April, 29 2010, 03:26pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
Wall Street: * Analysis * Protests
WASHINGTON
ROBERT KUTTNER
Co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine, Kuttner is the author of the recent book A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama's Promise, Wall Street's Power, and the Struggle to Control Our Economic Future.
He said today: "It's crucial that we now get a strong financial reform bill. This includes real reform on derivatives, so that banks aren't making deals on their own accounts and not betting against their clients. Wall Street must be brought down to size so that it serves the real economy."
DOUG HENWOOD
Editor of Left Business Observer, Henwood is the author of books including Wall Street. He said today: "It's nice to see Wall Street getting some seriously bad press -- and nice to see the Dems acquire a little class warrior fervor. And it was delightful to see all those Goldman Sachs guys get roasted before the Senate the other day. But I doubt much will come of all this. I fear that any legislation that passes will be so diluted and loophole-ridden that Wall Street can carry on with little impediment. And the Goldman hearing looks like a ritual sacrifice designed to appease an angry electorate, but with no lasting effect. I hope I'm wrong, but the thrust of policy over the last couple of years, under both Bush and Obama, has been to restore the status quo." Henwood writes regularly at doughenwood.wordpress.com
KRISTI BARNES
Communications director for New York Jobs with Justice, Barnes will be participating in a rally and march on Wall Street today (Thursday) at 4 p.m. Organizers are estimating that over 10,000 people will be marching. She said today: "We need to rein in Wall Street speculators in order to rebuild a sustainable economy that delivers good jobs for all. To prevent another economic crisis, we need serious financial reform that includes breaking up 'too big to fail' banks and creating a strong and an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency." Barnes will be at the protest and will be Twittering live: twitter.com/nyjwj
PAM POWELL
Powell is currently on a bus with fellow United Auto Worker activists and workers traveling from Detroit to New York City. They will be protesting on Wall Street from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. She said today: "Our form of capitalism is so far out of balance that these bankers could just take our money and get bailed out with no strings -- and we're only now trying to really regulate them. I'm not sure how effective this [protest] will be, they're doing what they did before we bailed them out and they'll probably keep doing that after we've protested, but we're doing what we can as a group."
A nationwide consortium, the Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) represents an unprecedented effort to bring other voices to the mass-media table often dominated by a few major think tanks. IPA works to broaden public discourse in mainstream media, while building communication with alternative media outlets and grassroots activists.
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AOC Launches Bid to Fight Trump as Top Democrat on House Oversight Committee
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"I write to you today to seek your support to serve as ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in the 119th Congress," the New York Democrat wrote in a letter to the Democratic caucus. "This is not a position I seek lightly. The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump's second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one."
With Republicans set to take control of the House in January, the committee will be led by a Republican; Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) currently chairs the panel.
But if Democrats win the House in 2026, the top Democrat on the committee would have subpoena power and be in a position to launch investigations into the Trump administration.
Ocasio-Cortez has sat on the committee since taking office in 2019, and was named by Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) to serve as vice ranking member in the current Congress. In her letter to colleagues, the congresswoman said she and Raskin "meticulously planned out the committee's strategy to combat the majority's partisan agenda and amplify the priorities of House Democrats."
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Ocasio-Cortez will face Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) in the election for ranking member. Connolly has served in Congress since 2008 and previously ran for the chairmanship in 2022.
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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) offered his support for Ocasio-Cortez on Friday, telling NBC News, "AOC is very collaborative on the committee and helps lift up all members. She has been so passionate about the work of this committee for two years as vice chair, and we need progressives moving into leadership in our Congress and country to enact a working-class agenda. I'm all in for her."
Another lawmaker said the outspoken progressive is "exactly what the committee needs."
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Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, similarly warned Friday that "while Democrats delivered a historic recovery with millions of new jobs under President Biden, Donald Trump and his far-right allies want to take us backward."
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A Congressional Budget Office analysis published Wednesday detailed how an extension of soon-to-expire provisions of the 2017 tax law—a measure that disproportionately benefited the rich—would shrink the U.S. economy, bolstering concerns about the potentially damaging impacts of the Trump-GOP agenda.
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In addition to arguing the law is unconstitutional, attorneys for TikTok and ByteDance "have claimed it's impossible to divest the platform commercially and technologically,"
The Associated Pressreported. "They also say any sale of TikTok without the coveted algorithm—the platform's secret sauce that Chinese authorities would likely block under any divesture plan—would turn the U.S. version of TikTok into an island disconnected from other global content."
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to take office one day after the law's divestment deadline, previously supported banning the platform, but during the latest campaign, he pledged to try to "save TikTok." According toThe Washington Post:
Trump is expected to try to halt the TikTok ban, people familiar with his views on the matter told The Washington Post in early November, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
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