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Lobbying heats up for rescue
The dome of the U.S. Capitol at night. Republican and Democratic lawmakers were working almost around the clock to hammer out a proposal to stop the US financial crisis.
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TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Scott Jagow: Our correspondent in Washington, Nancy Marshall Genzer, is here, as Marketplace continues its coverage of the financial crisis. Nancy, how intense has the lobbying effort been in the last 24 hours for this new rescue package?
Nancy Marshall Genzer: You know, it has gradually gotten more intense until it is at a fever pitch, Scott. We've got the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers -- they're telling small businesses, manufacturers, call your member of Congress, tell them how you need this bill passed and how maybe right now, maybe you can't get a loan so you can stock up on inventory for the holidays and that kind of thing.
Jagow: Well what intrigued me was hearing how much lobbying the AARP is doing on this.
Marshall Genzer: Yeah, they say that their members and seniors have lost more than a trillion dollars in the stock market in the past year. They have activated their vast grassroots network and tens of thousands of e-mails are going out to members of Congress from seniors who say they've lost money in the market.
Jagow: Do we have any sense whether this lobbying effort is working in terms of getting the votes needed to pass this in the House?
Marshall Genzer: You know, there has been a steady trickle of House members who've said, mmm, they've voted against the bill on Monday, now they're either non-committal or they're saying, oh, yeah, I am going to vote for it. I mean, there's not a tsunami of members who are now saying they've changed their minds, but for everyone who's coming out publicly and said they've changed their minds, there could be five more who are at least thinking about it.
Jagow: All right, Nancy Marshall Genzer in Washington. Thank you.
Marshall Genzer: You're welcome.
As one who is in there early 30's I am really not interested in paying or having my children pay for a generation of senior citizens who help to not only create the problem we face but, create the credit market as it stands today. As for stores stocking there shelves for Christmas, why do we need $800 billion for stores to stock there shelves. Why not just start preparing for Christmas now. Christmas may just be a little short this year. Instead of using a credit card to buy gifts you may need to use cash which means there probably won’t be as much buying this year because for generations we have been paying with credit instead of actual money; for a generation we have been delaying payments. We need to face facts, the credit market is about to and is going through a tremendous overhaul and when it's finished it will not be the size it is now and cash will have a more prominent role again. I am and I would tell other to start putting money in there local banks because banking is about to become very personal again. Another point no has mentioned, these huge investment banks have for to long stifled competition and kept the local and regional banks out of the picture. I for one want to see these huge banks crash to create room for up and coming new ones and to diversify the market which will create more options. That in turn will make a bank think twice before treating it’s customers as another number.
