Political Quotes

“Thank you, Madam President. Ten years ago today, at breakfast tables all around the country, Americans read a shocking headline: ``Fed assumes the role of lender of last resort.'' The biggest investment banks on Wall Street were getting their first taxpayer bailout, but some of the banks were so addicted to poisonous scam mortgages that even that bailout wasn't enough. Within a week, Bear Stearns--an 85-year-old fixture on Wall Street--would fall, and the financial crisis would begin. Within a year, American workers' retirement accounts had lost $2.7 trillion, almost one-third of their value. No one bailed them out. Within 2 years, 8.8 million Americans had lost their jobs. No one bailed them out. Within 3 years, more than 4 million homes had been lost to foreclosures, and millions more were in danger. No one bailed the homeowners out. Now, to mark the 10th anniversary of that devastating crisis, the Senate is on the verge of rolling back the rules on the big banks again. Last week I talked about how this bill guts important consumer protections, how it weakens the oversight of banks with up to a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets, and how it could set the stage for another financial crisis, just like past bipartisan bills to roll back the financial rules.…”