Congressman Campbell’s post just a little while ago that suggests critics of SEC Chairman Christopher Cox are "right" when they ascribe the current financial situation to him is political "piling on" that is not only wrong, it is really undignified. Campbell ought to think twice: once about the truth, and again about the district he was elected too.
As to the truth, Chris Cox has done a great job at the SEC protecting stockholders. He has enacted reforms that go far beyond what one would have expected from a Reagan Republican in the job. The current crisis is not something Cox created. Frankly, if Campbell wants to blame someone, he might want to look to the mortgage brokers and secondary mortgage market businesses owned by his pals, who actually handled the bad deals, and who have far more culpability than Chris Cox.
Orange County could benefit from a fair view of Chris Cox’s performance, not the typical "blame game" that Campbell exposes. How about you John? You’ve been a Congressman before and during the crisis? What have you done to fix the system? Did you call out Cox for his "errors?" The answer is no. If you blame the incumbent Cox, you must also blame yourself.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
For not enforcing existing rules against naked short selling, Cox should resign. That alone is enough.
September 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am
I respect your view, Michael. But Campbell seems quite disloyal to the fellow he succeeded in Congress with his post. Campbell (and you) are not calling for the resignations of Benecke and Paulson. Why is this a “Chris Cox” economy and not a “Bernecke” economy? These are just scapegoast. The fact is rampant speculation got us into the mess and that is a market thing; and now the people who did the bad loans should pay, not the rest of us who pay taxes.