BYRD'S EYE VIEW: Wall Street in Turmoil
From the Desk of U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-WV
The shock waves storming through our financial markets and the resulting impact on our economy, and on everyday Americans, have left many citizens deeply anxious and justifiably angry. I share those feelings.
Company names like Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and AIG -- names that have stood for stability to the investing public for many years -- have been shaken from their very foundations, causing turmoil on Wall Street and throughout the world’s financial markets.
What is the average West Virginian to make of all this? I wish I could say that this will all blow over in a few days, but it will not. What are we to do? Fortunately, within our FDIC system, there are government financial guarantees in place protecting deposit and retirement accounts. A few websites you can visit to obtain more information are:
www.fdic.gov,
www.federalreserve.gov, and
www.occ.treas.gov. Your questions also may be answered toll free by the FDIC Call Center at 877-275-3342.
In hopes of averting further erosion of our financial markets and to help stabilize the economy, the Bush Administration has responded with a request to Congress to place $700 billion – that is BILLION – in the hands of one government official to spend without review by any court or agency!
Congress must not rush to judgment on this proposal. We need to take a good, hard, close look at this request and carefully weigh its consequences, for the short and long terms for our economy, for our families, and for our government. The Constitutional system of checks and balances in our government must be preserved and not suddenly surrendered in the midst of misunderstood panic.
The request for such unchecked authority is shocking, and the price tag is so staggering, that if approved, our national debt as a percentage of our gross domestic product (GDP) would rise to its highest level since 1954, a time when we were still paying for World War II. Moreover, our federal budget deficit could approach an unfathomable $1 trillion for a single fiscal year. This could force draconian cuts in almost every federal domestic program and might further hinder economic recovery for people on Main Street.
The poison seeds of this calamity – deregulation and lax enforcement – have been sown over the past eight years by the same Administration that proposes this disturbing remedy. One thing is certain as we move forward with efforts to restore confidence in our financial markets - there must be greater, not less, Congressional oversight of our overwhelmingly complex financial systems and the government entities that oversee and regulate them.
