WASHINGTON: Barack Obama urged the Bush administration and Congress to follow basic economic principles to return prosperity to not just Wall Street, but also Main Street.
In yesterday’s Democratic radio address, the presidential nominee praised the efforts of Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to protect the well-being and savings of American families and help the financial markets avoid collapse.
“We need to help people cope with rising gas and food prices, spark job creation by repairing our schools and our roads, help states avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, and help homeowners stay in their homes,” the Illinois senator said. “And we must also ensure that the solution we design doesn’t reward particular companies, or irresponsible borrowers or lenders, or CEOs, some of whom helped cause this mess.”
Obama’s remarks came the day after the Bush administration laid out a radical bailout plan with a breathtaking price tag — a takeover of a half-trillion dollars or more for worthless mortgages and other bad debt held by tottering institutions.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Friday that the Federal Reserve should stop bailing out failed financial institutions.
He said the US central bank must get back to “its core business of responsibly managing our money supply and inflation.”
He laid out several recommendations for stabilizing markets in the financial crisis that has rocked Wall Street and taken over the presidential campaign.
McCain made little mention of the massive proposal being crafted by Paulson. He said simply that leaders should put aside partisan differences and “any action should be designed to keep people in their homes and safeguard the life savings of all Americans.”
The Fed engineered a $85 billion takeover of insurance giant American International Group, Inc., this week after seizing control of housing giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. McCain said that to help return the US to fiscal solvency, the Fed should instead focus on shoring up the dollar and keeping inflation low.
“A strong dollar will reduce energy and food prices,” McCain said to applause from the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce in the Midwestern swing state of Wisconsin. “It will stimulate sustainable economic growth and get this economy moving again.”
