Thank you for expressing your concerns with the problems in the financial sector and proposals to address them.
A lot of Ohioans, including me, are angry at the thought of bailing out people who made a lot of money making bad business decisions that created problems in neighborhoods across Ohio.
I agree that we need to avoid rewarding excessive risk taking. These institutions made unwise decisions, and taxpayers should not be expected to simply cover their losses.
Treasury Secretary Paulson this weekend sent a proposal to Congress that would give him almost unfettered authority to spend $700 billion purchasing troubled assets from financial institutions. On Tuesday, my colleagues on the Banking Committee and I held a hearing at which Secretary Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, and others testified.
They made a strong case for the need to act quickly to prevent further damage to our economy. The turmoil in the credit markets has the potential to do great damage to a lot of innocent bystanders. I am afraid that if we do not act, the economic instability could affect thousands of American jobs and the savings of countless middle class families.
But Secretary Paulson’s proposal is not the right answer. No Secretary should be given a $700 billion blank check. Taxpayers must be given an opportunity to recover their money, and assurances their tax dollars will not fund lavish pay and golden parachutes. We need strong rules to guard against abuse, and to ensure all types of institutions and regions are helped.
In the days ahead, we need to focus on containing the damage to middle class families and local businesses as much as possible. In the months ahead, we need to take a hard look at how financial markets are regulated so we never find ourselves in this situation again.
Thank you again for contacting me. I will certainly keep your views in mind as the Senate debates ways to help restore strength to our economy.
Sincerely,
Sherrod Brown
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Senator Brown Responds to Concerned Ohioans
Senator Brown has responded very quickly to emails about the 700 Billion Buyout. In today's email:
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2 comments:
I was disappointed to see that Senator Brown voted yes. We shouldn't have to pay for banker's gambles. This bailout doesn't promise that things will get better. And it includes a tax cut? How the heck do they plan to pay for this stuff?!
I heard Senator Brown on WAKR this morning. Tried to find it on WAKR's site this evening, but to no avail. He talked about how the credit freeze was already affecting Ohioans. Clearly we live in a credit addicted society and that's the way everything is currently set up. Perhaps the idea is to avoid major social and economic upheavals that could lead to radical new ways of doing business with one another.
I like Sherrod Brown and am not sorry I voted for him. At least this new version of the bill is much more nuanced than the original 3 page document giving all powers to Bush's secretary of the treasury. Now that was naked power grabbing! As far as I can tell, what the senate is trying to do is staunch the bleeding enough so that people can move forward while a new congress gets elected to clean up the Bush mess.
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