September 26, 2008 07:21 am
—
By Mark Boshnack
Staff Writer
ONEONTA _ With reports
midday Thursday that an
agreement for a financial bailout
of the banking system was
getting closer, the reaction
was mixed from people who
shared their opinion.
Six people discussed the
situation outside the Wal-Mart
on Oneonta’s Southside.
“Bailing out someone else’s
mistake is a
mistake on our
part,” said Ann
Carman, 38, of
Otego. She said
she works in
the fundraising
department at
Hartwick College.
Why should
regular, hardworking families
have to come up with what has
been estimated at more
than $2,000 a person, she
asked.
The chief executive officers
who make millions
of dollars a year should be
forced to pay, she added.
“Many people in government
don’t really understand
what was being
offered, so how can the
average citizen understand
the situation?” Carman
said.
“I think it’s a necessary
evil,” said retiree Barbara
Smith, 66, of Morris. “It just
seems sad that the credit
problems have gotten
this far. I hope
they know what they
are doing.”
She said she
doesn’t like to
see government
involved in such
things, but there is
going to have to be
more regulation of
the companies getting
rescued.
During the recent upheavals,
she doesn’t like
to look at her retirement
plan, she said. “It will
come back,” but she is not
sure when.
The government needs
to fix the issues surrounding
the banking system,
said Steve Barrett, 25, of
Oneonta, who works for
a fire suppression equipment
company.
“I believe the government
should be putting
their foot back in” when it
comes to finding solutions
to the economic problems
facing the country, he
said.
After lawmakers tackle
banking, they need to look
at ways of getting more
people back to work, he
said. They took such actions
during the Depression,
he added, and maybe
something similar is
needed now.
“I think it’s necessary,
but it’s a little late,” said
Loretta Weaver, 67, of
Hamden.
Weaver, a nurse, said
she is a supporter of Sen.
John McCain, R-Ariz., for
president.
McCain identified that
there was a problem with
government mortgage
lenders Freddie Mac
and Fannie Mae years
ago, she said, but neither
President Bush nor the
Congress wanted to do
anything about the
issue then.
“ I don’t think it
will help much, but
they have to do it to
restore faith in the
economy again,”
she said.
Frank MacDonald,
63, of Millville,
N.J., said, “My only
concern is that taxpayers
are going to have to pay
for the whole thing.”
Even so, he added,
“I know we are going to
have to trust the people
in power to come up with
a plan.”
State University College
at Oneonta student
Sultana Aslamkhan, 20,
said, “I feel they should
bail them out,” but not to
the extent that is being
discussed.
“It’s all going to come
out of taxes,” she said.
She was concerned
about the tax impact of the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
plus the bailout,
on her generation. She
plans on going to medical
school, so she expects to
be all right, but said “not
everyone will be.”
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