Disappeared News: Public protests over the bailout continue even if the papers won’t report it

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Public protests over the bailout continue even if the papers won’t report it

by Larry Geller

What your newspaper won’t tell you is that protests continue on Wall Street and elsewhere against Congress’ unpopular bailout plan. For example:

Unions Protest Against Wall Street Bailout
Opposition on Main Street to the federal bailout continues to mount. On Monday, labor unions held another rally on Wall Street. Speakers include Ed Ott of the New York City Labor Council.
Ed Ott: “It was irresponsible what was done here. And if we put it back together, we want assurances that someone is going to watch the till. For twenty-five years, both parties have been complicit in undermining our protections, under the guise of deregulation. They have now cost us tens of thousands of jobs. It is unacceptable.” [Democracy Now, 9/30/2008]

The Bush administration and congressional leaders are hard at work planning the next version of the bill.

Will it contain provisions re-regulating banks and investment firms?

Will it allow people facing foreclosure to retain their homes?

Will it provide appropriate punishment to firms and CEOs who caused this mess with their greed and risky bets against homeowners (instead of rewarding them)?

If Congress would draft a bill that provided benefits and protections to taxpayers, protest would likely melt and Wall Street could recover in a sane, rational manner.

To support the current bailout process is a form of insanity without re-regulation and protections. IMHO and apparently many, many others.

It’s business as usual between Wall Street and Congress, by the way. In closing, here’s an interesting corollary:

Finance Sector Gave 51 Percent More to House Bailout Backers
The Center for Responsive Politics is reporting members of the House of Representatives who supported bailing out the financial sector have received 51 percent more in campaign contributions from the finance, insurance and real estate sector in their congressional careers than those who opposed the emergency legislation. [Democracy Now, 9/30/2008]

In effect, Wall Street is trying to bribe its way to a bailout. No need to pay now, they’ve been paying all along (and will, of course, continue to fund their supporters in government).