Senate Proceeding on Mar 18th, 2009 :: 6:21:10 to 6:25:30
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6:21:06 to 6:21:28( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: senator from illinois will give us that opportunity in the very near future. the presiding officer: objection is heard. ms. mccaskill: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. ms. mccaskill: i ask unimous cons morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mccaskill: as we look around at the problems that we're facing right now in this

6:21:10 to 6:25:30( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Claire McCaskill

6:21:29 to 6:21:49( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: country when it comes to our economy, all of us are trying to figure out what causes this mess. what is the root cause of this incredible meltdown in the financial sector of our economy, in our housing sector? and it comes back to one simple concept:

6:21:50 to 6:22:10( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: greed. it's just about a bunch of really greedy people. brought to you by the current executive pay structure that we have on wall street and some parts of corporate america. it's the largest part of the problem

6:22:11 to 6:22:31( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: these potential payouts under this corporate structure of pay that we have right now are so large that executives at financial institutions, including institutions like fannie mae and freddie mac that was supposed to have a public purpose, have incentives to create rules that would reward

6:22:32 to 6:22:53( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: them no matter what happened. why did all those exotic derivatives and swaps start happening? pay! pay. and greed. performance, not so much. didn't matter whether you failed. you got paid anyway. that's the culture that caused

6:22:54 to 6:23:14( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: the problem. failure, you walk with huge money. these a.i.g. bonuses are just one symptom of this very serious illness that is gripping our economy and harming our competitiveness. competitiveness. the merrill lynch bonuses were

6:23:15 to 6:23:35( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: exhibit "b." those guys failed and then they made sure they got the money and walked with it before bank of america took over. they moved up their bonuses. retention? not so much. not much to do with retention. these a.i.g. bonuses, 52 of the people had already walked out the door when they got the money.

6:23:36 to 6:23:56( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: they weren't paying them to stay. they'd already left. our competive disadvantage in this regard is real. two of the most productive competitors to our country -- germany and japan -- their trade surplus per capita is the highest. these two companies -- you

6:23:57 to 6:24:17( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: what their average corporate pay is? 10 or 11 times the average workers'. what is it in the united states of america? 400 times the average worker. we need to get back to our american values that hard work equals success, equals financial reward. not failure and you get paid

6:24:18 to 6:24:39( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: anyway. most insulting on the american taxpayers' dime when it comes to merrill lynch and a.i.g. there's great column york times" this morning by david lyonhart. i recommend it to all of my colleagues to read. and in that column he makes the

6:24:40 to 6:25:02( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: following statements, and i paraphrase: "stop the deference to this culture. stop the deference to wall street. treasury, can you hear me? stop the deference to the culture of wall street. be bold. stand up to them. that deference has now created a cold anger of populism that's

6:25:03 to 6:25:23( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: going to make it very politically difficult for us to do anything else to free up our credit markets that are so essential for ow economy to survive. america's economy has a hangover from the drunken greed of high

6:25:24 to 6:25:30( Edit History Discussion )

Claire McCaskill: pay and bonuses for failure. sober up. sober up, folks. because the american people are