We Speak For Earth

climateadaptation:

Why isn’t this viral?

citymaus:

In what may be the most damaging blow to Big Banks since the overwhelming success of Bank Transfer Day in late 2011, the City of Berkeley recently announced its intention to withdraw all financial assets from Wells Fargo.

On Tuesday night, the City Council voted unanimously to find a more socially-minded institution to hold approximately $300 million in city assets. Council members said that they hoped the decision would send a very strong message to the Big Banks ultimately responsible for the housing crisis that sent the economy spiraling…

As might be expected, the local Wells Fargo branch was shocked and somewhat defensive following the City Council’s announcement.

“Over the past three years, Wells Fargo has donated more than $3 million to 89 nonprofits in Berkeley… And less than two percent of homeowner-occupied loans in our servicing portfolio have proceeded to foreclosure sale,” said Wells Fargo spokesman Ruben Pulido.

While that may be true on a local level, there is no denying the dubious actions of the Wells Fargo corporation:

• Wells Fargo was a significant player in the subprime crisis. In 2006, the last year before the subprime bubble started to burst, Wells originated or co-issued $74.2 billion worth of subprime loans, making it one of the top subprime lenders in the country.
• As recently as September 2008, Wells still held $48 billion worth of subprime mortgages in its servicing portfolio, making it the nation’s sixth largest subprime servicer.
• Despite its large portfolio of at risk mortgages, Wells Fargo has started trial mortgage modifications for only 11% of its 292,515 borrowers who are eligible for the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program (and are at least 60 days past due). At Wachovia, which Wells Fargo acquired in 2008, the number is even lower, 2% of 74,231 eligible borrowers.
• Wells Fargo put taxpayers on the hook for up to $36.9 billion in bailout funds and programs plus an unknown amount from the Federal Reserve’s $8 trillion in emergency programs. This money was supposed to help the banks get the economy going again. But little of this money has gone to relieve struggling homeowners and increase the flow of credit to small businesses (bullet points sourced via SEIU).

In my opinion, the City of Berkeley is to be applauded for its decision to take bold action against the Big Banks, many of which have yet to face any significant consequences for their negligent and often illegal actions. Let the politicians form their task forces and sub committees. In the mean time, intelligent citizens like those on the Berkeley City Council will continue to take action in the most powerful manner possible: voting with their dollars.

care2, 02.02.12.

Go Berkeley!

the nice little neighborhood Wells Fargo branch that I used to go down to with my mom in the Elmwood.

Occupy Oakland x Bank Transfer Day, 05.11.11.

This is hugely awesome. And as Michael asked, why isn’t this viral?!… yet? 

occupyonline:

Please join us in urging Barack Obama to investigate the Wall Street banks.

Wall Street banks continue to profit from the brutal housing crisis that has displaced an estimated 7 million American families from their homes. After receiving a massive taxpayer bailout, these same banks continue business as usual, with the public paying a heavy price for Wall Street’s corruption and greed. Accountability is long overdue.

One way you can help take action:

1. Sign the petition from ColorOfChange
   Sign ColorOfChange’s petition to push for a full investigation, compensation to homeowners, and real accountability for those responsible. 
    
2. Submit your photo.
   Make or print an investigation sign, take a photo of yourself (and all of your friends) at your local bank, and submit it to our blog.
    
3. Spread the word!
   Reblog your photos once we post them and invite your friends to do the same! 

Still wondering why you should join us in calling on President Obama to investigate the banks? See the evidence.

Submitted by: investigatethebanks

(via mctranscendent)

The demands for a return to American Dream-style individual prosperity have been very prominent in the emerging “Occupy Our Homes” movement. This latest iteration of Occupy, dedicated to assisting those being evicted and foreclosed from their homes in forcibly keeping what is theirs, has been taking homes this winter in lieu of public places. This has been a welcome development, yielding an escalation in tactics, a path to direct populist communication, and a direct confrontation with the infallible institution of private property. But troubling signs of capitalist ideology have emerged in the rhetoric behind their actions. They desire nothing less than a return to the economic “normalcy” that the 1% has normatively determined: the American Dream for everyone. Everyone deserves to have an affordable home. Let’s all go back to the 90s, when things were going so well for us economically.

 

The rhetoric of capitalism is ever present, to the extent that, even when we can clearly identify our discontent with the system, we largely mistake individuals as the culprits, instead of the ever-present ideology that enabled them to act and enabled you to participate. The target should not be the group of individuals that is preventing you from acting out your capitalist-reinforced vision of “normal” life — the American dream, as it were — but instead that dream itself, based on false premises and a distorted idea of the fully-realized existence. Don’t bother with whatever oppressor is it today (is it Goldman Sachs? Perhaps Chase? If we don’t have a named shiny office tower to march on, how will we actualize our discontent?). Bother with the institution of oppression itself — that is, capitalism — and its rhetoric and ideology that is imposed on you, even through your own social movements.

A remarkable thing happened several weeks ago in a small city in North Carolina. A group of Occupiers from Chapel Hill affiliated with the national movement, emboldened by similar actions by Occupiers in Oakland, California, reclaimed an old used car dealership that had sat vacant for years. The owner, a deadbeat who has been apparently at odds with city government for some time now, has kept the lot vacant and undeveloped for the better part of ten years. This large building and land, unoccupied and unused for a very long time, was converted to serve the interests of the people of Chapel Hill…

Of course, soon enough, the police decided to intervene in this ugly display of wanton public compassion and unity. That brought us photos of police dressed in full military fatigues and flak jackets, brandishing assault rifles, heading in to clear the building of the people who had attempted to give it a viable purpose to serve the community…

Through the occupation of both public and private abandoned space, the Occupy movement, as well as anti-capitalist political movements across the globe, are showing that they have the capability to escalate their tactics in a meaningful way. The reclamation of public space for political thought and dialogue is an important first step to breaking the bonds of capitalist hegemony in the sphere of public consciousness. This has been done in the past few months by brave Occupiers willing to risk arrest to get the public to pay attention to the issues staring them in the face. It has been proven to be a successful tactic, and should be continued. Now, an important next step is to carry the occupations to private space that can be converted to better use serving the wider needs of the community.

Read the whole article here!