If you were here yesterday, you may have seen the case that James Boyce and Paul Abrams laid out for breaking up the big banks. I want to reiterate the importance of having balance among the competing interests in Washington, and the security that comes from an economy in which no small group can affect the financial well-being of millions.
Judging by the list of people who have endorsed this policy, I think we may be onto something.
If they're too big to fail, they're too big
- Alan Greenspan (Former Fed Chairman)
. . .there is growing agreement that such financial institutions should. . . be made to plan for their own orderly wind down
- Mervyn King (Governor of Bank of England)
Approved breaking up Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock
- The European Union (Multi-national Governing Body)
We need to end 'too big to fail' and this needs to be an overarching policy that applies to everyone
- Sheila Bair (FDIC Chief and Person who has to Bail Out Banks)
The obvious place to start in this effort is the break-up of the "too big to fail" behemoths.
- Dean Baker (Economist Extraordinaire)
We have little to lose, and much to gain, by breaking up these behemoths, which are not just too big to fail, but also too big to save and too big to manage.
- Joseph Stigletz (Ditto with a Nobel prize)
Those banks are just too big. Someone should break them up.
- Charlotte Havey (My Mother)
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!
- William Shakespeare (Author: Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare in Love)
(Don't believe me on the Shakespeare thing? Richard III makes this plea as he is fleeing from an invading army raised by people he used for his personal gain and betrayed. If that isn't an allegory for what must be done to the banks - I don't know what is.)
But I digress -
I write to say that there is a movement afoot, and I'd like you to join us. Several organizations are cooking up a number of ways to make this change happen. Some favor direct pressure on the banks like the Showdown in Chicago, others are organizing to strengthen legislation pending in Congress, some are taking their opinions to President Obama, and still other are seeking other (non-violent) means to secure the future of the global economy.
Whichever of these ways appeals to you, I urge you to get involved in one or all of them. The campaign I am working on is at www.breakupthebigbanks.com, and we've got some fun (yet to be disclosed) ideas in the works. Come check us out.
Its time to stand up, and get down to work strengthening our economy. We've got a lot of things going for us. Signs are looking up and we need to make sure that we clear the way for sustainable prosperity to take root once again.
P.S. If you want to do something right now, how about helping us build our twitter presence? Tweet this: "Join the movement for a stable economy: #FF @breakupbigbanks"