The Connecticut Senator has been out front denouncing the "companies that form the foundation of our financial markets," for "their insatiable appetite for risk." He has also decried "reckless, careless and sometimes unscrupulous actors in the mortgage lending industry" and he has proclaimed that "American taxpayers deserve to know how we arrived at this moment." To that end, we propose he take the stand -- under oath.

Former Countrywide Financial loan officer Robert Feinberg says Mr. Dodd knowingly saved thousands of dollars on his refinancing of two properties in 2003 as part of a special program the California mortgage company had for the influential. He also says he has internal company documents that prove Mr. Dodd knew he was getting preferential treatment as a friend of Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide's then-CEO.

McCain: We've got to have a package of reforms, and it's got to lead to reform, prosperity and peace in the world. And I think that this problem has become so severe, as you know, that we're going to have to do something about home values. You know that home values of retirees continues to, to decline. And people are no longer able to afford their mortgage payments.

As president of the United States, Allen, I would order the secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home-loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes, at the diminished value of those homes, and let people make those -- be able to make those payments and stay in their homes.

Is it expensive? Yes. But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing our economy.

In addition to the bailout?

Last week, I voted twice against the nearly $1 trillion Wall Street bailout bill in the U.S. House. The first bill (with a $700 billion price tag for taxpayers) failed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority.  Then the Senate passed a second version that was loaded with tax "sweeteners" in an attempt to attract enough lawmakers in the House who voted "Nay" the first time around to switch their vote to pass the bill. That jacked the price tag up to $810 billion.  You've got to love Washington.

We were supposed to be voting on a financial bailout bill, but unfortunately we got much, much more.

Taxpayers for Common Sense have listed their Top 10 Tax Sweeteners in the recently passed Bailout Bill. As the organization notes, not all of these are outrageous on their own, but when we are supposed to be voting on a bailout package that is already putting the American people further in debt, these extras are the last thing that should be thrown into the mix as political currency to attract votes. They should have been dealt with at another time.

1.) Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children ($2 million)

2.) Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility ($100 million)

3.) Sec. 308. Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands ($192 million)

4.) Sec. 301. Extension and modification of research credit ($19 billion)

5.) Sec. 504. Income averaging for amounts received in connection with the Exxon Valdez litigation ($49 million)

6.) Sec. 601. Secure rural schools and community self-determination program ($3.3 billion)

7.) Sec. 201. Deduction for state and local sales taxes ($3.3 billion)

8.) Sec 502. Provisions related to film and television productions ($478 million)

9.) Sec. 325. Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products; wool research fund; wool duty refunds ($148 million)

10.) Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa ($33 million)

Check out Taxpayers for Commonsense for more information on these provisions and several others.

Below you will find an editorial I penned for Investor's Business Daily today.

Plan Will Save Free Market, Not Destroy It

By REP. JOHN CAMPBELL

This free-market, Milton Friedman devotee, conservative Republican congressman will be voting strongly in favor of the $700 billion bailout for Wall Street. What, you ask? Has the California sun fried my last brain cell?

No. I will vote for this bill because it will likely not cost anything, is not a bailout of anybody and will help every American with a bank account, a job or a retirement plan. It also will save the free market, not weaken it.

Allow me to explain.
Read More...

The bailout bill that the U.S. Senate passed late Wednesday night is not the remedy for what ails this nation's economy. While we are all anxious to take action to help America recover from it's current financial crisis, it does us no good to pass a bill that does not address the underlying problem before us, and that's the credit crunch.

After the defeat of the original proposal in the House on Monday, Congress had an opportunity to really address some of the shortfalls of the failed bill. Instead they loaded on millions of dollars in pork barrel spending and a couple of other "treats" to lure members of Congress who voted "Nay" the first time around to reconsider their vote. From tax incentives to mental health parity (which, by the way, deserve their time to be considered and voted upon), they should not be strategically placed into a bill of this magnitude that is supposed to specifically address the credit crunch facing our nation. It is irresponsible, and proof enough that Congress deserves its 10% approval rating. Instead of being a source of calm in the eye of a storm, a good many lawmakers have lost their good sense and jumped overboard to back a bill that does nothing to really address our current financial crisis, other than give Americans a false sense of economic security.

There are simple steps that we can take to make the problem in front of us much smaller, and much easier to handle. The Free Market Protection Act (H.R. 7223) is an alternative economic rescue plan that puts us on a better path to attack the roots of the current crisis. Among other things, it would suspend the capital gains tax, schedule the government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) for privatization, and suspend mark-to-market accounting requirements.

Take a look at it in more detail here .

And, there are steps that the SEC, FDIC, and FASB can take already within their regulatory authority to make a real difference.

We must be calm, and while we should work speedily, we must not work hastily. Sadly, the bill passed by the Senate that is now in the House is a result of the "urgent" need to pass "something," rather than the "right thing."

"Some economists are attributing much of the current financial crisis to something as mundane-seeming as accounting.

... An odd-sounding accounting phrase at the heart of this is something called "mark-to-market" accounting. Many think that if this requirement were ended, the crises could be eased.

... Simply put, mark-to-market accounting requires companies to set the value for the assets they own at the price they could fetch on the open market right now. The prices must be "marked to market;" hence the phrase.

What does that have to do with the current crisis? The root problem now is that financial institutions have been caught holding value-less, or "toxic," assets on their books, such as the mortgage-backed securities based on sub-prime mortgages that have defaulted.

The government believes that those assets will be worth something soon -- that's why they want to buy them in the $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan. But under mark-to-market rules currently required, they are worth almost nothing, threatening those who hold them with insolvency."