Gordon Clark: Van Hollen Ignores Constituents, Votes for Failed Wall Street Bailout

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Media Contact:
David Gaines
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Gordon Clark: Van Hollen Ignores Constituents, Votes for Failed Wall Street Bailout

Silver Spring, Maryland (September 30th, 2008) - The Clark for Congress campaign issued the following statement today on the financial bailout legislation crisis by 8th District Green Party congressional candidate Gordon Clark:

"In spite of overwhelming public opposition to the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout, Chris Van Hollen voted yesterday in favor of the bill that was ultimately rejected by the House of Representatives. Perhaps this is because Mr. Van Hollen has accepted more than $33,000 from the securities industry this past year and, as Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has helped raise more than $5 million from them.

"What is good for flailing Wall Street firms is not necessarily good for the rest of America, though, and most Americans seem to be realizing that. A major restructuring on Wall Street needs to happen, but it needs to be very different that the bill that the House just rejected. And in trying to figure out what is needed, it is remarkable that Congressional leaders, including Mr. Van Hollen, submitted to this bum's rush of an instant $700 billion taxpayer bailout, demanded by the same Bush Administration officials who have been wrong on the economy (and most other issues) all along.

"Here is a short list of what they got wrong in the bill, and what was missing altogether. These elements need to be fixed for any bill to be successful, and to gain the support of the American people:

What They Got Wrong

Who Pays – Proponents of the bill say American taxpayers will get repaid, but no one knows that for sure. So why should already hard-pressed low and middle-income families have to foot the bailout bill? Why not pay for this by repealing tax cuts that benefited the wealthiest Americans (including the mavens of Wall Street), the same people who received a disproportionate share of the national wealth as the stock market soared in recent years? In addition, why not institute a small, 1% tax on securities transactions? These two measures alone would raise hundreds of billions of dollars. If the securities transaction tax had been in place after the Enron collapse it would have already paid for the cost of the current bailout. A corporate minimum tax should also be instituted – 2/3 of American corporations paid no income taxes between 1998 and 2005.

Who is in Charge – The failed bailout bill gave vast and unprecedented power to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, himself a former CEO of Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs. The "oversight" in the rejected bill is often retroactive – Mr. Paulson would only have to report to Congress on what he's done after the fact. Decisions regarding the largest government intervention in the financial markets in U.S. history should not be concentrated in the hands of just a few people - especially people who helped create the crisis to begin with.

Who Owns the Companies – The failed bailout bill would only give taxpayers – through the government – the option to obtain non-voting shares of stock in companies that participate. Companies who now want the government to cover their reckless behavior should be required to give the government shares of voting stock in their companies.

Limit CEO Compensation – No Loopholes – Much of the wildly excessive financial risks of recent years have been taken by Wall Street CEOs attempting to gain immense short term profits. There salaries and compensation should be strictly limited by any bailout package – no exceptions - to prevent similar risks from being taken in the future.

What Was Missing

Reregulation – A major cause of the current financial crisis was the deregulation of the financial industry that has happened over the past 20 years – deregulation pushed by members of Congress who were accepting campaign contributions from the very industry they were deregulating. If these same firms now want to be bailed out, that should come only with the condition of vigorous reregulation. The idea that Congress would look at reregulation only after the companies' bad assets have been taken off their hands is wrong-headed, and only invites the same thing to happen all over again.

Help for Homeowners – Another major cause of the current crisis is the millions of home foreclosures that have made mortgage backed securities near worthless, and the minor non-binding provisions included in the failed bailout bill are completely insufficient. The home foreclosure crisis must be controlled, and to do this Congress must consider measures such as a moratorium on foreclosures, and/or measures to compel banks to renegotiate loans – such as the Saving Family Homes Act of 2008, which would allow homeowners the option of staying in their homes as renters if their bank tried to foreclose on them.

Investment in Main Street - What would help the economy more – bailing out banks on Wall Street, or making investments to create jobs on Main Street? Congress should pass a major economic stimulus package that focuses on transforming our nation from a fossil-fuel based economy to a renewable energy economy – an effort that would create millions of new jobs while simultaneously meeting our future energy needs and confronting the crisis of global warming."

Gordon Clark, the Green Party candidate for U. S. Congress from Maryland's 8th District, has for over twenty years been a community activist in the peace, environmental, nonviolence, and social justice arenas. He is a former National Executive Director of Peace Action, the founder of Iraq Pledge of Resistance (now the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance), and a former Field Director for Public Citizen's Congress Watch.

For more information on the Clark for Congress campaign, call (301) 589-2355, email info@clarkforcongress.net, or visit www.clarkforcongress.net and www.myspace.com/clarkforcongress.

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