Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to share my major disappointment and key concerns with the so-called Wall Street reform bill that just passed this House and why I voted ``no'' on this measure. Bottom line, the bill does not fundamentally change the skewed financial power relationship between Wall Street and Main Street. That relationship has so gravely hurt our Nation. The bill allows the Wall Street institutions to maintain their choke hold on Main Street's vitals. The big banks that have caused our economic crisis by severely abusing their privilege to create money were treated with kid gloves. Now, the Republican leader said that the bill was like a nuclear weapon aimed at an ant. I say, the bill was a cotton ball thrown at an elephant. The bill does not even create real competition to the handful of big banks that have simply become too big and controlling. Indeed, the bill allows them to keep their vaulted positions with a few modifications to their business practices. It will take years for regulators to sort out and apply, if ever, the mild provisions in the bill. And there are so many loopholes you could read the bill for another year to find them all. A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at the Federal Reserve cannot compensate for a banking system that is, at its heart, terribly misformed. Time will prove this view correct.…”