Country Needs to Save Homes and Jobs, No More Bailouts

Washington D.C. (October 6, 2008) -- Congressman Dennis Kucinich, (D-OH), who is one of the leaders challenging the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, said that in light of the continued decline of the stock market, the lack of meaningful protections for homeowners and the likely collapse of additional mortgage backed securities such as Alt-A loans, that Wall Street might seek additional bailout funds.

“Think about it. Congress passed a $700 billion bailout and the market is continuing to plunge! At 3 p.m., the market was down close to 700 points. Already economists and the news media indicate that the $700 billion bailout passed on Friday is not enough,” stated Kucinich.

“If Wall Street does come back for another bailout, we must be prepared in advance to say NO,” stated Kucinich. “The bailouts of Wall Street must stop. It will never be enough. When the Federal Government gets involved in picking winners and losers on Wall Street, we open up a financial whirlpool of insatiable greed,” he said.

“The fundamental problem that led to the credit crisis is that millions of homeowners are in jeopardy, and millions of people are out of work. Congress rushed to bail out Wall Street but sits on its hands when millions of homeowners are at risk,” he said. “The only way to prevent another bailout is to take action which will directly impact the market stress at its root - - the millions of homeowners who face default on their mortgages. This is the path toward market stabilization,” he said.

Kucinich has persistently advocated legislation that would give the government controlling interest in mortgage backed securities to “help homeowners save their homes by working out their payments, through restructuring the principal and the interest rate on their loans.”

“We are now facing the perfect financial storm. The elements are the deficit spending for the war of 3 to 4 trillion dollars, the trillion more in tax cuts, the war itself, the lack of serious investment in our country and now $700 billion to Wall Street. We are being hollowed out. We are going to see more unemployment and more people losing there homes. With $700 billion we could have made a real investment in the country, in jobs, in infrastructure and in homes. Now we must invest in homeowners to prevent any additional bailout,” add Kucinich.

Kucinich said he is preparing a bill, which will “prime the pump of the economy through helping people save their homes while putting millions of people back to work.”

###