Paulson defends bailout plan to Congress

“All of us should be angry,” said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson at a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. He said that the keys to this “disaster” were housing prices and borrowed money. He said that both corporations and homebuyers are guilty of bad financial maneuvers that allowed for this bailout to be needed.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that if we do not bail out these companies quickly, we would see increasing unemployment, higher numbers of foreclosures, and fewer available jobs. Referring to the cost of the bailout, Bernanke said that this bailout would cost “much less than 700 billion dollars,” and he said that the cost to the taxpayers is smaller now than it could be later if the bailout is not done now.

Rep. Chris Ackerman (D-N.Y.) echoed the sentiments of many congressmen saying “I don’t see [in Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's proposal] any protection to stop us from having this problem again.” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said he did not feel comfortable paying for this plan with taxpayer money while high ranking officials of these bankrupt institutions were “lining their pockets” along with their companies.