Hillary on the economy

I have been so busy moving and working the election that I neglected to include these bullet points released last week from Hillary about the economy:

Hillary Clinton’s Principles For Action - Rescuing Wall Street and Main Street
* America deserves leadership that understands the challenges we're facing in the world and leadership that can actually get the results we're looking for. The Democrats inherited a troubled economy in 1993 – we fixed it then and we can fix it again.
* If taxpayers like what's gone on the last eight years and if they are happy about this Wall Street meltdown and having to put $700 billion into trying to rescue these banks so we can keep lending and keep the economy afloat, then they have a ticket on the Republican side with John McCain and Sarah Palin. Hillary Clinton doesn’t believe most Americans want to buy into that and that we need to have checks and balances, not just a blank check.
* The Republicans had their chance to fix the economy and look at where this country is today. Barack Obama and Joe Biden offer the positive solutions and real change we need.
* Taxpayers must have control over the purse strings and cannot just be left holding the bag of this huge bailout. We need to inject some reality-based checks and balances and not just give the Administration a blank check.
* Video of Senator Clinton on today’s morning shows is available at: http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/

Given the extraordinary nature of the government's market intervention proposal, Senator Clinton believes we must:

TAKE BOLD ACTION ON THE MORTGAGE CRISIS
* The next step in the credit crisis should be the creation of a new Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC) to launch an effective mortgage modification effort on the scale and scope of the successful Depression-era program.
* Today, 2 million homeowners carry mortgages worth more than their homes, holding $3 trillion in mortgage debt. (And another 1.5 million are carrying mortgages worth another $1 trillion that are set to increase in coming months and years.) Senator Clinton was among the first to propose a modern-day HOLC, which bought mortgages from failed banks and modified terms to keep people in their homes. The original HOLC saved one million homes and returned a profit to the Treasury.
* With the government holding the note on so many of these mortgage securities, Senator Clinton is proposing a temporary moratorium on foreclosures and a temporary freeze on mortgage rate hikes in adjustable rate loans.

REPRESENT THE INTERESTS OF TAXPAYERS
* If the Treasury proposal is enacted in its current form, the American government would assume enough financial risk to effectively become the majority shareholder in the companies taxpayers have bailed out.
* Therefore, the American people are bearing the risk and deserve to reap the reward in a shared equity model, giving our country a stake in the profits of the companies they've saved.
* Mortgage securities bought by taxpayers must be valued fairly and accurately at prices disclosed in real time, with checks and reporting requirements to prevent abuse. Senator Clinton is calling for safeguards and oversight to prevent Americans from overpaying at the same time and ensure that taxpayers are not burdened by overvalued debt while companies exploit the bailout program for profit.

REFORM WALL STREET AND CURB CORPORATE ABUSE
* Companies must end the practice of awarding compensation packages to executives irrespective of job performance or shareholder interest.
* Senator Clinton has proposed legislation to give shareholders a greater say in executive pay and to close loopholes designed to conceal executive salaries. Senator Clinton has proposed requiring companies that benefit from the infusion of taxpayer dollars to tie executive pay to long-term economic performance instead of short-term stock performance.
* Senator Clinton believes rescued firms must commit to stricter risk management standards.
* This initiative must be transparent and fully open to the public if it is going to work. Conflicts of interest must be reported and made public so that investors that drive up the price of certain bonds aren't responsible for the government buying those same bonds at the higher price. Sphere: Related Content