Read the story at the Washington Post...
Video - Activists storm JPM Chase shareholders meeting in Ohio - May 17, 2011
The activists in the clip are from National People's Action, a leftist group that wants "economic and racial justice," but even conservatives, libertarians and independent voters can agree with their take on the Too Big To Fail banks.
From their website:
Big Banks—like Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup—continue to:
- Award themselves huge paychecks and bonuses;
- Foreclose on thousands of families everyday;
- Finance payday lending operations;
- Charge outrageous overdraft and other fees;
- Set sky high interest rates;
- Spend millions to lobby against common sense reforms that would help protect everyday people from future economic turmoil.
Too big to fail, too big to exist
In the US today, three banks hold almost 34% of the nation’s deposits, four banks issue 50% of the country’s mortgages and the five largest credit card lenders control 74% of the market.
These companies have a stranglehold on our wallets. And as we’ve seen, when they make bad decisions, they can take the whole economy down with them.
Break up the Big Banks
New laws should be put in place that minimize the risk of the “too
big to fail” problem. No single institution should be in control of such a large part of the market. Instead, we should encourage a vibrant, diverse, stable banking system, made up of thousands of small and medium size banks.
Strong competition policies and antitrust laws will encourage financial institutions to invest in productive activity, instead of investing in changing the rules of the game or manipulating the market.
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