madoff. and yet there is no evidence to suggest that at all. we have their redefinition of net equity, and the clawback which could be devastating, and that taxes paid for many years on nonexistent properties. we have a bond issue, including a former member of congress who said he had never heard of bernard madoff, and it turns out that his life's savings had been invested by bernard madoff. and he has lost everything. and then the entire issue of unfettered power being given to the trusty to change definitions, decide who was born to go after, why people go after them, whether they're specific authority to do that are not -- and these are all issues because this will not be allies ponzi scheme. this will not be the last massive fraud. i don't think enough attention -- and all of us should have enough responsibility to this -- what you do when a massive fraud like this develops? we have to address this. we also have to find ways to protect those who are currently the victims. i look for to th

madoff. and yet there is no evidence to suggest that at all. we have a redefinition of net equity. we have the clawback, which could be devastating we have the fact that taxes were paid over the years on nonexistent profits. we have the feeder fund issue, or even a former member of congress who had never heard of bernie madoff, and it turns out that his life savings had been invested by bernard madoff. he lost everything. and then there's the whole issue what appears to be the most unfair -- to change definitions and decide he was going to go after and why, whether he has specific authority. these are all issues, because as the chairman said, and the ranking member also said, this will not be the last ponzi scheme. this will not be the last massive fraud. i don't think there's enough attention has been given to what do you do in a massive fraud like this. we have to address it, and we also have to find ways to protect those who are currently victims. i look for to the hearing and to working w

madoff. and yet there is no evidence to suggest that at all. we have their redefinition of net equity, and the clawback which could be devastating, and that taxes paid for many years on nonexistent properties. we have a bond issue, including a former member of congress who said he had never heard of bernard madoff, and it turns out that his life's savings had been invested by bernard madoff. and he has lost everything. and then the entire issue of unfettered power being given to the trusty to change definitions, decide who was born to go after, why people go after them, whether they're specific authority to do that are not -- and these are all issues because this will not be allies ponzi scheme. this will not be the last massive fraud. i don't think enough attention -- and all of us should have enough responsibility to this -- what you do when a massive fraud like this develops? we have to address this. we also have to find ways to protect those who are currently the victims. i look for to th

madoff. again, i want thank the chairman for holding this important hearing. and for mr. lancette sharing his story with us. >> thank you very much. i like to thank chairman and kanjorski, and the members of the subcommittee on capital markets, insurance, and government sponsored enterprises for having me here. my name is gregory lancette, currently the business manager of plumbers and steamfitters local 267 in syracuse, new york. i am chairman of the jointly administered multi-employer trust fund. i've served in this capacity since 2005. local 267 is a chartered local union of united association of journeymen and apprentices in the plumbing and pipe fitting industry in the united states and canada. i am here today on behalf of not only by 1115 pension participants and their families, but they also stand here today as president of the central and northern new york building and construction trades council, which represents nearly 16,000 pensioners and their families also from central new york.

madoff. and even when the s.e.c. went out to see mr. madoff, mr.madoff has now admitted that when the question was asked of him, who is your custodian, and he rattled off the name and he was convinced within next three days he would be shut down because the custodian did not provide those services but the s.e.c. never even made the phone call to find out whether or not whether mr. madoff was operating through that custodian. from my perspective, the government, the federal government, failed miserably and the s.e.c. in particular. so my question to you is this, since we were responsible for this travesty, shouldn't we take some responsibility now in trying to make the people that were impacted by our incompetence and by our malfeasance by creating a fund to make them somewhat whole? and what would prevent the s.e.c. from doing that? >> congresswoman, thank you. i can respond in two ways. the funds that you talk about is certainly something that congress could do if it determined that that was the appropriate thing to do here and certainly you could

madoff. and yet there is no evidence to suggest that at all. we have their redefinition of net equity, and the clawback which could be devastating, and that taxes paid for many years on nonexistent properties. we have a bond issue, including a former member of congress who said he had never heard of bernard madoff, and it turns out that his life's savings had been invested by bernard madoff. and he has lost everything. and then the entire issue of unfettered power being given to the trusty to change definitions, decide who was born to go after, why people go after them, whether they're specific authority to do that are not -- and these are all issues because this will not be allies ponzi scheme. this will not be the last massive fraud. i don't think enough attention -- and all of us should have enough responsibility to this -- what you do when a massive fraud like this develops? we have to address this. we also have to find ways to protect those who are currently the victims. i look for to th

the sec investigators or after madoff again and again from my 92 on in the always missed it. why was that? their defense was they were inexperienced and incompetence but i don't know if that is a satisfying answer. >> as head of the estin investigative service when was the first you heard of madoff? >> denied he was arrested. we had just finished reporting on rod blagojevich, the enemy-- governor of illinois. bernard invested a $50 camperville that is a typo. that would be the biggest in history. well, i soon found out. >> what kind of resources to you in your unit turned over to this investigation? >> we had the entire abc news' investigative unit immediately but there was some money great details that could not fit into the world news or nightline or 2020 so we ended up doing this book. what is the first book i've written. >> it is your first book? >> i am a rookie at this but i enjoyed it. it usually exists of a minute and-a-half and hera had as much as i want. >> how did you fit writing this book into your workday? >> 4:30 in the morning was a good time to ride in the kee

host: talking about bernie madoff and stadium employees removing letters from the enron field in houston. former president george bush and his mission accomplished speak. the weeks of discussion on television talk shows. host: we are talking about zee finding moments of the decade for the next two or three minutes. the next call on the line. caller: i'll have to say the biggest story is the fall of the american empire. we are no longer respected around the world like we used to be. no matter if it is george bush

near as pension and health funds that were affected by the acts of bernard madoff are facing insolvency. the securities and exchange commission was not able to identify the fraud that took place in a timely manner, which it -- which resulted in much more significant losses as the criminal act progressed. . >> i strongly urge the consideration for multiple investor groups or any multi employer investments to be considered as an individual investor and that could be funded in this manner. i urge the pension plans be allowed the proper time frame before the pension protection act to protect losses. thank you good much for your time. >> next summer we will hear from dr. john coffee, the professor of law. buc>> thank you chairman. i am pleased to be here, but disappointed on this earth -- this first anniversary that so little has been done to prevent future ponzi schemes. they appear to cost americans. before we even heard of this, the ponzi scheme losses were 9.6 billion. this is not a trivial problem. it is a recurrent problem. i think that it will continue as long as the government persis

ross, in the madoff chronicles what's new? >> i think there's a lot. what drove him, what it started, and his total lack of remorse. we also look at who else was likely involved? he didn't do this alone, despite his claims that he did. >> did mrs. madoff have a role? >> she did. she kept the books when she started. she was still keeping the books at the day he was arrested. if she didn't know directly, she certainly was along for the ride. i liken them to bonnie and clyde, maybe bonnie didn't fire the guns, but she was part of the scheme. >> do you think the story will continue? >> there are more people. the layers of the onion are being peeled. the failure of the government. the fcc investigators were after madoff again and again on '92. they always missed it. why was that? their defense is they were inexperienced and incompetent. i know if that's satisfying. >> well, as head of the investigative unit, when's the first time you heard? >> the night he was arrested. i was sitting in new york next to my colleague. we had just finished reporting on rob th

later, a house hearing on the bernie madoff ponzi scheme and ways to protect security investments. >> monday, expanding broadband to rural and underserved areas of the country. an update from the fcc's broadband initiative director on the communicators on c-span 2. >> this week, we're going to show you bbc's "the record review," a look back at major events of 2009. this program discusses military operations in afghanistan, and the state opening of parliament. >> hello, and welcome.

madoff. and even when the s.e.c. went out to see mr. madoff, mr. madoff has now admitted that when the question was asked of him, who is your custodian, and he rattled off the name and he was convinced within next three days he would be shut down because the custodian did not provide those services but the s.e.c. never even made the phone call to find out whether or not whether mr. madoff was operating through that custodian. from my perspective, the government, the federal government, failed miserably and the s.e.c. in particular. so my question to you is this, since we were responsible for this travesty, shouldn't we take some responsibility now in trying to make the people that were impacted by our incompetence and by our malfeasance by creating a fund to make them somewhat whole? and what would prevent the s.e.c. from doing that? >> congresswoman, thank you. i can respond in two ways. the funds that you talk about is certainly something that congress could do if it determined that that was the appropriate thing to do here and certainly you coul

bernie madoff's investment advisor was never examined. the kind of gap in regulation that causes disasters. it causes scams. it causes bernie madoffs of the world to get along for decades. that's why i introduced this amendment. i mean the provision, which we are now striking. now, going forward we at least need to look at this. we need to know that there are 500 or 600 of these investment advisors and broker dealers, dual operations. we need to make clear that the s.e.c. -- somewhere that they have the authority to examine both investment advisors and broker dealers. if they want to perform that mission. and i know one thing the chairman has done, he's added more money for the s.e.c. and i think that's part of the answer. but i think this committee, this congress as we go forward needs to make sure they do their job. there was a monumental failure of the s.e.c. if they don't do their job, or we find they don't, and they have the resources -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. bachus: let's give it to someone else. the chair

madoff for him to get out of prison but probably not. >> those charges are pretty serious. >> can you point to examples of similar in effect you talk to the changes to probation and the example that the time line in texas that they're building new prisons instead of investing to reduce the problems after words. >> evaluation literature is not overwhelmingly powerful. pretty clear it is not useful. it is not entirely clear to me on the other hand, the mike every county pre-trial release center, is essentially a jail, is run on the principle you have no privileges, that you do not earn by your activities to find a job. every time you do something toward finding a job you get later nights come a more tv and more phone calls and when you have a job, you have a privilege and that turns out to work fine. again, it is the same elementary incentive management problem but if you have a 1500% jlo running at 140% of capacity it is hard to do that. one of the things that i believed it but do not have knowledge as we do better with the thames at that size a lot less gang problem and opportunity to

we do not know anything about the bernie madoffs i am sure there were not any bernie madoffs of the time. all of a sudden we find ourselves in a deep, deep hole with all the problems we are having in housing, a credit-card, financial, banks, and the banks closing. therefore we really don't know what is going on in the future. >> it is interesting you used the word it greed. if my father or alive and still writing at the beginning of the book he blames much of the depression on the greed that was occurring during the '20s. people buying stock on a huge margins. when you refer to the greed on wall street you also have to refer to agree on the part of all the people. i had a man referred to me by a local bank in youngstown. they said try to the figure out how to help this man. he is one of our customers. he had taken an early buyouts, took the money down to florida. within six months he ended up signing on title seven houses that he was going to fix up and flip. of course the market caves in before he flips number one. now, that wasn't greed on wall street. that was greed on main street. so

. >> it's one of the great bernie madoff gimmicks that i've ever seen, that anybody has ever seen. if the bill were signed by the president on the first of january, the taxes would kick in and the medicare cuts and other cuts would kick in and it wouldn't be four years later that any of the benefits begin to accrue. what is that? that's nuty stuff. and by the way, it's unacceptable. >> reporter: while the drama of majority leader harry reid scouring the democratic ranks for the one final vote he needed was unfolding inside, outside the capitol was brought to its knees by a blinding snowstorm. reed finally got that 60th vote from nebraska's ben nelson. nelson made his support known saturday morning. >> while each of my colleagues may differ on how to fix the system , i know of no members who are suggesting that the current system is satisfactory. i know of no member who doesn't think that we need to change our health care system. where we differ-- and i say so with great respect to all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle-- is in the way we fix our health care system. >> repo

it is bernie madoff accounting, one more time, under this bill.ou would think after a while people would get embarrassed about it. i mean, really. it would become embarrassing after a while. when you match up 10 years of tax increases, 10 years of medicare cuts to five years of programmatic spending and claim that you've got a program that's fully paid for and it's only an 40 billion program. when you know the program, the entire bill fully phased in it it's $2.5 trillion in costs. $2.5 trillion in costs. that it isn't $500 billion in medicare cuts when it is phased in. it is $1 trillion in medicare cuts. that it isn't $500 billion in fee increases on small businesses -- most of this will fall on small businesses, it is over $1 trillion of increases. you would think after a while people would be embarrassed about those type -- the manipulation of numbers in that way. that doesn't seem to occur. an, yet, we get it -- and, yet, we get this proposal that says, ok, let's do it again. let's claim we're doing something we're not doing. let's claim that

well, we say let's make sure the bernie madoffs of the world and people like him are not selling health insurance. they wave a flag, stand up the un-american strawman, saying the bill is against old-fashioned american values and denounce it. we say, don't you dare question our patriotism. do not dare question our commitment to doing what is right for the american people. they stand up the death panel strawman, claim the legislation would kill grandma and denounce it as inhumane. we say stop the outrageous misinformation and tell the truth to the american people. they stand up the tax strawman and say, health care reform will increase taxes. we say we're making health care entities, like insurance companies, pay their fair share. they set up the spending strawman and say the bill will indebt the next generation despite congressional budget office estimates to the contra contrary. we say, you can't pick and choose when to believe the congressional budget office and stand by their numbers only when it's convenient to your cause. for instance, my friend, senator gregg, the ranking member on

we know what happened to bernard madoff. we know the attorneys at the s.e.c. only file one half a case every other year. that's one case each lawyer files every other year. somebody's not watching out for the citizens of this country. the people that put us here. and our job, i think, is to put those people to work before we hire more bureaucrats and create more bureaucracies that will lead to more of the same. thank you very much. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. sessions: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. sessions: while it's important to provide consumer safety in the marketplace, our constituents are more concerned about the economy, the debt and the loss of jobs. when my friends on the other side of the aisle finally focus on this, i think we're going to start making advances for the american people, to reduce our debt, and to get back to where we have a growing economy. week after week we come to the house floor to debate bills th

later, a house hearing on the bernie madoff ponzi scheme and ways to protect security investments. >> monday, expanding broadband to rural and underserved areas of the country. an update from the fcc's broadband initiative director on the communicators on c-span 2. >> this week, we're going to show you bbc's "the record review," a look back at major events of 2009. this program discusses military operations in afghanistan, and the state opening of parliament. >> hello, and welcome. coming up, it is the economy, as britain's debt go up and up. they use public money to declare everything, trying to put the expenses role behind them. and members of the youth parliament show us how it is done. >> now is a time to be hurt, and it's time to hear others. >> one suspect has dominated everything in recent months.

look at madoff. for years people tried to blow the whistle on madoff, so, yeah, greed is a problem. i think greed undermines our society. i think it undermines our values, and i think one thing about greed, it's somewhat self regulating. in other words, if you com%it a criminal act or you get a loan that you can't pay back, there are consequences, but if the government comes in and short circuits those consequences by saying ok, you failed but we're going to bail you out, and we did that last year. we did that with some very large corporations, who had acted recklessly, and we came in, and we intervened, and we used taxpayer dollars to pay them back, taxpayer dollars, and they didn't suffer the consequences. i think that undermines individual responsibility, and individual initiatives, so i believe that in many cases the government shields people from the consequences of their actions. there is really -- the other thing, i think, you mentioned, caller, is jobs. let me tell you, the government doesn't create a lot of productivity. that's the private sector. when you take capital, and

that is why this is bernie madoff accounting. it is a sham. it is a sham. they seem to make people pay taxes and have their benefits cut for four years and then only after four years to the benefits kick in. that is the way with this kind of accounting they get to a deficit neutral. it is crazy. it is crazy. so you increase taxes and medicare cuts begin impacting americans and our economy in 32 days. let me repeat this. starting in january 2010 just one month from now the majority begins tax increases and medicare cuts starting in january. an incredibly today's implementation for four years. that is 1460 days and 208 weeks of new taxes and medicare cuts before implementation. that is playing games with the american people. if they weren't playing games by delaying the implementation of the bill for years after the tax increases and medicare cuts we would not even be discussing this pile of legislation because it would be scored as adding a over a trillion dollars to our deficit. if the other side wanted to be honest and reject madoff and enron accounting th

even said that this particular provision in this bill is a ponzi scheme, it's something that bernie madoff would love, and yet here we are with straight faces on the other side of the aisle coming in and saying, we're really going to reduce the deficit by passing this provision called the class act. beyond me how anybody with that straight face can say that that is actually a fact. a senator: would the senator yield? mr. chambliss: absolutely. mr. isakson: isn't it true that's what's wrong with social security today, where we've spent it for years and years rather than putting it in a trust fund. and now that the baby boomers are going, the money's not there? isn't that the same thing? mr. chambliss: you are exactly right and exactly the same situation with medicare. mr. isakson: just one other question to follow up on the fiscal part that senator south carolina brought. it's also true that the taxes begin in 11 days in this bill, january 1 of 2010, but the benefits begin january 1 of 2014. and in that score of the first ten years of costs, you've got four years of program that aren't cost

his endowment also lost $4 million to bernie madoff. and that money's just gone?itten that money off. it's basically gone. >> cooper: but canada's experiment did receive a boost earlier this year when president obama announced plans to create 20 "promise neighborhoods" across the country, modeled after the harlem children's zone. >> president barack obama: if the harlem's children's zone can turn around neighborhoods in new york, then why not detroit or san antonio or los angeles...? >> canada: and a lot of students came to school on saturday... >> cooper: there are other charter schools getting similar positive results, but replicating the harlem children's zone in its entirety may be difficult, in part, because it's hard to determine exactly which ingredient is the key to geoffrey canada's success. >> fryer: i feel like i've gone to a phenomenal french restaurant-- the dish tastes good, but i'm not sure exactly what they did to do it. >> cooper: he... he's doing so many different things. >> fryer: yeah. >> cooper: he's got this all- hands-on-deck approach. >> fr

of arizona warned today itll means years of pain fore any benefits >> it's one of the great bernie madoff gimmicks tt i'vever seen, that anybody has ever seen. if theill were signed by the prident on the first of january, the taxes would kk in andhe medicare cuts and other cutsould kick in and it wouldn't be fouyears later that any othe benefits begin to accrue. what is that that's nuty stuff. and by t way, it's unacceable. >>eporter: while the drama of majority leer harry reid scouring theemocratic ranks for the one finavote he need was unfolding inside, outside the catol was broughto its knees by a blinding swstorm. reed finally gothat 60th vote from nebraska'sen nelson. nelson madhis support known sarday morning. >> wle each of my colleagues may differ on how to fix the system , i ow of no members who arsuggesting that the currt system is satisfactory. i knowf no member who doesn't think that we need t change our health ca system. where we dfer-- and i say so th great respect to all of my colleagues on bh sides of the aisle-- is in e way we fix our health care system >> repter: to get

think it started off this decade with things like the enron, and you ended it, of course, with bernie madoffand the collapse of wall street. and so i think fundamentally what we are seeing politically too is sort of the rise of the individual, that institutions now are no longer as trusted, including politicians. >> i was going to say, the beginning of the decade coincided with the most condition tested election of our lifetime. >> that's right. and so you started off there, you know, but what i thought was really interesting too was when you look at party identification in 2 thousand and now compare it to where we are now, looking at the pew, poll, of course, the number of people who identify themselves as independents has jumped six points. it's not that the number of people who identify themselves as democrats has gone up either. this number looks almost exactly the same as in 1992, where we had some of those same elements coming into play. frustration with the statusco, there was scandal in washington there was obviously economic upheaval. and so i think what we are seeing both in campai

but the democratic chairman of the budget committee described it as a ponzi scheme worthy of bernie madoff. that is because the amount of money that would be paid in -- a person pays a people are july of $28.80 per yea year for five ye, and then they'll have a long-term benefit for a long time after that. mr. president, it's obvious why the majority -- thank you, mr. president. it's obvious why the majority has cooked up this amendment in secret, has introduced it in the middle of a snowstorm, has scheduled the senate to come in session at midnight, has scheduled a vote for 1:00 a.m., is insisting that it be passed before christmas -- because they don't want the american people to know what's in it. it's a deeply disappointing legislative result but our friends on the democratic side seem determined to pursue a political kamikaze mission toward a historic mistake which will be bad for the democrats, i am convinced, but, unfortunately, even much worse for our country. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona is r

that would embarrass even bernie madoff himself. let me be fair here. i have to rely on news reports to discuss these provisions much you heard me right. news reports. why is that? because no one knows what is actually in the bill that they've sent to the c.b.o. not even my friends on the democrat side by and large know the reid bill is put together by a very few democrats with the white house in the back rooms of the -- of the capitol here. nobody really knew what they were doing until they came out with it. and once we all saw it, we all realized what a mess that is. so now they found themselves in trouble, so they've gone and done another bill an they've submitted it to c.b.o. and hardly anybody on the floor knows exactly what all of the features are of that bill. we have a pretty good idea. but we don't know. no, no one knows actually, what's in the bill. despite the continuous claims of transparency that our friends on the other side are always talking about, the real bill continues to change on a daily basis behind the closed doors of the majority

failure to pursue an investigation of madoff. they presented a report alleged ly fraud by bernie madoff. while they had the necessary tools, their failure to use these tools and launch a full investigation allowed him to perpetrate his ponzi scheme. as further evidence, it is wrong to empower bureaucrats not one s.e.c. employee has even had their wrist slapped. we have had concerns from small businesses that it will restrict their access to credit. not only is this troubling -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired.. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. frank: i yield to the the gentleman from ohio, who i understand would like to engage in a colloquy. >> i would like to address the provisions of section 1103 which specifies the criteria to be considered in whether a financial company might be subjected to stricter standards. nondeposit tower kpts do not impose the type of risk. nondeposit tower finance companies typically financing on a none revolving basis to dealers. as such, they are involved in a narrow scope of financ

. >> so it made sense for people with bernie madoff to find more investors in the fund because as long as the ponzi scheme worked it worked well for everyone. i'm not suggesting our entire economy is a ponzi scheme but i am suggesting. [laughter] >> that we better find out on our own terms not to live at the behest of our foreign creditors. >> i understand you're an economist and not a sociologist. >> and i'm not a ph.d. so i better not call myself any of this. yeah. >> but how is it that you can convince americans who for so long have been used to the whole -- the next big thing will get me a lot of money and i can buy the giant house up on the hill that all my neighbors will envy. how do you tell that person or these people that that isn't going to work anymore. and that you have to actually budget and you have to get an education and go where the jobs are and convince them again, i guess, that they have to work more to get their money as opposed to just assume that money is there for them for the taking? >> i guess for that sense i guess i'm with the laissez-faire proponents that th

increase the deficit was by requiring them to use budget gimmicks and assumptions that would make bernie madoff blush. every time you hear one of my colleagues argue that the bill reduces the deficit you should ask that senator if he really believes that medicare will cut physician payments by 21% in march. that's right. while the reid bill cuts over $470 billion from the medicare program, it will also require that every doctor treating medicare patients have his or her payments cut by 21% in just two months. that's what c.b.o. had to assume when they did their estimate. if you believe that congress will never allow this to happen -- and we never have -- you cannot really believe this bill will actually reduce the deficit. the truth is that congress has never allowed that level of cut. senate democrats, however, chose to ignore this reality and relied on the promise of a cut to make their bill add up. you should also ask my democratic colleagues if they really believe that medicare payments to doctors will be cut more than 45% over the next decade. again, that's what the reid bill requires c.b.

democrat from north dakota kent conrad called a ponzi scheme of the first order, something that bernie madoff would be proud of, and there are others who have gone on to say. the congressional budget office says that the class act, the program would add the future budget deficits in large and growing fashion. even "the washington post" has editorialized about this, mr. president, and they came to the same conclusion. the class act is a gimmick designed to pretend that the government is paid for. these are not savings that can honestly be counted on the balance sheet of reform. then we all know you've got ten years of spending or ten years of revenue coming in with the tax increases but only six years of spending in the first ten years. phony budgeting, gimmicks, all these things that are used to mask the true size of this program, $2.5 trillion over ten years when it's fully implemented. so, mr. president, if you don't use the gimmicks, if you don't use the class act, if you don't -- if you discount the doc fix and don't count that in there, you can make it look like it doesn't add to the def

look at madoff. for years people tried to blow the whistle on madoff, so, yeah, greed is a problem.greed undermines our society. i think it undermines our values, and i think one thing about greed, it's somewhat self regulating. in other words, if you com%it a criminal act or you get a loan that you can't pay back, there are consequences, but if the government comes in and short circuits those consequences by saying ok, you failed but we're going to bail you out, and we did that last year. we did that with some very large corporations, who had acted recklessly, and we came in, and we intervened, and we used taxpayer dollars to pay them back, taxpayer dollars, and they didn't suffer the consequences. i think that undermines individual responsibility, and individual initiatives, so i believe that in many cases the government shields people from the consequences of their actions. there is really -- the other thing, i think, you mentioned, caller, is jobs. let me tell you, the government doesn't create a lot of productivity. that's the private sector. when you take capital, and this bil

one of the most significant members of this body referred to it as a ponzi scheme similar to the madoff, what he did. it imposes an unprecedented federal mandate for coverage backed by enforcement authority of the internal revenue service. it increases the size of government by $2.5 trillion when fully implemented. it creates dozens of new federal buicbureaucracies and programs o increase the scope of the federal government role in health care. that's a lot of power over people's lives concentrated in the federal government. and there are 1,697 delegations of authority to the secretary of h.h.s. to do things beyond authorities specifically given in this legislation. and the excesses of this bill appear willfully ignorant of what's going on in the rest of the economy outside of the health care of these excesses make it far worse than doing nothing. at this point in our nation's history, we're facing very challenging economic times. we've seen the auto industry go into bankruptcy. we've seen banks shut their doors. the chart behind me shows how the federal debt has increased by $1.4 trill

wait until the last five days of the campaign to say my opponent was a business partner of bernie madoff you might think about that if people are not going to have their ballots and the voting. the second thing i want you to think about is a identifying your voter groups. who are these people who are going to vote early? is it a state like california where you don't do anything about it? is a state where you have to register people every year? what kind of people might vote early? democrats are really good at going after senior citizens. i like the background noise. democrats go into a senior citizen home and you have a bunch of people who are not able to drive themselves. those might be good targets to have vote early. i saw a great program in california of young republicans and professional women. if moms are a great group of early voters you think about the average mother's day peepers little they get up and make lunch and feed everybody breakfast and load the kids into the minivan and have ten minutes to get one kid to day care and they go to work for eight hours and on the way home

host: talking about bernie madoff and stadium employees removing letters from the enron field in houston. former president george bush and his mission accomplished speak. the weeks of discussion on television talk shows. host: we are talking about zee finding moments of the decade for the next two or three minutes. the next call on the line. caller: i'll have to say the biggest story is the fall of the american empire. we are no longer respected around the world like we used to be. no matter if it is george bush or barack obama. they are both pauns. there is no way we are going to be a beacon like we used to be. >> host: on the line for republicans. go ahead. caller: 9/11 was the event in history that is sort of like pearl harbor. it started the decade and george bush was the first president to confront terrorism. this started in the 1970s. we need to remember that. we put up with terrorism around the world until george bush made a stand. he freed 25 million in iraq and in afghanistan. time will tell how that works out. george bush stood up for freedom. everybody ought to remember that.

but the democratic chairman of the budget committee described it as a ponzi scheme worthy of bernie madoffecause the amount of money that would be paid in -- a person pays a people are july of $28.80 per yea year for five ye, and then they'll have a long-term benefit for a long time after that. mr. president, it's obvious why the majority -- thank you, mr. president. it's obvious why the majority has cooked up this amendment in secret, has introduced it in the middle of a snowstorm, has scheduled the senate to come in session at midnight, has scheduled a vote for 1:00 a.m., is insisting that it be passed before christmas -- because they don't want the american people to know what's in it. it's a deeply disappointing legislative result but our friends on the democratic side seem determined to pursue a political kamikaze mission toward a historic mistake which will be bad for the democrats, i am convinced, but, unfortunately, even much worse for our country. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona is recognized.

has gone on to say and describe this as a ponzi scheme of the first order, something that bernie madoff would be proud of. i've my colleagues on the other side get up and talk about how solvent this is and what great program this is. well, there are programs out there that are available for people to buy long-term care insurance. the problem with this one is, it takes all the money that comes in in the early years and spends it on other government programs, in this case health care reform, but who knows what other government programs radio going to be created that will -- what other government programs are going to be created that will use the revenue from this plan that supposedly a lot of people are going to sign up for. c.b.o. says that fewer than 4% of people will actually sign up for it. in fact, no senior today is going to benefit from it because you have to work for five years. if you are a senior who is retired, you are not going to see any benefit from this. this doesn't impact seniors, contrary to the assertions of some of my colleagues on the other sievmentd who it will impac

host: talking about bernie madoff and stadium employees removing letters from the enron field in houston. former president george bush and his mission accomplished speak. the weeks of discussion on television talk shows. host: we are talking about zee finding moments of the decade for the next two or three minutes. the next call on the line. caller: i'll have to say the biggest story is the fall of the american empire. we are no longer respected around the world like we used to be. no matter if it is george bush or barack obama. they are both pauns. there is no way we are going to be a beacon like we used to be. >> host: on the line for republicans. go ahead. caller: 9/11 was the event in history that is sort of like pearl harbor. it started the decade and george bush was the first president to confront terrorism. this started in the 1970s. we need to remember that. we put up with terrorism around the world until george bush made a stand. he freed 25 million in iraq and in afghanistan. time will tell how that works out. george bush stood up for freedom. everybody ought to remember that.

if you go back to ivan bosky, all the way to bernie madoff and in betweenç, you can seew3q thy giving wall street increased salaries and all of these things, incentives, it doesn't do anything for the common blue-collar guy here on the street. so with all due respect to governor paterson, i think he needs to go back and do his homework and check the history and in fact he can even go back to 1929 and sees some of the players back then, many of their descendants are still living today and still pulling some of the same games they did back with the great crash of 1929. anyway, the bottom line is i just thing governor paterson is putting out of formation did get his campaign donors up, goldman sachs and people like that. host: thanks. we got your point. appreciate your call. this suggests here he's could stand to benefit from wall street, considering the uphill climb. more detail on what he had to say -- spoke at the museum of american finance. host: next is a call from johnson city, tennessee. what do you think about all of this? caller: i do believe that executive compensation and how

this is money synthesized on computer screen and on banking statement on like bernard madoff's ponzi scheme. they never acknowledged as much money ever existed, so we have two economy's going on simultaneously. we have the serial one on wall street that is in the hundreds of trillions of dollars. then we have a lot of people work and pay taxes and the government is sweating paying less than $4 trillion won everything that we need. host: we are going to leave it there so we can get some other voices and show of the headlines. "the financial times" frontpage. host: that is "the financial times." here is the marketplace section of "the wall street journal." it shows how much estimated annual co2 emissions by industry and pounds per square foot. starting with petroleum refineries, 2500, iron and steel mills, 1,200 pounds per square foot, chemicals, 530, food, 150, and offices, 3 pounds per square foot. that is "the wall street journal." baltimore, maryland. joe on the jobs line. caller: i think the government should create jobs. the jobs they create should be a decent job. in addition to

particular, this bill contains a provision that makes investment adviser fraud like that perp i traited by madoff virtually impossible. the bill requires those who manage large amounts of money on behalf of others either to employ an independent custodian toll hold the assets or independent set of eyes to verify the accuracy of statements. this requirement should give investors peace of mind that what is on their statements each month actually do exist. i have only touched on a few changes designed to restore market confidence and modernize the rules governing our 21st century economy. i hope my colleagues can support this important bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. hensarling: i would like to yield five minutes to the distinguished ranking member of the capital markets subcommittee and one of the two champions of economic liberty in congress, mr. garrett. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. garrett: i thank the gentleman from texas. the american public has spoken. they are opposed to m

the reason i think congress' approval ratings are lower than bernie madoff's is that we keep pitting americans against other americans. in this case we keep pitting teachers and research workers and local taxpayers. you hear the numbers. against our local real estate workers, our local construction workers. this bill will seriously damage our ability to create jobs and raise property values at the local level. our real estate partners, the real target of this bill, the real losers in this bill, these are average people who build our local facilities, who create construction jobs, who are the backbone of our economy. in this case they'll have their taxes nearly tripled. it will result in lower tax property values, fewer jobs at home, and what it really does is it punishes people who put in sweat equity and work for decades to bring it about. it forces them to go to the bank and take debt. to seek capital at a time when there is no bank and no lending available. we take one of the toughest parts of our economy, commercial real estate, and punish them. it's a false choice as the gentlem

madoff in jail. host: we are talking about china's currency. this is a headline from "the financial times" this morning. it is talking about the chinese premier saying that beijing will not given to foreign demands for its currency to strengthen, taking an increasingly defiant tone amid mounting international pressure. trenton, missouri, is up next. we have kimberly on the line. i am doing well. go ahead, kimberly. caller: i have been raised a democrat all my life. my father has always been a very straight democrat who votes with his party. i feel like the democrats to change quite a bit in the last 10 years. they are not the democrats of my father's day. they do not seem to help a small businessman. they were in office for two years and did not do anything until obama got in there. who knows if what they're doing is the correct thing? host: we are talking about the federal reserve, the power of the federal reserve. we mentioned that ben bernanke's nomination has cleared the committee and the next step is the floor. this next headline is from "

wait until the last five days of the campaign to say my opponent was a business partner of bernie madoffou might think about that if people are not going to have their ballots and the voting. the second thing i want you to think about is a identifying your voter groups. who are these people who are going to vote early? is it a state like california where you don't do anything about it? is a state where you have to register people every year? what kind of people might vote early? democrats are really good at going after senior citizens. i like the background noise. democrats go into a senior citizen home and you have a bunch of people who are not able to drive themselves. those might be good targets to have vote early. i saw a great program in california of young republicans and professional women. if moms are a great group of early voters you think about the average mother's day peepers little they get up and make lunch and feed everybody breakfast and load the kids into the minivan and have ten minutes to get one kid to day care and they go to work for eight hours and on the way home st

something that bernie madoff would be proud of. so you take that $72 billion out, if they weren't using that program, which the congressional budget office says is going to add huge deficits in the out years, you back out tha that $72 billion, and you're already at $130 billion deficit. now we haven't even dealt with the fact because of the way that they set this up by front end loading the tax increases and back end loading the spending, and in the first 10 years, if you take the first four years where you have $56 billion of revenue coming in and only $9 billion of spending going out, that's anothe another $47 billion that you could add to the deficit. and so you've gone fro from $132 billion so-called savings, they say it's going to have a positive impacts on the deficit, to $177 billion deficit. and that's before, mr. president, you even get to the more important issue, which is what the c.b.o. came out with today in response to a question from the senator from alabama, senator sessions, asking about how can you count money tha

bernie madoff case, but nonetheless. now there is a bill in cars every time some action occurs out there. should we did in the 21st century given all the wonderful technologies that exist today, they can conform consumers of what's going on. i apologize for the length of this question. this is a further example of instead of waiting around and hoping and praying, despite years of a knowledge of the problems existing, waiting for a bill to get passed by congress, we would have responsible people that a responsible register with body making these decisions. doesn't cry out for indie pendant consumer -- your lawnmower breaks today, you call somebody and say the board is not there. who can help me out to get my money back from a faulty product that i got sold. a consumer product. who do you call? when all of a sudden you are mr. livieri you get taken to the claire for 140 bucks for $2.17 transaction. who does he call? call your senator. called the senator. you shouldn't have to call your senator. >> and if he calls the bank

but the democratic chairman of the budget committee described it as a ponzi scheme worthy of bernie madoff because the amount of money that would be paid in, a person pays a premium of 2880 for five years, they were paid 14000 then they'll have a 1500-dollar benefit for a long time after that. mr. president, it's obvious why the majority -- thank you, mr. president. it's obvious why the majority have cooked up this amendment in secret. has introduced it in the middle of a snowstorm, has scheduled the senator cummings session at midnight, has scheduled a vote for 1 a.m. this is insisting that it passed before christmas because they don't want the american people to know what's in it. it's a deeply disappointing legislative result. but our friends on the democratic side seem determined to pursue a political kamikaze mission toward a historic mistake. which will be bad for the democrats, i am convinced, but unfortunately even much worse for our country. thank you, mr. president, i yield the floor. >> the senator for arizona is recognized. >> mr. president, as we approach in less than an hour