[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Financial meltdown requires Green solutions, reforms, protections for taxpayers

Tue Sep 23 19:08:08 PDT 2008

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GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The financial meltdown requires far-reaching Green solutions, say Green
Party leaders

• Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney speaks out on the crisis,
offers a ten-point plan:
http://votetruth08.com/index.php/learn/mckinney-messages

• The collapse and bailout of financial institutions expose the lies behind
deregulation and the free-market ideology; Greens insist that the burden of
the $900 billion bailout not be placed on working Americans

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders and candidates, including presidential
nominee Cynthia McKinney, are calling for extensive measures and reforms to
resolve the economic crisis caused by the collapse of mortgage providers
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, investment banks Lehman Brothers and Bear
Stearns, American International Group (AIG), and other financial companies.

"The takeovers, $900 billion bailout, and other actions that President Bush
are taking right now confirm what Greens have said all along.  Deregulation
and other 'free-market' solutions are a recipe for disaster," said Abel
Tomlinson, Arkansas Green Party candidate for Congress (3rd District)
(http://www.abelforcongress.com).

"Perhaps the gravest danger is that the burden placed on the FDIC [Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation] and the commercial banks and the continuing
bailouts to prevent the meltdown from hemorrhaging will be paid for by
middle- and low-income US taxpayers.  Meanwhile the execs responsible for
the crisis will get to keep their huge bonuses, pensions, tax breaks, and
other handouts," said Mr. Tomlinson.

Greens noted another serious danger, that the bailout will drain money that
should be used to keep Social Security secure.

"Instead of the bromides, unconvincing reassurances, and ineffective
half-measures that we're hearing from John McCain, Barack Obama, and their
fellow Republicans and Democrats, we need to take drastic steps.  We need
Green measures to fix a system that doesn't work," said Steve Alesch, Green
candidate for Congress in Illinois (13th District) (http://www.votesteve.org).

Cynthia McKinney released a statement on Friday on the crisis, with a
ten-point list of solutions and reforms, titled "Seize the Time"
(http://votetruth08.com/index.php/learn/mckinney-messages).

Agreeing with Ms. McKinney's proposals, Greens said that the White House and
Congress must:

• Pay for the massive transfer of wealth without placing the greater burden
on working people and the poor.  Those who made huge profits from the
financial policies that led to the meltdown should be expected to pay for
the major portion of the bailout, through the closing of tax loopholes and
repeal of Bush tax cuts for top income earners, caps on CEO salaries and
bonuses and on the corporate tax deductability of excessive CEO salaries and
bonuses, and recovery of exorbitant payouts that financial industry
executives have given themselves in recent decades, as well as a windfall
proft tax on oil companies.

• In bailing out financial institutions and absorbing their debt, assert the
US government's assumption of equity/ownership over them in exchange (as was
done with AIG), and replace the secret negotiations and backroom deals that
pervaded the industry with transparency and democratic control.  "The
Federal Reserve is becoming the lender of last resort.  This means that the
people are becoming the owners of the primary instruments of US capital and
finance.  This now means that the people have a say in how these instruments
are to be used and what their priorities ought to be.  The people should now
have more say in how their tax dollars are spent and what the priorities of
government and the public sector must be.  We the people must now set our
demands to ensure and promote the public good," said Cynthia McKinney in her
statement.

• Stop appointing Treasury Secretaries, Federal Reserve board members, and
other top financial policy-makers whose chief loyalties are to the major
financial corporations from which they're recruited.  Restructure
semi-private and private institutions like the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae,
and Freddie Mac to be owned, run, and staffed strictly for the public
interest.  "[T]he Federal Reserve should operate in the interests of the US
taxpayer and not the interests of the private, international bankers that it
currently represents.  This, of course means that the Federal Reserve, too,
must undergo a fundamental ownership and mission change," said Ms. McKinney.

• Impose a moratorium on foreclosures now before increases in the adjustable
rate mortgage interest increases take effect; eliminate all adjustable rate
mortgages; renegotiate the latter as 30- or 40-year loans; establish new
mortgage lending practices to end predatory and discriminatory practices.

• Promote an economy that's based on sustainability rather than on lending
and borrowing beyond one's means.  Raising the debt ceiling will lead to
greater potential liability and further economic meltdown.

• Establish criteria and construction goals for affordable housing;
massively increase funding for housing programs that assist tenants (e.g.,
Section 8, public housing) that have been slashed repeatedly since the
Reagan Administration.  Recognize shelter as a right according to the UN
Declaration of Human Rights, to which the US is a signatory.

• Redefine credit and regulate the credit industry so that discriminatory
practices are eliminated.  Fully fund initiatives to eliminate racial and
ethnic disparities in home ownership.

• Establish a fund to cushion job loss and provide for retraining of those
at the bottom of the income scale as the economy transitions.

• Increase taxes on corporations so that they pay their fair share and deny
federal subsidies to those who relocate jobs overseas.  Repeal NAFTA and
renegotiate trade agreements so that national and local economies, jobs,
human rights, and the environment are protected.

• End military-industrial complex handouts.  Major cuts in military
contracts -- especially if combined with a quick withdrawal of US troops and
military contractors from Iraq and Afghanistan -- will provide a huge windfall.

• Downsize the insurance industry.  Corporate health insurance is not an
essential service and can be replaced with a single-payer national health
care program that would drastically cut health care costs, since the
profit-taking insurance and HMO middle-men would be eliminated.

• Introduce creative ideas to democratize the financial industry, with
alternative models such as public banks and insurance firms, consumer/worker
ownership of such companies, and restructuring that would use the financial
industry to promote conservation projects, transition to non-fossil-fuel
energy and ecologically sound infrastructure, and creation of millions of
jobs related to these efforts.

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente 'Power to the People' Campaign for the White
House
http://votetruth08.com
http://www.runcynthiarun.org

Cynthia McKinney on video
http://www.youtube.com/user/RunCynthiaRun
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=RunCynthiaRun
• Press conference, September 10 at the National Press Club in Washington,
DC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_5ivgS4asc
• Speech in Denver, August 24: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPxgcjOjUEc
• Music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx1NPlQjkqo

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