Statement of the Board of Directors of the American Farm Bureau Federation regarding financial rescue package (10/10/08)
“Today, the United States faces a severe financial crisis. Many factors caused it, from irresponsible lending policies to Wall Street financial failures, from lack of adequate oversight to questionable accounting rules.
“Unfortunately, conditions have deteriorated to the point where immediate action is needed to help restore confidence in the markets and to free up the credit flows Main Street businesses, agriculture and ordinary Americans need. Farmers have to borrow to pay for fertilizer and seed. Most students need loans to pay for tuition. Others need financing to buy a car. Small businesses need access to a credit line to meet payroll while waiting to get paid for the goods and services they sell. Rural communities must go into the credit markets to finance road repairs.
“There are many hard-working farm families in this nation who have been financially conservative. They have paid their bills every month. Rural residents, among others, have sacrificed to keep their mortgages current. All of these families will be severely hurt through no fault of their own if action is not taken soon to bring stability to the financial markets.
“Our leaders must stop the partisan politics that have blocked a rescue package. Our citizenry should be our representatives’ main concern. Bickering and finger-pointing must end and Congress should take the action needed to put a rescue plan in place quickly. If credit dries up, it will quickly create problems for America’s farmers and ranchers and others who live in rural communities.
“A rescue package is needed immediately. But there are a number of closely related issues that must also be dealt with. Regulations and oversight must be put in place that will ensure this problem does not happen again, so that the nation is not taken to the brink by the actions of a few or by policies that fail to meet any kind of accounting or economic reasonableness test. Failure to enact these kinds of reforms will simply set the system up for another crisis in the future.
“Farmers, ranchers and all Americans cannot afford that outcome.”
