Johnny Isakson: “I rise, first of all, to commend Senator Dodd, Senator Shelby, Senator Grassley, and Senator Baucus on a piece of…”

“I rise, first of all, to commend Senator Dodd, Senator Shelby, Senator Grassley, and Senator Baucus on a piece of legislation that is important, and which I will vote for. I am going to talk for a few minutes about some suggestions for the managers of this bill to think about as we get toward a final managers' amendment at the end of this debate because there are a couple technical changes that could make a significant difference. But, first of all, I want to make sure one thing is said. We hear a lot about bailing out lenders and lenders being bad guys. Let me tell you something. The people who originated these loans loaned money that was raised on Wall Street by investment bankers and underwritten by Moody's and Standard & Poors. Moody's and Standard & Poors underwrote securities that were bought around the world by investors, that paid a high dividend but were on very risky subprime credit. That is where the fault lies--Moody's and Standard & Poors and on the investment banking community. As a parenthetical suggestion, I hope Wall Street is listening because what is happening in the commodities market is the same guys doing the same thing again. If you look at the rapid price of all commodities, they are going up because of a huge influx in the commodities market. The only position-limited people in the commodities market are investment bankers.”