The full text of Tim's call out of Same Ol' Stearns is below the jump. Or click here:Same Ol' Stearns.
Now with the economic crisis there is excellent reason to be even more optimistic. Not only did incumbent Cliff Stearns run for congress on the platform of only staying in congress until 2000, but Cliff Stearns is one of the representatives most invested in the deregulation legislation of the last 20 years.
This whole financial fiasco is partially a product of Stearns lack of vision in congress. If we re-elect him we'll jsut get more of the Same Ol' Stearns.
Save America - The truth about deregulation and the current economic crisis
Every one of us is concerned – maybe even scared – about the economic crisis confronting our nation.
We are being asked to spend nearly $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars) to bail out greedy, self-serving, and possibly criminal speculators and market manipulators.
The Wall Street elite and their Washington enablers gambled away the enormous wealth of the American people. Their actions are the cause of the current crisis.
In recent days, my opponent, Rep. Clifford Stearns (R-FL-6) has called for new regulations on financial services institutions to rein in Wall Street and end the financial meltdown.
This is a suspiciously-timed, rapid transformation for Stearns. Before this week, he was a consistent and outspoken promoter of the deregulation that is to blame for the housing market collapse and the current economic crisis.
It’s hard to play a fair game when the refs are thrown off the field.
Yet that’s exactly what Stearns did on Wall Street.
He voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which removed safeguards FDR established after the Crash of 1929 to prevent another Great Depression.
He voted for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which created the “Enron Loophole,” responsible for collapse of the California energy market and the Enron debacle, in which thousands of people lost their hard-earned savings.
Not only has Stearns played it fast and loose with regulatory safeguards; he has consistently opposed measures to protect the public and their investments.
This spring he wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson questioning the prudence of increasing oversight of commercial banks, and asking whether the government should even play a role in protecting homeowners from foreclosure.
Stearns voted against the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act, which increased regulation and transparency of mortgage lenders and the housing market.
Stearns voted against the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which allowed the refinancing of subprime mortgage loans, and will save approximately 600,000 families from losing their homes.
The recent “Farm Bill” repealed the Enron Loopholes and restored federal regulation. Stearns voted against it.
Stearns had opportunities to act to avert this crisis.
Instead he made a speech this week.
Now, with the seemingly-invincible financial market melting before our eyes, Stearns and the Washington establishment are finally calling for regulation of the financial system.
Stearns promises to put an end to the reckless conduct he consistently encouraged. In other words, he was “for it”, but now he’s “against it.”
That is simply too little, too late, from a Washington insider who’s been in office too long.
Stearns proposes to fix the crisis he helped create by establishing a bureaucracy like the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), formed to bail out Wall Street after the S&L debacle of the 1980s. The RTC left taxpayers holding the tab for $124 billion, while large commercial banks, politically-connected investors, and corporations like General Electric made huge profits.
The solutions that Stearns and the Washington establishment are proposing are a jumble of ill-conceived and exceptionally costly regulations that leave too much power in the hands of those who got us into this mess, and too few direct benefits for average Americans.
Congress must act to counter this crisis, but what should they do?
• Authorize the Treasury to grant short-term government-backed loans at modest rates to ensure that cash-strapped businesses remain operational.
• Eliminate “golden parachutes” for CEOs that lead their companies into the ditch.
• Put Wall Street insiders at the end of the line, to be “rescued” only after taxpayers, regular employees, and innocent shareholders are paid back in full.
• Eliminate “blank check” authority for the Treasury Secretary in the proposed bailout – replace it with a bipartisan supervisory board to ensure accountability, transparency and efficiency.
• Repeal the deregulation legislation that caused this mess – put the “refs” back on the field.
• Provide tax relief and liquidity assurances for small businesses to speed recovery on Main Street and maximize new job growth.
A reactionary and swift bailout will not be enough. We must end the “trickle down” economics that benefits billionaires but fails everyone else. We need “bubble up” economics to shift financial power to the American people.
I propose a “Save America” stimulus plan – a plan to encourage widespread, long-term savings and investment by all Americans, and to create millions of jobs by rebuilding crumbling infrastructure and developing efficient, sustainable energy resources. [Details are at www.TimCunha.com/SaveAmerica]
Under this plan, every American would receive a portion of the market bailout in the form of an investment account, wisely invested in local banks, real estate trusts, or stock market index funds. It could not be used for frivolous spending, and would be exempt from most claims and garnishment. All income from these accounts would be tax exempt for at least five years – and maybe longer.
We must democratize the financial system and give every American a stake in market success.
We need new perspective and vision in Washington.
Stearns and the Washington establishment have failed to create a plan for energy independence, failed to ensure that all Americans have access to healthcare, and failed entirely to regulate the greed and dishonesty that has nearly destroyed our economy.
Washington has failed us. Stearns has failed us.
We are tired of broken promises and failed policies.
It’s time to change – it’s time to elect Tim Cunha as a new citizen congressman for Florida.