Bailing out Wall Street at taxpayer expense is morally irresponsible.
This is what Congressman Barry Goldwater emphasized in his lecture at Moorpark College Monday Oct. 6. Former Congressman of the 34th Congressional District, Goldwater told a large crowd of students that they should hold the government accountable for the recent bailout on Wall Street, as well as for the current struggling economy.
“George Bush will go down in history as the worst president ever,” he said. A lifelong Republican who leans toward libertarianism, Goldwater assailed the Bush Administration for its creation of the $10 trillion debt the nation now has.
Goldwater made the comments during his talk that was part of the Year of Democracy series at Moorpark College. About 100 students and a few professors packed the Campus Center Conference Room to hear Goldwater’s fiery discussion of the current state of Washington politics.
Born into a political family, Goldwater is the son of former Senator and Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, Sr., who ran against Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 Presidential Election. Goldwater’s father taught him what it took to be in politics. At first he did not want to be a politician, working for the Pacific Stock Exchange in Los Angeles as a stock broker until friends convinced him to run for Congress. Stepping away from his career, he took on the daunting challenge in 1968, winning the election at age 30.
Today, at 70, he told the room full of students that all of Congress should be fired for the bungling of the nation’s economy and the bailout, which he characterized as a giveaway to the wealthy at American taxpayer expense. Instead of the bailout, he said the mortgage-backed securities that bundle 94 good loans with 6% bad or defaulting loans should be teased apart and restructure the bad loans so people can stay in their houses and leave the good loans alone. As the bailout is now structured, Goldwater said the firms that purchased the bundles now sell them to the taxpayer and stay whole.
“Then they’ll go around to the backdoor and buy them back at 50 cents on the dollar.”
Goldwater said Congress represents politics, with poly meaning many, and tics meaning blood-sucking creatures.
“It is fine to hold our government accountable,” he said. “It was Congress who decided to take a risk.”
Goldwater his point across to a room full of students confused about our current budget crisis.
This lecture is one of many events being held by Moorpark College for the Year of Democracy theme, which was chosen to “enlighten and engage students in their country’s governance, according to the mission statement.
The Moorpark College faculty wanted to help students participate in their campus community. Since 2006, the “Year of” theme has been implemented to meet this goal, helping students become better educators and citizens of this country. For more information on future events for the Year of Democracy, visit the Moorpark College website at www.moorparkcollege.edu, keyword “Year of Democracy.”
