Cooney Responds to Failure of the Bailout Package

Press Release

Cooney Responds to Failure of the Bailout Package

Congressional Candidate Says Proposal Failed Because the Voices of Taxpayers Were Not Included

Kalamazoo City Commissioner and Congressional candidate Don Cooney made a statement today on the bailout package voted down in the U.S. House of Representatives. At a rally attended by over 75 people, Cooney said the voices of taxpayers were not being included in the bailout talks, and that's why the $700 billion proposal failed.

Cooney said that taxpayers overwhelmed lawmakers with telephone calls, letters and other correspondence, and forced them to create a better solution than the one being proposed.

Rep. Fred Upton voted in favor of the bailout measure [1], choosing to use tax dollars to fish-out greedy, unregulated Wall Street financial institutions from the brink of financial collapse rather than side with taxpayers who would have born the brunt of the risk and cost.

The bill sought to perpetuate the philosophy of trickle-down economics, which has now been proven to be false: that by providing to the richest, wealth will make its way to Middle America.

The bill would have socialized the financial risk among working Americans who had no culpability for the current financial mess and privatized the profits among the very institutions that behaved so irresponsibly in the unregulated market.

Cooney said we need a solution, but more voices need to be included, especially working families. He also said we need a new economy, one that works for everyone, not just the speculators and insiders on Wall Street.

"There is a serious problem here, but the solution proposed was too narrow, and didn't include the voices of working people and their families," said Cooney. "We need to get to the heart of the problem - an economy that too often works for Wall Street, but not Main Street. The working people of this country deserve a better deal."

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