Keith Ellison: “The Great Depression. I am telling you, the signs are not good. We need bold, decisive action which puts the public…”

“The Great Depression. I am telling you, the signs are not good. We need bold, decisive action which puts the public sector and the private sector in a partnership to look out for the American consumer. This is what we have to do. You know, Mr. Yarmuth, let me talk to you a little bit about some things you inspired me to think about. When we had Chairman Frank out to Minnesota, we had a hearing on the foreclosure crisis. One of the pieces of testimony that came out is that a lot of folks actually could not find rent at the amount that they could buy into a subprime mortgage. In other words, they could get into a 228 or a 327, which means you have a low rate for 2 or 3 years and then it jumps way up. The teaser rate was lower than the market rent they could find. Since nobody was checking income, they got into that. Then when the 2 or 3 years expired, they were in a mess. The mortgage jumped up, there was not enough equity in the house even to refinance it, and they were foreclosed upon. Now, that speaks to another thing we have done in this 110th Congress, and that is invested in a National Housing Trust Fund so we could truly invest in affordable housing, which is part of the equation here. In America, we need an overhaul of our economic system. We need real progressivity in our Tax Code.”