A press release from Rick Torres, a U.S. congressional candidate in Connecticut’s 4th district, found it's way into my email box. The release is impressive:
Rick Torres, candidate in Connecticut’s 4th congressional district, today urged the president to resist further regulation of the banking industry. In a statement issued today, Torres said, “Lack of regulation was not the cause of our present financial crisis. The exact opposite is true.”
Torres pointed to the creation of the now bankrupt Fannie Mae and Fannie Mae, to President Carter's Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, to President Clinton's 1999 forcing of banks to lower their lending standards to increase the number of loans to 'distressed inner city areas', and to the Federal Reserve's policy of keeping interest rates artificially low for the few years leading to the crisis.
“Banks never gave out risky loans prior to these government initiatives,” Torres continued. “But when the government started to use the free market for social engineering, banks no longer acted prudently. This caused our financial crisis.”
According to Torres, President Obama’s push for banking regulation is nothing more than a populist move to distract voters from the public rejection of his other policies in the face of the voter backlash in Massachusetts’ election on January 19th.
“Not only is his push for more banking reform dangerous, but the timing is suspicious. I suspect this is merely a ploy to distract voters from Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts, where the public soundly defeated his other attempts to regulate our economy,” Torres noted.
“Allow banks to act in their own self interest, without government manipulation, they won’t give risky loans. It’s that simple.”
Torres pointed to the creation of the now bankrupt Fannie Mae and Fannie Mae, to President Carter's Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, to President Clinton's 1999 forcing of banks to lower their lending standards to increase the number of loans to 'distressed inner city areas', and to the Federal Reserve's policy of keeping interest rates artificially low for the few years leading to the crisis.
“Banks never gave out risky loans prior to these government initiatives,” Torres continued. “But when the government started to use the free market for social engineering, banks no longer acted prudently. This caused our financial crisis.”
According to Torres, President Obama’s push for banking regulation is nothing more than a populist move to distract voters from the public rejection of his other policies in the face of the voter backlash in Massachusetts’ election on January 19th.
“Not only is his push for more banking reform dangerous, but the timing is suspicious. I suspect this is merely a ploy to distract voters from Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts, where the public soundly defeated his other attempts to regulate our economy,” Torres noted.
“Allow banks to act in their own self interest, without government manipulation, they won’t give risky loans. It’s that simple.”
Of course, the social engineering that Torres speaks of resulted in much of the money, that the Federal Reserve printed, ending up where Torres identifies, but the crisis, itself, was ultimately a monetary/Fedeal Reserve event, and would have occurred in some fashion even without the disastrous housing legislation. That said, Torres appears to be a very strong liberty oriented candidate. Check out his very creative web site, here.
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