On the financial-regulation bill:
There’s this conceit that because Wall Street didn’t get it, therefore the government ought to regulate.
Well, that’s a non-sequitur. It’s true that Wall Street was reckless — it didn’t see what was coming. But the government didn’t either. The SEC didn’t see it, the Fed didn’t see it, the chairman of the Fed didn’t see it.
Fannie and Freddie, which were protected by – especially — the Congress (and Democrats in the Congress), added fuel. They’re arguably the most culpable in this entire affair.
And the transfer of power to the feds is what the bill is all about. Democrats — as we heard Reid say — are promising this is going to do “x,” “y” and “z.” All of that is speculative. It’s increasing a lot of power, but not only in Washington, but also in the Treasury.
And it assumes that somehow they’re going to have superior wisdom next time around. I think that’s questionable.
On yesterday’s Senate hearing on Goldman Sachs:
When the Incas had a crop failure, they would take somebody up on a hill and they would execute them. This process is the same — except it has a little less dignity. I’m sure the language was cleaner in the Inca process.
And the idea that somehow this is all Goldman Sachs — what you had in the Goldman Sachs deal was sharks trying to outsmart other sharks. These were not securities that were sold on the street to individuals, you and me. . . .
This is absurd. The Congress is as culpable as is Wall Street, and this whole exercise is a way to imply that it’s all the big bad bankers in Wall Street and it was not the Congress, which is hugely responsible for the entire collapse.
On the push for immigration reform:
It is all about election politics. The base is what he [Obama] needs if he is going to get — if he is going to avoid a disaster in November. The base is not happy with him — African-Americans, young people, Hispanics are not enthusiastic. He is hoping that this will drum up support. . . .
The most revealing statement we saw today was what the secretary of Homeland Security said when asked if the [Arizona] border was secure. And her answer is: It’s secure as it ever was — which means it’s completely insecure. It’s as insecure as it ever was.
And that’s the travesty here. The federal government is pretending that Arizona is acting completely irrationally in trying to protect its borders when the federal government, which is supposed to do it and has the means to do it, has left it essentially open.
And there is no movement whatsoever on the part of the administration to step up enforcement of the border and to do what obviously has to be done.