Main Street vs Wall Street

Many Filipinos are still perplexed by the US Congress’ delay of the $700-billion bailout of finance companies and banks that went down in the latest financial collapse. Philippine media headlines, like those of the Inquirer (owned by oligarchic families) and Malaya (of our pro-business friend Jake Macasaet), reflect the anxiety the business sector is projecting over the delay as well. Why the delay if the world’s financial system depended on it? Why too, if people’s businesses, paychecks, pensions and consumer power depended on it? The answer is simple: The US public is already enraged that Bush’s plan will bail out the finance speculators and banks that created the collapse in the first place while making them -- the victims and taxpayers -- shell out for this bailout.

While media frantically focused on the actions of Bush, Obama and McCain, I watched instead film director Michael Moore, whose blockbuster social commentaries such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko have had far more impact on the US population than any of these politicians. On September 29, Day One of the US Congressional debate on Paulson’s bailout plan, Moore circulated an Internet letter opening thus: “The Rich are Staging a Coup This Morning… The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this… Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies are looting the US Treasury of every dollar they can grab.”

There is a financial and economic civil war now raging in the US , triggered by the subprime crisis -- a war between “ Main Street ” or the small business and working or middle class US citizens against “Wall Street” of Big Business, finance speculators and bankers.

Understandably, Main Street is against channeling more future taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street as Main Street folks have had their homes foreclosed and their businesses drained of credit and capital after Wall Street swindled them. What Main Street demands is that government bail out the people directly -- restore homeowners who’ve lost their mortgaged homes to these banks, and use these government bailout funds to refinance their homes while giving them affordable rent-to-own rates.

After Paulson was defeated, Moore sent another e-mail to his millions of supporters, congratulating them as “corporate crime fighters,” for stopping the Congressional approval of the plan. He followed up with his latest one entitled, “Here’s How to Fix the Wall Street Mess,” with his ten-point agenda as follows:

1. APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO CRIMINALLY INDICT ANYONE ON WALL STREET WHO KNOWINGLY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS COLLAPSE. Before any new money is expended…criminally prosecute anyone who had anything to do with the attempted sacking of our economy.

2. THE RICH MUST PAY FOR THEIR OWN BAILOUT. They may have to live in 5 houses instead of 7…(and) there is no way in hell, after forcing family incomes to go down more than 2,000 dollars during the Bush years, that working people and the middle class are going to fork over one dime to underwrite the next yacht purchase. (Instead…)

a. Every couple who makes over a million dollars a year and every single taxpayer who makes over $500,000 a year will pay a 10 percent surcharge tax for five years.

b. Charge a 0.25 percent tax on every stock transaction…(and) raise more than $200 billion in a year.

c. (Have) stockholders…forgo receiving a dividend check for one quarter and instead, this money will go the Treasury to help pay for the bailout.

d. Raise the corporate income tax back to the level of the 1950s…(and get) an extra $500 billion.

3. BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HOMES, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUILD AN EIGHTH HOME.

4. IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GETS ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A “BAILOUT,” THEN WE OWN YOU.

5. ALL REGULATIONS MUST BE RESTORED. THE REAGAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD.

6. IF IT’S TOO BIG TO FAIL, THEN THAT MEANS IT’S TOO BIG TO EXIST. Allowing the creation of these mega-mergers and not enforcing the monopoly and anti-trust laws has allowed a number of financial institutions and corporations to become so large, the very thought of their collapse means an even bigger collapse across the entire economy… Laws must be enacted to prevent companies from being so large… And no institution should be allowed to set up money schemes that no one can understand. If you can’t explain it in two sentences, you shouldn’t be taking anyone’s money.

7. NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD BE PAID MORE THAN 40 TIMES THEIR AVERAGE EMPLOYEE, AND NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD RECEIVE ANY KIND OF “PARACHUTE” OTHER THAN THE VERY GENEROUS SALARY HE OR SHE MADE WHILE WORKING FOR THE COMPANY.

8. STRENGTHEN THE FDIC (Federal Deposit and Insurance Company) AND MAKE IT A MODEL FOR PROTECTING NOT ONLY PEOPLE’S SAVINGS, BUT ALSO THEIR PENSIONS AND THEIR HOMES.

9. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH, CALM DOWN, AND NOT LET FEAR RULE THE DAY… Pundits and politicians are lying to us so fast and furious it’s hard not to be affected by all the fear mongering…the most amazing thing is that the American public hasn’t bought the scare campaign. The citizens didn’t blink, and instead told Congress to take that bailout and shove it.

10. CREATE A NATIONAL BANK, A “PEOPLE’S BANK.” If we really are itching to print up a trillion dollars, instead of giving it to a few rich people, why don’t we give it to ourselves? Now that we own Freddie and Fannie, why not set up a people’s bank? One that can provide low-interest loans for all sorts of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come up with the cure for cancer or create the next great invention. And now that we own AIG, the country’s largest insurance company, let’s take the next step and provide health insurance for everyone. Medicare for all…

Indeed, Michael Moore’s prescriptions apply to the world’s major capitalist economies -- London, Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Seoul and others; and particularly to pitiful Philippines where elite oppression and exploitation have gone on too long now.