McCain wants new agency to fix financial crisis

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Friday morning that he would establish a new agency to deal with the U.S. financial crisis that many experts say is the worst since the Great Depression.
That agency, a Mortgage and Financial Institutions trust, would work with the private sector and regulators to identify institutions that are weak and fix them before they go broke.
"The underlying principle of the MFI or any approach considered by Congress should be to keep people in their homes and safeguard the life savings of all Americans by protecting our financial system and capital markets," McCain told the Green Bay Chamber of Commerce in Wisconsin.
McCain said the agency would be an early intervention program to help financial institutions avoid bankruptcy, expensive bailouts and damage to their customers.
McCain's campaign announced his speech Thursday night after Wall Street witnessed the federal government take unprecedented steps this week to stabilize the economy, including the takeover of the insurance giant American International Group Inc. in exchange for an $85 billion loan from the Federal Reserve.
In his speech, McCain blamed the current crisis on "the corruption and manipulation of our home mortgage system" and blasted Congress and the administration for not addressing the problems at the two mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which he said "led our housing system down a path where quick profit was placed before sound finance."