GIVE AMERICA BACK TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
You see, what has been holding up the deal to save theAmerican auto industry, save America's jobs, and breathe life intocommunities where wealth is actually created and not just traded awayis something not much talked about, and that is the megabanks,centered, yes, on Wall Street, again.
Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase that were huge Treasurybailout recipients, billions and billions and billions of dollars, whoturned a profit this year, by the way, are the leading culprits for therest of the banks in slowing down or impeding the Obamaadministration's efforts to restructure Chrysler. Currently, Chrysler'sbonds found on the books of Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase are tradingat 15 cents on the dollar. Despite increasingly better offers thanthat, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase insist that they and their fellowbanks are entitled to more, more of your money. More of our money. Thatis greed in its purest form. More, more, and more for them and theircronies, and less and less and less for everyone else. They have bilkedAmerica on the front end and then on the back end.
First, the front end by restricting the availability ofcredit to consumers looking to purchase cars and car dealers looking tofinance their showrooms. Just squeeze them down out of existence byshutting off their credit. And now at the back end by denying therestructuring of GM and Chrysler's debt. Yes, they keep America's cashbut then deny us the ability to access it in the marketplace to buycars and furnishing dealers' showroom floors. Very clever. It's atourniquet at both ends.
Wall Street's idea is to bleed Chrysler retirees, Fiat, andthe American taxpayers dry. They care for their own interest at theexpense of the national interest.
The American automobile industry is just one victim of WallStreet's meltdown. The industry is the lifeblood of so manycommunities, and they were just on the cusp of a new green engine era,and they have been forced to their knees.
Of course, the banksters bail out their friends, firms likeAIG. Beyond mere life support, they were handed over $70 billion.That's putting all the auto bailout together and multiplying it timesfive. Not only does AIG have special access to policymakers and yourtax dollars; they didn't have to take any haircuts.
Compare that to what is being asked of autoworkers: first,give up your job, move out of your community, cut your wages and yourhealth benefits too, and, oh, by the way, we want to go after yourretirement benefits, even the widows and retirees out of those firms.
Meanwhile, AIG pensioners, well, they're alive and well.Their health care benefits are not threatened. Their counterparties arekept whole. While hardworking blue collar America is squeezed dry,they're just as happy as clams.
Right now it's Wall Street versus the American people.Surely those that work hard and make things with their hands and end upwith all the injuries to prove it, with bodily wear and tear, don'tthey deserve some regard? Don't they have some rights for three decadesin an auto plant? Well, Citigroup, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase,HSBC, Wells Fargo, and the rest of the high fliers up there on WallStreet, they want to deny these folks the right to their hard-earnedbenefits and wages.
American workers built and continue to build America, whileWall Street destroys not just capital; they destroy industries. Theydestroy communities. They destroy people's lives. Now, we can see whohas that power. But that isn't what America was supposed to be all about. When you work hard and you build something real for theNation's might, you expect a fair deal. And that was supposed to be theAmerican Dream, for the many, not just the privileged few. Today a realindustry, auto production, gets stomped on, chewed up, spit out becauseWall Street robbed the kitty. They stole our hard-earned money andcontinue to beg, borrow, and steal from American citizens. Sales inbusiness after business, including the auto industry, have gone downbecause the bailout recipients didn't make loans. Credit is frozen.People can't buy cars. The Big Three is suffering. So what does WallStreet do? It gets its friends, its shills, on the op-ed pages andother media to shift the blame.
So who gets the blame for the strangled auto industry? Is itDetroit that's the problem? No, my friends. It's Wall Street that's theproblem. And it's time that we put America back on its feet again. Andas Mr. Meyerson suggests in his very last sentence, pass the anti-trustlaws we need in order to scale down these banks and give America backto the American people.