2008 Woodie Awards
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: News
Transcript | Hillary Clinton's speech on the housing crisis
The 21st century American economy is more complex and more interconnect with the global economy than ever before. It is shaped each day by billions and billions of individual transactions and interactions on every continent. Subject to crises or even just speculation in one country can move markets in dozens of others with the blink of an eye or a flick of a mouse.
In today's economy, trouble that starts on Wall Street often ends up on Main Street. Sometimes within minutes, sometimes over the course of months or even years. When there's a run on mortgage-backed securities and the bottom falls out for investment banks, the bottom falls out for families who see the value of their homes, their greatest source of wealth, decline. When our credit markets freeze up, that doesn't just cause panic on our trading floors, but in small businesses that can't get the capital they need to survive. And on college campuses like this one, when the student loan for next semester falls through. When we continue to persist in brain dead energy policy as confidence in our currency erodes, that means gas prices so high you feel like it costs more to commute to work than you make when you get there. It means rising food prices that strain household budgets. It means having less left over for savings or ever dipping into savings to make ends meet. It means more challenges for the mayor because property tax revenues drop, businesses don't have the same ability to make that profit that benefits the city. It means more problems for the governor who has to look across a complex state economy trying to figure out how to keep what has been a remarkable string of real budget balances and surpluses. It causes problems for our country.
Ultimately the true currency of today's American economy is confidence. When people lose confidence in the economy and our president's ability to manage it, problems become crises and crises lead to more crises. So we need a president who can restore our confidence, a president who is ready to confront complex economic problems with comprehensive solutions, a president who will act at the first signs of trouble, working with experts to identify the problem, with agencies to adapt regulations, with congress to pass necessary legislation, working to prevent crises rather than just reacting too little too late. We need a president who is ready on day one to be Commander-in-Chief of our economy. If you give me the chance, I will be that president. I will start by facing our economic situation as it is, not as we wish it would be.
In today's economy, trouble that starts on Wall Street often ends up on Main Street. Sometimes within minutes, sometimes over the course of months or even years. When there's a run on mortgage-backed securities and the bottom falls out for investment banks, the bottom falls out for families who see the value of their homes, their greatest source of wealth, decline. When our credit markets freeze up, that doesn't just cause panic on our trading floors, but in small businesses that can't get the capital they need to survive. And on college campuses like this one, when the student loan for next semester falls through. When we continue to persist in brain dead energy policy as confidence in our currency erodes, that means gas prices so high you feel like it costs more to commute to work than you make when you get there. It means rising food prices that strain household budgets. It means having less left over for savings or ever dipping into savings to make ends meet. It means more challenges for the mayor because property tax revenues drop, businesses don't have the same ability to make that profit that benefits the city. It means more problems for the governor who has to look across a complex state economy trying to figure out how to keep what has been a remarkable string of real budget balances and surpluses. It causes problems for our country.
Ultimately the true currency of today's American economy is confidence. When people lose confidence in the economy and our president's ability to manage it, problems become crises and crises lead to more crises. So we need a president who can restore our confidence, a president who is ready to confront complex economic problems with comprehensive solutions, a president who will act at the first signs of trouble, working with experts to identify the problem, with agencies to adapt regulations, with congress to pass necessary legislation, working to prevent crises rather than just reacting too little too late. We need a president who is ready on day one to be Commander-in-Chief of our economy. If you give me the chance, I will be that president. I will start by facing our economic situation as it is, not as we wish it would be.
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