas tanks, feeding our children, or paying our mortgage. Ah, my country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty indeed.

Beast