[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 19, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2259-E2260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. GWEN MOORE

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 3, 2008

  Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, I am angry.
  I am angry that we have been put in this position by clever financial 
wizards on Wall Street who operated without the necessary regulations 
and oversight for the past eight years.
  I am angry that we are being asked to clean up a mess that could have 
been prevented if it weren't for corporate greed and lax government 
oversight.
  I share the sentiments of Meyer Mishkin, who during the crash of 1929 
owned a shop in New York that sold silk shirts to working men. He said 
then that it ``served those rich scoundrels right.''
  But a year later, as the Wall Street crash spread to the rest of 
America, Mr. Mishkin's own store went out of business and he never held 
a steady job again.
  Fast forward to 2008. Meyer Mishkin's grandson, an economist and 
former Fed Reserve Board member, tells us ``To do nothing right now is 
to do what was done during the Great Depression.''
  Madam Speaker, this is not about Rolex watches and Wall Street. It's 
about watching out for workers, families, retirees and small businesses 
in my district who will be up against the wall by this resulting credit 
crisis as it spreads to Main Street.
  If we don't act and the credit markets seize up, we risk a situation 
in which people can't get mortgages, stores are unable to finance their 
inventory, local governments are unable to continue to finance 
services, and employers are unable to make payroll and start laying off 
workers and dropping shifts. We are already beginning to see the 
effects in my district and across the country.
  We could say ``let's sit back and do nothing''.

[[Page E2260]]

  But that is taking a huge risk with my constituents' economic 
futures. Look at it this way: If your foolish neighbor accidentally 
sets his apartment on fire, you could just let it burn and say that it 
serves him right. But the truth is, you live in the same apartment 
building: unless you call the fire department and use taxpayer funds to 
have it put out, in a short time your apartment is going to be 
destroyed by that same fire.
  This bill is not perfect, but improvements have been made and 
protections and accountability have been added to it over the past two 
weeks. Now CEO's will be prohibited from collecting ``golden 
parachute'' payments or huge bonuses based on their company's stock 
price if their institutions want to participate. Also, since the 
federal government will become the owner of many troubled mortgages, 
the bill directs the Treasury Department to try to help some of those 
homeowners stay in their homes by easing the terms of the loan in ways 
that might prevent foreclosure and eviction. And if this works as it 
should, taxpayer outlays should be recouped--and perhaps even a profit 
turned--as the federal government sells the mortgages back into the 
market over time.
  Madam Speaker, I had family who lived through the Great Depression, 
and I know that when the wider economy tailspins into a depression, it 
is poor and working families who are hit the hardest. I am not willing 
to stand by and do nothing while this crash spreads to my constituents.

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