Break Up the Big Banks!

Activists will be in the streets of Chicago tomorrow to protest the American Bankers Association meeting. These banks took bailouts that add up to $15,000 for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. They claimed they were “too big to fail.”

But instead of using the bailout to help the economy, they actually reduced lending that would keep people working, increased foreclosures, charged outrageous overdraft fees and – surprise, surprise – gave themselves record salaries, bonuses and perks.

The reality is that these corporate criminals are too big and powerful politically. Explaining why even minor reforms have been bottled up in Congress, Senator Durbin from Illinois admitted that the banks “frankly own the place.”

Take action now!

They spend hundreds of millions of dollars on politics and they’re using our bailout money to become bigger and more powerful (rather than helping people and the economy through a crisis).

These ‘too big to fail’ banks are a threat to democracy as much as they are a threat to the economy. Even Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker, and Mervyn King agree: It’s time to break up the banks.

We have to break their grip on Congress, break up their political and economic power, break up the corporate crime spree and break through this economic crisis with a major jobs program, new regulations (like the Consumer Financial Protection Agency), new financial institutions that put workers and communities first and a new economy that works for everyone

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Your Congressperson
Your Senators
Below is the sample letter:

Subject: Break up the Banks; Make the Economy Work

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

The Wall Street “Bailout Bandits” stuffed their pockets with false profits while wrecking our economy, and then pocketed more with their “too big to fail” bailouts from TARP and the Federal Reserve. These banksters used our money to make themselves bigger and richer, instead of helping save jobs and housing.

“Too big to fail” is a threat to both democracy and the economy. It’s time to break up the big banks and make the economy work for everyone.

I urge you to:

1) fix the financial system by breaking up the big banks and passing a strong Consumer Financial Protection Agency

2) create millions of living wage jobs, with a large scale national program that combines a public jobs program (like WPA or CETA), relief of states in budget crises, retooling and greening of our manufacturing sector and building a greener transit infrastructure.

3) Fix the tattered social safety net, including strengthened unemployment compensation and retirement security.

Sincerely,

Your Name

cc:
President Barack Obama