Marcy Kaptur tackles the subprime mess
From Reuters:
U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur came to a House committee hearing on Thursday prepared to ask U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tough questions about his involvement in the subprime mortgage crisis.
Unfortunately, she was questioning the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
The Ohio Democrat, at a House of Representatives Budget Committee hearing, said she wanted to know what Wall Street firms were responsible for the securitization of subprime mortgages. She then asked: “Seeing as how you were the former CEO of Goldman Sachs …” But the only person testifying at the hearing interrupted.
“No, no, no, you’re confusing me with the Treasury Secretary,” said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
“I’ve got the wrong firm? Paulson, Oh, OK. Where were you sir?” Kaptur said. Bernanke noted that he was head of the Princeton University economics department.
“Oh, Princeton, oh, all right, sorry. I got you confused with the other one … I’m glad you clarified that for the record,” she said.
Now, she might have just had a simple lapse here. So, the way I do things is look at whether that’s likely or not. Here’s Marcy’s background that prepared her for delving into this issue:
- graduated from St. Ursula Academy, Toledo, Ohio, 1964
- B.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., 1968
- M.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1974
- attended the University of Manchester, Manchester, England, 1974
- post-graduate studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., 1981
- urban planner, Toledo-Lucas County, Ohio, Plan Commissions, 1969-1975
- director of planning, National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, 1975-1977
- assistant director for urban affairs, domestic policy staff, Executive Office of the President, 1977-1979
- elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-eighth and to the twelve succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1983-present).
My guess, she’s sticking her nose in an issue she has no clue about what she’s talking about. Or, more importantly, what they are talking about. I also find it somewhat disturbing that she immediately assumes Paulson is from the private sector.
It’s distrurbing to me to know Marcy’s tackling that pesky private sector issue that is the subprime lending issue. If this is how she prepares for the issue, I think I’d prefer she leave the issue alone. Given she apparently has no private sector experience, I question why she’s on this committee in the first place. Being as it’s a private sector issue, I’d prefer Congress leave it alone regardless.
