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Sign on and sign the petition. We need to overwhelm our elected leaders with calls for Glass-Steagall!
Can you identify all 4 portraits? (send to: pappajohn15@gmail.com)
Oil Speculation Raising Gas and Commodity Prices!
As documented here, oil prices have nothing to do with supply and demand. And there are no controls on the speculators without Glass-Steagall.
Who's manipulating the price of oil? (And they hate to use the M-word!)
From MSNBC's The Ed Show, May 26, 2011
New online Glass-Steagall petition!
Our friend Tama has started a petition for Glass-Steagall!
The link:Glass Steagall Petition
Check it out and sign it online!
The link:Glass Steagall Petition
Check it out and sign it online!
Ohio Rep. Kaptur sends letter to ALL her colleagues (see text below)
DON’T SIT ON THE SIDELINES! JOIN THE FIGHT!
It is time we cancelled Wall-Street’s bailout and got the taxpayer’s money back. Just impose Glass-Steagall and get $15-17 TRILLION back—so that we can start rebuilding our nation, starting with saving the cities and states.
The bailout started in 2008 has never stopped. The Federal Government, including the Federal Reserve, is still pouring trillions of dollars into supporting a bankrupt banking system and its extensive gambling debts. The Fed is providing money to the banks in exchange for worthless toxic assets, dispensing money thru “quantitative easing,” guaranteeing virtually every mortgage issued through Fannie and Freddie, and providing essentially no-interest loans to the banks! THIS MUST STOP! Get your Representative to join Marcy Kaptur and her bipartisan co-sponsors in bringing back the Glass-Steagall law.
Text of Rep. Marcy Kaptur's 'Dear Colleague' letter on Glass-Steagall
April 26th, 2011 • 8:29 PM Reinstate Glass-Steagall
Cosponsor H.R. 1489, “The Return to Prudent Banking Act”
Dear Colleague:
I am writing to request your support for H.R. 1489, “The Return to Prudent Banking Act.” I recently reintroduced this legislation to strengthen our financial system by reinstating Glass-Steagall.
In response to the failure of thousands of banks across the country, Congress enacted the Banking Act of 1933, commonly known as Glass-Steagall, during the height of the Great Depression. This statute safeguarded the American economy for decades by legally separating commercial and investment banking. Such a common sense system provided greater security to banking deposits in commercial banks. Additionally, investment banks were only able to leverage their own funds, limiting the systemic risks of the American citizenry. For decades, Glass-Steagall was a cornerstone of the U.S. financial system, until the Gramm Leach Bliley Act unwisely completely ended this important financial regulation in 1999.
With the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act over a decade ago, the U.S. economy was exposed to an intolerable level of risk, and the recent financial crisis was certainly exacerbated by the removal of these safeguards. I believe that we must limit the potential for future economic collapses by returning to a more prudent banking system in which banks must once again choose between investment activities or commercial lending. If you would like more information or would like to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 1489, please contact John Brodtke in my office at john.brodtke@mail.house.gov.
Sincerely,
MARCY KAPTUR
Member of Congress
It is time we cancelled Wall-Street’s bailout and got the taxpayer’s money back. Just impose Glass-Steagall and get $15-17 TRILLION back—so that we can start rebuilding our nation, starting with saving the cities and states.
The bailout started in 2008 has never stopped. The Federal Government, including the Federal Reserve, is still pouring trillions of dollars into supporting a bankrupt banking system and its extensive gambling debts. The Fed is providing money to the banks in exchange for worthless toxic assets, dispensing money thru “quantitative easing,” guaranteeing virtually every mortgage issued through Fannie and Freddie, and providing essentially no-interest loans to the banks! THIS MUST STOP! Get your Representative to join Marcy Kaptur and her bipartisan co-sponsors in bringing back the Glass-Steagall law.
Text of Rep. Marcy Kaptur's 'Dear Colleague' letter on Glass-Steagall
April 26th, 2011 • 8:29 PM Reinstate Glass-Steagall
Cosponsor H.R. 1489, “The Return to Prudent Banking Act”
Dear Colleague:
I am writing to request your support for H.R. 1489, “The Return to Prudent Banking Act.” I recently reintroduced this legislation to strengthen our financial system by reinstating Glass-Steagall.
In response to the failure of thousands of banks across the country, Congress enacted the Banking Act of 1933, commonly known as Glass-Steagall, during the height of the Great Depression. This statute safeguarded the American economy for decades by legally separating commercial and investment banking. Such a common sense system provided greater security to banking deposits in commercial banks. Additionally, investment banks were only able to leverage their own funds, limiting the systemic risks of the American citizenry. For decades, Glass-Steagall was a cornerstone of the U.S. financial system, until the Gramm Leach Bliley Act unwisely completely ended this important financial regulation in 1999.
With the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act over a decade ago, the U.S. economy was exposed to an intolerable level of risk, and the recent financial crisis was certainly exacerbated by the removal of these safeguards. I believe that we must limit the potential for future economic collapses by returning to a more prudent banking system in which banks must once again choose between investment activities or commercial lending. If you would like more information or would like to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 1489, please contact John Brodtke in my office at john.brodtke@mail.house.gov.
Sincerely,
MARCY KAPTUR
Member of Congress
S&P Did the Same Thing to the UK, To Help the Tories Impose Cuts
April 19, 2011 (LPAC) -- S&P's downgrade of the United States'
sovereign credit is a repeat of the game the firm played in the
UK to help the Tories get elected and implement the vicious
budget cuts once in power. On May 21, 2009, S&P announced that
the outlook on the UK's long-term sovereign credit rating had
been lowered to a negative outlook, warning that the AAA credit
rating may also be lowered -- just as S&P did to the U.S. on
Monday. The Tories and candidate David Cameron used this
downgrade to get themselves elected, in good "Tea Party" style,
promising to cut the budget to "save the UK." As soon as Cameron
became Prime Minister, he announced sweeping and deep budget
cuts, and S&P immediately lifted the rating cut.
A spokesman for Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne
today bragged of this dirty deal. "S&P did the same to the UK
before the election but revised us back to stable following the
spending review, because we had a credible deficit plan," Osborne
said, adding that "Labour's more cautious approach to cutting the
UK's deficit was way out of step with world opinion." [MOB]
sovereign credit is a repeat of the game the firm played in the
UK to help the Tories get elected and implement the vicious
budget cuts once in power. On May 21, 2009, S&P announced that
the outlook on the UK's long-term sovereign credit rating had
been lowered to a negative outlook, warning that the AAA credit
rating may also be lowered -- just as S&P did to the U.S. on
Monday. The Tories and candidate David Cameron used this
downgrade to get themselves elected, in good "Tea Party" style,
promising to cut the budget to "save the UK." As soon as Cameron
became Prime Minister, he announced sweeping and deep budget
cuts, and S&P immediately lifted the rating cut.
A spokesman for Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne
today bragged of this dirty deal. "S&P did the same to the UK
before the election but revised us back to stable following the
spending review, because we had a credible deficit plan," Osborne
said, adding that "Labour's more cautious approach to cutting the
UK's deficit was way out of step with world opinion." [MOB]
'Thieving and connivance'
In response to the letter “Left vilifies rich” in Sunday's Forum, the writer was correct about one thing — and only one. He stated, “I don't get it.” And truly, he doesn't.
It was hedge fund managers (and other Wall Street executives) who ruined the lives of millions of American taxpayers and nearly caused the total collapse of the world economy through their thieving and connivance.
These people aren't simply denying food and shelter to widows and children; they're stealing it from them.
It would take a pure idiot to wish for more of the same — unless, of course, you were one of them.
SCOTT B. PULLIAM
Taylorsville, Ky. 40071
published in the Louisville Courier-Journal, April 19, 2011
It was hedge fund managers (and other Wall Street executives) who ruined the lives of millions of American taxpayers and nearly caused the total collapse of the world economy through their thieving and connivance.
These people aren't simply denying food and shelter to widows and children; they're stealing it from them.
It would take a pure idiot to wish for more of the same — unless, of course, you were one of them.
SCOTT B. PULLIAM
Taylorsville, Ky. 40071
published in the Louisville Courier-Journal, April 19, 2011
Glass-Steagall Reintroduced in Congress
April 13, 2011 (EIRNS)—Three Members of Congress—Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), and James Moran (D-Va.)—today took the lead and re-introduced into the U.S. Congress the most important piece of legislation possible—a reimposition of the Glass-Steagall principles enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.
H.R. 1489's official summary reads: "To repeal certain provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and revive the separation between commercial banking and the securities business, in the manner provided in the Banking Act of 1933, the so-called 'Glass-Steagall Act,' and for other purposes." Its short title is "Return to Prudent Banking Act of 2011." Section 2 of the bill is headlined "Glass-Steagall Revived," and reads "...wall between commercial banks and securities activities re-established."
This long-overdue action sets the stage for a dramatic escalation of the battle to restore Glass-Steagall, which has been led by Lyndon LaRouche and Lyndon LaRouche PAC over the last three years. On the eve of the reintroduction, LaRouche said that if we can ram the bill through, "this will rout the enemy! Even threatening to do it, will put the enemy off balance. If we don't do it, we're finished."
The 'enemy,' of course, is the British imperial financial system, which successfully threatened the Obama Administration in May 2010, to prevent a pending vote on restoring Glass-Steagall at that time. The British see the reimposition of Glass-Steagall, which will effectively wipe trillions of dollars of gambling debts off the account of the Federal government, as a death blow to their system—and, LaRouche argues, it will be. But that will be no loss. The U.S. population doesn't need Wall Street—nor should it continue to suffer under an insane President who serves Wall Street, Barack Obama.
H.R. 1489's official summary reads: "To repeal certain provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and revive the separation between commercial banking and the securities business, in the manner provided in the Banking Act of 1933, the so-called 'Glass-Steagall Act,' and for other purposes." Its short title is "Return to Prudent Banking Act of 2011." Section 2 of the bill is headlined "Glass-Steagall Revived," and reads "...wall between commercial banks and securities activities re-established."
This long-overdue action sets the stage for a dramatic escalation of the battle to restore Glass-Steagall, which has been led by Lyndon LaRouche and Lyndon LaRouche PAC over the last three years. On the eve of the reintroduction, LaRouche said that if we can ram the bill through, "this will rout the enemy! Even threatening to do it, will put the enemy off balance. If we don't do it, we're finished."
The 'enemy,' of course, is the British imperial financial system, which successfully threatened the Obama Administration in May 2010, to prevent a pending vote on restoring Glass-Steagall at that time. The British see the reimposition of Glass-Steagall, which will effectively wipe trillions of dollars of gambling debts off the account of the Federal government, as a death blow to their system—and, LaRouche argues, it will be. But that will be no loss. The U.S. population doesn't need Wall Street—nor should it continue to suffer under an insane President who serves Wall Street, Barack Obama.
Don’t Be Distracted!
All you hear on the news is that the budget must be cut at every level --local, state and federal. But the only reason the government coffers are empty is that the “too big to fail” banks have gambled away hundreds of billions and the federal government foolishly bailed them out …. with taxpayer dollars.
The same Wall Street financial elite that financed , orchestrated and profited from the lack of regulation and oversight that lead up to the crash, are now financing the distraction – blaming unions, police, firefighters, students, teachers or anyone else they can find for the mess that Wall Street created! We are all the victims of the problem, not the cause!
The Glass-Steagall Act, passed in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression, was an instrumental tool of the recovery, and worked to keep the ‘banksters’ out of our system for 65 years. It was repealed in 1999, allowing speculators to invade the system, ballooning the derivatives market, inflating the giant bubble until the 2007-2008 crash that brought the United States and the world to the brink of financial collapse.
It is past time to reinstate this common-sense solution to the banking mess, getting speculative ‘casino’ investors out of commercial banking and returning to a system of productive banking that supports and enhances our standard of living, instead of stealing the savings & jobs of millions of Americans.
Federal and state officials from both sides of the aisle are reluctant to confront the powerful elite that paid for the repeal, but many are starting to understand how important the legislation was and will be to our recovery. In Kentucky, Louisville state Senator Perry Clark again introduced a Glass-Steagall reinstatement resolution in the 2011 session of the General Assembly. And, on the federal level there are six LaRouche Democrats running for Congress on the vital Glass-Steagall issue. Check out their information at LaRouchePAC.com.
And visit Glass-SteagallNow.com for more information and breaking news on the regional campaign to reinstitute this vital solution to the financial challenge facing the nation.
Don’t Sit on the Sidelines! Join the Fight!
Call:
Peter Visclosky 202/225-2461
Andre Carson 202/225-0411
Todd Rokita 202/225-5037
Dan Burton 202/225-2276
Mike Pence 202/225-3021
The same Wall Street financial elite that financed , orchestrated and profited from the lack of regulation and oversight that lead up to the crash, are now financing the distraction – blaming unions, police, firefighters, students, teachers or anyone else they can find for the mess that Wall Street created! We are all the victims of the problem, not the cause!
The Glass-Steagall Act, passed in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression, was an instrumental tool of the recovery, and worked to keep the ‘banksters’ out of our system for 65 years. It was repealed in 1999, allowing speculators to invade the system, ballooning the derivatives market, inflating the giant bubble until the 2007-2008 crash that brought the United States and the world to the brink of financial collapse.
It is past time to reinstate this common-sense solution to the banking mess, getting speculative ‘casino’ investors out of commercial banking and returning to a system of productive banking that supports and enhances our standard of living, instead of stealing the savings & jobs of millions of Americans.
Federal and state officials from both sides of the aisle are reluctant to confront the powerful elite that paid for the repeal, but many are starting to understand how important the legislation was and will be to our recovery. In Kentucky, Louisville state Senator Perry Clark again introduced a Glass-Steagall reinstatement resolution in the 2011 session of the General Assembly. And, on the federal level there are six LaRouche Democrats running for Congress on the vital Glass-Steagall issue. Check out their information at LaRouchePAC.com.
And visit Glass-SteagallNow.com for more information and breaking news on the regional campaign to reinstitute this vital solution to the financial challenge facing the nation.
Don’t Sit on the Sidelines! Join the Fight!
Call:
Peter Visclosky 202/225-2461
Andre Carson 202/225-0411
Todd Rokita 202/225-5037
Dan Burton 202/225-2276
Mike Pence 202/225-3021
Glass-Steagall Goes to Indy!
Carol Smith, Scotty Pulliam, Cletus Gibson and Jerry Jansing from the American System Society, joined thousands of their union brothers & sisters in Indianapolis on Thursday. The four rode the bus up and stood in the windy cold along with a large turnout from the UAW and many other labor organizations in opposition to the union-busting strategies in Indiana, Wisconsin and other places around the country. Below is a brief video of the protest to give you an idea of the strong turnout the of the mass strike phenomenon the unions were able to harness.
The government is using the financial crisis caused by the repeal of Glass-Steagall to justify the dismantling of unions in an attack on the middle class to lower wages.
Of course, lower wages and less government spending (austerity!) is exactly the wrong thing to do when keeping and creating all kinds of jobs and increased economic activity is the only way out of this recession. And of course, we need to re-institute Glass-Steagall and write off the gambling debt, to fix the problem and be sure it doesn't happen again!
The government is using the financial crisis caused by the repeal of Glass-Steagall to justify the dismantling of unions in an attack on the middle class to lower wages.
Of course, lower wages and less government spending (austerity!) is exactly the wrong thing to do when keeping and creating all kinds of jobs and increased economic activity is the only way out of this recession. And of course, we need to re-institute Glass-Steagall and write off the gambling debt, to fix the problem and be sure it doesn't happen again!
Bills introduced in Congress to restore Glass-Steagall
Ok, it's not breaking news, but there have been at least 3 bills and a couple admendments introduced or proposed lately to restore the Glass Steagall Act that had a direct consequence of the recent financial crisis (see FCIC report). To the right is the text of HR 4375 (introduced by New York Representative Maurice Hinchey).
Why Glass-Steagall? Why Now?
As signs in Wisconsin announce support for Egypt, and as new nations daily add their voice to the call for justice, it is clear that each of these protests is no local phenomenon. Humanity as a one is reacting against the last four decades of globalization, against food prices artificially increased due to the hyper-inflationary bailout of Paulson, Bernanke and Obama, which has distributed trillions of dollars to the bankrupt, casino-style financial system recently identified by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report to have been a fraud, and to have caused the financial crisis we are now deeply engaged in.
Governors, city councils, public service employees, and citizens in general are turning on each other, blaming one another as the cause of "excess spending;" but these attacks are missing the point. What the FCIC report details, which British-puppet President Obama has refused to acknowledge, is that this crisis was caused by the decades-long process of eliminating critical banking regulations, which separated the worthwhile functions of the economy from the speculation of financial predators, as seen especially in the deregulation of financial derivatives, and the 1999 repeal of Glass-Steagall. Now cities and states are bankrupt, drowning in a state of collapsing revenue and increased demands for aid, with no hope of change in sight.
Glass-Steagall, if reinstated last year, would have prevented this condition. President Obama opposed it then, as now, because the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall will destroy the entire system of the London-centered empire, as not only hedge funds and other financial institutions are forced into bankruptcy, but as governments everywhere, led by the United States, will have reasserted the priority of their citizens' welfare, and the integrity of their national economies, over the failed bets of Wall Street whores and their British imperial mother. Once reinstated, and the trillions of dollars of worthless gambling debts are wiped off the books, the Federal government can issue credit towards productive projects such as NAWAPA , to reverse the collapse of physical production, and give emergency aid to the states.
Governors, city councils, public service employees, and citizens in general are turning on each other, blaming one another as the cause of "excess spending;" but these attacks are missing the point. What the FCIC report details, which British-puppet President Obama has refused to acknowledge, is that this crisis was caused by the decades-long process of eliminating critical banking regulations, which separated the worthwhile functions of the economy from the speculation of financial predators, as seen especially in the deregulation of financial derivatives, and the 1999 repeal of Glass-Steagall. Now cities and states are bankrupt, drowning in a state of collapsing revenue and increased demands for aid, with no hope of change in sight.
Glass-Steagall, if reinstated last year, would have prevented this condition. President Obama opposed it then, as now, because the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall will destroy the entire system of the London-centered empire, as not only hedge funds and other financial institutions are forced into bankruptcy, but as governments everywhere, led by the United States, will have reasserted the priority of their citizens' welfare, and the integrity of their national economies, over the failed bets of Wall Street whores and their British imperial mother. Once reinstated, and the trillions of dollars of worthless gambling debts are wiped off the books, the Federal government can issue credit towards productive projects such as NAWAPA , to reverse the collapse of physical production, and give emergency aid to the states.
Buy, Buy American Pie!
Here's a video about just one of the effects of globalization. But, then, without any jobs, what does it matter??
No Bailouts!
There Is a Plan B, There ALWAYS Was!
Now that bailout has been passed, we know it did not solve anything. It could even trigger hyper-inflation, and it may be begun to bring down the whole banking system. Many people inside Washington and on Wall Street know perfectly well that there IS a Plan B. A three-step solution, which begins with FDR-style bankruptcy reorganization, rather than hyperinflationary bailout. The first thing that must be done is to the pass the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act (HBPA), see below. This viable proposal has been out there since Sept. 2007, and everyone serious, who has studied it, knows it will work. Had Congress shown the guts to pass the HBPA in 2007, this crisis would have been averted, and we would have already been on the road to a new, viable international financial order.
We are beginning to finally understand that properly regulated banking is an essential aspect of any economy, and we must save the state- and Federally chartered commercial banks and thrifts. That means two things: First, we must extract the relevant banking functions from banks which have often become virtual casinos of speculative bets, and second, we must restore the modern regulatory regime established by FDR, beginning with the restoration of Glass-Steagall.
The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was one of the most important banking regulations ever passed, as it prohibited any commercial bank from engaging in investment banking activities. As FDR told the House of Morgan, you can be a commercial bank or an investment bank, but you can't be both. This was done to prevent a raft of abuses which occurred in the 1920s and early 1930s, as the bankers saved themselves at the expense of their customers and the public. Glass-Steagall forced the House of Morgan to split into two separate institutions, an act for which FDR has never been forgiven, but FDR was entirely correct, as recent events have demonstrated. The banks began to chip away at Glass-Steagall in the 1980s, and it was finally repealed in 1999, after the illegal merger of Travelers and Citicorp to form Citigroup in 1998. The repeal of Glass-Steagall opened the floodgates as the banks expanded their speculative activities, until the distinctions between commercial banking and investment banking have virtually disappeared. As has the solvency of the system.
Save the Banks AND the Homeowners!
What Is the HBPA?
Here are the essential features of the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act:
1. Establish a Federal agency to place the Federal and state chartered banks under protection, freezing all existing home mortgages for a period of however many months or years are required to adjust the values to fair prices, restructure existing mortgages at appropriate interest rates, and write off all of the cancerous speculative debt obligations of mortgage-backed securities, derivatives and other forms of Ponzi schemes that have pushed the banking system into bankruptcy.
2. During this transitional period, all foreclosures shall be frozen, allowing American families to retain their homes. Monthly payments, the effective equivalent of rental payments, shall be made to designated banks, which can then use the funds as collateral for normal lending practices, thus recapitalizing the banking system. Ultimately, these affordable monthly payments will be factored into new mortgages, reflecting the deflating of the housing bubble, the establishment of appropriate property valuations, and reduced fixed mortgage interest rates. It is to be expected that this shakeout of the housing market will take several years to achieve. In this interim period, no homeowner shall be evicted from his or her property, and the Federal and state chartered banks shall be protected, so they can resume the traditional functions, serving local communities, and facilitating credit for investment in productive industries, agriculture, infrastructure, etc.
3. State governors shall assume the administrative responsibilities for implementing the program, including the "rental" assessments to designated banks, with the Federal government providing the necessary credits and guarantees to assure the successful transition.
Here are the essential features of the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act:
1. Establish a Federal agency to place the Federal and state chartered banks under protection, freezing all existing home mortgages for a period of however many months or years are required to adjust the values to fair prices, restructure existing mortgages at appropriate interest rates, and write off all of the cancerous speculative debt obligations of mortgage-backed securities, derivatives and other forms of Ponzi schemes that have pushed the banking system into bankruptcy.
2. During this transitional period, all foreclosures shall be frozen, allowing American families to retain their homes. Monthly payments, the effective equivalent of rental payments, shall be made to designated banks, which can then use the funds as collateral for normal lending practices, thus recapitalizing the banking system. Ultimately, these affordable monthly payments will be factored into new mortgages, reflecting the deflating of the housing bubble, the establishment of appropriate property valuations, and reduced fixed mortgage interest rates. It is to be expected that this shakeout of the housing market will take several years to achieve. In this interim period, no homeowner shall be evicted from his or her property, and the Federal and state chartered banks shall be protected, so they can resume the traditional functions, serving local communities, and facilitating credit for investment in productive industries, agriculture, infrastructure, etc.
3. State governors shall assume the administrative responsibilities for implementing the program, including the "rental" assessments to designated banks, with the Federal government providing the necessary credits and guarantees to assure the successful transition.
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