LaTourette says that it’s wrong to blame Wall Street’s troubles on deregulation.
For those who peg it to deregulation in 1999, Merrill Lynch couldn’t be purchased by the bank if we hadn’t lowered the barriers between investment and commercial lending.
Democrat Dennis Kucinich is less optimistic. Three weeks before the crisis kicked into high gear he told convention audiences, ““Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street”. The current shakeup hasn’t changed his opinion.
KUCINICH: Our finance policies accelerate the wealth to the banks, the insurance companies, look what’s happening on Wall Street and the bailouts. This isn’t even a close question. We have to take a new direction.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Congress will demand answers on the Treasury Department’s decision to spend so much taxpayer money on the bailouts.
For 90.3, I’m Tanya Snyder, Capitol News Connection in Washington.