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 otherwiseAndrew 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".
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/27/us-bankers-annual-convention
The AFL-CIO attempted to deliver a letter to Goldman Sachs outlining four reforms, but were rebuffed.