Sunday, March 29, 2009

The bankers think we're chumps - Bust the Banks!


Urgent Announcement: On April 11 "A New Way Forward" (ANWF) has announced a national protest for "real structural change of Wall Street". For more information and to sign up to participate visit their website at www.anewwayforward.org.

I'm going back to the well once more which is Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the IMF. Here he is being interviewed by Bill Moyer on a show broadcast February 13, 2009. [You can see the video and the transcript on Bill Moyer's website here.]
SIMON JOHNSON: [...] Think of it like this, our taxpayer money is ensuring their bonuses. We're making sure that companies, that banks survive. And eventually, of course, the economy will turn around. Things will get better. The banks will be worth a lot of money. And they will cash out. And we will be paying higher taxes, we and our children, will be paying higher taxes so those people could have those bonuses. That's not fair. It's not acceptable. It's not even good economics.

BILL MOYERS: Are we chumps? 

SIMON JOHNSON: We'll find out. Yes, we may be. Okay. It depends on how we play this politically. It depends on what our political system does. It depends, I think, on the level of reaction. The financial system is playing us for chumps, okay? The bankers think we're chumps. We'll find out. We have leadership that can handle this. We'll find out what they do.
This is the third in what has become a series of articles (part 1, part 2) I've written with regards to Johnson's accusations that we now have a government of the bankers, by the bankers and for the bankers - in other words, an oligarchy.

The bankers think we're chumps. Our response must be to bust the banks! The same way that Teddy Roosevelt busted Rockefeller's Standard Oil back in the early 1900's. Too big to fail is too big to exist. Rather than passing new regulations for financial institutions that pose "systemic risk" to the economy, just chop them down to a manageable size where the FDIC can "intervene" and take over a bank if it is in trouble without taking down the whole system. Sounds like a plan. Let's do it!

Here are the ideas behind the April 11 A New Way Forward (ANWF) national protest action.
NATIONALIZE: Experts agree on the means -- Insolvent banks that are too big to fail must incur a temporary FDIC intervention - no more blank check taxpayer handouts.

REORGANIZE: Current CEOs and board members must be removed and bonuses wiped out. The financial elite must share in the cost of what they have caused.

DECENTRALIZE: Banks must be broken up and sold back to the private market with new antitrust rules in place-- new banks, managed by new people. Any bank that's "too big to fail" means that it's too big for a free market to function.
I urge you to join in making this a powerful national movement. The protest movement eventually got the US out of Vietnam in 1960's. Mounting disapproval of the Iraq War led to the election of Barack Obama and the promise of a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Now it is the bankers turn to feel the wrath of the American public. This could be the most significant mass movement of the 21st century.

Please get involved and make a difference. Bust the banks before they bust us!

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7 comments:

Harold Fowler said...

NO doubt the banks are ROBBING us every single day! And the sheeple just take it!

RT
www.privacy-tools.us.tc

Frank Hope said...

@Harold
Absolutely. I hope you'll join in the ANWF protest and encourage others to participate as well. They also have an online petition and a Facebook group.

Mike said...

and DO what? Put your name on a list? Wave a sign?

Newsflash people: they dont care. If they cared they wouldnt be so tone deaf with the bonuses and jets etc.

The ONLY thing that will get their attention is if we all stop paying our bills. I already bank locally, and I'm paying off the one credit card I have with Citi as fast as I can.

But if everyone out there on the bubble just stopped paying and walked away from their debts...that would get their attention.

Nothing else will.

Anonymous said...

Nationalize and decentralize is an oxymoron. In any case since the bankers own the government Nationalize is exactly what they want you to do.

We are headed toward financial ruin, enslavement, and a world government for and by the bankers.

Frank Hope said...

@Mike and anon

It's time to build a grassroots movement to pressure the Obama administration to stop the bailouts. There is plenty of sentiment against the multiple bailouts but up until now there has not been a unified response. ANWF has proposed an economic alternative which I happen to agree 100% with.

It's up to us to speak out. If we remain quiet and do nothing then nothing will change. I encourage everyone not to give up and to continue fighting. My hope is that ANWF will turn into a true mass movement. We have to start somewhere and hopefully the protests on April 11 are just the beginning.

Anonymous said...

What do you think of credit unions?

Frank Hope said...

I think credit unions rock! I switched my account to a CU when the mega-banks swallowed up all the local banks about 10 years ago. The service at CUs is far superior. There are far fewer fees. The interests rates are usually better.

These days with online banking, I rarely go into an actual bank office. I find my CU has kept up better with new online services than the big banks. And when I do have to go into a branch, the employees are generally much more friendly.

What else can I say? Go credit unions. If you don't have your savings in one, you should switch immediately. It's also a great way to stick it to the big banks while at the same time doing yourself a big favor.