Better late than never: Goldman Sachs busted

By GottaLaff

I'm trying to keep up with all the news today, but here's the scoop:

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was charged with fraud Friday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the structuring and marketing of a debt product tied to subprime mortgages.

About time.

I wonder who's next.

Gramm-pa McCain Says He Would Fire SEC Chair, But Can’t

By GottaLaff

Cuckoo, cuckoo!

In a speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa today, Sen. John McCain said that if he were president, he would fire Chris Cox, the current chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is charged with regulating the stock market. From McCain’s prepared remarks :

[...] "The Chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the President and has betrayed the public’s trust. If I were President today, I would fire him.”

The only problem is, as ABC’s David Wright points out, “while the president nominates and the Senate confirms the SEC chair,” the president does not have the authority to “fire” the head of the independent commission.

From time to time, presidents have attempted to remove commissioners who have proven “uncooperative.” However, the courts have general upheld the independence of commissioners. In 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt fired a member of the Federal Trade Commission and the Supreme Court ruled he acted unconstitutionally.

But why let a little thing like constitutional authority get in the way of a fiery, populist stump speech?

Add it to the list of confused, out of touch, lying remarks by Gramm-pa J Sid.