Organzing for Banking Reform

Off the top of my head, systematic restructuring of the banking industry aimed at breaking up large banks and preventing the re-emergence of “too big too fail, too complicated to nationalize” institutions seems a bit too technical to be the locus of a mass movement. But at the same time, there’s tons of populist anger out there and maybe it can be channeled toward this particular issue. And these guys are giving it a try:

Any bank that’s “too big to fail” means that it’s too big for a free market to function. The financial corporations that caused this mess must be broken up and sold back to the private market with new antitrust rules in place — new banks, managed by new people.

As Wall St. corporations grew bigger and bigger until they were “too big to fail,” they also became so politically powerful that they led to distorted and unfair policies that served companies, not citizens.

Its not enough to try to patch up the current system. We demand serious reform that fixes the root problems in our political and economic system: excessive influence of banks, dangerous compensation systems, and massive consolidation. And we demand that the reform happen in an open and transparent manner.

Read more about what we want and can achieve and see our blog for more related information.

Rallies are being planned.

I recognize that policymakers may think that this is a second-order concern that’s best addressed after the immediate crisis is dealt with. Realistically, though, the moment of crisis seems like the only time when the political power of the financial sector can feasibly be overcome. If we say we’re going to deal with this later, after we’ve fixed the immediate problems, then attention is going to wander on to other things. Indeed, it’s remarkable to me how the voices of Wall Street big shots continue to speak incredibly loudly in the corridors of power at a point when they should be at their minimum level of credibility and influence.