New Ad: When Big Banks Went Hog Wild on Wall Street, They Left Behind One Fine Mess on Main Street
New TV Ad: When Big Banks Went Hog Wild on Wall Street, They Left Behind One Fine Mess on Main Street
Congress Urged to Pass President's Plan to Hold the Wall Street Banks Accountable and Prevent Another Financial Crisis
Click Here to View: ‘Pigs at the Trough'
***Broadcast Quality***
Washington D.C. - Americans United for Change unveiled a new television ad today as part of a ramped up coalitional effort urging Congress to pass President Obama's financial regulatory reform plan to hold Wall Street accountable and prevent another financial crisis. See script below for ‘Pigs at the Trough' which airs this week on local cable in the nation's capital, aimed at opinion and lawmakers.
Tom McMahon, Acting Executive Director, Americans United for Change: "Millions of lost jobs, billions in tax-payer funded bailouts and trillions of lost retirement savings: the big banks' greedy and reckless behavior on Wall Street couldn't have left behind a bigger mess on Main Street. Bankrupt of any shame, the big banks are already back to business as usual, raking in billions in profits and bonuses and spending hundreds of millions to pay lobbyists to fight against reforms that would protect working families and small businesses from their abuses in the future. That's why there's no time for Congress to waste answering President Obama's call to pass financial regulatory reform, including a strong, independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency, that will finally hold Wall Street accountable and help prevent another financial crisis. Members of Congress face a clear choice: stand with the Wall Street lobbyists by obstructing reform, or stand with hard-hit working families and small businesses on Main Street by getting it passed."
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"Pigs at the Trough" Ad Back-Up Americans United For Change TV (:30)
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SCRIPT |
FACTS |
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ANNCR: When big banks went hog wild on Wall Street - they left behind one fine mess on Main Street. Video: Pig at the trough -- bank names scrawled on their sides
CG: When Big Banks went hog wild on Wall Street
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Gambling by Big Banks Lead to an Economic Meltdown. "Bank CEOs did acknowledge their role in the crisis. ‘It has been clear how poor business judgments we have made have affected Main Street,' said Brian Moynihan, Bank of America Corp.'s CEO." [WSJ, 1/14/10] |
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ANNCR: Their greed and recklessness left the economy stuck in the mud - and over 7 million Americans without jobs. CG: They left a big mess on Main Street
Economy stuck in the mud
7 millions Americans lost their jobs
Goldman Sachs |
7 Million Jobs and Personal Wealth Depleted Because of the Wall Street Mess. "..in the past two years, nearly seven million jobs have been lost and wage growth for people who have kept their jobs has been anemic. At the same time, the housing crash and the stock-market meltdown erased, conservatively speaking, about thirteen trillion dollars in household wealth." [James Surowiecki, The New Yorker, 10/12/09]
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ANNCR: But the big banks were first in line at the trough for their taxpayer bailout - and back to their old piggish ways in no time. CG: Bank of America, Citibank, Chase
Now they're back to fat bonuses and business as usual
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After the Bailout, It's Back to Business As Usual... "...major U.S. banks have regained their footing, and some of their swagger. Profits are off their lows. Large compensation packages are back. And so is risky business. Companies are selling exotic financial products similar to those that felled markets and the world economy last fall. And banks' appetite for risk has grown: The nation's top five banks collectively stood to lose more than $1 billion on an average day in the second quarter of 2009 should their trading bets go sour, a record level." [Wall Street Journal, 9/9/09] ...And Bonuses Are As Large as Ever. "Despite calls for restraint from Washington and a chafed public, resurgent banks are preparing to pay out bonuses that rival those of the boom years. The haul, in cash and stock, will run into many billions of dollars." [New York Times, 1/9/10] |
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ANNCR: Now the Wall Street lobbyists say they'll clean up their act. But remember, you can you put lipstick on a pig - but it's still a pig. CG: Wall Street Lobbyists say no need for new rules |
Bank of America CEO Wrote An Op-Ed About What Banks Can do to Clean Themselves Up. "Our job now is to find the sensible middle, where growth and stability meet. Here are four steps bankers can take to achieve this goal. Balance the need for credit with responsible lending... Give people what they want... Respond aggressively to the mortgage emergency... Make sure we never need government support again." [Brian Moynihan, Charlotte Observer, 1/4/10] ...While Spending Millions Trying to Block Reform. "Eight of the nation's largest banks [including Bank of America] spent nearly $26 million lobbying federal lawmakers in 2009, during one of the most tumultuous periods in financial history... The banks are locked in a tough lobbying battle over new financial regulations with other parts of the financial industry, consumer groups, labor unions, congressional Democrats and the White House." [The Hill, 1/21/10] Wall Street Has Fought Reforms Every Step of the Way. "The nine biggest participants in the derivatives market - including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America - created a lobbying organization, the CDS Dealers Consortium, on Nov. 13, a month after five of its members accepted federal bailout money...Atop the agenda during their calls: how to counter an expected attempt to rein in credit-default swaps and other derivatives - the sophisticated and profitable financial instruments that were intended to limit risk but instead had helped take the economy to the brink of disaster." [New York Times, 5/31/09]
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ANNCR: Tell Congress it's time to step up and pass President Obama's plan to hold the Wall Street banks accountable. CG: Call Congress at (202) 225-3121 Paid for by Americans United for Change. Americansunitedforchange.org |
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