On the backs of the ordinary Americans, big banks have created the worst
economic crisis since the Great Depression.
American taxpayers came to the rescue with bailout money, but the banks refuse
to work to make our economy stronger for everyone. Through unfair lending
practices like subprime mortgages and predatory loans, big banks are continuing
to drag this nation into bankruptcy and foreclosure.
Let me give you two examples of the corporate greed that continues to plague
our financial system.
This month Ken Lewis resigned as CEO of Bank of America because he, among other
things, lied to regulators about big bonuses going to bank executives. Now Bank
of America is giving him $68.8 million on his way out the door! That’s taxpayer
money! We bailed them out, and now they’re using our money to line their
pockets.
Also this month, JP Morgan and other big banks agreed to pay out $100 million
to settle a lawsuit after they helped a subprime lender in Philadelphia take
advantage of American consumers and lie about the value of their assets. It looks like big banks will lie, cheat, and steal
to protect their own, but what are they doing for us? What are they doing to
help ordinary Americans?
It’s time to change the way big banks do business in this country. We’ve got to stand up together and call on big banks to fix what they broke.
On October 27th, while all the big bank executives descend on Chicago for their annual conference, they will be greeted with a single message: Enough is enough. We’ve had it.
On Tuesday October 27th, please join over 6,000 Chicagoans as we fight back. We march at 10:30 am from Wacker and Stetson. We rally at 11 am at the Chicago Sheraton at 301 E. North Water. They will hear us loud and clear.
Help spread the word. The time to act is now.
For more information, or to RSVP for the march and rally, visit www.StopBankGreed.org.
Keith Kelleher is the president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana (HCII). With over 85,000 members, SEIU HCII is the largest union local of any union in Illinois and the Midwest, and the fifth largest local of SEIU.
Full disclosure: The SEIU Illinois State Council sponsors Progress Illinois.
Comments
Uda on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 18:37
My daughter, who is "scratching at the bottom of the barrel" asked Chase Bank to give her a fixed payment and a reduced (from 29.9%) interest rate. She agreed to stop using the credit card as a condition of the agreement. They refused. She will now be forced to either file bankruptcy or end up in litigation. What is wrong with these vultures? It's time that they stopped running our economy into the ground.
BRI1437 (not verified) on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 13:29
It's amazing how the Government helps the banks with a stroke of a pin and they received funds ASAP. The unemployed has to wait six weeks to receive a extension benefits due to they can't work out issues and durning that time of waiting you become homeless accounts over drawn with huge fees included but you try to explain WHY? No one cares Government nor Banking system which my tax dollars helped bail them out and will continue after a find work. It's not a fair system and the Government should treat the Banks like they do the American people who are suffering due to this economy.
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