good call Hankster! I will not defend Clinton, but it is important to note that Gramm got the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (a 262 page document)attached to the already contentious $384 billion budget spending package hammered out at the last minute. No one read it or really knew what was in it (ignorance is no excuse) so it passed as an attachment. Among other things, the bill did the following:

Exempted energy trading from regulatory oversight. As a result, Enron wrecked the California electricty market and cost consumers billions before it collapsed. Approximately eight years before this, Gramm's Wife, Wendy Gramm was Chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commision. She pushed through a rule excluding Enron's energy futures contracts from government oversight. Wendy later joined Enron's board and received anywhere between $915,000 and $1.8 million.

Made Credit Default Swaps unregulated. These are essentially insurance policies covering losses on securities in the event of a default. With no regulation, no one made sure that banks and hedge funds had the assets to cover the losses the CDS's were to guarantee. This was supported by Alan Greenspan and Fed Chairman Larry Summers - a $62 trillion market which is about four times the size of the stock market. If this doesn't scare you, you are beyond reach.

McCain should drop Gramm like plutonium. I won't bore any of you with more facts as it is all too depressing.