House Republican Agenda: Make Big Banks More Profitable
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When the Republicans take over the U.S. House in January, one of the first things on their agenda is payback to those who helped get them in office: Wall Street.
And they’ve already announced one way they plan to do that.
The financial reform legislation that President Obama signed into law in July gave regulators a significant tool to rein in gambling by big Wall Street banks. The “Volcker Rule,” named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker who proposed it, is aimed at preventing Big Banks from speculating on securities or other complex financial products (a.k.a. “proprietary trading”) and putting strict limits on their ability to bet on hedge funds and private equity funds.
Whitman Makes Money the ‘Old-Fashioned Way’—Tax Breaks for the Rich
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One thing you’ve got to say about Meg Whitman, California’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, she sure knows how to make money. She amassed more than a billion dollars despite a not-so-shining track record as CEO of eBay, board member of Goldman Sachs and other corporate stops.
Now, she stands to add to that fortune and maybe replenish her personal coffers after dumping some $141.6 million of her own money into her campaign to buy the election.
One of her cornerstone economic proposals is the elimination of California’s capital gains tax. If elected and able to abolish the tax that mainly benefits the mega-wealthy, Whitman could net some $40 million during a four-year term as governor, according to a new report. Now that’s making money the old-fashioned Republican way—tax breaks for the super rich.
Boehner: No Reason for Unions
Well, this is ugly. But then, look at the messenger….
From today’s New York Times profile of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R):
“We were self-insured, so we were anxious to see our people wear seat belts, and at that point John was in the ‘Let’s leave the government out of things’ stage,” Mr. [Jim Webb, Boehner's business associate] recalled. (Mr. Boehner did eventually vote for a law requiring seat belt use.) Mr. [Bob] Hagan, the [Ohio] state legislator, who served with Mr. Boehner on a Labor and Commerce Committee, said, “He thought there was no reason for organized labor.”
Boehner knows one big reason unions exist: To protect America’s workers from lawmakers like Boehner, who dance to the tune of their corporate paymasters like Goldman Sachs, the American Bankers Association and Big Pharma.
And that’s why he opposes America’s unions.
Big Insurance, Pharma, Wall Street and John Boehner
Stacia Haley in Seattle worked all her life and raised a child as a single parent. Yet she has no retirement income other than Social Security.
[Social Security] is all many of us will have, if we live long enough to retire.
Stacia is right. Some 64 percent of America’s retirees rely on Social Security for 50 percent or more of their income.
Yet the man Wall Street wants to make speaker of the House supports raising the retirement age for Social Security, lowering the hammer even more on low- and middle-income Americans, who die earlier than the rich. (And what about that income gap? Well, never mind.)
This is just one of the extreme positions John Boehner holds while he salivates in the wings as House minority leader, angling for a Republican takeover of Congress bought and paid for by corporate America.
Wall Street Reform Passes Senate: Conference with House is Chance to Strengthen
Three weeks after more than 15,000 people marched on Wall Street and just days after thousands more marched on K Street demanding Wall Street reform, the Senate last night (59-39) passed legislation to rein-in Wall Street Big Banks’ reckless behavior that crashed the economy.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the Senate vote was a “sweet victory” for the “tens of millions of working families who lost jobs, homes and income at the hands of the big Wall Street banks.” He also said it was “reassuring” that
the Senate took this step to protect consumers despite the swarms of finance industry lobbyists who converged on Capitol Hill and outlays of $1.4 million a day to block reform. Read the rest of this entry »
Join Us Today for the K Street Showdown
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Congress is poised to vote on Wall Street reform—the most important to our financial system in decades. We are taking our message “Good Jobs Now! Make Wall Street Pay” to K Street, the power corridor in Washington, D.C., where Big Bank lobbyists plot to kill real financial reform and peddle corporate influence on Capitol Hill.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will lead a large contingent of working families and union staff today, May 17, as we join with our partners from National People’s Action, Move On, SEIU and others to rally and call out the lobbyists for the Big Banks.
The rally kicks off at 11:45 a.m., in McPherson Square at the intersection of K Street and Vermont Ave., N.W.. If you can’t be there in person, join us as we live webstream the rally at www.aflcio.org. Also at www.aflcio.org, you can join in the discussion and leave your comments. Follow the action on Twitter via #bankshowdown and check back here, where we’ll be tweeting the event live. And there’s still time to invite your friends to join us online via Facebook.
Join Us at the K Street Showdown May 17
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We’re getting set for the Showdown on K Street, the Washington, D.C., power corridor where Big Bank and corporate lobbyists scheme and scam to kill Wall Street reform and peddle corporate influence on Capitol Hill.
On May 17, at 11:45 a.m., ET, working families will bring their influence to the nation’s capital. The AFL-CIO, National People’s Action, Move On, SEIU and others will rally to call out the lobbyists who do Wall Street’s dirty work. Click here to sign up to be there in person or join us online.
We’re especially targeting the lobbyists for Wall Street’s Big Six Banks: Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo/Wachovia.
From last year to today, Big Banks are spending some $1.4 million a day in lobbying and political expenses to fight legislation that would reform the financial industry and help prevent another economic meltodown. There are four Big Bank lobbyists for every member of Congress.
Halter: Vote Pits Working Families Against Lincoln’s Corporate Campaign Cash
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Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D) says the state’s working family voters can send a message to Washington when they go to the polls May 18 to choose between Halter or Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary. That message:
“It’s time for people in the Democratic primary to stand up and support progressive Democrats, and not to support those folks who are coming in with the biggest campaign contribution from a PAC.
This is about whether we are going to fight for working men and women or whether we are going to fight for the folks who come in with a $5,000 contribution.”
Arkansas working families have endorsed Halter in the race against Lincoln, whom Halter said has received “over $1 million in campaign contributions from Wall Street and other financial institutions over the course of her career.” Speaking recently to a luncheon of retirees from Laborers (LIUNA) Local 1282, Halter asked the crowd:
You all heard of Goldman Sachs? Sen. Lincoln has accepted $29,000 in contributions from Goldman Sachs. As soon as this broke, I asked her to give it back. She said “No.”
California Union Members’ Grassroots Blitz Spotlights Meg Whitman’s Wall Street Agenda
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This is a cross-post from the California Federation of Labor by Communications Director Steve Smith
In an increasingly impersonal political campaign environment saturated with slick TV ads and radio spots, many working families have difficulty discerning the truth from campaign spin…unless they’re union members. That’s because the grassroots labor campaign relies heavily on direct, personal communication, anchored by member-to-member contact at the worksite about the candidates and issues, and what’s at stake for working people in this year’s election.
The California Labor Federation kicked off the first wave of a major statewide informational worksite flier blitz this month, in which union members are educating their fellow workers about Meg Whitman’s Wall Street agenda and anti-worker proposals, as well as local and statewide issues and races. More than 150,000 fliers on Whitman’s Wall Street ties and her positions on the issues workers care about are currently being distributed at worksites across the state to both public- and private-sector workers. Nurses, firefighters, construction workers, truck drivers, electricians, state workers and many others are taking part in this blitz to counter the more than $60 million Whitman is spending on the air.
California Workers Call on Whitman to Come Clean on Goldman Sachs Ties
The U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal investigation into Goldman Sachs’ role in the subprime mortgage meltdown prompted California’s workers to renew their calls for Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman to provide detailed answers to questions about her close ties to the company.
Last week, the state federation announced plans for a massive grassroots campaign—including the launch of a new website, Wall Street Whitman—to combat the $150 million Whitman says she will spend on the race.
Whitman, who’s expected to win the Republican primary June 8, served on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs in 2001 and 2002 where, according to Wall Street Whitman, she was directly involved in the decisions about executive bonuses and mortgage-backed securities that are now cited as major causes of the economic meltdown and the ensuing jobs crisis.
