SAGINAW -- Candidate for lieutenant governor Brenda Lawrence slammed Wall Street banks for what she called a neglect of the middle class. The Southfield mayor met with supporters in Saginaw’s Maine Street neighborhood Wednesday.
“We’re being held hostage to this Wall Street mentality of red-lining our economy and we have to fight back,” Lawrence said.
The rally was at the home of Anna Nachbar, a person facing home foreclosure on September 17. She lost her disability checks in January and said her bank told her she made too much money to qualify for assistance, despite only working 20 hours a week.
“The fat lady hasn’t sung,” she said, hoping assistance from US Senator Carl Levin’s office does not come too late.
Lawrence said if she and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero are elected to the state’s executive branch, they will work to create a state bank and break the stalemate in lending practices for both homeowners and small business owners.
“You can take our tax dollars that we pay and invest it in our state bank and be able to lend money to small business. Once you get small business going that creates jobs and we need jobs,” she said.
However, some critics still point to government as the main problem that led to the financial banking problems seen two years ago, including early 90s regulations that forced banks to lend money to people with questionable credit scores.
Lawrence rejected that argument saying, “how can you tell someone who is a small business owner, having paid their bills consistently that for no reason, we are not going to lend you money?”
She pointed to North Dakota’s state bank as an example of a success story. This was her second campaign trip to Mid-Michigan since joining Bernero’s ticket.
