Make your voice heard!
What:
Call Congress today to speak out against the bailout: toll-free 800-830-5738 or 202-224-3121.
For more information and additional resources on the bailout, visit our website.
Friend of United for a Fair Economy,
The US and world financial markets are in serious crisis, the end result of many years of bad federal deregulation and lax oversight. A bailout costing $700 billion, and potentially more, is being rushed through Congress.
We are writing to you today to ask that you make your voice heard. Call Congress today (toll-free 800-830-5738 or 202-224-3121) and demand that any bailout plan include:
- Mortgage assistance for those most affected by the crisis,
- Controls on excessive CEO pay, and
- Protection for ordinary taxpayers from bearing the costs of the bailout, by returning a portion of any profits made by bailed-out banks to the American people, and increasing taxes on wealthy investors.
For 13 years, United for a Fair Economy has been warning of the dangers of growing inequality and calling attention to economic rules that are tilted in favor of the haves at the expense of the have-nots. The current crisis is a result of many of those rules.
- CEO Pay - exhorbitant CEO pay, as detailed in our annual Executive Excess report, has grown out of control, and current tax policy actually subsidizes unlimited CEO pay. Paying CEOs 344 times what the average worker is paid guarantees that CEOs are out of touch with average workers' needs and concerns. In the case of subprime mortgages, it's the borrowers whose needs have been disregarded.
- The Racial Wealth Divide - The current crisis will only serve to deepen the racial divide in the US. Decades of structural racism have hindered people of color from gaining assets, while helping white families. Our 2008 report State of the Dream: Foreclosed found that people of color stand to lose up to $213 billion in wealth due to subprime mortgages - the largest single loss of wealth for people of color in US history.
- Taxes - Our tax system has become increasingly regressive over the past decades, shifting the responsibility from the wealthy corporations onto lower-income taxpayers. Meanwhile, income has been increasingly concentrated in the hands of the wealthiest. Our tax laws give special treatment to those at the top rungs of the ladder, fueling corporate greed and many of the behaviors that led to the current crisis.
A "government of the people, by the people, for the people" cannot support a bailout for predators and not for victims. As citizens and policy-makers consider our government's response to this crisis, we should be guided by the following questions:
- How will any bailout plans help those most affected by the financial crisis, such as homeowners facing foreclosure? How can we rebuild communities of color that suffer from higher rates of foreclosure?
- How can the voices of all stakeholders be heard and addressed, not just the voices of a handful of government officials and the corporate leaders who got us into this crisis in the first place?
- Who should pay the bill for the bailout, the speculators who caused the problem, or the people of America?
- Are there measures being put into place - regulation, independent oversight, transparency, etc. - that will prevent such a crisis in the future?
We encourage you to make three calls to your US Senators and Representative today to make your voice heard on this important issue. Call the Congressional switchboard, toll-free 800-830-5738 or 202-224-3121, and ask for each of your Senators and Representatives. Tell the person answering each legislator's phone that any bailout plan should include the elements listed above. Click here to check who your legislators are.
We also encourage you to create or attend a local event to oppose a blank check bailout.
Visit UFE's website for more information and additional resources. And please forward this email to ask friends and family to join you in taking action.
Thank you for using your voice to promote a fair economy.
--The staff of United for a Fair Economy |
