Krikorian has his say on the bailout, calls on Wulsin and Schmidt to prove their understanding of financial crisis

Businessman David Krikorian (I-Madeira) says he's been trying to focus the debate in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District on the economy but has "heard virtually nothing" from his opponents on the subjects of domestic and international economic security.

Krikorian is challenging U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) for Ohio's 2nd, along with Dr. Victoria Wulsin (D-Indian Hill). Krikorian said he was issuing his statement on the proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions because he wants the voters in the district to know where he stands. He challenged his opponents to do the same and "prove" their understanding of the crisis and what should be done. Wulsin issued her statement on the bailout on Wednesday.

Krikorian says the he is deeply troubled by the "continuing deterioration of our financial system and lack of leadership by our elected officials in Washington."

Krikorian said he entered the race because he "saw these financial issues materializing over the past few years and knew that our country needed leadership that understands the systemic problems in our financial markets and what we should do to restore economic security."

He said he also knew that Schmidt and Wulsin "lacked the necessary background, experience, knowledge and understanding of business, economics and financial markets" to provide that leadership.

Krikorian says that Washington caused the problems currently being experienced.
 
"For too long, our congressional leaders have traded campaign contributions with Wall Street in exchange for foolishly eliminating regulations and changing the rules which enabled our current financial crisis," Krikorian said. "The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury do not exist to be the private piggy banks of Wall Street.  The government exists to govern, not to get rich at the expense of the very citizens for whom it's their duty to serve."

Krikorian said that artificially low interest rates and "excessive money creation policies by the Federal Reserve are at the heart of our credit crisis.  Low interest rates and easy money Fed policies are the main culprits in the housing bubble and mortgage meltdown."

Krikorian also said that "propping-up insolvent institutions with taxpayer debt under the threat that certain institutions are too big to fail is exactly the WRONG thing to do."

Krikorian went on to outline what he says the U.S. needs to do:

• "Restructure failing financial institutions through government take-over.  Losses incurred should be borne first by the stockholders, second by the bondholders and third by the taxpayer.  This action would keep the economic gears running without exposing the American taxpayer to $700B or more in debt.
• Address the short-term liquidity needs of American businesses by establishing a national bank funded by the Treasury offering market rate collateralized loans to organizations that are unable to fund operations traditionally.
• Organize a trustbuster task force to identify financial firms which are deemed too big to fail and break them up into smaller companies.
• End the practice of self-regulation in the financial services industry as Wall Street has proven incapable of governing itself.
• Bring structure and regulation to the OTC derivative markets, promote financial transparency and accountability, and limit CDS to hedging not speculating.
• Develop a comprehensive domestic energy policy to stabilize our trade deficit and strengthen the dollar.  Our devalued dollar is the main cause behind high energy costs.
• Balance the federal budget by shrinking the size of government, modernizing our entitlement programs and decreasing our foreign intervention.
• Institute a formal restatement of Glass Steagall restrictions on all banks doing business in the U.S. including multinationals, separating investment banking from traditional banking.
• Ban the practice of naked short selling.
• Return to a system of regional and local banks through a reinstatement of laws limiting bank ownership across state lines.
• Institute a national usury ceiling for all interest rates and fees on all debt to prevent banks from perpetuating predatory interest rate schemes based on extending individual state laws.
• Stop manipulating government economic statistics through the use of hedonic and seasonal fluctuations.  Underreporting inflation is fraudulent especially to those on fixed incomes.  
• Simplify the US tax structure in order to promote job growth and strengthen consumer spending.
• Fully fund the FDIC so that depositors have the confidence that their savings are safe.  This past July, I urged Congress to immediately fund the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation because it does not have enough reserves to cover the mounting debt failures."

"The second district in Ohio needs a Representative in Washington that understands these issues and can offer honest, effective solutions instead of party line rhetoric," Krikorian said. "Congresswoman Jean Schmidt has not, to my knowledge, issued a single statement in the past year on the major problems we are experiencing in our financial markets.  I challenge Jean Schmidt and Victoria Wulsin to prove, in their own words, that they have an understanding of what is going on and what should be done."