We need leaders like you. We need to start having conversations about how we can act locally and be really effective at stopping the largest banks on the road to infallibility -- you can help bring people together to solve that very problem.
ANWF is working on too-big-to-fail legislation -- see our policy page for more info.
ANWF is also working on the ground with you. You can start to be a chapter leader to make real reform happen, we're at a crucial time in the fight. Please start things up in your city:
1. NO NEW POWERS FOR THE FEDSign the petition to keep the Fed from having new powers to regulate risk in the financial industry. If given these powers, the largest banks will be given greater ability to self-regulate and profit more off of the American people. Download the petition and get your friends and family to sign on too.
2. ECONOMIC CRISIS BOOK CLUBS and FORUMSCreate much needed dialogue on the crisis by starting a book club, beginning with sections in William Greider's seminal book on the Fed, "Secrets of the Temple", Danny Schechter's "The Crime of our Time" or Nomi Prins' "It Takes a Pillage". When your book club wants to do more, you can invite community leaders, economists, authors, yourself to speak (or use our video and powerpoint). You can start by passing out some flyers in your neighborhood. Get more tips below.3. FORECLOSURE ACTIONSat auctions, town halls, and Fed "Open Market" meetings. We threaten the power of the Fed and the banks with the community cramdown, rallying our local governments to stop foreclosures by too-big-to-fail banks, and community tips to stall foreclosures. Community cramdowns are when the public bids on foreclosed homes in foreclosure auctions to give back the home to the original owner with lower interest rates through the aid of a community bank. Help to investigate options in your town.To get started, spread the word here using our form to the right. Get Started in the forums and make a group page. Or find or register an event. Materials for Getting StartedThese materials will be added to, please feel free to contribute new versions. Thank you to Portland Jobs with Justice, Common Security Clubs, Lou Campagna and our fearless leaders.GENERAL INFORMATION MATERIALS - start passing them out 1. Economic Crisis 2009 video by ANWF/Joe Felice. Watch or save , (right-click and choose "save as" to download). Doesn't play on your computer? Get Quicktime player. Factsheet on Big Banks by SEIU 2. ANWF Petition download 3. 27 Reasons To Stop the Banks 4. What to do about Foreclosures Flyer 5. Unauthorized Shareholders Resolutions for Bank of America (Bay Area ANWF convened this shareholders' meeting) 6. ANWF Background Flyer 1 Download English leaflet or Local version 7. ANWF Background Flyer 2 8 1/2x11 ANWF Information Leaflet, Adobe Acrobat format. Download English leaflet ECONOMIC CRISIS FORUMS 1. The guide to planning your town hall -- makes it all real. See it or download: 
2. Poster 11x17 color and black and white poster, Adobe Acrobat Format. Made by Lou Campagna. Download black/white or Download color pdf
3. Sample: Very large poster for rally
4. Town Hall and Video Screening Flyer 5. Town Hall Program handed out at the Town Hall. The program is a 2 page insert. The files are in JPG format. Download 2 page insert. 6. Email Announcement distributed to a wide variety of email lists, Word format. Download email announcment. 7. Forum Sponsorship Form used to sign up organizational sponsors, Word format. Download sponsorship form. 8. Logos for t-shirts, pins, etc. white background or black.  FURTHER READING Stiglitz on the Causes of the Crisis An article on CNN.com: Commentary: "How to prevent the next Wall Street crisis." Adobe Acrobat format. Download article. Ten Principles by Taleb Financial Times article: "Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world". Adobe Acrobat format. Download article. Simon Johnson on How Oligarchs Keep Governments from Solving Economic Crises The Atlantic Monthly: "The Quite Coup". Adobe Acrobat format. Download article. Federal Reserve of Kansas City CEO, Thomas Hoenig on Failed Banks Paper: "Too Big has Failed". Adobe Acrobat Format. Download paper. Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman on NationalizationNYTimes Op-ed: "Why Nationalize". Adobe Acrobat Format. Download article. Flyers!Get the word out using these flyers that have been submitted by ANWF volunteers. Post these flyers in public places like libraries and schools, message boards, community centers and malls and give them out to friends and neighbors. Print, edit and add info for the action. Thanks! You can help too - send flyers to hello@anewwayforward.org pdf
Video Screening Flyer
Lou Campagna pdf
Video Screening Flyer
Lou Campagna pdf
Town Hall Flyer
Lou Campagna pdf
11x17 Plain Poster
Lou Campagna pdf
Famous Economists Explain
Barbara Upton doc
Famous Economists Explain
Bruce Hartford pdf
A strong, simple leaflet
Bruce Hartford pdf
17x11 Color Poster
Lou Campagna pdf
17x11 B/W Poster
Lou Campagna .AI
bank logo
Matthew Skomarovsky .AI
bank logo
Matthew Skomarovsky .AI
bank logo
Matthew Skomarovsky .AI
bank logo
Matthew Skomarovsky jpg
Email us your name jpg
Cartoon
Chris pdf
Steve Burns jpg
Email us your name pdf
Crytal Regan pdf
8.5*11
Banner pdf
details
Louis Campagna pdf
8.5*11
Leaflet By Bruce Hartford April 11th flyer galleryjpeg (403 KB)
Sample: Very large poster for rally
jpeg (403 KB)
8.5*11
designed by Jeremy Richir from Raleigh, NC jpeg (583 KB)
8.5*11
designed by Tiffiniy with Morgan's badge PDF (325 KB)
8.5*11
designed by Morgan PDF (324 KB)
8.5*11
designed by Morgan PDF (322 KB)
8.5*11
designed by Morgan pdf
8.5*11
designed by Louis Campagna pdf
cards
designed by Louis Campagna pdf
b/w
designed by Louis Campagna PNG
8.5*11
designed by Austin Guest |
Your friends want to knowThey're angry too or should be. Help them learn more - email them.
Subject: Ignore big banks' lobbying if you can People dislike how the government is rebuilding our economy in the same way it was taken down -- Sec. Geithner is transferring more wealth to the financial elites as the stock market inflates. It's time the public got a say about our tax money - sign up on the site to make your disapproval public too. Stop the banksters -- please forward widely. Take a first step, -Donny Shaw, A New Way Forward |
Tell Congress
New laws should be put in place that minimize the risk of companies becoming “too big to fail.”
Read the blog
Don't see your city? Start your group
Have an event in your city
Tell your friends to sign up.
Join the FaceBook Fan page
Follow on Twitter @wayfwd - hashtag #anwf
Not a member of any groups.
1)Lawrence Goodwyn’s “The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America,” one of the truly great works of American history and how to build a foundation for 20th century American political economy.
2)William Greider’s “Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country,” picks up where Goodwyn’s left off. An essential read in understanding money, banking and finance in the 20th century.
3)Kevin Phillips’ “Bad
Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of
American Capitalism,”
|
MELTDOWN CAUSES: Articles and Interviews 1. Finger of blame points to shadow banking’s implosion -Financial Times "FINANCIAL INNOVATIONS" 1. Genesis of the Debt Disaster -Financial Times WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE BIG BANKS THAT FAIL? 1. Willem Buiter -FT ANTITRUST 1. Breaking up the Banks -Zephyr Teachout REGULATION 1. Regulatory Capture -Thomas Frank WHAT'S IT MEAN FOR THE ECONOMY? 1. Evolution or Revolution -Bill Gross Blogs |
By Michael McKee and Scott Lanman
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. regulators should consider breaking up large financial institutions considered “too big to fail,” former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said.
Those banks have an implicit subsidy allowing them to borrow at lower cost because lenders believe the government will always step in to guarantee their obligations. That squeezes out competition and creates a danger to the financial system, Greenspan told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
“If they’re too big to fail, they’re too big,” Greenspan said today. “In 1911 we broke up Standard Oil -- so what happened? The individual parts became more valuable than the whole. Maybe that’s what we need to do.”
At one point, no bank was considered too big to fail, Greenspan said. That changed after the Treasury Department under then-Secretary Hank Paulson effectively nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Treasury and Fed bailed out Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc.
“It’s going to be very difficult to repair their credibility on that because when push came to shove, they didn’t stand up,” Greenspan said.
Fed officials have suggested imposing a tax or requiring higher capital ratios on larger banks to ensure the firms’ safety and reduce some of the competitive advantage from the implied subsidy. Greenspan said that won’t work.
“I don’t think merely raising the fees or capital on large institutions or taxing them is enough,” Greenspan said. “I think they’ll absorb that, they’ll work with that, and it’s totally inefficient and they’ll still be using the savings.”
‘Really Arbitrarily’
The former Fed chairman said while “just really arbitrarily breaking down organizations into various different sizes” goes against his philosophical leanings, something must be done to solve the too-big-to-fail issue.
“If you don’t neutralize that, you’re going to get a moribund group of obsolescent institutions which will be a big drain on the savings of the society,” he said.
“Failure is an integral part, a necessary part of a market system,” he said. “If you start focusing on those who should be shrinking, it undermines growing standards of living and can even bring them down.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael McKee in New York at mmckee@bloomberg.net; Scott Lanman in Washington at slanman@bloomberg.net
