Political Quotes

“lastly, I think it is worth noting that in all the analysis that we did to root out the cause of the crisis, it was not the American people who were at fault. Their prosperity was built on hard work, entrepreneurship, and creativity. Those qualities are as strong now in the American people as they have ever been. We have seen a pattern of exploitation on the part of some executives and others in the financial sector, and a lack of wisdom on the part of too many Washington regulators. What we have seen is a lack of integrity on the part of some greedy individuals, who sought to get rich by ripping off the American families. What we have seen is a lack of compassion and competence on the part of those who were supposed to be watching out for the interests of consumers and investments. As a result, there has been a deficit of trust in our markets, foresight in our regulatory system, and confidence in our economy. The challenge we have faced all along is how do you restore those things? How do we restore trust? I can't put a number on that for you. I can't tell you the financial implications of the absence of trust or a diminution of it. How do we bring back confidence and optimism, which has been the hallmark of our Nation, even through the most difficult of times? You can't legislate trust or confidence or optimism. As I said, you cannot legislate wisdom or integrity, and we have not sought to do so in this bill.”