CONCORD, N.H. — In a speech to New Hampshire legislators Wednesday morning, GOP presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry took a hard line on Wall Street, reaping thunderous applause from Republican representatives, near silence from the Democratic minority and a clamorous mixture of boos and cheers from an activist-filled gallery.
“We must no more tolerate an America in which Main Street is allowed to crumble while Wall Street financiers and beltway profiteers bill the taxpayers,” Perry declared.
“What is wrong in this country can be diagramed on a map,” Perry continued, “with one straight line connecting two dots: Washington, D.C. and Wall Street.
“Wall Street high rollers hatched get-rich schemes while they profited from betting against America,” he fumed. “And when the market crashed, those on Wall Street, they saw it coming and they made millions. Those that didn’t see it coming, they got the bailouts.”
“We shouldn’t be rewarding taxpayer funded bonuses to Wall Street executives who defrauded those very same taxpayers. We ought to be locking them up!” Perry insisted.
With a call for no more bailouts, a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and a part-time citizen legislature, Perry concluded by asking the New Hampshire legislature for its support in his presidential run.
The Republican-majority state legislature is debating a vote on Wednesday to override Democratic governor John Lynch’s veto of a right-to-work law. The outdoor public square, along with indoor halls, stairs and galleries of the State House are filled with right-to-work activists and the unions who support sustaining the governor’s veto.