Bailout

Tenant Advocates Call For Mass Rent Strike On May 1

April 17, 2020 Jake Offenhartz, The Gothamist. Resist! Bailout, New York (NY), Recession, Rent Strike

New York tenant leaders are planning a “massive wave of rent strikes” across the state, the latest escalation in a campaign to force action from Governor Andrew Cuomo as he continues to resist calls to lift rent obligations for those financially impacted by the coronavirus public health crisis. With just two weeks before next month’s rent deadline, the Upstate/Downstate Housing Alliance and the Met Council on Housing launched a pledge on Thursday urging New York tenants to collectively withhold their rent on May 1st, regardless of whether they can pay. The largely unprecedented organizing effort would send convulsions through New York’s already cracking rental market and, in theory, leave Cuomo with no choice but to take action. It comes as the number of New York residents who’ve applied for unemployment in recent weeks skyrocketed past one million.

Lone Watchdog Demands Federal Reserve Release Names Of Corporations Receiving Taxpayer Bailouts

April 17, 2020 Jake Johnson, Commondreams. Resist! Bailout, Congress, Corporatism, Federal Reserve, Watchdog

The lone watchdog on a congressional committee formed to oversee the Trump administration's handling of a multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus bailout package demanded Wednesday that the Federal Reserve release to the public both the names of corporations receiving taxpayer bailout money and details on how the funds are being used. "The public deserves to know which companies are receiving taxpayer-backed lending through the Fed and on what terms, and to be able to monitor what those companies do after receiving taxpayer support," Bharat Ramamurti, thus far the only person who has been appointed to the newly created Congressional Oversight Commission, wrote in a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

A “Critical-Care” Bailout For Main Street In The Face Of COVID-19

April 13, 2020 the Public Banking Institute. Create! Bailout, Public Banking, Recession

The Public Banking Institute has been working since 2011 to return control of money and credit to states and communities and create a network of publicly-owned federal, state and municipal banks that would establish a safe, low-cost alternative to the current exploitative financial system controlled by Wall Street. Our Board and Advisory Board members include noted economists, bankers, professors, authors, and organizational leaders. Our letter outlines four immediate actions needed to rescue the Main Street economy following the coronavirus shutdowns and ensuing financial collapse and shows how they can be done without imposing additional taxes or driving up consumer prices.

An All-American Urge To Offer Corporate Welfare

April 7, 2020 Nomi Prins, TomDispatch.com. Educate! Bailout, Corporatism, Wall Street, wealth inequality

To say that these are unprecedented times would be the understatement of the century. Even as the United States became the latest target of Hurricane COVID-19, in “hot spots” around the globe a continuing frenzy of health concerns represented yet another drop down the economic rabbit hole. Stay-at-home orders have engulfed the planet, encompassing a majority of Americans, all of India, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe. A second round of cases may be starting to surface in China. Meanwhile, small- and medium-sized businesses, not to speak of giant corporate entities, are already facing severe financial pain. I was in New York City on 9/11 and for the weeks that followed. At first, there was a sense of overriding panic about the possibility of more attacks, while the air was still thick with smoke.

250 Organisations Demand Red Lines For Aviation Bailouts

April 6, 2020 the Stay Grounded Network, Popular Resistance. Create! Airlines, Bailout, climate crisis, Worker Rights

6th of April 2020 - Today, 250 organisations from 25 countries published an open letter directed to governments, urging them to resist any aviation lobby attempts to rush into unfair bailouts of the industry. Instead, governments are implored to use this moment to embed social and environmental conditions, with proper protection for workers and a planned transition towards climate-just mobility. From today onwards, individuals are expressing their support for these demands by signing a rapidly growing petition. “For decades, the aviation industry has avoided contributing meaningfully to global climate goals and resisted the merest suggestion of taxes on fuel or tickets. Now, airlines, airports and manufacturers are demanding huge and unconditional taxpayer-backed bailouts.

US Senate’s Final Stimulus Bill: Why It Won’t Be Enough

March 25, 2020 Jack Rasmus, Jack Rasmus.com. Educate! Bailout, Congress, COVID-19, Recession

Just after midnight March 25, 2020, eastern time the US Senate passed a compromise bill of fiscal spending to address the accelerating economic decline. Both Democrat and Senate leaders agreed on the terms. US House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, indicated she would rush approval of the package seeking a unanimous voice vote of the House. Here’s what the terms of the stimulus package looks like, according to initial summaries by the Washington Post and CNN released within minutes of the bill passage: Middle class and worker households would get $500 billion in the form of direct checks ($250B) and increased unemployment insurance benefits for the next four months ($250B)

Increase In Unemployment Insurance Claims Previews The Coming Recession

March 22, 2020 Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute. Educate! Bailout, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Economic Stimulus

Initial unemployment insurance (UI) claims for the week ending last Saturday, March 14, showed an increase in initial UI claims of 70,000 from the prior week—from 211,000 to 281,000. This was the first official labor market data release to show the early signs of the coronavirus shock. Prior to this week, unemployment insurance claims had been hovering between roughly 210,000 and 230,000 for more than two years. The jump last week was the biggest one-week increase since 2012 (and with an increase of 33%, it was the biggest increase in percent terms since 1992—bigger than anything we saw during the Great Recession). For comparison, the increase of 70,000 last week was slightly more than the increase of 61,000 due to Hurricane Harvey in the week ending September 2, 2017.

Unions Oppose Airline Bailout

March 22, 2020 Rising, The Hill. Resist! Airlines, Bailout, COVID-19, Worker Rights

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said Thursday that any federal aid package for the airline industry should focus on providing economic relief to employees instead of bailing out the companies. "Let's be really clear, there just can't be a bailout. We've done that before, it doesn't work," Nelson told Hill.TV. She said airline workers need to be able to keep their jobs so they can continue to have access to benefits like health insurance and paid sick leave. Nelson acknowledged that loans from the government would be needed to keep the industry from going under, but argued that assistance should come with caveats. "With those loans come strings attached," she said. "No more stock buybacks, no executive bonuses, no dividends. This is not going to be a bailout for Wall Street, this is going to be a relief package for workers."

Depositors – Not Taxpayers – Will Take The Hit For Next ‘2008’ Crash Because Major Banks May Use ‘Bail-In’ System

August 15, 2018 Barbara G. Ellis, Informationclearinghouse.info Educate! Bailout, Banks, Capitalism

What’s likely to happen to depositors’ money in a major commercial bank in another 2008 crash? And for months, financial pundits and experts such as William Cohen have been warning an even bigger one is on its way because nothing has essentially changed. If it’s one of those giant too-big-to-fail types that caused that global catastrophe, chances are they’ve been planning what’s called a “bail-in” system to seize depositors’ money—temporarily, of course. But whether depositors want to withdraw $50 from the ATM for the weekend, write a cheque at the supermarket, or cash in a CD, they’ll be shut out by their banks. And when the furious confront those banks, they’ll be told it’s an emergency and, until Monday, would they like to start procedures with the FDIC for a refund? Or accept the bank’s IOU (stocks) immediately for it?

The Crisis Next Time: Planning For Public Ownership As An Alternative To Corporate Bank Bailouts

July 25, 2018 Thomas Hanna, Thenextsystem.org Create! Bailout, Banks, New Economy, Public Banking, Public ownership

The next financial crisis is all but inevitable. While its exact timing and severity cannot be predicted, both the accelerating frequency of crises in recent decades and the continued consolidation of the banking sector in an increasingly financialized economy suggest that we should be prepared for a crisis sooner rather than later. In the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2008, the US federal government intervened at an unprecedented scale to bailout our largest commercial banks after they became entangled in the mess of risky financial products built on top of an unsustainable housing bubble. The effect of these massive bailouts was, in the end, to preserve the status quo: the modest attempts made to regulate the financial sector to protect consumers and avert further devastating financial crises have largely been rolled back, and the banks that were then “too big to fail” are today even bigger.

Report Projects DOE Coal, Nuclear Bailout Costs Could Top $34 Billion

July 25, 2018 Emma Foehringer Merchant, Greentechmedia.com Educate! Bailout, Coal, Nuclear Power, Trump Administration

Analysis out this week from The Brattle Group estimates the Trump administration’s coal and nuclear support plan could cost between $9.7 billion and $17.2 billion annually. Working off of the scant details presented in a draft memorandum released by Bloomberg in May, The Brattle Group analyzed several scenarios the administration might employ to support nuclear and coal-fired power plants. One assumes the government would pay an average $50-per-kilowatt flat rate to all plants, costing $16.7 billion a year. In another scenario, facilities experiencing shortfalls would be compensated directly at a customized level between $43 to $58 per kilowatt, costing between $9.7 billion and $17.2 billion each year. The draft memo suggested facilities would receive payments for two years, putting high-end cost estimates north of $34 billion for the duration of the program.

Baltimore Action Legal Team Joins National Mama’s Bail Out Day

May 15, 2017 Charlene Dukes, www.baltimoreactionlegal.org Create! Bailout, Mothers, Women

By Charlene Dukes for BALT - BALTIMORE, MD — In the days leading up to Mother’s Day, Baltimore Action Legal Team (BALT) is joining a coalition of racial and criminal justice organizations across the country to bail out “mamas”—mothers and other transgender and cisgender women—who would otherwise spend Mother’s Day in a cell because they are unable to afford bail. Starting at noon on Friday, May 12, Baltimore Action Legal Team bailed out 6 individuals who were all being held on minor charges because they could not afford to pay bail. BALT partnered with Baltimore Jail Support who provided support upon their release, including emotional support, water, food, transportation, and basic first aid for people being released from Baltimore’s Central Booking and Intake Facility. People who were bailed out ranged in age from 20 to 44. It cost as little as $100 to as much as $1,000 to secure their freedom. The effort took around the clock work, clearing up wrong information, and waiting hours in the room to greet moms with gift baskets. Although bails were posted as early as 1 PM on Friday May 12 - no one emerged from Central Booking until almost 3 AM the following morning. The last person was not freed until Saturday morning.

Louisiana Governor Requests Bailout As Flood Costs Rise To $15bn

September 13, 2016 Matthew Teague, www.theguardian.com/ Educate! Bailout, Floods, Government, Louisiana

By Matthew Teague for The Guardian - The cost of August’s historic flooding in Louisiana is surging into view now, and rising as fast as riverwater. It could hit $15bn, according to a new report, and state officials and residents have begun scrambling to find money as southern Louisiana slowly dries out. Flood insurance will cover only a fraction of the cost, because 80% of the homes affected – more than 110,000, and almost as many vehicles – had no such insurance. The region has never flooded in living memory, and in many areas flood insurance was not even available.

A Crisis Worse Than ISIS? Bail-Ins Begin

December 30, 2015 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com Educate! Bailout, Banks

By Ellen Brown for Web of Debt Blog - At the end of November, an Italian pensioner hanged himself after his entire €100,000 savings were confiscated in a bank “rescue” scheme. He left a suicide note blaming the bank, where he had been a customer for 50 years and had invested in bank-issued bonds. But he might better have blamed the EU and the G20’s Financial Stability Board, which have imposed an “Orderly Resolution” regime that keeps insolvent banks afloat by confiscating the savings of investors and depositors. Some 130,000 shareholders and junior bond holders suffered losses in the “rescue.”

Greek Parliament Approves Bailout Causing a Rebellion In SYRIZA

August 16, 2015 Sharmini Peries, www.therealnews.com Educate! Alexis Tsipras, Austerity, Bailout, Greece, Syriza

By Sharmini Peries for the Real News - It has been I think a dramatic 48 hours, even by the standards of the Greek crisis. As the, within hours--perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration. A day or two of the bailout negotiations having been announced as concluded, the parliament, the Greek government tabled a 400-page bill which basically gave to the parliamentarians less than 24 hours to digest and debate. Just before the debate began, 11 members of Syriza, the Left Platform of Syriza led by Panayiotis Lafazanis, the former energy minister and I think the putative leader of the Left Platform, issued a letter in which they called for the formation of a national anti-bailout movement, and asked for a nationwide mobilization at every level of the political organization of the Left Platform to oppose the bailout.

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