`The Right Approach'
Former Congressman Andrew Jacobs, Jr. (D-Ind.) issued this statement on Sept. 14, 2007.
I think the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act of 2007 is the right approach to an out of control, systemic problem, and I endorse Missouri State Rep. Juanita Walton's resolution for the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, which calls on Congress to implement the Act.
Our government should not be bailing out the hedge funds which enticed people to borrow trouble. Any Congressional hearings which do not intend to save the people and cut down these poisonous hedges once and for all, would only be held to repeal reality with political alchemy.
In 1997, I introduced HR 279 which would categorize payments from lobbyists to, or on behalf of, members of Congress as bribery under Federal criminal law. It did not pass. For a policeman or a judge to take money is against the law. For a member of Congress, or a Presidential candidate to take money from the hedge funds should be a felony.
Some years ago, we held hearings on a proposal by E.F. Hutton, which Congressional staff members called E.F. Glutton. Remember their commercial, "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen?" What they wanted Congress to listen to was a plan to encourage new mortgages with huge fees for the brokers. I sponsored an amendment which would instead allow the new homeowner a reasonable tax credit. My fellow committeemen were quite excited about the amendment, but the committee chairman slyly announced that the fine amendment would be studied for several weeks. It was never heard again. E.F. Glutton made many financial contributions to those involved in the study which turned out to favor their proposal.
Some of the Members of Congress now holding hearings on the financial breakdown are friends of mine. They are smart people who I would count on in an emergency. But I was a young Marine in combat in Korea, and the question for them in these perilous times is: Can we count on them in combat?
