McCain advisor Phil Gramm's 1999 deregulatory legislation, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, unfortunately passed into law by economic "centrist" Bill Clinton, has company in infamy.
The NYTimes has nailed down another regulatory change that is even more central to the current financial mess.
The following excerpt is proof-positive why Republicans are responsible for America's dire financial situation, a situation caused by George Bush once again putting a fox in charge of the hen house:
Agency’s ’04 Rule Let Banks Pile Up New Debt, and Risk
On that bright spring afternoon, the five members of the Securities and Exchange Commission met in a basement hearing room to consider an urgent plea by the big investment banks.
They wanted an exemption for their brokerage units from an old regulation that limited the amount of debt they could take on. The exemption would unshackle billions of dollars held in reserve as a cushion against losses on their investments. Those funds could then flow up to the parent company, enabling it to invest in the fast-growing but opaque world of mortgage-backed securities; credit derivatives, a form of insurance for bond holders; and other exotic instruments.
The five investment banks led the charge, including Goldman Sachs, which was headed by Henry M. Paulson Jr. Two years later, he left to become Treasury secretary.
George Bush is an utter failure.
Republicans are utterly discredited.