Why Politicians Jump To Help Investment Companies
Sep 20, 2008 Political
I don’t like the idea of taxpayer money going to bail out companies that made bad decisions any more than I like the idea of bailing out people who bought homes they could not afford. If you take bad decisions then you should have to live with the consequences. I understand why they have to bail out companies but I don’t like it. I can only hope that the companies are forced to pay the money back.
Why are politicians so gung ho to bail out the companies? They are guilty of causing the problem, (both parties share in the guilt) and now they are running to show they are on top of things when they should have been on top in 2003 when George Bush wanted to have tighter control or in 2005 when John McCain warned about increased taxpayer risk.
The major reason they are trying to get things on track is that it affects their pocketbooks. I don’t mean the donations that they were getting from the companies, which might or might not stop; I am talking about the stock they own in the failing companies.
The market storm that brought down Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., American International Group Inc. and other pillars of U.S. finance may have also blown holes in the portfolios of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry and more than 50 other members of Congress.
Pelosi, in her most recent financial disclosure form, reported that her husband owned between $250,000 and $500,000 of stock in AIG, which ceded majority control to the U.S. government this week in exchange for $85 billion of loans.
Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, disclosed that his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had more than $2 million of AIG stock at the end of 2007, when shares were worth $58.30. AIG has fallen 85 percent this week to close yesterday at $2.69. The lawmakers’ aides didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.
Altogether, 56 senators and representatives had stakes in AIG, Lehman, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns Cos. or IndyMac Bancorp Inc. — some of the biggest casualties of the market bloodbath — according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The most recent annual disclosure filings list investments as of Dec. 31, 2007, and reveal the size of holdings only within a range of values. Lawmakers may have sold shares since then. Bloomberg
When it affects their wallets they are pretty eager to react. The fact they have these holdings might be the reason they waited so long (and why Democrats opposed tighter control). When they were raking in the money they were not interested. Now that their stocks are dropping faster than Bill Clinton’s pants, they want to act.
Vote them all out. They are pointing fingers at each other but they are all guilty. Let’s show them that we are not holding one person or group responsible, we are holding them all responsible. Vote them out. These politicians are talking about bad CEOs and how they should be fired or lose their salaries for their mismanagement. I agree and to take it one step further, let’s hold Congress responsible for its mismanagement and get rid of them. They demonstrated that they don’t get it until it affects them so let’s make sure it affects them by removing them from office.
Tags: ceos, corruption, failure, stock market