Current, first treasury secretary, Paul O´Neill believes that Congress should dump their pending project for a new economic stimulus package and instead put in motion a policy of not approving any new home mortgage without a 20% down payment. He says doing this would protect the market in the long term and that "If you can't afford a home mortgage, we shouldn't give you one,".

However, as he suspected neither of the presidential candidates seem to be in favor. "Unfortunately we've gotten to a point where people that want to run for president don't think they can tell the truth and still get elected,...I'm hopeful whichever person gets elected, they'll be better than what they've said. An awful lot of presidential campaigns now are pandering to the lowest common denominator. They promise people everything." O´Neill had also made a private pitch to Barack Obama about his idea, but to date has not issued a response naming Obama´s reply.

Both of the presidential parties seem to be for another economic stimulus package, such as the $700 billion financial aid package previously given. O´Neill is in favor of the $700 billion financial aid package, but feels that the government should have taken steps earlier to prevent the masses of default home loans streaming in. According to him, in 2006 almost 30% of mortgages had no down payment and many more defaulted on their first payment. "That was a strong enough signal we should have shut down this ... flagrant abuse of the principles of home finance,"...It was bound to crater. It was absolutely bound to come down around our ears, which it has."

Furthermore, he believes that only 20% of the last package stimulated the economy, with the other 80% having paid of bills or entered savings accounts. O´Neill also feels that another package could lead to disaster when lawmakers come into the mix. "In a way it's a dangerous time because every politician can imagine some additional money that they could put into a package that they believe will help them get re-elected,...It's like a feeding frenzy when it looks like they're going to have more stimulus programs. It's almost as though there's no connection and understanding that at the end of the day, we the American people are going to have to pay for this."