I often watch Washington Journal as I’m trying to pry my eyes open in the morning. I listen for that one caller who will get my blood moving and it rarely disappoints. This morning (9/9/08) was no different. The guest was Jeremiah Norton, Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Institutions Policy.
Despite my pitiful knowledge and grasp of all things financial, I was interested to hear another take on the Freddie-Fannie situation. I must confess that I had trouble concentrating on what Norton was saying. His odd smiles when speaking of something so serious just didn’t fit. I continued to try to pay attention and was finally rewarded with the following:
Richmond, VA, McCain line (24:00 in):
Yes, hi, um, I have a question. I agree with all the callers, the Democratic and the Republican that this is terrible for the American taxpayer. Number one, we have a group of economic people who are covering their rear ends. Franklin Raines makes $114,000 a month on his pension and when Fannie Mae, when he was fired, Fannie Mae was $15, I mean, $10 billion in the hole. I’m very concerned about what’s going to happen to our FDIC, our, our car industry, everything, because of this. This was a Democratic cash cow. All Democrats, not Republicans, were responsible for this, and if we wait until the next election and have Democrats in there, they’re just gonna cover it up again. I’m sorry that you have to be on there because you seem like a very nice young man but the American people are tired of this. That’s why I think we need McCain. Thank you.
emphasis mine
Am I missing something here? I’ve already told you that I’m not good on economic stuff so maybe I’m out of touch. I could swear that the GOP had presided most of the time during which this fiasco has been festering. I really can believe that this caller is just misled or delusional but I also can’t trust my awareness of all of it, either. Where did she get this stuff? Oh, and does anyone know what the heck Norton is saying?