Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, since it began in 2007, the Great Recession has caused tremendous hardships throughout the Nation. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, in increasingly larger numbers every month, including 741,000 in January 2009 alone. Our economy contracted an astounding 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, and an unbelievable 6.4 percent as this Congress and the Obama administration were taking office in the first quarter of 2009. Foreclosures were skyrocketing, up 81 percent in 2008, with more than 2.3 million homes in default or seized. Our economy was on the brink. Nowhere was that more evident than in the precipitous drop of American households' net worth. I brought a visual aid today because words alone cannot do this loss justice. From December 2007 through March 2009, Americans lost $17.5 trillion in net worth. That is trillion with a ``t.'' That is larger than the entire economy of the United States. If we dedicated the entire output of the U.S. economy, every penny spent by every single person, it still would not equal that loss. It represented a loss of $56,000 for every single person in our country. I am not talking about the value of a business, or corporate profit. The net worth of American households is their 401(k) and retirement accounts. It is in the value of their children's education fund. It is their emergency savings and nest eggs. It is the equity in their homes, the single largest asset most Americans have.…”