April 4: Oakland Rally to Bail Out Schools Not Banks, End Foreclosures

On April 4, nearly 100 Oakland teachers and supporters shut down Wells Fargo Bank's Oakland City Center branch for three hours, demanding an end to the Great Bank Heist: Bail Out Schools Not Banks and End Foreclosures.Among those who joined the action were longshore workers from ILWU Local 10, who shut down the Port of Oakland and other west coast ports for the entire day. Also present were a group of homeowners whose mortgages were being threatened by Wells Fargo. This was the third and most successful action OEA and allies have held at Wells Fargo branches throughout the city. More actions are planned in the coming weeks.

There's a broad awareness that Wall Street and the banks have ripped off trrlllions of dollars, with the aid of Bush, Obama, Paulson, Bernanke, Geithner et al. And there's growing awareness that they've done this by transforming their private debt into public debt, and telling working and poor people lthat we must pay off that debt by acqueiescing to devastating cuts to essential public programs, jobs, health benefits, and pension. But, at last, there's a stirring, a realization that we don't have to accept their demands.

Here's a video of a speech I gave at the April 4 OEA rally.

Banks Cheat Struggling Homeowners Out of Billions

Shared sacrifice? Austerity? Not for the banks!

Elizabeth Warren and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have found that the big banks -- JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Ally Financial -- have swindled struggling homeowners out of at least $20 billion by cheating, shortchanging, and outright fraud in dealing with their loans and, especially, in wrongful foreclosures. The CFPB's seven-page report is summarized by Shahien Nasiripour in the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/28/big-banks-save-billions-homeowners-suffer_n_841712.html