Protests at US bankers' convention

[clear eye]

Source: The Guardian - U.S.

Delegates from the American Bankers' Association are not accepting the blame for the crisis, despite demonstrations from those who think otherwise
Andrew Clark in Chicago guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 27 October 2009 14.22 GMT

...The ABA's membership represents 95% of the US banking industry's $13.3 trillion (£8.1 trillion) in assets. Almost all banks with a high-street presence are members, from industry behemoths such as Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase to thousands of small-town banks with a handful of branches.

...Unions coached in around 5,000 protesters to set up what activists billed as the "showdown in Chicago". Among the disenchanted were victims of home repossessions and workers left unemployed by firms starved of credit, plus many people who have simply seen their retirement funds decimated by a plunge in markets during the financial crisis.

As the convention opened with a drinks reception on Sunday evening, activists tried to get inside, only to be blocked by security guards. They left, chanting: "We'll be back!"

Addressing a boisterous rally nearby, Dick Durbin, a Democratic senator for Illinois, condemned "robber barons" responsible for the credit crunch and called on ABA members to visit Marquette Park - a Chicago neighbourhood of "neat little brick bungalows" where, he said, they would find a foreclosed home on "every single block".

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/27/us-bankers-annual-convention

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The AFL-CIO attempted to deliver a letter to Goldman Sachs outlining four reforms, but were rebuffed.

[onehandle]

1. Haven't the banks been through enough?

They must be very, very sorry.

:sarcasm:

[acsmith]

2. not all banks are created equal

you have to feel sorry for the smaller community banks that were not involved in the lead up to the meltdown, have not received help from the government and now have to pay 10x more in FDIC premiums to keep the big boys afloat.

no sarcasm.

[JackRiddler]

3. Sounds like the US policy is to kill small well-managed banks so that the big bad ones survive.

[Vidar]

4. Couldn't have said it better.

[JackRiddler]

5. Sadly no consequences: the policy remains the opposite of right (or pragmatic)...

the only thing that matters is to allow a small set of bankers to continue imposing maximum transaction costs on everyone else for providing capital that isn't even theirs.

[Babyserendip]

6. The entire US retail banking business should be nationalized and run by the post office.