About

ForOurEconomy.org is a grass roots campaign to wrest control of our economy from the big banks, crony capitalists and financial elites.  Crony capitalism has resulted in an unprecedented concentration of wealth.  The economic top 1% of the population now controls a record 70% of all financial assets.  The inequality of wealth in the United States between the economic top 0.5% and the remaining 99.5% of the population is now at an all-time high.  The finance industry has received trillions of dollars in bailouts from the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve, while at the same time giving themselves record bonuses and salaries.  Through grass roots action this Mobilization will show that this is OUR economy and we intend to control it.

The Mobilization for OUR Economy begins while the Obama Administration and Congress are debating reform of the financial industry. However, much more than what is being proposed is needed to give Americans control over their economic lives. To achieve these objectives, we are working to make the following common-sense reforms into reality:

#1) Break up the “Too Big To Fail” Banks. You can’t have free-market competition when a handful of big banks can rig the market and regulatory structure to benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else. We will continue to push for reforms put forth in the Kaufman-Brown SAFE Banking Act.

#2) Put in place a transparent open exchange for over-the-counter derivatives and ban High Frequency Trading (HFT). Investigate all prior HFT and frontrunning activities, including the sudden 1000 point stock market plunge on May 6th. Create a team of experts to analyze/restructure/dissolve existing derivative contracts to reduce risk. We support Senator Blanche Lincoln’s Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act.

#3) Require stricter accounting standards so the real value and debt/liabilities of banks are understood. With this, a more responsible executive pay structure must be implemented. Investigate firms and hold them liable for accounting scams. Clawbacks must be implemented on bonuses and executive compensation that was based on false profits. Investigate the Federal Reserve’s role in covering up, aiding and abetting firms in accounting fraud.

#4) Rein in corporate power. Stop corporate welfare – no more bailouts! End
corporate personhood and reverse the Citizens United court decision by a constitutional amendment. We must also make sure that all taxpayer funds and loans handed out in the bailout are returned with an interest rate that reflects current profit margins that were created as a result of our tax money.

#5) Audit the Federal Reserve. There should be zero secrecy in this private banking corporation that prints U.S. dollars and extends zero interest loans to a select few. The Fed should either be dismantled or re-made to represent the interests of the American people, not the banks, and include elected positions on their Board of Governors.

#6) Tax trading of stocks, bonds, derivatives and options. A small micro-tax applied to large firms would slow high-risk speculation and provide significant revenue, allowing reduction of income taxes, withholding taxes and adequately fund government operations.

#7) Corresponding to our second objective, close the casino by reinstating both a modernized version of the Glass–Steagall Act, which separated commercial and investment banking, and a strict Net Capital rule that limits wild risk-taking and speculating.

#8) Shut the revolving door and put up a strict firewall between finance executives and government regulators and officials.

#9) End usurious credit card and pay day loans. Cap interest rates and get rid of hidden bank fees.

#10) Create an empowered and independent Consumer Protection Agency (CPA). Investigate predatory lending schemes, liar’s loans and put a moratorium on home foreclosures, as the first steps in what will be many investigations into abusive practices. Credit rating agencies should be regulated by the CPA and function independently of the firms producing the products being rated.

#11) Urgently hire 1,500+ white-collar crime investigators to enforce existing laws.

#12) Fire, investigate and prosecute government officials like Tim Geithner, Ben Bernanke, Larry Summers and John Dugan, and investigate Hank Paulson, Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin, all of whom played a significant role in the financial collapse and the massive “transfer” of wealth to the finance industry. Also investigate and prosecute, under RICO statutes, top executives in financial firms who engaged in fraudulent activity. Appoint people like Elizabeth Warren, Simon Johnson, Joseph Stiglitz, William Black and Ron Paul to positions of authority over the economy.

Who We Are:

The founding members of ForOurEconomy.org include:

After Downing Street is a nonpartisan coalition of over 200 veterans groups, peace groups, and political activist groups that has worked since May 2005 to pressure both Congress and the media in order to hold Bush, Cheney, and their aides accountable for crimes and abuses of power. The coalition takes its name from the emergence in May and June of 2005 of several documents that quickly came to be known as the Downing Street Memos.

Amped Status is a news site that combines cutting-edge technology with human intelligence to analyze thousands of news items daily and deliver the most hard-hitting and informative news available. Amped Status is sponsoring the 99% Movement, which unites people across the political spectrum with a common ground platform to fight back against the Economic Elite who have rigged our economic and political system against us.

A New Way Forward is a public platform to transform politics and the economy for the public good, made up of regular people and has no funding from any group. Our mission is to end the dominance of corporate interests in this country so that there may be opportunity and shared prosperity for everyone, including the existence of a vibrant public discourse everywhere – we have made a loud call to break up the biggest banks’ powers and to never let them get so big again they can take over our politics and economy. ANWF is made up of the regular Americans who have come together to bring about structural reform of the financial industry and end the distortion of the political process by our largest corporations.

Backbone Campaign brings a spirit of fun, hope, and empowerment to political activism whether they are teaching emerging activists creative tools in demanding change, deploying Procession for the Future parades and workshops on campuses, or sending the Backbone Patrol to visit Congress. The Backbone campaign works for social and economic justice, and an improved democracy. They work for a sustainable and just economy that respects the environment, human rights, and a culture of peace; grounded in the values of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Earth Charter. Their platform is a collection of uncompromised positions on the most fundamental questions of American democracy.

CODE PINK! is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities. CODE PINK! rejects foreign policies based on domination and aggression, and instead calls for policies based on diplomacy, compassion and a commitment to international law. With an emphasis on joy and humor, CODE PINK! women and men seek to activate, amplify and inspire a community of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence.

Prosperity Agenda is a campaign for economic justice. It seeks to remake the economy so people have greater control over their economic lives, the economy is democratized and the wealth divide is eliminated. Prosperity agenda puts forward an agenda for a paradigm shift in the U.S. economy, provides regular news updates on a wide range of economic issues and activates people to work for a new economy for the 21st Century that breaks from crony capitalism. Prosperity Agenda seeks to weaken the hold of corporate power over the government and economy and shift the power to the American people.

The Public Record is a California non-profit organization dedicated to educating and empowering the public by producing in-depth original reporting on a wide-range of domestic and international issues.

Velvet Revolution is a network of more than 120 progressive organizations reaching millions of people demanding progressive change. VR was conceived to fight for the Constitutional rights of all American citizens and to fight the corrupt tactics of the Right and the Left where warranted. VR has taken the lessons learned abroad where despotic, corrupt and war-mongering governments ignored the rights of the people, and the people themselves rose up en masse and refused to back down until positive change was secured. Among its projects are StopTheChamber.com which focuses on the Chamber of Commerce which gutted the Clinton tobacco settlement, killed the Clinton health care plan, and scuttled previous oversight of Wall Street and the banking system, and is continuing to fight reforms.

Organizations: contact kbzeese@gmail.com to join us and become an endorser