Maffei, Sweetland back bailout
Syracuse Post-Standard
Mike McAndrew
September 26th, 2008
http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-1/12224194316440.xml&coll=1
Hawkins says investors, not the taxpayers, should eat the losses from bad loans.
The two major-party 25th Congressional District candidates support spending billions of tax dollars to bail out the Wall Street investment banks, provided there are strings attached to protect taxpayers.
Democrat Dan Maffei and Republican Dale Sweetland staked out their positions Thursday as Congress debated what conditions it would impose and after President Bush warned inaction could lead to a financial panic.
Green Populist candidate Howie Hawkins said he is opposed to taxpayers bailing out the investment houses.
Here's what the candidates said:
Sweetland
"Yes, I would support using tax dollars to buy out the bad debt. I would like terms negotiated with it to ensure an attempt for taxpayers to get their money back. It should not just be a handout."
Sweetland said Congress should restrict bonuses and salary increases for top executives at banks receiving the federal aid.
"The bailout needs to be structured so that companies in the future don't think they can run rampant and expect taxpayers to bail them out. Once we get past this immediate situation, Congress needs to sit down and have deliberate discussions about how we're going to regulate and oversee what goes on in the future to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Maffei
"I suggest four points to make sure any bailout we have is fair to the taxpayers. We want to make absolutely sure there are no golden parachutes, that we don't reward executives and Wall Street CEOs for putting us in this mess.
"We want to sure there is some equity to the taxpayers. If there's going to be these big bailouts, if the bailouts work out and the assets turn out to be worth something, that the taxpayers get a fair share of that.
"We want to make sure that people who have mortgages on Main Street as well as Wall Street get some relief. That some of them are allowed to renegotiate their mortgages just like the big companies are renegotiating their conditions.
"We need to make absolutely sure we have proper oversight. We have had lack of oversight, both congressional and administrative, for the last eight years. The president and Congress bear most of the blame for this mess."
Hawkins
"Our economy of about $15 trillion annual gross domestic product is burdened with about $45 trillion in private and public debt, including about $10 trillion in mortgage debt. This debt bubble is now bursting. The bankers knew it would.
"As real estate, securities and other assets fall to prices that the real economy can support, the question is who is going to pay? Wealthy investors or average taxpayers? The investors who took the risks should eat their losses.
"Government should step in as the banker of last resort to bail out the 3 million to 4 million households facing foreclosure with discounted 30-year fixed mortgages and to finance public works in sustainable green infrastructure to revitalize the real economy of labor and industry."
Mike McAndrew can be reached at mmcandrew@syracuse.com or 470-3016.
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