STATEMENT BY JOHN MCCAIN ON AMERICA'S CREDIT CRUNCH

U.S. Senator John McCain today (3/11/08) issued the following statement on the economic challenges facing America's homeowners:

"Undermined by sagging home values and a national credit crunch, our economy has slowed, presenting challenges to the prosperity of American families. While it is the government's role to help the honest, hardworking homeowner in this time of distress, it is not the government's role to bail out investors who should understand that markets are about both return and risk, or lending institutions who didn't do their job. It's important that managers and investors are held accountable for their own decisions. And we need to monitor the impact of the many, important steps that have already been taken. We don't want to do something in the short-term that damages our economy in the long-term.

"Lenders should also be thinking about how to help their good customers who are having difficulty through no fault of their own. For example, as companies bear the costs of product recalls when their products cause harm to customers, perhaps financial institutions should be thinking about their accountability to their customers. In the interests of transparency, financial institutions need to fully disclose their losses, only then can regulators and rating agencies really do their jobs."