{news} Fournier get more quotes and applause!

[Tim McKee]

Taxpayers tell Larson they want safeguards
==========================================

'No jail ��” no bail. I’m not Main Street ��”
I’m a back road, and there’s been no good explanation for this
��” give me the cause! Give me some details!' Windsor
resident Allyn Nelson told Wednesday's pane

By Kym Soper
Journal Inquirer

Published: Thursday, October 2, 2008 12:46 PM EDTMANCHESTER — Residents
angry about the country’s economic crisis confronted U.S. Rep. John B.
Larson, D-1st District, in a fireside chat Wednesday at Manchester
Community College.

The college library’s Fireside Commons room was

packed to capacity with voters from around the state hoping to learn more
about the country’s economic crisis

and why their tax dollars should help bail out Wall Street.

The consensus among the crowd was that Congress was moving much too fast
to give away their money without putting any safeguards in place.

Larson, who voted in favor of the $700 billion bailout bill that failed
Monday in the House of Representatives, told the crowd that he understood
their frustration and anger, but that it was due partly to
miscommunication by the press and lawmakers.

The East Hartford Democrat convened a panel of local bankers and
business, housing, and union leaders Wednesday to help explain the
dilemma and the urgent need to fix it.

John Patrick, president and chief executive officer of Farmington Savings
Bank, insisted that his bank and other Connecticut institutions — the
so-called Main Street affected by the Wall Street downfall — were
solvent, even though financial giants around the country are collapsing.

“No jail — no bail,” Windsor resident Allyn Nelson told the panel. “I’m
not Main Street — I’m a back road, and there’s been no good explanation
for this — give me the cause! Give me some details!”

Larson explained that the removal of certain pieces of regulation,
primarily the Glass-Spiegel Act, also known as Glass-Steagall, created a
“freewheeling cowboy mentality” among bankers and on Wall Street that led
to the recent mortgage meltdown.

“We’re going to put out the fire and go after the arsonists,” Larson told
the crowd. “But we have to stop it now.”

The revived rescue package, passed Wednesday night by the Senate and now
headed to the House, would let the government spend billions of dollars
to buy bad mortgage-related securities and other devalued assets held by
troubled financial institutions. If successful, advocates say, that would
allow frozen credit to begin flowing again and prevent a serious
recession.

Windsor Locks resident Douglas Glazier wanted to know why Congress failed
to see the breakdown coming.

“For the last four years there have been so many warnings about the chaos
we’re seeing now in sub-prime mortgages,” Glazier told Larson. “Even in
2006 Alan Greenspan warned Congress it was coming. It’s beyond my
comprehension that something couldn’t be done sooner.”

Larson, who is seeking re-election in the 1st District, which includes
the towns of East Hartford, East Windsor, Manchester, South Windsor,
Windsor, and Windsor Locks, said part of the reason is politics.

“That’s what happens when you have the fox guarding the hen house,” he
said.

Stephen Fournier, a Hartford lawyer and Green Party candidate for
Larson’s seat, told Larson to use his muscle now and regulate later.

“What’s the hurry? We’re hearing from the panel that our banks are all
solvent. You’ve got the leverage now — use it,” Fournier said to a round
of applause.

Larson disagreed, saying the bleeding had to be stopped now to avert a
larger crisis.

A trickle-down effect will occur where no lending will take place and
small businesses will soon have trouble making payroll, he said.

Larger corporations, like United Technologies Corp., can weather a delay
but their suppliers, the smaller mom-and-pop businesses, can’t, he said.

And while Connecticut banks and mortgage lenders were “ahead of the
curve” by not writing any sub-prime notes, “I honestly believe that not
all the shoes have fallen yet.” Larson said.

Manchester resident Kathleen Grover asked Larson what the chances were
for passing the revised package and getting President Bush to sign on.

“I think the intensity of outrage and anger has grown, but also I think
there is potential danger as well,” Larson told her. “I believe it will
pass, be strengthened and improved.”

Measures have to be put into play now, Larson said, before leaving for
Washington.

“We’re not playing with fire, we’re playing with nitroglycerin and people
are going to get burned,” Larson told the crowd.


Copyright © 2008 - Journal Inquirer



******************************************
Tim McKee, Manchester CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-643-2282
 National Commitee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com

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