My other senator who voted for the bailout. Here's his response to my opposing it. What do you think?

Question

Dear [Constituent]:

Thank you for contacting me about the current financial crisis. I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter.

I, like many Texans, am angry and frustrated that the United States is in the current financial crisis. As a strong supporter of the free market, I am opposed to unnecessary government intervention in the economy. As you know, the federal government has recently taken several steps to ensure that our financial system remains stable for the growth of our economy. Any actions by the federal government must be temporary and limited. Furthermore, any taxpayer money that is used to support our troubled economy must be subject to strict oversight and be repaid—in full—to the American people. Hard-working, financially responsible Texans should not have to pay for the irresponsible behavior of corporate executives who abused their positions. These executives must now be held fully accountable under the law.

The current financial crisis was caused, to a large extent, by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—two government sponsored enterprises that played a central role in the much maligned mortgage market by guaranteeing loans to individuals who could not pay them back. Together, these two agencies own or guarantee nearly half of the nation’s $12 trillion mortgage market. I have long advocated that Congress reform both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an effort to protect taxpayers. In 2006, I urged the Senate Majority Leader to bring reform legislation before the full Senate after reports that Fannie Mae intentionally overstated its earnings by $10.6 billion. This reform legislation would have increased oversight and taken steps to protect taxpayers from the risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac posed to our economy. Regrettably, the Senate did not consider these reforms because special interest groups lobbied their Congressional allies to prevent this legislation from being debated.

Furthermore, risky business practices by irresponsible financial institutions have caused great stress on our credit market, limiting the amount of credit available to both individuals and businesses. America’s system of credit is the lifeblood of our economy as it affects thousands of purchases and investments made in our country each day. Without access to credit, small businesses cannot pay their employees and working families cannot receive the loans necessary to send their children to college or purchase a new home or car. It is critical for our economy that the financial crisis be prevented from spreading to families and businesses across Texas which would result in many Texans losing their jobs, diminished college funds for their children, and a loss of hard-earned retirement savings.

Finally, it is imperative that all parties associated with the current financial crisis are aggressively investigated and that any corporate executives found to be involved in criminal activities are swiftly prosecuted. I intend to ensure that a thorough criminal investigation is conducted and that those responsible for violating any criminal laws of the United States are held accountable. As such, I have called on the Attorney General to begin a criminal investigation of executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is because of their poor—and possibly criminal—business practices that American taxpayers and our nation’s economy are in jeopardy. Soon after the Attorney General received my request, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced an investigation of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and multiple Wall Street financial firms.

I appreciate the opportunity to represent Texans in the United States Senate and you may be certain that I will keep your views in mind as the 110th Congress draws to a close. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator





517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.cornyn.senate.gov

Answer 1

I do not live in Texas, so your Senator Cornyn will not respond to me if I write him a letter or send him an email. If he did, I would no doubt get the same pre-packaged, non-specific response you did.



What Senator Cornyn did not say is that our current mortgage crisis is a direct result of the political pressure put on mortgage lenders to lower their credit standards and make more mortgage money available to low-income, high-risk borrowers. The “risky business practices by irresponsible financial institutions” are those that were imposed on them by vote-hungry politicians.



Senator Cornyn says, “[I]t is imperative that all parties associated with the current financial crisis are aggressively investigated and that any corporate executives found to be involved in criminal activities are swiftly prosecuted.” Notice that he doesn’t mention any special interest groups, such as ACORN, that extorted money from banks and forced them to make “easy” loans to people who could not repay them. Nor does he mention politicians who pushed banks and other direct lenders to make loans to people who couldn’t repay them. He just mentions “corporate executives.” Why doesn’t he also mention Senators and Congressional Representatives?



I spent more than 30 years in the commercial finance industry. I lent many billions of dollars to my clients, most of whom were entrepreneurs who owned family businesses. I had nothing to do with the residential mortgage market. I never made a single home mortgage loan. What I know is that lenders, whether they are mortgage or equipment lenders or companies that lend money on accounts receivable and inventory, don’t lend money when they know the risk of non-payment and default is high or if they don’t even know what that risk is. As a lender, I don’t want your house. I want your money. I want you to pay me what you owe me – what you borrowed! The only time I was ever tempted to violate that rule was when a senior executive of our parent company told me to lend his “friend” something like $2 million. I refused. I thought I would be fired. That was fine with me. His “friend” borrowed the money from another company, didn’t pay it back, and ended up in jail.



I think I made a good decision there.

Answer 2

Well poor ole Mississippi vote NAY and NAY. The new guy Wicker that took over for Trent Lott followed Thad Cochran. So there you have it, wonder what is wrong with those guys, huh. I did the mail at the law firm Sen. Cochran worked at when I was in high school for a couple of weeks as a fill in and it was interesting. He was and still is a pretty good guy. At one time there was a power struggle int he Senate between him and Lott and Lott won out. So much for that. Once again the poorest state in the Union sacrifices or tries to for the country. But didn't you hear, if they didn't approve it the poor children wouldn't be able to get student loans, heck the semester just started didn't it? and no car loans, I thought we just handed them a $25 Billion bailout, what's up with this. Where is our "bailout-rebate check". How many of those senators on tv talking about how tough it was to do the thing should have to give back the money they got from the financial people that set this deal up, how many should go to jail, should Bernie Ebbers be freed. Is OJ guilty this time? How knows. Also there was this neat older lady at that office and she dressed like she was for the turn of the century and wore the high neck dresses and stuff and she had been an attorney for a long time and even before there were woen attorneys, she was fun and interesting to talk to also. Later.

Answer 3

What a pile of hogwash.



At least he was crafty enough to not let the cat out of the bag like your other rep did -- that is ... let on that the politicians were negotiating the bailout bill long before it was public.



(to quote from from your question)



https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20081014180601AAxb2gh



"Despite this realization, I was still not inclined to support the Paulson plan. After weeks of negotiation, however, a bi-partisan compromise was reached."



Maybe I'm dreaming but I didn't see "weeks" go by between the time the "emergency" was made public and the time that senate bill came up for a vote.



So much for their claim that it was "urgent"?

Answer 4

I got an equally uninspiring response from my representative (Adam Putnam) whose staffers must have assumed when I said do not vote for this bill I meant to whole heatedly support it. His opponent in the upcoming election is pretty bad. Under any other circumstances I wouldn't vote for the guy, but at this point I don't know any other way to send a message to the politicians.

Answer 5

Way to dodge the issue, Cornyn. I agree with most of what you said, buddy, but that's not an answer as to why you supported the bailout.

Answer 6

I think that's actually a pretty reasonable answer, without knowing the particulars of his actions over the years.

Answer 7

I think he's a weasel. Sorry, but I'm not buying it. His answer is really weak..... What can I say? He's your typical slimy politician....cream of the CRAP!