12 million unemployed. Foreclosures up 81%. Wall Street has taken over. We must break up the banks and never again let them get so big that they distort our politics and take down the economy. CHECK SITE FOR DEMONSTRATION NEAR YOU http://www.anewwayforward.org/demonstrations/
Our plan: Real structural change of Wall Street
DECENTRALIZE: Any bank that's "too big to fail" means that it's too big for a free market to function. The financial corporations that caused this mess must be broken up and sold back to the private market with strong, new regulatory and antitrust rules in place -- new banks, managed by new people. An independent regulatory body must protect consumers from predatory practices.
As Wall St. corporations grew bigger and bigger until they were “too big to fail,” they also became so politically powerful that they led to distorted and unfair policies that served companies, not citizens.
Its not enough to try to patch up the current system. We demand serious reform that fixes the root problems in our political and economic system: excessive influence of banks, dangerous compensation systems, and massive consolidation. And we demand that the reform happen in an open and transparent manner.
Read more about what we want and can achieve and see our blog for more related information.
Also, see these three great economic interviews that can get you up to speed from Bill Moyers (extremely interesting): Simon Johnson on the financial oligarchy, 2/13; William Greider on restructuring and ANWF rallies, 3/26; and William Black on financial fraud, 4/2.
The Consumers Union and A New Way Forward Letter for Regulatory Reform
Honorary Co-Chairs
-Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake
-Mike Lux, Open Left
Sponsors and Elder Counselors
-Simon Johnson, Former IMF Chief Economist, Baseline Scenario
-Chris Hayes, Washington Editor, The Nation
-David Sirota, Syndicated Columnist, Author
-Joe Trippi, Change Congress, co-founder
-Zephyr Teachout, Visiting Assistant Professor of Duke University, Dean Campaign
-Joe Costello, Energy, Communications, and Political Economy
-William Greider, "Come Home, America", National Correspondent, The Nation
-Yves Smith, Economist, Naked Capitalism
Support
-Jerome Armstrong, MyDD, founder: "The corporate bailouts have become a complete political disaster."
-Alternet
-AFSCME - Pittsburgh
-Rural Votes
-American Family Voices
-New Paltz Women in Black
-Economic Justice Committee of New Paltz and Vicinity for Obama
-Portland Jobs with Justice
-David Dayen, D-Day, founder and Hullabaloo*, blogger
-David Swanson, After Downing Street
-Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee
-Cleveland Committee on Corporations, Law & Democracy
-Progressive Democrats of America
-Democrats.com
-Grassroots Change
-Public Accountability Initiative
-Liberty Tree
-The Voters
-Wake County Young Democrats
-New Haven Peace Council
-Consumers for Peace
-Billionaires for Bush
-BuzzFlash
-CODEPINK
-San Francisco Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign
-Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
-FedUpUSA.org
-Common Security Club
-Portland Jobs with Justice
-California Reinvestment Coalition -David Donnelly, Public Campaign Action Fund*: "New Way Forward is visionary, simple, and important."
From around the web:
Alternet spearheads an ANWF petition to be delivered to Congress
Matt Yglesias: Rallies are being planned... the moment of crisis seems like the only time when the political power of the financial sector can feasibly be overcome. If we say we’re going to deal with this later, after we’ve fixed the immediate problems, then attention is going to wander on to other things'
*Groups listed for identification purposes only
Text
http://www.anewwayforward.org/demonstrations/