Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Rep Costello on Bailout
Rep. Jerry Costello sent out this email regarding his position on the Bush administriaton's proposal to handle the latest Wall Street mess. If you'd like to call Rep. Costello with your two bits, his local number is 529-3791. FWIW, I like Senator Dodd's proposal, since it provides much more oversight of how the $700 billion would be spend, and called Rep. Costello about it.
I thought you would be interested in seeing the statement I made last Friday, September 19, concerning the proposed legislation to combat the current economic crisis.
“I have participated today in conference calls with Treasury Secretary Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and my colleagues regarding proposals to create a government entity to purchase the bad debt that continues to damage our capital markets and the overall economy. While I support measures taken to insure money market funds, I will reserve judgment on the proposed legislation until we see the details in the coming days.
“I also agree that we must address the immediate problems first, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that there must be accountability in this process. The American people are outraged and don’t understand why their credit rating takes a substantial hit if one mortgage payment is missed, but the CEO and board of an investment bank or a major corporation can bankrupt the company, affecting the entire economy, and walk away with millions in severance payments. If more taxpayer dollars are to be extended, there should be major reform of executive pay, particularly golden parachutes; stronger oversight of our markets and a thorough Justice Department review of the events of the last several years to see if criminal charges are warranted, as happened to officials at Enron. It seems clear that big business has proven incapable of self-regulation, and we must remember that as we consider this legislation.
“More than anything we need a return to basic common sense. Americans are already facing $2.6 trillion in consumer debt. We need to stop offering an endless supply of credit cards and risky home loans to people who cannot afford them. As we move forward, we need to make sure that the safety net that apparently knows no bounds for Wall Street is extended to the rest of the American people.”
Sincerely,
Jerry F. Costello
12th District of Illinois
Labels: economy, Jerry Costello
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]