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US Lawmakers Press Fed for Minority Access to Bailout
WASHINGTON - A group of African-American lawmakers summoned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to Capitol Hill on Monday for a closed-door meeting aimed at making sure minorities and women get their share of the billions of dollars in federal bailout funds.
"We are not going to sit back and allow billions of dollars to be dumped into this economy and watch the same old players be advantaged by it," said Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat and the co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Economic Security Taskforce. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds) "We are not going to sit back and allow billions of dollars to be dumped into this economy and watch the same old players be advantaged by it," said Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat and the co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Economic Security Taskforce.
"We are not going to sit back and watch some of the players who are responsible for the economic mess that we are in today be the recipients of these taxpayer dollars and provide services and make even more money despite the fact they have mismanaged their own businesses," said Waters, who also heads the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
The Los Angeles congresswoman told reporters at a press conference after the meeting that the Fed chief was receptive to their concerns, but offered no concrete promises. Many of the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus and hundreds of other leaders from various trade associations representing minorities and women in dozens of sectors related to financial services listened to Bernanke and other key government officials at the all-day session.
WARMER RECEPTION FROM OBAMA
She noted that the Obama administration, headed by the first African-American president in the nation's history, has been more receptive to the concerns of women and minorities than the Bush administration has been in the past eight years.
"Having said that, even though we now have Democratic administration to work with, we still have to push to make sure that minority and women-owned businesses are included," she said, vowing "aggressive" policy action.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner did not attend the meeting, though Gary Grippo, deputy assistant secretary for fiscal operations and policy, represented Treasury at the meeting. Officials from the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation were also there.
The Congressional Black Caucus members said Monday's meeting was just the first in a series of meetings designed to keep pressure on the administration and other key officials as they disburse what could be as much as $10.925 trillion in federal money to jumpstart the weak economy.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat who co-chairs the Congressional Black Caucus Economic Security Taskforce with Waters, said including a broader array of citizens in the process is in the country's best economic interests.
"In the end, it will make sure that all are included in this economic recovery and it is also the best way to ensure the taxpayers get their money back," Meeks said.
Rep. Gwen Moore, a Wisconsin Democrat, called for more transparency of the process of doling out government bailout funds and buying up so-called toxic assets.
Asked why the meeting was then closed to reporters eager to hear Bernanke's views, Waters said some attendees were not used to dealing with media and she did not want them to be misquoted.
(Editing by Jan Paschal)
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18 Comments so far
Show All"Rep. Gwen Moore, a Wisconsin Democrat, called for more transparency of the process of doling out government bailout funds and buying up so-called toxic assets.
Asked why the meeting was then closed to reporters eager to hear Bernanke's views, Waters said some attendees were not used to dealing with media and she did not want them to be misquoted."
Sooooo, they demand transparency, yet block the press out of the event. Who's shitting who here? This is nothing more than a demand for a handout at a time when people of all races are suffeirng. Maxine Waters is nothing more than a legislative call girl, looking for the highest paying John.
You got it.
Ignorance is bliss, but blatant ridicule of a woman who knows what she's talking about is downright defamation.
Maxine Waters has been around a lot longer than most of you realize, and she's done more to clean up the untidyness that those in Washington like to keep trailing around, like the media.
We all know about the media and lack of transparency in Murdoch's realm, do us a favor and quit trying to attack those who understand the game...
I would suggest that the stimulas pkg. was supposed to create jobs, not be a pie to be divided up by racial quotas.
I don't care for the behind the doors game, thats why its so disappointing that these folks are no different, even worse because they purport to represent the little guy.
Twice posted gives good emphasis!
Must have been so good I got it posted twice...hehe
I really wish the bailout would provide the jobs that are so desparately needed. Just handing over cash, as it seems the article says, is no different than handing the money over to the wall street mafia. Something for nothing has gone on long enough. I want a job and the bailout/stimulus should be a source of money for jobs.
Agree.
Liked that Obama referred to "Reagan's homeless" in his speech last week
and we need to hear more about poverty in America.
Economic democracy is what is needed in America and capitalism and bailouts
certainly don't provide that. We need re-regulation of corrupt capitalism.
And a future where people of color can feel more confident that they are
being treated fairly.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
Conscience,
What do you mean by "economic democracy"? Please explain.
Which regulations need to be "re-regulated"? Are you a Socialist?
I do not understand your comment on "people of color". Again, please explain.
Not only "according to all myth" but in reality, the female does give life through birth.
I'm afraid the bailout's won't produce that many jobs. The only sure way is to stop rewarding business for bringing in people to take your job or from moving your job overseas.
Second step is to stop trading with countries that don't have open markets to us and allowing their products in duty free.
"We are not going to sit back and watch some of the players who are responsible for the economic mess that we are in today be the recipients of these taxpayer dollars and provide services and make even more money despite the fact they have mismanaged their own businesses," hate to say it Maxine but - Yes you are.
Yes they are. Maxine is only slightly more accurate than Lula when he claimed that white people with blue eyes caused the crisis. No matter what color your eyes or skin are, lots of regular people are hurting. Maxine continues the mistakes that made the Democratic Party so ineffective. We don't need earmarks for minorities; we need policies that help all of the low-to-middle class people who are struggling.
For instance, Maxine, think about HUD and Frannie and Freddie and the whole subprime fiasco. Who benefited? The people or the bankers and the politicians they helped? Rahm Emanuel did pretty well, raised money, bought himself a seat. When you give the gate keepers more money and more power, does it really trickle down on the people you claim to want to help?
Real change, such as holding the players responsible, would be political suicide. But everyone can make themselves feel better about running such a crappy government with a little give back to minorities that mostly benefits the financial class including those who CNBC called the NEWBOs (their term, not mine) which is the New Black Overclass. Yes, Maxine, some of the people who should be held accountable are black, some have brown eyes. I really wish we could start being more accurate in defining the problem.
"We are not going to sit back and watch some of the players who are responsible for the economic mess that we are in today be the recipients of these taxpayer dollars and provide services and make even more money despite the fact they have mismanaged their own businesses"....
Fraudulent finance should be prosecuted! We're tired of hearing the cover-up terminology like mismanaged, misconduct and misdeeds when it comes to criminal behavior taking place in Washington and on Wall Street. It's disgusting!
This bailout is NOT about reviving the real economy - it’s all about reviving the fraudulent derivatives sector merry-go-round.
If this were not the case, wouldn't Congress immediately RE-install the regulations that were once in place to prevent the financial meltdown we're experiencing right now?
Ignorance is bliss, but blatant ridicule of a woman who knows what she's talking about is downright defamation.
Maxine Waters has been around a lot longer than most of you realize, and she's done more to clean up the untidyness that those in Washington like to keep trailing around, like the media.
- Im not ridiculing her, Im stating fact that as a politician, she's little more than another grub making demands for money for a special interest group. This is a time when ALL of us are suffering and people like her want a special cut based on skin color. I for one am sick of it and find no ability to respect her.
"Ignorance is bliss, but blatant ridicule of a woman who knows what she's talking about is downright defamation."
What does this have to do with maxine waters? She must be the most blissfull woman in government.
And racism is racism no matter the color of the mouth it comes out of.
From a recent email titled "Too Simple for Congress":
The Business Section of the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"
I thought this was the BEST idea and only cost $40 billion.
Dear Mr. President,
Patriotic retirement:
There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance with the following stipulations:
1) They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.
2) They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered -Auto Industry fixed.
3) They either buy a house/pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.
Can't get any easier than that!
"We live in an amazing, amazing world, and it's wasted on the crappiest generation of spoiled idiots."
40 million x $1 million a piece = $40 trillion (not $40 billion). But you are close, since they are spending $10 trillion or so anyways!
The idea is fine though. Societies do sometimes need to re-booted by redistribution of wealth, to make them sustainable. Unfortunately, very often it happens through wars, revolution etc rather than peaceful means. Some places they have small brush fires in the jungle, to avoid bigger ones (socialist agendas in many countries). Other places, tinder just grows until the big one.
As much as I admire Maxine Waters most of the time, her infusing race and gender into everything makes me feel uncomfortable as a Caucasian woman. She could learn from Nader and Kucinich. Besides, I still fail to see how this bailout money is supposed to help minorities especially since this is borrowed money from China that they too will have to pay back sooner or later.