Political Quotes

“I just wish to say that a lot of work went into this bill on consumer protection. You don't have to wait 10 or 15 years to find out what can happen. We have watched painfully what can happen over the last several years, when the very people--the prudential regulators--should have been standing and saying: No-doc loans are wrong and dangerous. In fact, it was consumer groups that warned about the real estate bubble. We were being told everything was safe and sound because people were making money, and it looked like it might go on forever. Of course, everyone has 20/20 hindsight looking back as to what occurred. But had we had in place someone saying: No-doc loans, no downpayments, adjustable rate mortgages at fully indexed prices are going to cripple people's ability to meet those obligations, we wouldn't be in the situation we are in today. None of the seven agencies that have jurisdiction over consumer protection were doing their job very well.”