Nancy Pelosi's Partisan Speech!

Matt Welch | September 29, 2008

If that's what it took to rile up the House Republicans enough to remember their free-market roots, then more like this, Madame Speaker!

I'll actually second Pelosi's motion about the Bush administration's deficits and "fiscal irresponsibility," and I share her concerns about giving the secretary of the treasury "czar-like powers," but I am nothing but sincere when I ask–what is this "anything-goes economic policy" she and her ilk constantly refer to? How does the accusation of "no regulation, no supervision, no discipline" square with, I dunno, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which (besides providing full employment to accountants, and helping to strong-arm the media) contributed directly to the current crisis through its "mark to market" accounting rules?

As in John McCain's bizarre call to fire Security and Exchange Commission Chair Christopher Cox, what–specifically–were the regulations that weren't being enforced? Every day, every hour, you keep hearing this stuff: The Party is Over, no more unfettered capitalism, time for regulation, etc., but where's the supporting evidence that A) this is actually true, and B) X regulation, when being allegedly unenforced, caused Y to happen? Consider this an open invitation in the comments.