[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 17, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H8281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   McCAIN'S ASSESSMENT OF THE ECONOMY SHOWS THAT HE REALLY IS NOT AN 
                         EXPERT ON THE ECONOMY

  (Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, in December, Senator McCain admitted that 
he is not an economic expert when he stated ``The issue of economics is 
not something I've understood as well as I should.'' He went on to say, 
though, that he had Alan Greenspan's book. Well, clearly, Senator 
McCain should listen to Greenspan, who called this week's financial 
news a once-in-a-century type of financial crisis. Unfortunately, 
Senator McCain was not listening because his response to the 
catastrophic economic events of this week was ``the fundamentals of our 
economy are strong,'' and he called for the oldest, lamest Washington 
trick in the book--the creation of a study commission.
  We don't need a commission to know that 600,000 Americans have lost 
their jobs in the last year, that the median income for working 
Americans has fallen over $2,000 a year over the last 8 years. Those 
are not strong fundamentals.
  Mr. Speaker, at a time when every economic expert agrees that our 
economy is in crisis, we need someone in the White House who is ready 
and willing to act now to fix it, and clearly, that person is not 
Senator McCain.

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