The protests at the American Bankers Association Conference in Chicago may have finished on Tuesday, but the campaign to demand that big banks stop using our tax dollars to lobby against financial reform is far from over. Big banks took $17.8 trillion in taxpayer bailouts and then turned around and spent $35 million of the taxpayers' money fighting reform and lobbying against the most basic measures to protect consumers.
Adding to the frustration of the situation is the complete lack of responsibility the delegates from the American Bankers' Association accept for the financial crisis their banks' harmful business practices perpetuated. "Bankers care," the ABA's chairman, Arthur Connelly, told more than 1,000 senior executives from banks across the nation gathered at their annual convention in Chicago. "We want to make life better in our communities...[and] traditional banks are the solution to getting this country back on track."
Newsflash, Mr. Connelly: Taxpayers (and their empty wallets, foreclosed homes, and drained pensions) beg to differ. The ABA's annual convention in Chicago was the scene for the series of major protests this week, as thousands demonstrated to show just how sick and tired they are of having big banks treat them like personal ATMs. We're still enjoying the amazing visuals that resulted from the five demonstrations held outside the ABA convention, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs in downtown Chicago. Check out the photos from the October 27th march and rally, which mobilized 5,000 taxpayers to take to the streets:
You can check out photos from the four other demonstrations protesting the ABA, Well Fargo and Goldman Sachs after the break.
To see our live updates and blog posts from the Showdown in Chicago, visit SEIU's Blog here.
Crashing the ABA Bankers' Party
Goldman Sachs + Wells Fargo Protests
James Mumm, the national organizing director of National People's Action, lists seeing the 1,000 people gathered outside of the Goldman Sachs office as the highlight of the Chicago protests for him. "A few months ago, I would say that 90% of Americans didn't' know what Goldman Sachs was. But they should know. The public should know who Lloyd Blankfein is and that the firm is going to pay billions worth of bonuses this year." [In fact, the financial firm has already set aside $11.36 billion for bonuses this year, according to their July 2009 report]. "If Goldman gave up that money they could lift 4 million people out of poverty or prevent hundreds of thousands of foreclosures," says Mumm. "Goldman could be the hero."
We're betting anyone who saw our October 26th protest outside the Chicago branch Goldman Sachs now knows who Lloyd Blankfein is...This sideshow also includes photos the rally outside Wells Fargo that same day.
And finally, here are shots from our second protest on October 27th outside the American Bankers Association conference:








Leave a comment