Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stepped into the no-spin zone yesterday when addressing the financial crisis:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asked today what new regulatory actions Congress can take, said, bluntly, “No one knows what to do. We are in new territory here. This is a different game. We’re not here playing soccer, basketball or football, this is a new game and we’re going to have to figure out how to do it.”
A Reid spokesman said neither Treasury Secretary Paulson nor Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke offered up any suggestions for new regulatory legislation when they met with Reid in the Capitol building Tuesday night, either.
In other words, Washington doesn’t have an answer for the financial crisis. The treasury and fed are working 24/7 manning the pumps simply to keep the ship from sinking. Whether or not they will succeed in averting a catastrophe remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, it’s refreshing to hear an elected official talk about the situation without calling for an empty generic “solution” to the problem (e.g., more regulation, deregulation, whatever). Despite their rhetoric, I doubt either presidential candidate has a good answer for what’s currently happening. Senator McCain doesn’t even appear to understand what the problem is. Perhaps that’s the reason Obama is getting a mini bump in the latest polls.