Mary Bottari's blog

While Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was on the talk shows reassuring America that the economy is healing, developments in Europe threatened to cut the legs out from under a U.S. recovery.

The short story is that Greece and a number of other European Union (EU) countries are in debt, deep in debt. EU rules say member countries cannot have budget deficits that exceed three percent of GDP. Greece’s debt is closer to 12 percent.

What better way to celebrate the New York Attorney General’s suit charging Bank of America’s Ken Lewis with fraud than by listening to Billy Bragg’s new song on the big banks which he previewed at a benefit for Haiti in London this week. This is a very rough cut of "Last Flight to Abu Dhabi" from a fan, but you get the very amusing gist.

On the day that Punxsutawney Phil emerged to predict a long hard winter, Americans picked up the newspaper to read that AIG, the bankrupt insurance giant, was going to pay out $100 million in bonuses to its failed financial products division. Kenneth Feinberg, President Obama’s pay czar, announced that these were “grandfathered” retention payments and that the unit had taken a $20 million dollar reduction in bonuses.

Like Bill Murray in the classic film Groundhog Day, we are being forced to live this day over again.

Republicans are on the defensive. As we enter the 2010 election cycle, Republicans are a bit worried that Americans might remember how their maniacal push to deregulate Wall Street resulted in the collapse of the global economy on their watch. They need a new message to appeal to hard-hit voters. To the rescue comes renowned Republican strategist and spinmeister Frank Luntz.

SPECIAL RECOGNITION FOR SIFMA'S TURN PITCHFORKS INTO PLOUGHSHARES CAMPAIGN

The Center for Media and Democracy and BanksterUSA are pleased to present our Golden Throne Award to T. Timothy Ryan Jr., President and CEO of the Securities Industries and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). SIFMA is the leading behind-the-scenes lobby group representing big banks and investment firms, as well as broker-dealers and other peddlers of financial instruments, which Warren Buffett labeled "weapons of mass destruction." SIFMA lobbies Congress and financial regulators, and handles securities-related press for some of the biggest players in the financial crisis--Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Fidelity Investments.

Davos is a small resort town in Switzerland best known for hosting the World Economic Forum (WEF), an annual meeting of global political and business elites. Every year the biggest boosters of the "neoliberal" economic policy agenda of deregulation, unfettered global trade and strict IMF rules for poor countries, convene at Davos to pat each other on the back.

Now that these policies have almost brought the world to ruin, one would expect these global titans to be self-reflective and perhaps even apologetic? Mostly they were absent.

A group of pinstriped traders, upset with the bank-bashing rhetoric emanating from Washington, launched a Wall Street defense campaign the same morning that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was being grilled by Congress. According to Crain's business magazine the traders vowed to fight against further bank regulation and defend their right to "create wealth for the people." The group rallied about 150 folks across from the New York Stock Exchange.

The debate over banks and banking came front and center this week. In his toughest language yet, President Barack Obama vowed to veto financial reform legislation that is not tough enough on Wall Street. "The lobbyists are already trying to kill it," Obama told Congress in his State of the Union address. "Well, we cannot let them win this fight. And if the bill that ends up on my desk does not meet the test of real reform, I will send it back."

Hundreds of members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) took over the Des Moines offices of Wells Fargo and Bank of America to demand they give back their bonuses to fill gaping state budget shortfalls hurting everyday Iowans, chanting "Bust up big banks!" and "Put the people first!" This protest was part of CCI's Showdown at the Statehouse, where CCI members called on elected officials to stand on the side of everyday people, rein in corporate power and greed (factory farms, payday lenders), stop balancing the state budget on the backs of everyday people and stand up for campaign finance reform. Watch this fun video of everyday people directly challenging the big banks!

In one month, one million Americans are slated to lose their unemployment insurance. Millions more will follow. According to Judy Conti, Federal Advocacy Coordinator at the National Employment Law Project, the expiration of this vital lifeline "would be a catastrophe for these families and their communities."