Today's the day. It's May 12, 2011 and enough is enough. If you are tired of watching as the banks and the people who caused our financial crisis not only get away with their crimes but get rewarded with tax breaks and government handouts, today is your day.
If you are fed up with schools being closed, teachers being laid off and public services being slashed while major financial institutions get hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, today is your day.
There is a great article in the New York Times today by Bill Cohan and he sums it up very nicely.
What’s worse, not only did bankers escape with no penalty, they walked off with millions of dollars in their pockets while American taxpayers got left holding the bag
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In that same article, Michael Kink, one of the organizers of today's events, lays it out for all to see, and for all of us to understand and hopefully, get a little angry about.
“We are connecting the dots from the big banks that crashed our economy, destroyed millions of jobs and foreclosed on millions of family homes to the human impact here in the financial capital of our country,” said Michael Kink, the executive director of Strong Economy for All Coalition and one of the event’s organizers. In an interview, he cited similar protests being organized in Chicago, Charlotte and Oakland, and cited specifically his outrage at how Oakland is forced to close its public libraries — in order to save $5 million a year — at the same time the city still pays Goldman Sachs $5 million a year for interest-rate swaps. He wonders, where is the shared sacrifice? “This is a national effort to hold banks accountable,” he said.
So what can you do? No matter where you live, join ON MAY 12 on Facebook right now and follow the day's events live. A lot of people have changed their profile picture and the more that do that, the more people learn about what today is all about.
If you live in New York City, get your walking shoes on this afternoon. There are events all over the city, on all sorts of issues, details are here. Hit the street with an amazing group of coalitions and people who are all as angry as you are.
Finally, today is the day for us collectively to think about what our future is going to look like. The big banks have the money and the ability to manipulate the political process, but big banks can't vote and big banks can't hit the streets. We can.
And today, we must.
