On the recordMay 4, 2010
I hope we will be able to move ahead and get a good piece of legislation through the Senate. I don't know what time it will take, but what is far more important is that we get it right. The consequences of not making the changes necessary would be that we would experience again at some point in the future the kind of financial crisis we have seen in the last couple years. It is a significant crisis for a lot of Americans--about $15 trillion of lost value, but that is an aggregate number that doesn't mean much. What means something is that millions of people are losing their jobs, their homes, and many are losing hope. That is the consequence of this kind of very deep recession--the deepest recession since the Great Depression. Following the Great Depression, if you read the economic history of the country, you will find that a number of very aggressive pieces of legislation were put into place to protect our country and make certain that could not happen again.
