Category Archives: Corporate Personhood

Time for Real Democracy

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[Please click here for the Bill Shein for Congress website.]

By Bill Shein
December 15, 2011

Two notable events took place on Tuesday, though few may have noticed the vital connection between them.

The first was a long-overdue speech by Attorney General Eric Holder addressing shameful efforts, in more than two dozen states, to limit democratic participation by restricting early voting, adding unnecessary ID requirements, and curtailing voter-registration drives. These efforts, which impact millions of otherwise-eligible, low-income, young, old, and minority voters, are perhaps the greatest threat to voting rights since the Jim Crow era.

Underwritten by corporate-backed groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council, the goal of this crackdown on voting is simple: Close the door on a truly representative democracy. Because those who profit from today’s unjust status quo know they must block massive citizen action – whether it’s Occupy-style uprisings or huge turnout on Election Day – in order to maintain their grip on power.

Their disgraceful campaign brings to mind the words of John Adams, who said, in support of substantial property requirements for voting, that if everyone could vote, “an immediate revolution would ensue.” (Adams also worried that women might demand the vote, too. The horror!)

To advance that necessary political and economic revolution, we need to combine 2011’s growing movement of citizen empowerment with massive participation in, and urgent reform of, our electoral system. The two can, and perhaps must, go hand-in-hand if we want an economy that doesn’t continue to tilt dramatically toward the wealthy.

It won’t be easy. Billions spent by corporate interests on campaign contributions and lobbying have narrowed the range of what’s possible in Washington and Boston – especially when it comes to campaign finance and election law. With both major parties feeding at the same trough of corporate money, the kind of bold action we’ve long needed on employment, housing, climate change, corporate personhood, electoral reform, and other vital issues never even sees the light of day.

That’s why three years into a Wall Street-fueled economic meltdown, a tiny elite – say, about one percent? – is doing just fine. Meanwhile, many more – oh, I don’t know, around 99 percent? – lose homes, jobs, savings, health care, and hope.

The economic facts are grim. A recent Princeton study found that those who lost jobs during 2007-08 and are working again now earn, on average, 17.5 percent less. Yet corporate profits are soaring, enabling even more spending on elections and lobbying.

It seems that American workers are supposed to be content with whatever scraps are tossed down from the plutocrats’ table. Mainstream media discussion of monthly job reports focuses only on the number of new jobs. But few politicians or pundits ask, “Do these jobs pay a living wage? Are they permanent and durable? Do they include sick and vacation days so parents can stay home with sick children or earn paid time off? Do they provide opportunities for advancement?”

Which brings us to Tuesday’s second notable event. In Springfield, the innovative Wellspring Initiative held an event to announce a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to advance precisely the kind of economic development we need. Combined with $100,000 raised locally, its plan is ambitious.

Modeled after the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Wellspring aims to build large-scale, worker-owned cooperative businesses right in the heart of Springfield. With both public- and private-sector partners like Baystate Health, UMass-Amherst, Jobs with Justice, and Springfield Technical Community College, these new ventures will tap into the $1.5 billion spent annually on goods and services by the city’s largest institutions. Currently, less than 10 percent of that spending takes place within Springfield.

As in Cleveland, the Wellspring cooperatives will be rooted firmly in the community. They’ll keep resources and jobs and expertise local. They’ll pay a living wage and train employees for advancement. And thanks to worker ownership, employees will participate in democratic decision-making and see their equity stake grow with the business, providing a clear path out of poverty to a brighter future.

We need this model in Pittsfield and across the country: Robust local enterprise that enhances the well-being of workers and invests, for the long term, in our communities.

One thing is certain: We can no longer allow transnational corporations and the anti-democratic public policy they champion to dominate our society. Even when staffed with good and decent people, these institutions have one goal: Profit. Their nature is to drain wealth from our communities. They lay off workers and move operations to low-wage countries, destroying local economies in the U.S. (e.g. General Electric, anyone?). They distort elections. Ultimately, they serve the interests of Wall Street analysts, not those of local citizens.

It’s time to combine the fight for broad democratic participation with a campaign for smart economic development along the lines of the Evergreen and Wellspring cooperatives. By doing so, we’ll advance both political and economic democracy – two fundamental requirements of a just, fair, and compelling future.

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A longtime democracy-reform activist, Bill Shein feels the ground shifting. And he likes it. (You can support Bill’s current crowd-funded book project here.)

 

Psst … Hidden Bank Fees Are Coming

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By Bill Shein
November 17, 2011

Recently, large banks have started imposing new and increased fees on the same (taxpaying) account holders who saved them from their greedy selves with billions in few-strings-attached bailout funds and trillions in low- and no-interest Federal Reserve loans.

See, banks are upset that new regulations – insufficient, but designed to prevent them from blowing up the economy again – could reduce their annual profits by $12 billion. That money, they say, was previously “earned” via exorbitant debit-card swipe fees and by processing transactions in a way that maximized overdraft fees. Nice work if you can get it, eh?

The banks want to reclaim “their” money as soon as possible, ideally without anyone noticing. That’s why the bank statements of millions of Americans will soon include lots of small, sometimes inexplicable charges – just like your phone, cable, and electricity bills.

It’s all by design: Who has hours to spend lost in a “customer service” voice-prompt system to protest a few bucks added to a monthly maintenance fee, only to be summarily disconnected after pressing the “0” key 100 times and screaming, “AGENT! AGENT! AGENT!” until hoarse?

Multiply a few bucks by millions of customers, and, well, there it is: The decades-long transfer of wealth, continued.

Following the collapse of Bank of America’s attempt to charge $5/month for using a debit card, the banks will be sly and clever about new fees. Here’s what to watch out for:

The KBLITSTWTBA Fee – Several years into the economic meltdown, how many people can decipher the meaning of financial acronyms like MBS, SPARQS, CBO, ETF, or EMBS? Depositors must be vigilant in spotting confusing lingo that may disguise hidden fees. Like the monthly “KBLITSTWTBA Fee,” a cryptic acronym that stands for, “Keep Bankers Living in the Style to Which They’ve Become Accustomed.” Outrageous!

Hidden Fee Fee – Highly paid experts, including former CIA operatives, sleight-of-hand magicians, and pathological liars are routinely hired by banks to craft deceptive ways to chip away at your hard-earned savings with hidden fees. These efforts are increasingly funded with the double-ironic “Hidden Fee Fee.” Information on this insidious charge may be hard to find: Look for it on your statement in four-point type and printed with ink that’s only visible when held up to a fluorescent black light.

Costo Beneficio de Mejora – Thanks to online translation tools available even to newspaper columnists, it’s easy for banks to hide fees by printing them in a foreign language. So if you see a $2.32 monthly charge for “Costo Beneficio de Mejora,” know that you’ve been charged an unnecessary “Profit Enhancement Fee.”

Redress of Grievances Fee – This monthly deduction is immediately wired to former elected officials who now work as lobbyists for big banks. Apparently, cashing in on one’s time as a public servant by lobbying on behalf of transnational corporations creates painful moral suffering that can only be soothed by a seven-figure income. This ongoing expense is now passed on directly to account holders. (NOTE: Sometimes appears as “Revolving Door Maintenance Fee” or “Shame Remediation Fee.”)

Don’t Even Try to “Move Your Money” Fee – As Americans move their money to credit unions, small local banks, and cooperatives at a good clip (650,000 new accounts at credit unions alone during the last 30 days, compared to 80,000 in a typical month), banks are in a panic as depositors flee. So they’re cashing in with new charges like the “Don’t Even Try to ‘Move Your Money’ Fee.” Equal to 100 percent of your account balance, it’s imposed the moment you try to close your account. (Watch for details in a “Change to Your Account Terms” statement insert.)

The bottom line? Until you’ve moved your money out of big and non-local banks – ideally before imposition of the “Don’t Even Try to ‘Move Your Money’ Fee” – read your statement closely. Because according to a Nov. 14 story in The New York Times: “Banks may also be betting that consumers will not notice the quiet creep of existing fees. As Richard K. Davis, U.S. Bancorp’s chief executive, told investors on a recent conference call: ‘We’ll see if our customers complain and move, or just complain.’”

Oh, don’t you worry, Mr. Richard K. Davis. We’re done complaining.

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Bill Shein is a founding member of the Berkshire County Hundredaires Club.

 

Behold the Spark of Revolution

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By Bill Shein
October 4, 2011

Those bewildered by the absence of so-called “demands” from the young people at the heart of the “Occupy Wall Street” protest movement – now sweeping the nation with welcome speed – should pay closer attention. Because we’ve never seen anything like this.

Listen to what is being discussed in their egalitarian, consensus-based general assemblies, which are broadcast online twice a day. (Everything about Occupy Wall Street is open, public, and transparent – as democracy should be.)

Understand the commitment of those sleeping in the cold and rain under plastic tarps by reading what they’re posting on their websites, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds.

Appreciate the diversity of those in the streets, whether they are anti-corporate campaigners, unemployed construction workers, laid-off teachers, debt-laden students, or grandmothers speaking out against permanent war.

And then join them for an hour or a day or a week, in New York or Boston or on your town’s Main Street. You’ll discover that this is not about passing a few laws, tweaking some Wall Street regulations, or even, at this point, attempting to change anything by reaching for the levers of our political system. Because for now, at least, those levers are only accessible for a fee, payable in advance, please, with $2,500 checks made out to the re-election committee, thank you very much.

What we’re witnessing, and many are participating in, is the beginning of a revolution for true democracy. Those in power who drove our country off the rails, as well as those whose response has been weak and ineffectual, focus on “demands” because that’s what they’re used to: Demands from those who write checks and send lobbyists.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is not about a single issue or policy prescription, though surely some specifics will emerge in its wake. Yes, we need to re-balance the tax code to properly and fairly fund the shared infrastructure of our society and guarantee the well-being of our citizens. Of course we need to remove the boot of unregulated campaign money that’s standing on the windpipe of democracy. And of course we need to amend the Constitution so that living human beings, and not corporations, have the exclusive right to participate in our democratic processes.

But are the protesters “uninformed,” as some suggest, because they’re not offering up five-point plans or specific legislative language? The question misses the point.

The young people in New York’s Liberty Square are informed with the knowledge that unemployment among their peers is at least double the national rate, with no relief in sight. They’re informed by the painful reality of mountains of student-loan debt. They know that prior generations have warmed the planet, but their generation will suffer the consequences if nothing is done. They know that millions have lost homes and jobs and retirement savings while an elite few were bailed out to return to business-as-usual. What more do they need to know?

Under the banner of “The Other 99 Percent,” these nonviolent activists, increasingly accompanied by Americans of all colors and ages and incomes, are showing us what love of country – and love of our fellow citizens – should look like.

Not coincidentally, these young people are among those most affected by new photo-ID requirements for voting that were fast-tracked through many state legislatures this year. Thus, those most likely to vote against the unacceptable status quo are being systematically excluded from democratic participation. Without money, and without a meaningful voice in elections, they’ve instead taken to the streets, their bodies and voices standing in for empty wallets and blocked ballots.

How many of today’s elected officials would be at home alongside protesters calling for broad democratic reforms, an end to militarism, and an economy that works for all of us? Not many. Standing in front of these growing crowds, what would they say? “I wish I could help, but I’m only willing to consider marginal changes. But have fun with your little protest!”

There’s nothing little, though, about this burgeoning movement. The tens of thousands already participating in Occupy Wall Street actions across the country are shining a bright light on many things we need to see, discuss, and then address.

So walk toward the light, America. Because the time for illumination has arrived.

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Bill Shein believes the light from Occupy Wall Street is so bright that Americans will have to wear shades.