Political Quotes

“Mr. President, 10 years ago almost to the day, this country was on the verge of a financial crisis that would wreck the lives of millions of families. The experts--let's say the so-called experts--had their heads in the sand. They shrugged off the warnings. They told the public everything was fine. Jim Cramer was telling hard-working Americans to invest their money in Bear Stearns. Maybe younger Members of the Senate don't really remember what Bear Stearns was. Jim Cramer said: ``I'm not giving up on the thing.'' Bank of America was putting the finishing touches on its plan to buy the subprime lender Countrywide, which they called ``the best domestic mortgage platform.'' Hank Paulson, the last Treasury Secretary who got plucked from Goldman Sachs--we have had at least one since--downplayed homeowners' pain. He said: ``You know, the stock market goes up and down every day more than the entire value of the subprime mortgages in the country.'' Meanwhile, advocates in communities--the people who were actually dealing with the consequences of the crisis--were sounding the alarm. The fair lending group Greenlining began meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan at least once a year, starting in 1999--1999-- to warn about predatory mortgage lending. Attorneys general from across the country started to caution about troubling trends.…”