[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22682]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        BAILING OUT WALL STREET

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. The problem with what Congress is trying to fix is that 
Paulson's premise is wrong, that if we take and dump $700 billion into 
Wall Street, buying up their bad assets, somehow the benefits will 
trickle down to Main Street and prop up our struggling housing market. 
As Mr. Isaac, the former head of the FDIC says, ``Having financial 
institutions sell the loans to the government at inflated prices so the 
government can turn around and sell the loans to well-healed investors 
at lower prices strikes me as a very good deal for everyone but U.S. 
taxpayers. Surely we can do better.'' He proposes a credible 
alternative, similar to something done during the savings and loan 
crisis.
  There are many cheaper alternatives out there that don't put 
taxpayers on the hook. But if we are going to go ahead with the Paulson 
premise, then it should be paid for by Wall Street with a modest one-
quarter of 1 percent transfer tax on securities, something we had from 
1914 until 1966. The Brits apply a one-half of 1 percent tax, and they 
use that money just to fund their government. Here we would use it to 
help Wall Street heal itself.
  Some are saying, well, the initial payment is only going to be $250 
billion now. $250 billion would double our investment in infrastructure 
in the United States for 5 years.

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