Himes Addresses Financial Crisis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 18, 2008
NORWALK, CT - Today, Jim Himes, Democratic candidate for Congress, released the following statement on the financial crisis:
"In the past few weeks, we have seen financial giants crumble: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae needed a government bailout, as did AIG, while Lehman Brothers went out of business. This crisis is the direct result of government policy that has removed the referee from the playing field. When Chris Shays supported the Gramm-Leach-Bliley banking reforms, he made no effort to regulate this rapidly changing sector of our economy. In fact, he has said that "the last thing I like seeing is regulation." We need to return the referee to the field. If financial institutions are going to be bailed out like banks, then they should be regulated like banks.
"That is why I support a system of smart regulations that will account for recent changes in our financial markets. In Congress, I will support a regulatory overhaul that ends the current alphabet soup structure and establishes a sensible, system-wide monitor that alerts us when a bank has taken on too much risk. We should also change corporate governance so that CEOs are accountable to shareholders. For too long, CEOs have lived in a world where success is rewarded, but there's no price to pay for failure. That must change. Finally, America must always be the best place in the world to do business. Any regulatory overhaul should keep international financial norms in mind, so that our financial markets remain competitive.
"Chris Shays does not seem to understand the scope of this problem. In fact, he thinks our economy is "fundamentally strong." The truth is, investors need to have confidence that their money is going to grow, not disappear, when they invest. Smart regulation will restore confidence in our markets and help our economy get back on track. As someone who spent twelve years working for one of the firms that has avoided this mess, I have valuable experience to lend to this important effort."
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