Conley Charges Sen. Graham With Setting The Stage For Crisis

Democratic challenger Bob Conley, running for South Carolina’s U.S. Senate seat, is strongly opposed to the kind of meddling in financial markets that is supported by Lindsey Graham and which is responsible for today’s economic crisis.

“The current economic crisis is a direct consequence of the flawed legislation Lindsey Graham voted for while serving in the House of Representatives,” said Conley. “Lindsey Graham has hurt South Carolina and the Nation beyond measure.”

Graham voted in 1999 for the euphemistically-named Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 which repealed the common-sense restrictions on the financial sector imposed by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933.

This repeal of Glass-Steagall set up the current crisis by allowing Wall Street firms to integrate banking, insurance and brokerage services under the same roof, with virtually no regulatory oversight.

“Lifting Glass-Steagall restrictions launched a new era of irrational risk-taking, led to dangerous financial practices, and allowed the perilous consolidation of the financial sector into too few hands,” said Conley. “This centralization of financial power now threatens to destabilize our economy and further sink our once vibrant Middle Class into a hole from which they may never climb out.”

Lindsey Graham’s vote in 1999 had the following impact on South Carolina and the Nation:

· Feverish speculation caused the so-called “dot.com” crash that wiped out $5 trillion in market value of technology companies from March 2000 to October 2002. At the time, Fed chairman Alan Greenspan called this “irrational exuberance”.

· Lax regulatory oversight set up, accelerated and perpetuated sub-prime mortgage loans and their bundling into prime investments that promised high returns – an unsustainable proposition by any common-sense measure.

· The results: $29 billion to bail out Bear Stearns; $85 billion for 80 percent of AIG to nationalize it; $150 billion in a stimulus package to flood the nation with cash; $250 billion to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and now $700 billion to save the national economy from the excesses of Wall Street. All this with no guarantee of success!

After helping to lead our Nation into a financial crisis of such devastating magnitude, Lindsey Graham no longer can claim to have the knowledge, insight and hands-on experience to continue representing South Carolinians in the U.S. Senate.

In financial terms, it is time for the voters of South Carolina to withdraw Lindsey Graham from the U.S. Senate and deposit Bob Conley as their sound investment in the future.