Thread: Myrick Votes No On Bailout / E-mail

MYRICK VOTES NO ON BAILOUT

Rep. Myrick issued the following statement regarding her financial rescue package vote:


“I voted against the financial package that was before the House today. While I believe that something must be done swiftly to stave off a financial crisis, I’m not convinced that this particular plan is the answer.


My conservative colleagues have successfully made a dangerous plan safer for the American people, and they deserve credit for standing up for the average taxpayer. That said, I don’t believe that the bill before us today addresses some of the most serious problems facing our financial system, and I don’t believe that simply buying up bad assets with taxpayer money is in the interest of free enterprise, the government, or the taxpayer. The plan, unfortunately, creates bad incentives for poor management and risky business practices.

This financial problem was caused by government intervention in the mortgage market that encouraged – if not forced – lenders to make risky loans and created a housing bubble that finally burst. Financial institutions made loans to people with little or no income verification and limited creditworthiness. The poorly-designed, poorly-managed Government Sponsored Enterprises, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, bought these sub-prime mortgages and packaged them as securities, with the implicit understanding that they were backed by the federal government. Wall Street got greedy and leveraged assets at far from responsible ratios to obtain easy credit and capital to gobble up these securities. Finally, insurance institutions were far too quick to offer insurance for these securities, which were often given the highest credit ratings despite the underlying weakness of the mortgages of which they were comprised.

Sooner or later, this house of cards had to fall. Unfortunately, the financial institutions involved are so large and the sums of money so great that the crisis has affected nearly every sector of our economy. Banks are suspicious of one another and they’re no longer extending credit. Without the exchange of commercial paper, it’s difficult for businesses to get loans. Homebuilders can’t sell their properties because the mortgage market has frozen.

I believe that there are alternatives to the risky plan that is before us, including, but not limited to the following:

Don’t put Taxpayers on the Hook:

- Offer secured loans from Treasury at a punitive interest rate to provide needed capital and give firms time to restructure, while still holding shareholders and debt holders accountable. This is better than directly involving the government in the mortgage backed securities market.

- Allow FDIC to purchase “net worth certificatesâ€

How about firing and jailing Bernanke and Paulsen?

How about reversing CAFTA and NAFTA and bringing back manufacturing to the US so we don't have a debt based economy and we are able to support ourselves?

How about we get rid of the fractional reserve system?

Why not get rid of the crooked Federal Reserve and back our money by silver or gold like our constitution mandates?