Contrasting Perspectives of Barney and Elizabeth
Barney Frank on the bailouts, in an October 2008 email to constituents:
When the Bush Aministration bill was initially proposed, I made it clear that we ought to include at least four key changes: curbing executive compensation, protecting taxpayers, providing some relief to those facing foreclosure, and ensuring adequate oversight. As Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, I played a lead role in fighting for these principles, and in the end, while none of them were drafted in the precise form I would have preferred — because the final product was developed based on bipartisan negotiations — all of these concerns were in the end addressed satisfactorily in the bill in my opinion.”
[In the words of Elizabeth Warren http://www.salon.com/2012/01/09/top_obama_campaign_aide_lobbied_for_bank_bailout/singleton/?mobile.html],
“the money given to banks had ‘no strings attached, no accountability, no transparency.”
