SEIU Leads Protest Against Goldman’s So-Called ‘God’s Work’

[marmar]

from In These Times:



SEIU Leads Protest Against Goldman’s So-Called ‘God’s Work’

Monday
November 16

By Art Levine


SEIU President Andy Stern is joining hundreds of progressives—maybe more—in a newly organized protest outside the Washington, D.C., offices of Goldman Sachs on Monday at noon. SEIU is part of a co-sponsoring coalition, Americans For Financial Reform, that also includes the AFL-CIO and the advocacy groups Public Citizen and National People's Action.

Fury is mounting over Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein's comment that he's just a banker "doing God's work." SEIU said in a press release:

President Andy Stern and hundreds of taxpayers will converge on the Washington headquarters of Goldman Sachs to demand an end to multi-billion dollar bonuses and the Too Big To Fail Doctrine and call for immediate Congressional action on real financial reform. This is the latest in a national mobilization launched last month as 5,000 taxpayers from 20 states converged on the American Bankers Association convention in Chicago to demand Wall Street and big banks stop fighting reforms that will protect our families from the next crisis

There is hardball politics at play on both sides, as Politico reported:

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein may have had his tongue in his cheek when he said his bankers were doing "God's work," but the company's critics aren't laughing.

In fact, a couple hundred of them -- led by Service Unions International Union president Andy Stern -- plan to gather outside of Goldman Sachs' Washington offices Monday morning to protest the firm's mega-bonuses, and demand the end of the "too big to fail" doctrine, according to a press release...

Among their demands, the protesters will say that Goldman bankers should donate their reported $23 billion in bonuses to foreclosure prevention programs.

Public Citizen will release a new report during the event analyzing how much the various bailout recipient like Goldman are spending lobbying on financial reform, which the groups say is aimed at squashing real reform...

But Goldman and other Wall Street firms are very opposed to a new idea gaining traction on the "too big" front -- legislation that would empower the federal government to preemptively break up big, complex or interconnected firms even if they're healthy...

Blankfein's defense of the investment firm and new resistance to proposals to break up oversized firms stand in sharp contrast to the firm's track record. It helped spur virtually all major crashes since the Great Depression through the manipulation of markets and its latest role was selling to investors nearly-worthless mortgage-backed securities while secretly betting that the housing market would crash, according to McClatchy newspapers. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5183/seius_andy_stern_leads_protest_against_so-called_gods_work_of_goldman_sachs/

[damntexdem]

1. God's work = Almighty Dollar

But God's work is slumping on international markets. ;-)

[Overseas]

2. K&R. Thank you SEIU. //nt