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Time to Break Up the Banks
Last April, I wrote about A New Way Forward, a new and growing movement organized via the web and founded by young people who want to take back the power of the ordinary citizen to affect our economic structure. The organization's coming-out party took place last April 11 with more than sixty coordinated events coast to coast all making the case for alternative bailout plans based on the public's interest.
This new video, which neatly breaks down the causes and effects of the economic crisis, is the basis for the next day of action staged by A New Way Forward.
Next week on June 10, at small and large events nationwide, there'll be numerous screenings of the video along with panels, workshops, teach-ins, protests and rallies. As the banking industry continues its secret lobbying in DC, A New Way Forward advocates using antitrust laws and competition to limit the influence of big banks and shed light on the shadow banking sector. These events are part of a continuing effort to forge a serious grassroots discussion of the economy ad how to leverage antitrust law toward a more populist bailout. Find an event near you. If there's nothing near you, click here for tips on how to host your own event.
Organizers are planning many different events, from small group house parties to large group public gatherings. In Washington DC, Former Chief Economist of the IMF Simon Johnson will be keynoting what's expected to be a large event in the Gold Room of the Rayburn House Building. The organizers hope to attract citizens with a disparate range of views who will hold one idea in common: our current economic trends must be reversed. Join ANWF's Facebook group for updates, and learn more about the plan for structural change and what we can achieve.
12 Comments so far
Show AllI propose taking one's money out of the mega-banks and depositing it in local banks or credit unions. This would be a big first step in bringing down the bankster empire.
That will be the first and the last step all in one. In fact, that is all that's needed. The rest will be child's play.
That is one good suggestion gracchus: I for one do all my business with my credit union; credit card, IRA, mortgage, and savings. The banksters don't get any of my money, at least on paper. Of course the banksters have looted the public coffers, but that is the fault of the bought and paid for agents of corporate rule (politicians)
It is time to break up the banks, prosecute the fraudsters, fire all the execs of t Goldman, AIG, etc etc. and regulate pay structures. I would like to see their assets seized as well, but the legal structures would not allow it. The law is primarily designed to protect private property and not social justice. In marxian terms, the capitalist state exists solely to protect the interests of the bourgeoisie.
We should have salary caps for everyone: say 200K per year. Minimum wage should be 20 bucks an hour in the more expensive areas and 15 bucks in the most affordable areas. That would be a good start for social justice. Sadly it will never happen here. Just a normative judgement
I have been saying for more than a quarter of a century since my misbegotten yuppie years when I worked at the world headquarters in one of those large banking corporations that all large financial organizations are criminal conspiracies and the only reason they aren't in jail is that they are rich enough to have the lawmakers (and enforcers) bought and paid for.
I'm not sure there is a solution, especially after the last fiasco when their "sky is falling" scam caused "our" government to dump huge piles of imaginary money on them even after their crookedness had been displayed for all to see.
Everyone switching to credit unions is a good idea that, sadly, probably won't happen soon enough and in a large enough scale to do any good -- sort of like the idea of eating locally grown unprocessed food. I wish things like that would happen but I am, after all (see my name).
Yes, this is a gerrreat, geat article and video and will be a hudge part of the revolution.
The search for the truth is bringing us together.
I would like to add however.... that since the Fed makes the rules (and the money) We had better break them up first.
Now I am outta here... We the People are too big to fail.
Commonreader
Why the banks haven't been broken up--
Because we're afraid they'll panic. We have a system where if you're hard on the banks, "you're going to have a global credit collapse," according to Simon Johnson, a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology... The Federal Reserve and Treasury left creditors at Lehman Brothers adrift in September, and the repercussions were so dire that regulators resolved not to let such a thing happen again."
From this I conclude we have private entities that are so powerful the govennment can't touch them, which means the government can't be a government "of, by and for the people," hence not a democracy, but a plutocracy.
As Senator Durbin said when he tried to pass cramdown "The banks own the place."
I'll even take that one further: when the financial and corporate interests largely dictate public policy, and that policy results in the transfer (theft) of trillions in public monies and resources, what we have is even worse than oligarchic plutocracy - KLEPTOCRACY.
It is like a Reverse Robin Hood Syndrome. (I'll call it RRHS)
Yes, fear and Bullshit is what we get... Like who is gonna believe that if they bailed out Lemon Brothers, the economy would be strong?
Ellen Brown, author of "Web of Debt" and editor of the specifically related website, has had some articles by her and a several-part review by Stephen Lendman about her book at www.globalresearch.ca, recently. From what I gathered from one of her recent articles, she says that what's evidently needed is to form public banks, or something like that; not banks belonging to anyone other than the public.
I haven't given it more thought, because I doubt that it's something that people will do, even if it is what they should do. It sounds like a good idea though. Why shouldn't banks be publicly-owned? They should be. They definitely should not belong to relatively small groups of individuals. They should belong to the public.
That does not mean that such banks are beyond corruption, for they are managed by people and too many people are easily corruptible; but publicly-owned banking, in principle, seems to be a good concept.
funny you mention central banks, or government run banks.
when that whole "tax party" thing was going on, my friend went to one.
i think it was run by the republicans and/or libertarians.
after he went to one, he got it in his head that the fore-fathers didn't want the USA to have a central bank and/or a government run bank.
i started to laugh.
The oligarchy broke the economy; it is time to break the oligarchy. It is time to break the rich, literally, if they do not cease passing on inheritances, and if they do not willingly give 95% of their wealth to the workers.
We've already been there and done that and failed with the telephone monopoly in this country. Now we have regional telephone monopolies. Instead we need to go all out to nationalize the banks and other key industries to put them in the hands of the people through their government. This is the real way to do it, and it works as long it's in effect. We just don't need to have any political party get the idea it can return these industries to the control of the privileged few at the expense of 95 to 99 per cent of the people. "We the people" should run these industries in our country for our benefit, and those special privileged elites who don't like shouldn't let the door hit them in their rear ends leaving. Now that's our "America, love or leave it" ultimatum. Deal with it super rich pampered jack asses. This is our time. You have had yours for hundreds of years here and in Europe of old where you got the idea you should have all the power, privileges, pomp and all the other that goes along with it forever.
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