SANTA ANA, Calif. — Republican John McCain said Tuesday that government isn’t in the business of saving and rewarding banks or small borrowers who behave irresponsibly, though he offered few immediate alternatives to fixing the growing housing crisis.
“I will consider any and all proposals based on their cost and benefits,” the certain GOP presidential nominee, who has acknowledged in the past that the economy is not his strong suit, told local business leaders south of Los Angeles.
In the midst of a week-long western fundraising swing, McCain focused on the home-financing crisis at an event in the Republican bastion of Orange County as he tried to rebut Democratic criticism of his economic credentials.
The housing turmoil has rocked Wall Street and is dominating the presidential race as the nation faces an economic downturn and the Federal Reserve has taken steps to intervene.
The Fed essentially bailed out the investment house Bear Stearns and announced it has auctioned another $50 billion in short-term loans at an interest rate of 2.615 percent to cash-strapped banks to help them overcome credit problems. Since December, the Fed has provided a total of $260 billion in short-term loans to banks.
On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed several measures in response to the home mortgage problems, including greater protections for lenders from possible lawsuits by investors, a variation of so-called tort reform.
McCain said he wants to leave the door open to a wide array of proposals to address the problems and seemed to suggest he might even be open even to solutions that stray from the GOP line.
He said any government assistance to alleviate the housing crisis must be temporary and should be accompanied by reforms that aim to make the system more transparent and accountable to prevent a repeat of the crisis. He said no assistance should be given to speculators, or people who bought houses to rent or as second homes.
