Working Class to Banks: We're 'Mad As Hell'!

On March 19, my wife Susan and I used our lunch breaks to attend a labor rally in Philadelphia. Over a thousand of us cheered as several speakers pointed out the stark contrast between bank executives, who used taxpayers' money to rescue their companies from their high-risk actions and are now rewarding themselves with multimillion-dollar bonuses, and the average American worker, many of whom have lost their jobs and the health insurance that goes with them.

Several speakers paraphrased the slogan delivered by Peter Finch's character in the 1976 film Network ("We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore!"). A minister called these bankers sinners, and told us it was just as much of a sin for us to vote for their enablers in Washington. Republican-turned-Democratic Senator Arlen Specter (?-PA), who must have thought his mere presence on the stage would help his re-election campaign, looked nervous. Bill George, head of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, spoke of revolution.

Following the speeches, I marched with the rallyers as national AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka led us to the nearby Bank of America office building. A small group of us entered the lobby with Trumka as he asked to speak to the management, then we marched through the lobby to another set of doors after his request was denied. As Trumka explained to the crowd outside, "I guess they're too busy counting the money to speak with us."

This was a perfect example of how to channel the palpable populist rage that's out there into a progressive proposal: instead of making rich bankers richer, let's tax the banks and use that revenue to build and repair infrastructure, thus putting people back to work. It's a message that could redirect peoples' anger away from government, where the tea baggers have focused it, to corporations as the real root cause of the economic collapse, and more of our elected Democratic representatives should be leading this charge.

Instead, we get President Obama saying, in a February 10 interview with Bloomberg, that he doesn't "begrudge" JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon his $17 million bonus, nor Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein his $9 million bonus. “I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen", he said. Well, President Obama, you should get to know some of the workers who charged through the Bank of America building in Philly, instead of hanging out with CEOs (is this what Sarah Palin was thinking of when she accused Obama of being pals with terrorists?).

Filmmaker Michael Moore was on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann a few nights ago, and observed that Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) had said, in reference to his proposed financial reform bill, that "we don't want to punish Wall Street". Actually, Moore said, "yes we do."

Moore and Trumka have the right idea about how to react to Wall Street greed. Are any of our elected Democrats in Washington listening?