Inglis Weighing Financial Market Rescue

(September 24, 2008)

U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) issued the following statement on President Bush's plan to stabilize financial markets by having the government purchase troubled mortgage instruments:

"Not acting may be the only thing riskier than acting. $700 billion is a huge amount of money, but it would be a fraction of the cost of a major recession.

"High flyers on Wall Street took us up in a flawed airplane. I understand the desire to shoot the pilots, but I think we need to find a way to get the plane landed before we do that.

"Multiple conferences, phone calls, hearings and in-person meetings are helping to shape the proposal. I'm trying to keep an open mind, and I want to help the President, Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke craft the best possible approach. None of us likes where we are, but all of us should commit to finding a solution.

"Greed, unreasonable risk-taking and conceit may have caused some Wall Street high-flyers to commit crimes that should send them to jail and then to the poor house. We'll get to that. In the meantime, we've got to contain the contagion and try to keep a Wall Street washout from becoming a Main Street meltdown."

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