Wall Street: * Analysis * Protests

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ROBERT KUTTNER
Co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine, Kuttner is the author of the recent book A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama’s Promise, Wall Street’s Power, and the Struggle to Control Our Economic Future.

He said today: “It’s crucial that we now get a strong financial reform bill. This includes real reform on derivatives, so that banks aren’t making deals on their own accounts and not betting against their clients. Wall Street must be brought down to size so that it serves the real economy.”

DOUG HENWOOD
Editor of Left Business Observer, Henwood is the author of books including Wall Street. He said today: “It’s nice to see Wall Street getting some seriously bad press — and nice to see the Dems acquire a little class warrior fervor. And it was delightful to see all those Goldman Sachs guys get roasted before the Senate the other day. But I doubt much will come of all this. I fear that any legislation that passes will be so diluted and loophole-ridden that Wall Street can carry on with little impediment. And the Goldman hearing looks like a ritual sacrifice designed to appease an angry electorate, but with no lasting effect. I hope I’m wrong, but the thrust of policy over the last couple of years, under both Bush and Obama, has been to restore the status quo.” Henwood writes regularly at doughenwood.wordpress.com

KRISTI BARNES
Communications director for New York Jobs with Justice, Barnes will be participating in a rally and march on Wall Street today (Thursday) at 4 p.m. Organizers are estimating that over 10,000 people will be marching. She said today: “We need to rein in Wall Street speculators in order to rebuild a sustainable economy that delivers good jobs for all. To prevent another economic crisis, we need serious financial reform that includes breaking up ‘too big to fail’ banks and creating a strong and an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency.” Barnes will be at the protest and will be Twittering live: twitter.com/nyjwj

PAM POWELL
Powell is currently on a bus with fellow United Auto Worker activists and workers traveling from Detroit to New York City. They will be protesting on Wall Street from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. She said today: “Our form of capitalism is so far out of balance that these bankers could just take our money and get bailed out with no strings — and we’re only now trying to really regulate them. I’m not sure how effective this [protest] will be, they’re doing what they did before we bailed them out and they’ll probably keep doing that after we’ve protested, but we’re doing what we can as a group.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167