53° CLOUDY, Thompson explains his bailout 'no'
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 11:03 a.m.
More regulation and more taxpayer protection are needed in the $700 billion bailout bill expected to resurface in Congress as soon as today, said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena.
Thompson declined to say whether he will ultimately vote for a bailout, citing the number of changing circumstances, such as the stock market's fall Monday and rebound Tuesday.
"We need to get it right," he said. "That's the issue. I think we can do that. I think we can do it expeditiously."
Thompson and Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, voted against the measure Monday.
Woolsey could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but has said she rejected the package because "it failed to address the root cause of the financial crisis."
Thompson, a fiscally conservative Democrat, said the bill needs to minimize taxpayer risk and also address more of the "underlying problems" of the economic meltdown.
For example, Thompson advocated regulation of credit default swaps, the obscure financial instrument used by speculators to bet that a certain company will fail.
The government also needs to "get a position" in private companies receiving bailout funds. The position must be "first and foremost," he said, so that Wall Street firms don't "end up with the good stuff" while taxpayers are "stuck holding the junk."
Citing an upcoming round of adjustable-rate mortgage shifts next year, Thompson said the bailout -- billed Tuesday as an "economic rescue" -- should give homeowners some protection against foreclosure.
Without such protection, he said, mortgage payments could swell, and "we're back in the same soup."
An organization of major Bay Area employers Tuesday sent a letter to Thompson, Woolsey, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, and Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, who all voted against the bailout.
"Member companies from all sectors of the economy are expressing extreme concern that should a package not be adopted, and soon, there will be a complete freeze in the already tight capital markets," Bay Area Council President Jim Wunderman says in the letter.
"This will have a catastrophic impact on the region's economy, and downsizing and layoffs will be inevitable."
You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.
Events Calendar More Events Submit Event
- Woman ID'd in fatal one-car crash
- Hwy. 101 victim was Forestville woman
- Old vine cut at historic home
- Fatal accident ties up traffic on Hwy. 101 south
- Petaluma stabbing suspect held
- 49ers make the grade in Buffalo
- Sheriff's officials say men with guns planned marijuana heist
- Pit bulls on the attack in Mendocino
- For a change, 49ers finish what they start
- Passenger killed in Petaluma crash
- Old vine cut at historic home
- Hwy. 101 victim was Forestville woman
- Woman ID'd in fatal one-car crash
- Fight against homelessness
- Former youth soccer coach takes plea deal in sex case
- Sheriff's officials say men with guns planned marijuana heist
- Looking for a job online?
- Called to duty again
- Petaluma stabbing suspect held
- It's official: U.S. in recession
- At least other tricks worked 9 min ago
- Armstrong in Tour de France 18 min ago
- Nelson's brutal honesty about Warriors is sad statement 19 min ago
- Stage is set for 2009 Amgen Tour 24 min ago
- Copia files bankruptcy 3 hrs ago
- Evans ready for challenge 3 hrs ago
- Former youth soccer coach takes plea deal in sex case 4 hrs ago
- Newman, St. Vincent still alive in thinning football playoffs 4 hrs ago
- Holiday Lights Spy 5 hrs ago
- AC/DC rocks Oakland 6 hrs ago
Comments
Only moderator-approved comments are shown on this page. To see all comments, please visit the forum.Post a comment | View all comments on this topic.
October 1, 2008 6:48:47 am
RE: Link
The BAILOUT was just more FRAUD. The Free Market will right itself without the government taking over more financial institutions. You saw what happened with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? Why would you support the government getting involved in MORE financial institutions? Our Government CAUSED this problem. Our Government PARADED SPORTS STARS INTO COURT over STEROIDS (OOOOoooooo), yet everyone's hush-hush about this gigantic fraud. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL INVOLVED IN THIS FRAUD. Wake up, America. Don't re-elect ANYONE. FRESH BLOOD IN THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE from now on. Stem the bleeding. Feinstein, Boxer, Thompson, Woolsey - ALL PART OF THE PROBLEM IN WASHINGTON. Get it yet? Our politicians are ALL CORRUPT. Elect a farmer, or a teacher or an auto mechanic to the Senate and the House. Clean up Sacramento and clean up Washington now, or PALIN will have to do it for you...
October 1, 2008 8:11:04 am
We need to take over the Federal Bank and Nationalize it! It is the only fix! Read the Book (Uncle Sam Cooks the Books) Now the law being thought about is 400 pages! So who going to read it before they VOTE!?
October 1, 2008 9:29:44 am
Thompson's explanation was exactly what I wanted to hear. Still laughing that Paulson wanted to be the "Supreme Being" of the market with no oversight whatsoever. Pelosi said what she said because either way, republicans were going to make the failure of the bailout vote the Dem's fault. Think the bailout's bad? We're $700 billion in the hole for Iraq (apart from this bailout), with war profiteers like Cheney making gazillons on it. Bush policies failed miserably but boy did they make money doing it!
October 1, 2008 9:32:29 am
just get rid of the fed all together.
October 1, 2008 3:39:26 pm
thewholetruth...........Right On!!!! The Free Market will right itself. Let BofA, Wells Fargo or whoever is left standing bail out these firms. They know how to make money...the Feds only know how to spend it. We will never, never ever get one red cent back from this bailout. NEVER!!!!! Vote them all out of office is right. None of them want to cut the budget but just raise taxes and spend, spend and spend more.
October 1, 2008 4:22:34 pm
The government made money on the Chrysler bailout.
October 1, 2008 6:19:19 pm
It also made money on the Resolution Trust Corporation, the savings and loan bailout of the 80's.
It can be done, but the bill before the Congress now isn't the way to do it.
Post a comment | View all comments