[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20802]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        TAXPAYERS SHOULD NOT BAIL OUT THE BARONS OF WALL STREET

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, the American taxpayers should not be asked 
to bail out the barons of Wall Street, Henry Paulson's best friends.
  Plain and simple, Wall Street should pay for itself. There is ample 
precedent. This country assessed a securities transfer fee in the Civil 
War, Spanish-American War, and from 1914 until 1966. A modest fee, one-
quarter of one percent, the same fee assessed on the London Exchange, 
would raise $150 billion a year from stock trades and commodity trades 
on Wall Street, which could more than pay for the bailout. That is, 
Wall Street can pay for its own excess and can pay to bail itself out.
  Main Street should not get stuck with the bill for the huge party 
that was thrown on Wall Street.

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