The elites hate to acknowledge it, but when large numbers of ordinary people are moved to action, it changes the narrow political world where the elites call the shots. Inside accounts reveal the extent to which Johnson and Nixon's conduct of the Vietnam War was constrained by the huge anti-war movement. It was the civil rights movement, not compelling arguments, that convinced members of Congress to end legal racial discrimination. More recently, the townhall meetings, dominated by people opposed to health care reform, have been a serious roadblock for those pushing reform.
Those disgusted by the bank bailouts, and the bankers who brought us this recession, will have a chance to make their views known when the American Bankers Association has its annual meeting in Chicago, October 25-27. A large coalition of labor, community, and consumer organizations are organizing a protest at this "Showdown in Chicago"
A big turnout at this event can make a real difference. Just to review the scorecard, most of the country is still suffering the fallout from the bankers' irrational exuberance of the housing bubble era. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and other forecasters expect the suffering to endure for years to come.
The unemployment rate is about to cross 10 percent, with an additional 9 million workers only able to find part-time work. CBO projects that unemployment will not return to normal levels until 2014. Almost 200,000 people are losing their homes every month through foreclosure. Tens of millions of people who had expected a comfortable retirement just saw most of their wealth disappear with the collapse of the housing bubble. State and local governments are being forced to lay off school teachers and fire fighters under the pressure of enormous budget deficits.
But not everyone is suffering. Thanks to the bailout programs put in place last fall, most of the country's major banks are back on their feet. In fact, in the most recent quarter, bank profits hit a new record high as a share of all corporate profits.
And the banks are sharing their wealth. Many of their top executives and high performers will be getting bonuses this year worth millions of dollars, in some cases the bonuses will be in the tens of millions.
In the meantime, in elite Washington circles people are busy making plans for a national sales tax so that the government can limit the fiscal damage caused by the bankers' recession. A sales tax is of course very regressive since low and moderate-income people typically spend the vast majority of their income, while our banker friends will more likely to be able to save some of their income or spend it in other countries where they will not be paying this new sales tax.
To summarize: the bankers wrecked the economy with their greed, ran off with taxpayer dollars in a massive bailout, and now plan to raise taxes for the rest of us. If that picture doesn't sound quite right, then go to Chicago.
This is a case where the divisions are not left-right, but of the elite against everyone else. When Congress was debating the TARP bank bailout last fall, members of Congress were hearing calls from people across the political spectrum who were outraged that their tax dollars were going to the banks that had wrecked the economy. A higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats ended up voting against this bankers' piñata.
The policies that will rein in the banks: reform of the Federal Reserve Board to make it democratically accountable, a tax on financial speculation to pay for the bankers' mess, and restrictions on the bank abuses of consumers that caused the carnage have support from people on both the left and right.
A bill that would require the Fed to disclose what it did with more than $2 trillion in loans to banks and other financial institutions was originally co-sponsored by Ron Paul and Alan Grayson, one of the most conservative and one of the most progressive members of Congress. Due to public pressure, it now has more than 270 co-sponsors.
This is exactly the sort of alliance that gets the elite worried. Reining in the power of the financial industry will be a long hard fought war, but it is one that must be fought. President and Nobel peace prize winner Barack Obama may not have been able to bring the Olympics to Chicago, but everyone who wants to retake our country from the banks can bring their backside there on October 25th.
Arianna Huffington: Has Obama's Handling of the Bank Bailout Undermined Health Care Reform?
If we don't learn from the botched bank bailout, we are in danger of getting the same patchwork, reform-in-name-only outcome on health care.
If we want real change, there can be no compromise on this issue.
I think this not because, the protest itself will work, but because of the connection of people that can occur there. If the protesters leave with a concrete goal of how to challenge this system, they can break it.
For example if 20,000 people show up and they leave with the stated goal of:
If you are underwater in your home mortgage, stop paying. If you are carrying a large credit card balance (more than two years for you to pay back), quit paying and go all cash. Remove your money from TARP banks. Pull your 401K and put it into a mixed bag of foreign currencies (refuse to pay any IRS penalties early withdrawals as they are acting now much like Enron was acting towards their employees).
If those 20,000 people commit to following the above themselves and finding 10 people to act and recruit in the same manner; we will resolve our banking issue by December. Then we can focus on solving our many other issues.
The choice we face is clear: non-violent revolution, violent revolution or servitude. Non-violent revolution can work. Let’s go that way.
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=4040
Property owner's average net income (single and joint returns): $69,152
Average income tax: $2,075 New income tax: $3,458
Average property tax: $3,336 New property tax: $2,881
School share (54.5%): $1,818 State will pay schools: $455
Income + property tax: $5,410 New tax total: $6,339
Dollar increase: $928
Percentage increase: 17.2%
This is in zip 60631. On line calculator courtesy of Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050518tax-db,0,1197891.formprofile
I have to choose this month between my mortgage payment or medical insurance for my family. I see the stimulus money all around me as Daley's cronies dig up the streets. This stimulus scam is worse than a mugging. At least when you get mugged, you may get to see the guy who does it. A sales tax hike? Probably won't affect me BECAUSE I CAN'T BUY ANYTHING! And you know what, I'm not feeling pitiful. I'm feeling angry.
I need a change I can believe in.
See Roger Altman's piece in FT:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8bdc802e-b675-11de-8a28-00144feab49a.html
"It could take the form of legislation creating a bipartisan deficit reduction group modelled on the successful budget summit of 1990 and consist only of administration and congressional leaders. Its recommendations, by law, would be submitted by December 31 2010 and face an up or down vote within three to four months. It would acknowledge the need for higher taxes and spending cuts."
William Greider has forewarned this is coming:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090302/greider
Kleptocracy wastes no crisis to rip off the rest of us. And what are we going to do? We will buy all the austerity talk and do nothing.
I just came back from Chicago where I attended the American Monetary Institute's Annual Conference. There, Congressman Dennis Kucinich announced his plans to introduce very soon the American Monetary and Financial Security Act of 2009.
This Act would END the Fed, remove the power of private bankers to create the nation's money and empower the federal government, acting through the Treasury, to create the money needed for economic growth.
You see the difference, Dean.
We are awaiting YOUR leadership - not to organize a protest, but to help the mobilization that is now beginning around this very progressive concept - the same one that was part of the original Chicago Plan for Monetary Reform.
So, while you're there, maybe you need to think about proposing something solid, something constructive and productive - REAL monetary reform.
Either that, or go to Chicago, protest and go home.
Progressive leadership, Dean.
We're waiting here at economicstability.org to champion your efforts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_wp8N-Q_O4
That would help the banks and the consumers out of the mess.
But that was too simple to do and that would have empowered the consumer and not the big bank buddies.
Currently we want consumers to spend money and the consumer is too smart to not realize that we are going to be taxed for that Tarp and Stimulus money and because the money went to the wrong place both tarp and stimulus, the consumer is going to be left with nothing but the bill for that ernormous mistake and still have a house they are upside down in or worse lose the house and any equity if there was such a thing any more.
This is freakanomics and absolutely the way to run the economy into the ground but yet we watch them do it and some of the progressives are going YEAH YEAH its about time we bring people down to size. Well when the economy shrinks we all feel it and we are about to feel it like we did when Carter brought Reagan.