Stop Bailing Out Mistakes of the Past (Rep. Randy Neugebauer)

The American taxpayer’s should be outraged. The federal government — with the American taxpayers as the shareholders — has a large stake in a number of banks.  This conversion of preferred stock to common stock only expands the government’s intervention in the financial sector and puts investments made on behalf of taxpayers at greater risk.

Last week, I introduced H.R. 1180 that prevents the U.S. Treasury Department from converting the preferred shares it now holds in banks into common shares.  It also prevents Treasury from purchasing common shares moving forward and from purchasing preferred shares it intends to convert to common.

My hope is to keep the taxpayers’ investment in preferred shares because those pay dividends and because holders of preferred shares are first-in-line to recover their investment should a company go under.

I believe we cannot continue to dilute positions of private shareholders and discourage private investment in these banks. The federal government must stop bailing out the mistakes of the past and stop adding uncertainty to the marketplace that discourages private investment.