Tim Johnson in 2008 SD Senate encounters

On Budget & Economy: Called for banking oversight, but opposed by Bush & GOP

Johnson’s campaign said the senator was busy working on the proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, with an agreement expected Monday night or today. Johnson said he had called for more oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the troubled government-supported mortgage entities hard hit by the subprime mortgage crisis. But that call for oversight was opposed by President Bush and Republican supporters in Congress, Johnson’s campaign said.

On Corporations: Don’t subsidize bloated compensation of failing firms’ CEOs

“Folks in South Dakota work hard and their earnings should not subsidize the bloated compensation of a CEO of a failing firm,” he said. The $700 billion bailout “package may be a necessary evil, but we cannot allow it to be a gift to those on Wall Street at the expense of those on Main Street.”

Dykstra said the establishment in Washington, D.C., both Democrat and Republican, must accept th responsibility for the nation’s current crisis. And as the nation moves forward in trying to fix the problems in the mortgage business and on Wall Street, it’s important to figure out where the system failed in order to prevent a repeat, he said.