Dec. 14, 2008
Barney Frank On Bailouts, Welfare
Tells 60 Minutes An Auto Industry Bailout Would Help People, Not Companies
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Play CBS Video Video Chairman Of The Board Rep. Barney Frank (D.-Mass.), whose position as House Financial Services Committee Chairman puts him right in the middle of the controversial government bailouts, talks to Lesley Stahl.
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Barney Frank (CBS)
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In-Depth Meltdown Primer Questions and answers regarding various aspects of the current economic crisis.
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In-Depth Q&A: Big Three Bailout? Why Detroit's automakers might get a rescue package
"And I said, 'I just wanted to alert you that there may be some stuff coming out about my being gay,'" Frank remembers. "He said, 'Oh, Barney, don't be listening to that crap. They say all that stuff about all of us.' I said, 'Well, Tip, the point here is that it's true.' And he sort of slumped. He said, 'Oh, Barney, I'm so sad. I thought you might be the first Jewish speaker.'"
Frank says O'Neill's reaction was serious.
But soon after, Frank decided to take a step no one in Congress had taken: to out himself. When the Boston Globe sent its reporter Kay Longcope, Frank tried to make it no big deal. "And Kay came and sat down and put a tape recorder in front of me and said, 'Are you gay?' And I gave what was a very considered answer. 'Yeah, so what?'" he remembers.
Asked if he didn't think it would kill his career, Frank tells Stahl, "I thought about the House leadership. It became clear to me if I came out I would never be in the House leadership. And that's surely the case, because I couldn't expect members from all over the country to then be voting for me and defending that in their own districts. On the other hand, it has not in any way diminished my influence as a committee chairman."
The lowest point of is life, he says, came two years later when he found himself in a sex scandal. A male hooker Frank had hired told reporters that he had run a prostitution ring out of the congressman's apartment. An investigation concluded that Frank didn't know anything about it, but he was reprimanded and went to the floor of the House to apologize.
And then he went back to work. Frank, who composes letters by Dictaphone - not e-mail, and doesn't even use a computer, delved into the intricacies of modern banking, becoming the authority on all things Wall Street.
Asked where he is putting his money, Frank says, "Well, actually I can say because it’s a matter of public record: Massachusetts Municipal Bonds."
He said he's pretty confident the crisis will end in about a year. Part of the problem right now, he says, is that Secretary Paulson gave the bailout money to banks, but he’s not leaning on them to lend it.
"So, in other words, the Treasury Department is not going to hold their feet to the fire to lend this money," Stahl asks.
"Absolutely," Frank says. "They're not only not going to hold their feet to the fire; they’re telling them that the fire’s out."
Asked what he is really saying about Secretary Paulson, Frank says, "I am very disappointed in this. At first I thought he was focused too much on the financial community’s tender feelings. Now I think he’s focusing almost exclusively on them."
True to form, he's an equal opportunity curmudgeon, also criticizing Barack Obama for not being "assertive" enough on the credit crisis. "Part of the problem now is that this presidential transition has come at the very worst possible time. We saw it coming. I don't know if there was any way to avoid it," Frank says. "You know, Senator Obama has said, 'We only have one president at a time.' Well, that overstates the number of presidents we have at this time. We don't appear to have any."
But we do have Barney Frank. We wondered what he thinks of the job he’s done.
"The problem in politics is this: you don't get any credit for disaster averted. Going to the voters and saying, 'Boy, things really suck. But you know what? If it wasn't for me, they would suck worse.' That is not a platform on which anybody has ever gotten elected in the history of the world."
Produced by Shachar Bar-On
© MMVIII, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 286 CommentsMoney for nothing?!?! What were all those payroll taxes I paid into the unemployment insurance system for over the last 35 years? By his reasoning, those drawing on social security must be deadbeats as well. And THIS is the smartest man in Congress? God help us all.
PS luv the show Bruce in Georgia
Accused money manager also advised GOVERNMENT on scam artists.
Don''t tell me, but I wonder where our GOVERNMENT''S Brilliant Barney, Financial Manager was during the time this has been going on??
Now Brilliant Barney wants the American People to go out, spend and run up more debt to make him look good. Its time to cut the spending, and balance our budget that won''t budge. Thanks to these Brilliant Wizards running the show.
Bruce in Ga
Just another disillusioned voter/taxpayer in Georgia
Just another disillusioned voter/taxpayer in Georgia
Let Congress have hearings on the mortgage lending practices and it will come back to Frank and Dodd. Except they''d rather spend their time on baseball and steroids. The Democratic let Congress and Senate are gutless and will not punish their own.
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC, 20500, . I am thinking the american people could fill a warehouse on their own
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