Today, Oregon Senate candidate Jeff Merkley held a press conference at Merkley Headquarters addressing the 700 billion dollar bailout proposal by the Bush Administration. Merkley believes any federal bailout must include protections for homeowners, limits on executive pay, government oversight and real reforms to the financial industry. More below the fold...
Full disclosure, I am the netroots director for OR-Sen candidate Jeff Merkley
Jeff Merkley says, "No Way!" to the Bush Bailout
Jeff Merkley wasn't shy about opposing the massive federal bailout with no government accountability. Here's what he had to say:
Republican Gordon Smith's Role in the Current Financial Crisis
Republican Gordon Smith took part in leading our country into the financial mess our country is facing. Back in 1999, Republican Gordon Smith supported the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which deregulated the financial industry. Here's a snippet about the bill Smith supported from ABC:
Economic experts say that Gramm and others are to blame for the current crisis that is shaking Wall Street.
Gramm's successful effort to pass banking reform laws in 1999, which reduced decades-old regulations separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities, helped to create the current economic crisis.
"As a result, the culture of investment banks was conveyed to commercial banks and everyone got involved in the high-risk gambling mentality. That mentality was core to the problem that we're facing now," Stiglitz says.
Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, also asserted that Gramm was mistaken, criticizing him and economic policymakers for not taking the risk of recession seriously enough.
"There is a recession -- that is clear and it doesn't make sense to blame middle-class folks," says Achuthan. "Policy holders should be held fully accountable for letting Wall Street run amok."
Achuthan agrees that Gramm's banking reform laws helped lead to the subprime mortgage crisis as commercial banks started taking enormous risks.
"We were setting up this bonfire years ago -- the deregulation, the inordinate amount of liquidity given to the system all set the stage for the bubble and the bust," he explains.
Republican Gordon Smith should not only apologize to the American people for helping create the financial crisis we find ourselves in, Smith should also oppose the proposed bailout with no government accountability. Considering Republican Gordon Smith has always governed for the powerful special interests, I won't hold my breath in hopes that Smith will finally do right by American taxpayers.
Progressive Democrat Jeff Merkley has an amazing record of standing up to the special interests and fighting for working families. Jeff will not hesitate to always put the American people first as your next Senator. If you'd like to help elect Jeff Merkley, you can donate to the Kossacks for Merkley Act Blue page.