Shays, like McCain, Says Economy is "Fundamentally Strong"

by: CaptCT

Thu Sep 18, 2008 at 17:51:59 PM EDT

Himes criticized U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, for his recent comments that the economy is fundamentally strong and no one can disagree with that.

"I disagree on both points," said Himes. "The fact is that as a result of some terribly misguided policies in the last 8 years American families are struggling and suffering like never before."

Pelosi echoed Himes' criticisms saying, "The economy may be strong to him but families across America are concerned with losing their jobs, losing their health care, losing their homes and are all concerned with losing their standard of living."

Shays defended his statements saying that the fundamentals of the economy are indeed strong.

America has the best educated and best trained workforce in the world, he said. The industrial base and the agricultural base of the country are among the strongest in the world as well, said Shays.

"These are all fundamentals and they're all strong," he said.

Perhaps the reason Shays uses the same spin that McCain uses in insisting that the economy is "strong," despite all evidence to the contrary, is that Shays supported the legislation that caused this mess.

Shays, like McCain, voted in favor of the  Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This bill, as the Washington Post explains: "allowed AIG to participate in the gold rush of a rapidly expanding global banking and investment market. But the legislation also helped pave the way for companies such as AIG and Lehman Brothers to become behemoths laden with bad loans and investments.

In voting to support the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Shays said:

I voted for the Financial Services Act, also known as Gramm-Leach-Bliley for its principal authors, because it will update our depression-era banking laws so they keep peace with an evolving market. In my remarks on the House floor, I stated:

The simple fact is, these banking reforms are long overdue. The anti-affiliation provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act are sorely outdated and have increasingly impeded the United States' ability to compete in the new world economy. Encouraging greater competition will lower prices for financial services and improve products, benefiting consumers and the economy.

If Shays thinks the economy isn't broken, how can he fix it?