Chanting “Who bailed the banks out? We bailed the banks out” while marching in their own financial district, San Franciscans are the latest to join a proliferating movement.
A protester fights to open the door to Charles Shwab on 211 Main Street in San Francisco.
The 14-day-old movement that began in Manhattan has now reached the Pacific in San Francisco, as Occupy Wall Street broadens its base of operations, becoming Occupy Together. City supervisor and mayoral candidate John Avalos opened up the day in San Francisco’s financial district with a speech that called for banks to be held accountable for their use of taxpayers’ money from the bailouts.
Beginning at Bank of America, where the speech took place, the protesters marched to Charles Shwab, then to Chase, where six protesters were arrested for staging a sit-in inside the bank. At the time of her arrest, one of the protesters claimed she was losing her home to Chase.
“Make banks pay,” was one of the most popular signs held at the protest, with others proclaiming “Take it back. Tax Wall Street.” The movement’s physical epicenter may be diffusing, but the message is growing more unified.
The soon-to-be-published newspaper meant to control the protest’s message in NYC and globally as well is accruing funds while drafting their first issue. Their Kickstarter project already has over 450 backers and more than their target goal for funding, which isn’t to say they wouldn’t appreciate your contribution.
Even though this was their first major public event, organizers in San Francisco say they have been and will continue holding daily meetings in the evening at Justin Herman Plaza (1 Market Street).
ProPublica has a great list showing exactly where the bailout money went. An underreported fact: although the majority of the money went to institutions in New York, over 23 states received more than 2 billion dollars to individual banks.
Cities joining the movement by creating a presence in financial districts include Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, DC, Dallas, Madison, Los Vegas, and Denver and more. Outside of America, the same thing is happening in Vancouver, Toronto, London, Melbourne, Brisbane, Madrid, Valencia, Lisbon, Athens, Sydney, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Milan, Amsterdam, Algiers and Tel Aviv.
You can help the original protesters in Zuccotti Park by signing a petition to Brookfield Office Properties, Inc., which owns the park and might make it difficult for protests to continue there.
October 01, 2011 at 7:40 pm, Chris Pope said:
It’s starting to heat up in the U.S. too.
October 02, 2011 at 1:29 am, JAMUMM said:
if the youth and every ciizen does not stand up for what is right and just,then we will be squashed as free society intended by our forfather thomws jefferson. all of america needs to unite as one,give up the foolishness of being republican or democrat. black or white.we have to take our country back now, or we will cease toexist as a free and prospering people.Time is very short and critical for our youth in america today.Stand up for your fellow man and woman wile you still can. sincerely to all james merrick
October 03, 2011 at 5:37 am, Dawson Lodge said:
The trouble with allowing a corrupt government is that it engenders anger,
some of which is irrational, and a good measure of stupidity as well. The
clowns trying to get into Schwab obviously don’t know the difference between
a New World Order, high leverage, “investment bank” like B of A, Chase, JP Morgan Chase etc, and the garden variety clearing stockbrokers like Schwab.
The service providing brokers like Schwab and Etrade, etc, use no leverage, make no gambles, push no junk, take no risks, and do not participate in the frauds and scams of the wall street gang. They give millions of small investors
the opportunity to avoid the big rockefeller scam artists.
If you don’t know who the enemy is, get the hell off the battlefield !!!!
October 03, 2011 at 9:53 pm, Kevin Pinner said:
I am well aware that Schwab didn’t receive bailout money. The ProPublica list shows the facts. The “clowns” were trying to get into Schwab because, as it says in the article, one of the demonstrators was foreclosed on by Schwab, who represent a more subtle part of the problem.
Charles Schwab is publically against raising taxes for the rich. http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/blog/post/112/charles-schwab-and-the-power-of-one-entrepreneur
He is scamming people by regurgitating the familiar libertarian arguments: that money will trickle down, that ending the fed is the only reasonable option, that the invisible hand is waiting to take care of us.
Bullshit. The invisible hand, a phrase used only three times by Adam Smith in the mid-eighteenth century, refers to an argument – a rather poor one – that home-bias will cause benevolent corporations to source labor and materials locally and nationally.
Is that the case? Not in the least. The most successful corporations all use foreign labor, buy foreign goods, and do little in the way of stimulating trade on a local or national level.
It wasn’t true that the invisible hand would solve problems then, and it isn’t true today. Ending the fed will make the credit system default to private corporations, as I’m sure you know. Libertarians all know this. They all say the same thing: get the government out of the picture so free market capitalism can take care of us. Free market capitalism in this view will lead us to a society where people are respected for who they are, what they contribute, etc. Butterflies will dance in our hair in the languor of a Sunday afternoon all the time.
The truth is we already tried free market capitalism: see the Gilded Age. Workers were treated horribly, with unthinkably long hours, little to no pay, and demoralizing – indeed dehumanizing – roles in production.
Granted corporate media & corrupt politicians are high on the list
of problems, I think if you want to be taken seriously you should stay
away from talk of exiling people to China, who doesn’t want them anyway.
Schwab and other stockbrokers make boatloads of money. They are part of the 1%, friends of the policies that support an increasing income disparity, policies they see enacted by buying politicians, and should be treated and held accountable as such.
Read here for the facts about Schwab’s secrecy in political donations: http://www.politicalaccountability.net/index.php?ht=a/GetDocumentAction/i/3184
November 06, 2011 at 3:31 pm, Justin Cohen said:
Hi Kevin, I followed your link and nowhere does it say that Charles Schwab is publicly against raising taxes for the rich.
Being pro-business, pro-entrepreneur, and pro-job creation does not necessarily mean you are against taxes on the rich.
It is possible to raises taxes on the rich without creating any disincentives to grow business or hire employees.
I agree with you that we can’t let the invisible hand guide us all to prosperity because the invisible hand is perfectly content to shovel boat loads of money towards a few while shoveling boat loads of dirt on top of many.
There’s a middle ground where people with great ideas and great execution can become rich, while others who are willing to work hard can earn a roof over their head, food on the table, access to healthcare, and have some left over for retirement.
October 03, 2011 at 9:53 pm, Kevin Pinner said:
I am well aware that Schwab didn’t receive bailout money. The ProPublica list shows the facts. The “clowns” were trying to get into Schwab because, as it says in the article, one of the demonstrators was foreclosed on by Schwab, who represent a more subtle part of the problem.
Charles Schwab is publically against raising taxes for the rich. http://www.friendsoftheuschamber.com/blog/post/112/charles-schwab-and-the-power-of-one-entrepreneur
He is scamming people by regurgitating the familiar libertarian arguments: that money will trickle down, that ending the fed is the only reasonable option, that the invisible hand is waiting to take care of us.
Bullshit. The invisible hand, a phrase used only three times by Adam Smith in the mid-eighteenth century, refers to an argument – a rather poor one – that home-bias will cause benevolent corporations to source labor and materials locally and nationally.
Is that the case? Not in the least. The most successful corporations all use foreign labor, buy foreign goods, and do little in the way of stimulating trade on a local or national level.
It wasn’t true that the invisible hand would solve problems then, and it isn’t true today. Ending the fed will make the credit system default to private corporations, as I’m sure you know. Libertarians all know this. They all say the same thing: get the government out of the picture so free market capitalism can take care of us. Free market capitalism in this view will lead us to a society where people are respected for who they are, what they contribute, etc. Butterflies will dance in our hair in the languor of a Sunday afternoon all the time.
The truth is we already tried free market capitalism: see the Gilded Age. Workers were treated horribly, with unthinkably long hours, little to no pay, and demoralizing – indeed dehumanizing – roles in production.
Granted corporate media & corrupt politicians are high on the list
of problems, I think if you want to be taken seriously you should stay
away from talk of exiling people to China, who doesn’t want them anyway.
Schwab and other stockbrokers make boatloads of money. They are part of the 1%, friends of the policies that support an increasing income disparity, policies they see enacted by buying politicians, and should be treated and held accountable as such.
Read here for the facts about Schwab’s secrecy in political donations: http://www.politicalaccountability.net/index.php?ht=a/GetDocumentAction/i/3184
October 03, 2011 at 5:47 am, Dawson Lodge said:
Forgot to mention that brokers like Schwab got no bailouts, they don’t
need ‘em. Let’s smarten up and go after the real enemies: The Federal Reserve, the CFR banksters, the Conrolled Media, the
corrupt 75% of the Congress, the crooked judges, and the criminal
Presidents. Elect defenders of the Constitution and exile the rest to China.
October 03, 2011 at 9:55 pm, Jean Nepal said:
I agree – We need lots more coverage – and not just about new forms of chocolate…
The global economy and business has gotten us into a big mess – and not repentant yet. The WSJ reports on the head of GE pursuing an agreement to allow advanced aircraft technology into China, a country neither democratic nor trustworthy. Oh yeh, they say, it has adequate security safeguards!!!! The public doesn’t need this insult – we see through this. Business in the global economy is tied to almighty profits – not to this democracy or country or the people of this country – so indeed they are unpatriotic and maybe ought to be tried for treason.
All this while your young men and women risk their lives to support democracy around the world – then come home without a job offer and welcome.
I and my daughter went to Seattle ten years ago to protest the WTO talks. Little good it did. Now we face even greater threats – new “free” trade agreements with new countries without adequate environmental, labor or social requirements. We need to localize trade in energy efficient ways. (In addition we need to localize food production to avoid the risks of food contamination) The added costs of global trade are not included in the calculations.
Just tossing the word “freedom” around like Tea Party types do, undermines what free really means. “Free” trade is NOT necessarily freedom for the the working folks.
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