10-01-08, 9:24 am
More than a Wall Street bailout is needed to end the current financial crisis and restore economic growth, Barack Obama told supporters in Reno, Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the University of Nevada.
'This is no longer just a Wall Street crisis. It's an American crisis, and it's the American economy that needs this rescue plan,' he said. He called on members of both parties in Congress to step up and come to agreement on a bailout and to move forward.
'Every American should be outraged that an era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and Washington has led us to this point, but now that we are here, the stability of our entire economy depends on us taking immediate action to ease this crisis,' Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton said in a press statement the same day.
Obama boldly stated, 'To all Americans, I say this: If I am president of the United States, this rescue plan will not be the end of what we do to strengthen this economy. It will only be the beginning.'
In what may be an slap at the McCain campaign's concerted effort to blame House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Obama for the failure of the bailout package Monday, Sept. 29, Obama called for getting past finger-pointing and told his Reno audience that 'there will be time to punish those who set this fire, but now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out.'
Obama pointed out that under the current crisis, college students are finding student loans more difficult to come by. Car buyers, small business startups, home buyers, and others will find loans harder to find, potentially dragging the economy down further than otherwise.
'What it means is that businesses won't be able to get the loans they need to open new factories, or hire more workers, or make payroll for the workers they have. What it means is that thousands of businesses could close around the country. Millions of jobs could be lost,' he said.
Apart from the bailout package, Obama has proposed helping homeowners who face foreclosure to renegotiate the terms of their loans in order to keep their homes and pay their bills, invest in new job creation, and economic stimulus package that boost anti-poverty programs, unemployment programs, and provides direct relief to working families.
See portion's of Obama's Reno speech here:
