Feinstein on bailout: Set execs 'on fire' if they don't play ball RAW STORY

Published: Sunday September 28, 2008





Print This Email This Americans don't like the bailout.



That's the message that Sen. Dianne Feinstein is receiving from her constituents, making her more hesitant than many of her fellow Democrats to pass the $700 billion Wall St. bailout proposed by President Bush, McClatchy reported.



"Only one of a thousand supports it  whatever it is," the California Democrat said. "People call us and say they're really against bailing out fat-cats. That's a big issue."



Even as lawmakers claimed a compromise had been reached early Sunday morning, doubts remained on both sides of the aisle about a bill that has grown from three pages to more than a hundred and offers little protection of taxpayers.



Feinstein explained one of the main sources of voters outrage over the bailout plan during an address to Congress: "I'm told that the reason the Treasury Secretary doesn't want limits on executive compensation is because he believes that an executive then won't bring his company in to partake in any program that is set up."



"Well here's my response to that," she said. "We can put that executive on his boat, take that boat out in the ocean and set it on fire if that's how he feels. That's what should happen, or his company doesn't come in."



Feinstein said the frantic push for the bill from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson feels too much like the rush into Iraq, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.



"There is a great deal of cynicism among those of us who have to live with having voted to go into Iraq based on misinformation and intelligence that later turned out not to be truthful," Feinstein said



A full transcript of Feinstein's floor statement to Congress can be seen here.







