Benton Countians: Bailout a necessity
Posted on Wednesday, October 1, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/66302/
BENTON COUNTY — U. S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark., pledged to get back to work on a new version of the failed $ 700 billion mortgage-industry bailout, even as two other Benton County politicos talked about what is fair and necessary to protect the economy.
Democrats and Republicans in Congress on Monday blamed each other after the failure of a $ 700 billion bailout package in the House. The stock market closed down 777 points at the end of the trading day Monday, a record drop, after it became clear the bill would not pass.
People who supported the bill in the House were aiming to avoid such a stock-market drop, Boozman said after the vote.
“ What we were trying to do today was to stabilize the markets by presenting a bill that really protected the taxpayers’ money. That’s certainly the most important thing, ” Boozman said. “ There’s a real concern there’s so much instability in the market right now that credit was freezing up, and this was an effort to help with that situation. ”
The failed House bill addressed one of the people’s major concerns about failed executives getting huge severance pay courtesy of the taxpayers. But his focus in voting for the measure was to protect all citizens of Arkansas, Boozman said.
The Arkansas delegation to the U. S. House — three Democrats and Republican Boozman — all voted for the failed package.
Former Benton County Treasurer Duane Neal, a longtime GOP activist, said such legislation is a necessity.
“ I do think there has to be a bill passed because we’re going to have to do something. Maybe the people that voted against it can get some additional safeguards written into the bill and then pass it later. I do think there will have to be a bill passed, even though you have to hold your nose to do it, ” Neal said.
Failure of Congress to act would be a terrible mistake, he said.
“ It would plunge us into a depression, in my opinion, ” Neal said.
Tim Summers, a longtime member of the Benton County Quorum Court Finance Committee and now a state representative-elect, agreed that a congressional deal is necessary.
“ One, a lot of people locally and nationally have benefited by this strong economy over the last several years. A large part of that … was all these homes being built. A lot of jobs have been provided because of that, all the way from workmen to materials, to appliances, to carpet and all that. So a lot of us over the years have benefited. … Also, there’s … a good chance a lot of the dollars that would be utilized would be paid back into the Treasury or into the economy at some point. It’s just such an enormous undertaking; it’s kind of hard to get your hands around it, ” Summers said. “ The dollars involved are more than I can even start to think about. ”
He hoped a House decision could be made that considered the best interest of the economy, not of politics.
History will tell what is the best decision the House could make, Summers said.
“ Part of me says that if they don’t do it, there will be a correction. If they do it, it’ll be a correction. So I think history will tell what’s the best decision on it. I don’t know, ” Summers said.