Bob Kelleher Speaks Out on $700B Bailout
The taxpayers shouldn't have to carry the load without some payback
September 22, 2008--
I have some urgent recommendations for members of Congress currently serving the people of Montana. At this time we (the taxpayers of the United States)are being asked to risk our financial future to rescue a group of "professional" financial managers who did some very stupid things. Things that would have been illegal only a few years ago, and that
should be illegal still.
If we intend to pursue this bailout, we, the taxpayers, need to get something in return for our billions. Thetaxpayers must receive majority equity positions in all of the companies that benefit from the taxpayer bailout funds and all of the company board members and CEO's must be summarily sacked without compensation of any kind. No golden parachutes on the taxpayer dime!
I want Montanans to ask Max Baucus what he is doing to protect the financial status of the people of Montana, not just bailing out his buddies on Wall Street. The people of Montana need to ask Max why he supported legislation legalize these insane practices. Through this entire period of deregulation, Max Baucus has failed to represent the needs of the people of Montana.
Well, Max, the people don't work for free, and the people's money does not come free either. We, the American taxpayer, expect to be compensated.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 removed barriers between banks, securities firms, mortgage lenders and insurance companies. Sen. Max Baucus voted for this bill on November 4, 1999. At the signing ceremony, the Sen. Phil Gramm (now a lobbyist for Swiss banking interests) said: "The world Changes and Congress and the laws have to change with it.
"Abraham Lincoln used to use the analogy that old and outmoded laws need to be changed because it made about as much sense to continue to impose them on people as it did to ask a man to wear the same close he did when he was a child.
"In the 1930s, at the trough of the Depression, when Glass-Steagall became law, it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed
"We are here today to repeal Glass-Steagall because we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we
promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom.
"I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulation bill. I believe that that is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality."
It seems Senator Gramm forgot that free markets are inherently amoral and will take what ever advantage they can to make short term profits without concern for the long term welfare of the people or the stockholders. That it seems, is the responsibility of government!
For More Information Contact:
Bob Kelleher for US Senate 2008
Box 397, Butte MT 59703
Tel: 406-565-5711
FAX: 406-565-5251
Email: bob@bobkelleher2008.com
Web: www.bobkelleher2008.com
Afterthought: Abe Lincoln may have approved of change, I doubt he would have wanted us to run around naked. Gramm and Baucus have left us naked.
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