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George Goehl
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George Goehl is the Executive Director of National People’s Action, a network of metropolitan and statewide membership organizations dedicated to advancing economic and racial justice. George has been an organizer and strategist for 17 years, crafting city, state, and federal campaigns on issues ranging from preventing foreclosures, outlawing predatory lending, and advancing immigration reform. Under George’s leadership National People’s Action has helped lead the fight to hold big banks accountable, advance financial reform, and prevent foreclosures. He is a co-founder of the New Bottom Line, a national alignment designed to restructure our relationship with Wall Street and the financial sector and advance a vision of a more equitable and sustainable economy.

Blog Entries by George Goehl

Obama Must Choose on Housing: A Sweetheart Deal for the 1% or a Fair Deal for the 99%

Posted January 22, 2012 | 12:19:33 (EST)

Rumor has it that on Monday, after months of negotiation with big banks, the White House may announce a settlement that would let the banks off the hook for their role in the foreclosure crisis -- paying a tiny fraction of what's needed in exchange for blanket immunity from future...

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Brian Moynihan Should Cut Ties With Payday Lenders

18 Comments | Posted December 8, 2011 | 12:46:24 (EST)

Today, Senate Republicans blocked a vote to confirm Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This signals a victory for big banks, the 1%, and corporate money in our political system. Cordray's confirmation would have been a threat to business as usual for the big banks because...

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President Obama Holds The Keys On Preventing Foreclosures

32 Comments | Posted December 7, 2011 | 15:36:35 (EST)

On Sunday, November 27th the New York Times ran an editorial, "Romney on Foreclosures," critiquing Mitt Romney's strategy to address the foreclosure crisis. The piece is right on target. Romney's plan, which is to essentially do nothing and let struggling homeowners across the board lose their homes, would...

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A Leaderless Movement Full of Leaders

Posted October 11, 2011 | 13:44:28 (EST)

There's been much discussion about how Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless movement. The incredibly organic, democratic nature of what is emerging is exactly what makes it powerful and inspiring, as well as challenging for the 1 percent to directly attack or extinguish.

Every movement worth its...

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Illinois Taxpayers Demand that Wall Street Pays Their Fair Share

Posted May 13, 2011 | 17:32:23 (EST)

Unwilling to be baited into a false debate about budgets that put all the responsibility on hard-working families, more than 500 Illinoisans joined together to launch Make Wall Street Pay Illinois on Thursday.

In the face of Illinois' $6 billion budget deficit, the...

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Crashing the Economy Shouldn't Pay

Posted December 15, 2010 | 09:09:59 (EST)

Imagine your foreclosure problems began the month after you paid off your mortgage. That despite multiple calls and visits to branches of JP Morgan Chase, you couldn't get the bank to acknowledge they had already received all the money you owed them. You called the bank month after month, multiple...

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Homeowners to Iowa AG Miller - Revive the American Dream

Posted December 14, 2010 | 11:51:52 (EST)

Mike McCarthy, Keya Alvarez, and Ken Kelly. Not exactly household names, but they are among the homeowners from 13 states who traveled to Des Moines today to meet with Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. Miller is leading the 50-state investigation into the big bank foreclosure scandal. At stake in the...

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Big Banks Will Clean Up This Mess -- When We Demand It

Posted October 14, 2010 | 17:33:48 (EST)

A generation ago, as children, many of us proudly took our roll of quarters to the neighborhood bank, and opened our first savings account, because we trusted the bank. We believed it was the safest and most reliable place for our money. Fast-forward to today and we can't be sure...

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Round Two: Banks Need to Rebuild What They Broke

Posted July 19, 2010 | 13:17:00 (EST)

To rebuild the economy and bring hope back to tens of millions of Americans we need the big banks to do their part to fix what they broke. This is the focus of Round Two in our fight to keep the banks honest.

The starting bell for round 2...

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B of A Comes to the Homes of Americans Everyday - And It's Not Pretty

Posted May 20, 2010 | 15:06:33 (EST)

Hundreds of people from communities across the country visited the Chevy Chase home of Bank of America's Deputy General Counsel, Gregory Baer, last week.

On Wednesday, Fortunate Magazine's Nina Easton, who lives across the street from Baer, wrote in her column that going to Baer's...

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This is What Democracy Looks Like

Posted May 17, 2010 | 18:51:01 (EST)

Today, thousands of everyday people came to Washington DC for a Shutdown of K Street. The message was simple: Reclaim our democracy and hold Wall Street accountable.

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Retirees and students, family farmers and...
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Wall Street to K Street to Capitol Hill - One Big Revolving Door

Posted May 11, 2010 | 15:29:27 (EST)

Big bank CEOs make their most lucrative moves not from their offices on Wall Street but from their DC addresses on K Street and Capitol Hill.

A new report by Campaign for America's Future and the Public Accountability Initiative, shows things are...

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Showdown in Senate Meets Showdown in Streets

Posted April 29, 2010 | 11:11:15 (EST)

If you ever doubted that we are all in this together, the financial crisis surely dashed all denial on this front.

Everyone has been impacted by the reckless greed and abuse of the big banks. Whether it be the ongoing tidal wave of foreclosures, cresting unemployment, bank-owned properties littering...

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Not a Time to Compromise

Posted April 27, 2010 | 15:49:54 (EST)

So, a Showdown in the Senate is officially on. The question is, who's winning? Yesterday Republicans succeeded in blocking a vote to begin debate on a Wall Street reform bill. Democrats lost a vote, but may have won in doing so. Meanwhile the American people are still facing a tidal...

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Spike in Chicago Foreclosures Speak to Need for Strong Consumer Protections

Posted March 15, 2010 | 19:59:45 (EST)

If you ever needed convincing that we need a strong, independent consumer protection agency, the continuing foreclosure crisis should provide all the evidence you need.

Today, National People's Action, in conjunction with our Chicago affiliates Lakeview Action Coalition and the South Austin Coalition Community Council,...

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The Next Populist Flashpoint? State Budget Shortfalls Meet Big Bank Bonuses

Posted January 25, 2010 | 08:51:53 (EST)

If you ever doubted that we are all in this together, the subprime foreclosure crisis surely dashed all denial on this front. Whether homeowner, renter, worker, retiree, family farmer, or small business owner -- everyday people nationwide have been negatively impacted by a housing crisis that drove us all into...

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Protecting Ourselves, Until Congress Heeds the Call

Posted December 10, 2009 | 15:17:56 (EST)

On Friday, December 11, the House is likely to vote on a long-overdue financial reform package. Among other things, the bill would create a consumer protection agency, charged with making sure financial products that enter the market are safe for people and the economy. As we've seen over the last...

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Secretary Geithner: Is the Average American Too Small To Be Helped?

Posted November 16, 2009 | 09:48:44 (EST)

At 11 am today, fifty Americans from 10 states will gather outside the Department of Treasury to demand that Secretary Geithner summon the same determination he demonstrated in propping up failing banks to help everyday Americans save their homes from foreclosure.

While there is much debate in Washington about...

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Who Will Hold Goldman Accountable? - Might Just be Everyday People

Posted November 13, 2009 | 13:35:47 (EST)

Whether it is Goldman Sachs' central role in the subprime crisis, handing out hundreds of millions in bonuses soon after receiving a $10 billion taxpayer bailout, or CEO Lloyd Blankfein claiming that his company does "God's work," this Wall Street giant has rightfully earned the leading role in the story...

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Enough is Enough

Posted October 26, 2009 | 10:36:17 (EST)

Yesterday afternoon, more than 1,000 people from 20 states came by bus, train, and plane to the Showdown in Chicago to deliver the message "Enough is Enough" to the American Bankers Association at their annual convention.

At the opening session, story after story spoke to the pain and...

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