Oh my!
From the article:
About 60 protesters opposed to the Federal Reserve's help in bailing out Bear Stearns entered the lobby of the investment bank's Manhattan headquarters Wednesday, demanding assistance for struggling homeowners.
Demonstrators organized by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America chanted "Help Main Street, not Wall Street" and entered the lobby without an invitation for about half an hour before being escorted out by police.
"There are no provisions for homeowners in this deal. There are people out there struggling who need help," said Detria Austin, an organizer at NACA, an advocacy group for home ownership.
Well, that didn't take long.
Housing advocate group NACA managed to breach the entrance of the Bear Stearns headquarters building in Midtown Manhattan today and cause quite a stir.
I am one of those that believe that -- unfortunately -- we will have to continue to provide governmental support for the financial services industry going forward.
NACA's point is well-taken, however.
Any bailout actions that occur have to have the interests of the citizen in mind first.
And while I do believe we need to preserve the structure of our financial system, I see no reason why we need to preserve the ownership of that system, or preserve the jobs of those executives who have run the whole thing into the ground.
Attention, Congress, government agencies -- and that means you, Fed and Treasury -- and the executive:
Act in citizen interest.
Save what is good about our financial system.
And throw the bums out.