Quotes from Lisa Madigan

If home ownership is the American dream, then foreclosure certainly is the American nightmare. It destroys more than credit. It destroys lives. And its effects are felt beyond the individual family that it devastates. It shakes our entire economy.

Most of our children have access to Internet-accessible technology, yet most of us are actually not paying much attention to what they're doing online.

I often say that paying off your debt is like dieting. There are no miracle cures; it takes discipline and hard work.

Persons whose wagers depend upon how particular selected athletes perform in actual sporting events stand in no different stead than persons who wager on the outcome of any sporting event in which they are not participants.

Your mortgage shouldn't have been treated as a wager - it should be a way to provide a home and financial stability for you and your family.

The party on Wall Street never ends - while the rest of us pick up their tab and suffer the hangover.

While I have supported marriage equality since my days as a state senator over a decade ago, I have since conducted an extensive legal analysis that has only emboldened my support as attorney general.

I've been able to bring billions of dollars back to our state that has so desperately needed it - billions of dollars in relief to homeowners and our communities and our pension systems that desperately need it.

My husband helps take care of our kids.

Higher education is meant to provide economic opportunity to Americans - not provide unscrupulous companies the opportunity to syphon off billions in federal taxpayer dollars unfairly.

The Department of Education's refusal to oversee and hold for-profit schools accountable is a government-made disaster, and American students and taxpayers should not have to pay for it.

The explosive growth of the for-profit school industry has had disastrous effects on millions of Americans and our economy.

The last thing our children need is less protection.

The Attorney General is the state's chief consumer advocate, fighting to protect the financial security of all Illinoisans.

I am inspired by Nelson Mandela. I was a volunteer teacher in South Africa during apartheid, where I witnessed his success liberating black South Africans.

Do not enter into an agreement you cannot afford. Take precautions to avoid institutional loans with double-digit interest rates.

The Attorney General must identify threats to Illinoisans' financial security and take action to protect people.

It probably can take me anywhere I want to be, but I have to be honest, being attorney general is a great job.

In every community in Illinois, same-sex couples have chosen to join together and, in many instances, to raise families of their own. These couples are our relatives and friends, our neighbors, co-workers and parents of our children's classmates. They deserve the same rights and responsibilities that civil marriage offers straight couples.

Even if you can afford the price of college, you cannot afford a worthless degree.

It is never too late to correct our mistakes. And if we do not, we risk repeating them.

I initiated the State's investigation of Governor Blagojevich and have prosecuted public officials, including a sitting democratic state representative and democratic State's Attorney.

I've repeatedly seen unscrupulous lenders use every con in the book to charm and lie to homeowners. Lenders actually paid brokers a premium to put people in higher-priced loans with toxic features, such as adjustable rates and prepayment penalties.

Investigating some of the largest subprime lenders - Wells Fargo, Countrywide, Ameriquest, Household Finance - I've seen how their terrible, toxic loans were closed by any means necessary and eventually packaged, sold as securities, and bet upon until they exploded and decimated our economy.