Giannoulias blames Bush policies for economic disaster
URBANA – Four days after his family's bank was shut down by federal regulators, Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias tried to turn the tables on his Republican opponent, charging that "reckless economic policies" of the Bush administration "put this economy on the precipice of disaster."
"I'm not saying that mistakes weren't made in the private sector. Of course they were," said the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat held by appointee Roland Burris and before that by Barack Obama. "That being said, what's taken place with the community banks, with the seven community banks that failed on Friday and the four more on Friday that got consent agreements with the FDIC, when you have a real estate market that just plummets the way it did over the last two years, you're going to be dealing with huge challenges."
Giannoulias said Republican candidate Mark Kirk "has been a big part of these problems. I look forward to having these debates on his votes against Wall Street reform, on votes to increase the federal deficit and federal debt. When the economy was thriving and things were going great and business was growing over the last decade, under George Bush and Congressman Kirk, the national debt actually doubled."
Broadway Bank, which lost $75 million last year, was closed by the FDIC on Friday with MB Financial Bank named the new owner. The other six Illinois banks that closed were New Century, Citizens Bank & Trust Co. and Lincoln Park Savings in Chicago, Amcore Bank in Rockford, Wheatland Bank in Naperville, and Peotone Bank and Trust in Peotone, the FDIC said.
Giannoulias had worked at the bank as vice president and senior loan officer until he ran for treasurer four years ago and, at the age of 30, won election.
Before a late afternoon news conference Monday at the Courier Cafe in Urbana, Giannoulias met with seven University of Illinois students and discussed their concerns about the economy and the future of higher education.
Giannoulias, who graduated from Boston University and received his law degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, said he would aim "to make college more affordable, to do everything I can to make class sizes reasonable and to make sure that college juniors and seniors don't feel they have to go to law school or get a second education just because it's so tough out there to get a job."
Asked whether anyone had urged him to drop out of the race, Giannoulias ignored the question.
"I'm confident; I'm excited about this campaign," he said. "People are struggling in a very real way every day, and I'm going to fight for those families and those students every day on the trail, and hopefully I'll be the next U.S. senator, and we'll work even harder in the Senate."
The candidate reversed an earlier statement and said he will be in Quincy on Wednesday, when President Obama makes a visit to the Illinois river city. Earlier, Giannoulias' staff had said that the president's visit "wasn't on our schedule" and that the Senate candidate would not be there.
On Monday Giannoulias said, "We're going to try to be there."
So what he is saying that it is President Bush's fault that Alexi made bad loans to his political friends who then didn't pay them, so his bank went under. Hmmm.......if you believe that, you will also believe that a US Senate Candidate who needs as much political help as he can will back out of an opportunity to appear with the President of the United States because the visit, "wasn't on our schedule". Maybe he was told to stay away. Toxic Loans=Toxic Candidate!
....And by the way, this is the guy who takes care of the taxpayers money for the State of Illinois. Scary, very scary. Another thing, a major poltical candidate could only get seven college students to come to listen with him. My 87 year old uncle has more people than that listen to him at the round coffee table at the cafe every morning. Maybe he ought to run.
Any candidate that would still be blaming a president that's been out of office for 2 years for anything happening now is intellectually bankrupt, and it sounds like, thanks to him, the family bank is literally bankrupt. A vote for him guarantees that we will again have two empty suits sitting in the chairs that should be reserved for U.S. Senators from the great state of Illinois.
Which specific Bush/Kirk policies caused Broadway Bank & Giannoulias to write bad and sometimes questionable loans?
Please. This victimization ploy plays to far left voters, but let's hope those voters in the middle will see it for how silly it is, and make the right decision in November.
Go and observe a third grade classroom, and see if the comments made in this article are similar to those made by a student caught cheating. “It wasn’t me; it was Dillion who made me do it.” It proves the type of politics and change we will see if this individual gets elected. It will never be his fault when stuff gets bad, but when it is going well, trust me he will be front and center telling the world how awesome he is. Illinois needs someone who will stand tall no matter the outcome, and face their decisions head on and not blame others (which is always the easy way out). Illinois, please be wise this fall and not elect the same old politicians that we seem to always elect.
The fiscal mess the nation is in does have to do with Bush's 8 years. When Bush became president the nation had finally reached a surplus in the budget. In eight years Bush spent the nation into massive debt and insisted on "deregulating" the banks. The nation went from having a budget surplus to having massive debt by the time Bush left office all because he insisted on waging a war he did not have the backbone to pay for.
@Timeforus - I still don't understand what the national deficit or national debt have to do with Giannoulias and his bank going out of business due to poor decision making.
What banking deregulation did Bush insist upon? Banking deregulation did occur in the 90's when Bill Clinton, along with the aid of republicans in congress blurred the lines between banks and insurance companies and the financial services industry.
The "Bush Bad" argument does not apply here.
President Barak Obama has been president of the United States of America only 14 months; not 24 or two years as so casually quoted here!
Obviously no one wants to remember September 2008, four months before President Obama took the oath of office, when the United States of American was on the verge of the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression.
According to Tom Friedman, "Talk to conservatives about the financial crisis and you enter an alternative, bizarro universe in which government bureaucrats, not greedy bankers, caused the meltdown. It’s a universe in which government-sponsored lending agencies triggered the crisis, even though private lenders actually made the vast majority of subprime loans. It’s a universe in which regulators coerced bankers into making loans to unqualified borrowers, even though only one of the top 25 subprime lenders was subject to the regulations in question.
Oh, and conservatives simply ignore the catastrophe in commercial real estate: in their universe the only bad loans were those made to poor people and members of minority groups, because bad loans to developers of shopping malls and office towers don’t fit the narrative.
In part, the prevalence of this narrative reflects the principle enunciated by Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” As Democrats have pointed out, three days before the House vote on banking reform Republican leaders met with more than 100 financial-industry lobbyists to coordinate strategies. But it also reflects the extent to which the modern Republican Party is committed to a bankrupt ideology, one that won’t let it face up to the reality of what happened to the U.S. economy."
Bluegrass,
Bush's failures are the sum total of his collective screwups. Poor national security (we were attacked on his watch), misguided wars, huge expansion of government, tax cuts for the wealthy, further de-regulation of our economic system...the list can get pretty long. Another example of Bush's negligence is pretty well summed up in the following article. Take a read...
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/pelosi-bush-administration-ba...
Surprise!!! Another "Bush Bad" post. Thank you for making my point, again. A link to an article where Nancy Pelosi alleges that Bush didn't tell her about a looming recession does not count as "further de-regulation of our financial system." It counts as sour grapes.
The reason we don't see posts of specific legislation or Bush era policy that caused the recession, is because it doesn't exist. Yes, you can say that Bush caused the recession. You can also say north is south. Simply saying something doesn't make it true.
Bluegrass, "Bush-bad" is what Giannoulias' point was in the first place. It doesn't take a genius to know that Bush was, in fact, a very bad president. I don't know if our former bad president can take all the blame, I think Giannoulias isn't helping his case by pointing the finger of blame. At the same time, I'm amazed at the number of people who turn a blind eye to the failures of Bush and the crimes of Cheney. My aunt is still a Nixon fan. It amazes me the alternate reality some people live in. Present company excluded, of course.
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