Should the federal government bail out failing US private corporations like it did with Bear Stearns or Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac at taxpayers expense?
Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found.
Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position.
Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by party; black & white photos indicate candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria.)
Should the federal government bail out failing US private corporations like it did with Bear Stearns or Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac at taxpayers expense?
Chuck Baldwin, Founder and Minister of the Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL, in a Sep. 26, 2008 article titled "No Amnesty for Wall Street" on www.chuckbaldwinlive.com, stated:
"At the time of this writing, the U.S. House and Senate are poised to pass a $700 billion bailout to Wall Street. At the behest of President George W. Bush, the U.S. taxpayers are going to be on the hook for what can only be referred to as the biggest fraud in U.S. history...
Bear Stearns was awarded a $29 billion bailout, followed quickly by the bailout of Freddie and Fannie that will cost the taxpayers up to $200 billion...
I say, No amnesty for Wall Street...Instead of sending these banksters on extended vacations to the Bahamas with millions of taxpayer dollars in their pockets, we should be sending them straight to jail!" Sep. 26, 2008 Chuck Baldwin
Bob Barr, former US House Representative (R-GA), stated in an Oct. 6, 2008 press release titled "Will Sens. Obama and McCain Claim a Piece of this Rotten Fish They Helped Produce?":
"Congress passed the $700 billion Wall Street bailout on Friday, supported by both Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. The U.S. stock market promptly dropped. Over the weekend the financial crisis threatened European banks, and stock prices across Asia and Europe tanked.
So much for the argument that the bailout was necessary to calm the markets...
There is much more to be done to clean up the economic mess flowing from the housing market crash, but the ill-considered federal bailout is likely to slow the process...
Companies now will run to the Treasury Department before taking tough steps to clean up their own balance sheets. After the automakers joined insurer AIG and investment bank Bear Stearns in winning their own federal bailouts, what company will not expect a handout from the taxpayer? Who will bail out Uncle Sam when all of his bills--well over $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities--come due?"
Oct. 6, 2008 Bob Barr
John McCain, US Senator (R-AZ), stated in a July 24, 2008 St. Petersburg Times article titled "Taxpayers on Hook to Bail Out Fannie, Freddie":
"Americans should be outraged at the latest sweetheart deal in Washington. Congress will put U.S. taxpayers on the hook for potentially hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It's a tribute to what these two institutions -- which most Americans have never heard of -- have bought with more than $170-million worth of lobbyists in the past decade.
With combined obligations of roughly $5-trillion, the rapid failure of Fannie and Freddie would be a threat to mortgage markets and financial markets as a whole. Because of that threat, I support taking the unfortunate but necessary steps needed to keep the financial troubles at these two companies from further July 24, 2008 John McCain
Cynthia McKinney, former US House Representative (D-GA), issued the following statement through her Press Secretary, John Judge, in a Nov. 2, 2008 email to ProCon.org:
Ralph Nader, attorney, author, and political activist, stated in a Sep. 24, 2008 article titled "Nader Warns Against Mammoth Bailout" on his official candidate website:
"Why should the American taxpayers bail-out fraud, recklessness and criminal irresponsibility? Why should the American people trust the judgment of the very administration that has gotten us into this mess?
If Wall Street gets away with this, it will represent an historic swindle of the American public -- all sugar for the villains, lasting pain and damage for the victims...
Enron and IAG [sic] are the bookends of the Bush/Cheney reign of economic and social corruption and neglect...
Consumer groups from around the nation are in an uproar over this example of socialized welfare for corporate greed."
"This is no longer just a Wall Street crisis – it’s an American crisis, and it’s the American economy that needs this rescue plan...
This is not a plan to just hand over $700 billion of taxpayer money to a few banks. If this is managed correctly, and that's an important if, we will hopefully get most or all of our money back, and possibly even turn a profit on the government's intervention - every penny of which will go directly back to the American people. And if we fall short, we will levy a fee on financial institutions so that they can repay for the losses they caused." Oct. 1, 2008 Barack Obama
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