Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, tonight, it is really important that America comes to understand how the great collapse of 2008 occurred and what its impact has been. I think they have a pretty good idea as to what the impact is. We see it back home. We see it from our constituents and from our own families as they face layoffs and as they face losing their homes and their mortgages that they are no longer able to afford. How did all of this happen? We want to discuss this tonight, and we want to discuss the effect that it is having on our constituents. At the same time, we want to talk about what we are going to do about it. How are we going to set straight the financial institutions of America? We know that the collapse was largely caused by some extraordinary shenanigans on Wall Street. Shenanigans never should have been allowed to be played, but they were due to a lack of regulation on the part of the SEC and of others and due to an attitude that occurred during the 2000-2008 period of ``anything goes.'' The free market would somehow regulate itself. Well, it didn't. It actually put this Nation and the entire world on the edge of total collapse. Joining me tonight are my colleagues from California and from Ohio. I would like to start with Congresswoman Speier. I was going to introduce Congresswoman Speier as the senate chairman of the California legislature's committee on banking and financial matters where she has gained extraordinary knowledge about the banking industry.…”