When Wall Street Gambles With Our Money, We All Lose
Congress Urged to Pass President’s Plan to Rein in Wall Street Banks and Prevent Another Financial Crisis
Click Here to View: “Casino”
***Broadcast Quality***
Washington, D.C. – Americans United for Change and American Family Voices 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 make Wall Street more transparent and accountable and prevent another financial crisis. The new ad comes as Citi, one of the largest recipients of taxpayer dollars, revealed how Wall Street is fully back to business as usual by announcing plans to create “the first derivatives intended to pay out in the event of a financial crisis.” It seems Citi is convinced that a repeat crisis is possible – so much so that they are actually offering financial products to gain from the next collapse. See script below for “Casino” which airs nationally this week on cable news stations (CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX News, Fox Business) with a significant six-figure buy behind it.
Tom McMahon, Acting Executive Director, Americans United for Change: “Wall Street CEOs legalized gambling through something called ‘derivatives,’ making bets on bets on bets. But when their luck ran out, it was our money they lost – our homes, our investments. And as this house of cards came tumbling down on Wall Street, millions on Main Street lost their jobs and trillions in retirement savings disappeared. President Obama has laid out a clear path for real financial reform that will protect working families and small businesses and now it’s time the Senate to move the plan forward.”
Mike Lux, President, American Family Voices: “As Citi’s more recent act of recklessness and greed proves, the big banks are 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. The Senate must act to make financial dealings safer and more transparent for consumers and investors and to prevent future bailouts and job losses.”
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“Casino” Ad Back-Up Americans United For Change TV (:30)
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SCRIPT |
FACTS |
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ANNCR: A few years ago, Wall Street created something called “derivatives.” They were nothing more than bets – like a casino – bets that the price of oil, or the value of your mortgage would go up or down. CG: Wall Street created derivatives.
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Derivatives – Credit Default Swaps or the “World’s Largest Casino – Enabled the Reckless Behavior that Created this Financial Mess. “In just over a decade these privately traded derivatives contracts have ballooned from nothing into a $54.6 trillion market. CDS are the fastest-growing major type of financial derivatives. More important, they've played a critical role in the unfolding financial crisis. First, by ostensibly providing ‘insurance’ on risky mortgage bonds, they encouraged and enabled reckless behavior during the housing bubble. “So what started out as a vehicle for hedging ended up giving investors a cheap, easy way to wager on almost any event in the credit markets. In effect, credit default swaps became the world's largest casino. As Christopher Whalen, a managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics, observes, ‘To be generous, you could call it an unregulated, uncapitalized insurance market. But really, you would call it a gaming contract.’” [Fortune Magazine, 9/30/08] |
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ANNCR: Then they made bets on the value of the bets… and bets on the bets on the bets. They built a house of cards… that finally came tumbling down… and their recklessness caused an economic catastrophe that cost 7 million Americans their jobs.
CG: Oil, Homes
Wall Street speculation cost 7 million Americans their jobs.
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Wall Street placed bets, built on bets and then the whole scheme fell apart. “As bad as the mortgage crisis has been, 94 percent of all Americans are still paying off their loans. The problem is Wall Street placed its huge bets and side bets with all of those fancy securities on the 6 percent who are not. 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: Now they’re doing it again. Don’t let them. Tell Congress to hold Big Wall Street Banks accountable.
CG: Now Derivatives Speculators are doing it again. Don’t let them.
Tell Congress: Hold Wall Street Accountable
Pass the Obama Plan
Paid for by Americans United for Change and American Family Voices.
www.americansunitedforchange.org
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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] |