Friday, October 03, 2008

Blunt: Time Made The Difference


"If the government invests at the right level . . . there's no way taxpayers can lose money."
***
BLUNT PLANS 9:45 A.M. APPEARANCE IN SPRINGFIELD SATURDAY

In a conference call with Missouri reporters Friday, Congressman Roy Blunt called the new $700 billion dollar bailout law a "government investment" program that could actually make taxpayers money.

Blunt also outlined mistakes made during the process that lead to the bill's defeat earlier this week. The new law authorizes the U.S. Department of Treasury to spend up to $700 billion dollars to buy mortgages and other troubled assets from failed financial institutions. The bill also includes several strong oversight provisions that will protect taxpayers, according to Rep. Blunt.

He called it a "belt and suspenders operation," that would not allow foreign banks to be included and would bar organizations that sell assets from benefiting from "managers of assets on the other end." The bill also creates a government insurance program to guarantee troubled assets, an alternative sought by House Republicans.

"This is not like a lot of government spending, when you spend the money, it's gone. If (the government) invests at the right level, there's no way taxpayers can lose money," Blunt said.

He said the passage of this bill saved money and jobs for a lot of people, but said people probably will never notice how much good has been done because "bad things will continue to happen in the economy." Blunt argued though, that doing nothing would have been much worse.

Blunt said he didn't really lobby Missouri members of the delegation directly. He noted that all three of the Representatives from the KY3 viewing area supported the measure. He did not address why he thought Congressman Kenny Hulshof, the Republican candidate for Governor, still opposed it. He did say if this bill didn't pass, the markets could have experienced a significant drop, much like Monday.

MISTAKES THAT WERE MADE

Blunt acknowledged mistakes along the way. He said the House took a proposal that was "not well communicated or developed by the Administration," and turned it into something that works for the taxpayer. He also said the language used at the beginning of the debate about "bailouts, Wall Streets and liquid assets," didn't resonate with ordinary people he represents.

He also said holding a quick vote on Monday was probably a bad idea. "It was purely a matter of time," Blunt said when asked why the bill was able to succeed the second time around. He said he couldn't get a bill a member could see until 7 p.m. Sunday night. With expectations rising, the bill was probably doomed from the start. "It's never a good idea to announce when we're having a vote," he said. He also said the SEC ruling to evaluate assets and the bolstering of FDIC insurance were important elements that attracted additional support.

Blunt said that people should begin to see the credit market stabilize by next week, but added that the average Joe may not even realize that something needed to be done. That's why he said it's important for members to get back to their districts this weekend to explain how this package helped save people money, jobs and credit.

Blunt will appear in Springfield Saturday morning at 9:45 a.m. at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds on the corner of Norton Road and Grant to explain the impact. Blunt will speak near the John Deere tractor area.





3 comments:

Robert Goodbody said...

Credit Default Swaps....MARK TO MARKET... The BAIL OUT OF FOREIGN BANKS, and the deceit and betrayal by Roy Blunt, and Jo Ann Emerson.

Get to know these two terms, MARK TO MARKET, and CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP well. They are the direct cause of the Wall Street gamblers getting too greedy. The financial mess is only due in a very small part to failing mortgages. The main culprits of this mess credit swaps and Mark to Market. These are accounting procedures and side bets that these Wall Street pigs use to make fantastic wads of money on the side.

There was nothing in the Wall Street Banker Bail Out bill that Jo Ann Emerson and Roy Blunt voted for on Monday and again on Friday that would stop either Mark To Market, or, Credit Swap Derivatives.

Those Republicans who stayed with the people, refused to vote for the Bail Out because of these crooked accounting procedures and side bets which got them into trouble. Emerson voted FOR the bail out knowing full well that Mark To Market, the Credit Default Swaps, and the bail out of foreign banks provisions were still in the bill. Emerson and Blunt sold us out. Emerson went so far as to lie to Southeast Missourian newspaper journalist, Rudi Keller when she told him that she voted for the bail out on Monday, it was because the bail out of foreign banks was not in it. She lied. No way around it, Emerson lied, then got on a plane on Monday and got her but out of the country, so she would not have to come back here and explain herself.

Roy Blunt has not been truthful with voters in southwest Missouri, either. There is nothing for the taxpayer in this Wall Street Greedy Gambler bill that he and Emerson voted for on Friday. We didn't ask for anything. We didn't ask for pork, just to keep us from bailing out greedy Wall Street types who used fraudlent accounting procedures and and shady side bet gambling that got them into trouble in the first place. We didn't think that we should have to pay off their gambling debts, unfortunately, Roy Blunt and Jo Ann Emerson do, and have forced us to bail out these Wall Street gamblers and their FOREIGN BANKER friends.

I used to call Emerson, Princess Fluffy, but now, because she betrayed us so deceitfully, I just call her "The Snake", because that is what she is.

Been looking around. I really like JOE ALLEN. 100% pro-2nd Amendment, no question about it, and he is pro-life.

With Roy Blunt, you will have to decide if you want to reward him for his Wall Street bail out vote and send him back to do more of the same. In the 8th district, I am voting for JOE ALLEN.... www.allen4congress.com

Robert Goodbody said...

Time was not an issue. Blunt has lied to us again to "CMA." "Cover My _____"

If time was a factor, then why, when the President and Treasury Secretary Paulson claimed that the markets would crash on Monday, if congress didn't approve the bail out a week ago, the markets didn't crash?

Congress took off two days for a Jewish Holiday, when only 26 out of 435 Congressmen are Jewish. The Jewish comedian and news talk show host, Jon Stewart made fun of this move by congress on his hit program, the DAILY SHOW. Stewart said that "We have more Jews working here on the Daily Show, than they have in Congress, and our Jewish employees are not taking off. Even my Rabbi is not taking off, so why is Congress taking off if there is a financial crisis?"

The reason that congress took off for a Jewish holiday, is that would give them an excuse for not calling ONE ECONOMIST to a congressional hearing. No, not one hearing was held, even though this is the biggest spending bill of all time. Congress didn't want economists testifying, because over 200 prominent economists, from Yale, Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, MIT and more, signed a letter saying that this bail out bill would not work. Congress, especially, Minority Whip, Roy Blunt, were intent on getting their Wall Street greedy banker gambler friends off the hook without any discussion that would make them look bad for doing so. Economists testifying that it wouldn't work, on CSPAN telecast hearings, would not help their greedy friends.

Blunt is a typical east coast, Rockefeller Republican... he isn't in step with the Cloth Coat Republicans from southwest Missouri. Maybe, Roy needs to take a break and find a new line of work. You can help him do so in Novermber.

Charity Angel Kerr said...

This has left me so angry that I do not dare state my mind at this time, I will simply say, to Roy Blunt, I am going to do everything in my power to fire you. YOU ARE FIRED!!! I am a republican and I cannot support you, why? Because I am an AMERICAN before I am a Republican and this is NOT American, this is making the USA Socialist/Communist. I cannot believe that you would do this to your own nation. In another time, when people were more informed, this would have been called treason. Why? Because the PEOPLE are the soverign of this nation,and this bill robs us of our wealth through more debt and inflation and I will not even continue going on. Even if you manage to pull out a win, it will not be like it has in the past. NO ONE I talk to wants to see you continue to be in office, you represent the Central bank, greed, and corruption, not the American people. And when are you going to answer our petition of redress? It is WAY past Aug. 11!