My Decision to Oppose Bailing Out Wall Street with Taxpayer Dollars
By Darrell Issa
As disturbing as the volatility and turmoil on Wall Street are, the prospect of transferring trillions of dollars of risk and losses to taxpayers is appalling. How can any American look their neighbor in the eye and suggest that they should bear the losses for the mistakes and greed of America’s wealthiest financial firms? I am emphatically against it.
Accountability is a pillar of our free market economic system. The market rewards good business decisions and punishes bad ones. The course of action supported by the Administration and the Congressional leadership undermines this fundamental principle by bailing out those on Wall Street who made risky and foolhardy decisions by transferring their losses to taxpayers. Losses on Wall Street should be first and foremost the responsibility of the investors and creditors who engaged in these business transactions.
As a private citizen who was an entrepreneur and business owner before I came to Congress, I accepted the risks and benefitted from the rewards that resulted from my decisions. The barons of Wall Street should be held to the same standard as every small business owner and every citizen. These financiers knew the hazards they were exposing their firms and investors to when they made decisions to invest heavily in sub-prime mortgage backed securities, and did so in pursuit of greater profits. They called the tune, let them face the music.
The American economy has time and again weathered political shocks and financial hardships and proven itself resilient. I am confident that we will get through the current turmoil, overcome the losses now being incurred, and return to financial prosperity. Harnessing taxpayers with an additional trillion dollars in debt won’t advance that process.
The proper role of the Administration and the Congress at this time is to provide proper oversight of the Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission and other financial regulatory agencies; to determine the factors that led to current crisis; to make policy and regulatory changes to prevent a recurrence; and to investigate and prosecute civil and criminal wrongdoing in the marketplace that may have contributed to the financial meltdown we are witnessing.
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