Forum Post: Why is OWS is targeting Chase Bank?
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 14, 2011, 5:20 p.m. EST by howRya
(42)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Here's a list of all the institutions that received bailout monies:
http://projects.propublica.org/bailout/list
Why is OWS targetting Chase? What about Goldman Sachs? or Citibank? They were worse offenders than Chase.
Enlighten me.
Perhaps the deep entwinement of Chase with government, generally?
And with Obama?
I'm using wikipedia as a source here because well, this is a no credit assignment:
"Dimon is a Democrat and worked in Obama's adopted hometown of Chicago. After Obama took office and JPMorgan Chase repaid its bailout money more quickly than most, he became influential in the White House,[22] although Dimon has often publicly disagreed with some of Obama's policies.[23] Dimon was one of three CEOs found by the Associated Press—along with Lloyd Blankfein and Vikram Pandit—to have had liberal access to United States Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner in the seven months after the financial crisis in fall 2008.[24]"
...and several years before the financial crisis."
Okay, so why not target Goldman Sachs because of Lloyd Blankfein or Citigroup because of Vikram Pandit?
It just seems to be a bit TOO selective.
I don't know, do you have any theories?
No. That's why I asked the question to begin with. OWS has already marched twice on Chase and another march is scheduled for tomorrow morning. I was just wondering why Chase was being targeted.
I thought maybe I had missed something that was worse about Chase Bank than all the other banks that took bailout monies.
I agree with you about Goldman being a big offender.
Chase does seem to be a target because I read that originally, the plan was to go and occupy Chase plaza but that was clearly private property as opposed to the murky status of Zucotti, and they were chased away from Chase Plaza or something.
I really don't know why but it does seem the focus on Chase is a bit strong.
“Move your money, Chase's money is our money!” That's the rallying cry for the Occupy Wall Street labor activists marching on a Chase Bank branch this Saturday. The protesters plan to enter Chase en mass to close their accounts and then transfer the money to worker-owned banks and credit unions around the city. The march advocates moving money to “a financial institution that supports the 99%.” The protesters are making this transfer of capital from corporate banks to member-based financial institutions out of a concern for the financial sector's lack of public accountability in light of the billions of dollars it received in public bailout money. The flier promoting the event calls out Chase in particular, saying that “Chase destroys what matters.”The protesters have identified what they see as trend in irresponsible behavior on the part of the bank. Chase has laid off 14,000 employees since receiving a bailout of $94.7 billion. The bank ranks number one in American home foreclosures and is currently under investigation for fraudulent foreclosures on families in New York City. Amid all of this, last year, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon gave himself a record-setting bonus. The march is being coordinated in conjunction with other large-scale public movements. The Chase action is one event in a larger “Day of Action Against Banks” organized by groups within Occupy Wall Street. The October 15th date was set by a larger international mobilization called “Take the Square” that has its roots in the M15 demonstrations in Madrid. As of this date, October 15th protest events have been scheduled in 869 cities in 71 countries. The Chase march is coordinated by the Labor Outreach Working Group, a working group of the Occupy Wall Street movement, in a continuation of the outpouring of union support demonstrated by the estimated 30,000 persons in attendance at the labor/community march on October 5, 2011."
Okay, thanks, I think that's relevant, don't know if the op will think so.
”The protesters have identified what they see as trend in irresponsible behavior on the part of the bank. Chase has laid off 14,000 employees since receiving a bailout of $94.7 billion. The bank ranks number one in American home foreclosures and is currently under investigation for fraudulent foreclosures on families in New York City. Amid all of this, last year, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon gave himself a record-setting bonus.
I did find it relevant. Thank you,
But what about Goldman Sachs and Citibank? What about BoA? What about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
When I see them being called onto the carpet like Jamie Dimon, then I will believe that this movement isn't targeting certain people/institutions.
Real response? Because handling OWS is like herding epileptic cats on jetskis. Just getting the larger group to agree that they're NOT the Unofficial Ron Paul fan club, NOT the Committee to Reelect Obama, NOT the Anti-Nuclear Pep Band....cough Entmoot cough
Real solution? Get a packet of stuff together and contact the General Assembly. It's slow, it's painful, it's weird, but it's where any real answers and impetus are to be found. I agree, OWS is still flailing a bit randomly. I don't know why Chase is on so many people's lips, except that this kinda shit happens when you don't have a cable news channel to tell everyone the issue of the day.
Sorry, Ryan, if you saw that spam comment it wasn't directed towards you. I posted a link above that may explain the Chase focus. Chase Bank must have done something to p*ss off the unions.
I beg your pardon, but were you really talking to me?
No, my spam comment was directed towards Atki but somehow ended up under your post. I'm sorry. :(
who knows, but we need to focus on targeting all them...
It's Time for a Million People March on Washington, D.C. to Reform Wall Street--Time to take back our Country from their Influence over OUR lawmakers! Here's how easily we do it, a focused good start: Take away their powers once again.
"We are here Congress because we want to REINSTATE the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 http://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/071603.asp#axzz1aPEc3wX which saved our country from the Great Depression by preventing banks and insurance companies from merging and becoming large brokerage firms; instead of Banks and Insurance companies--can't we learn a history lesson here Congress? Btw, why did most of you vote for its repeal in 1999? http://www.counterpunch.org/2008/09/19/shattering-the-glass-steagall-act/
And also we want you to CHANGE the Commodities Future Modernization Act of 2000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000 BACK to where it was before 2000, which since has deregulated energy markets and has allowed such scams as The Enron Loophole; whereas in the early 2000's Enron Corp. was charging 400 bucks plus for a kilowatt hour...They all when to jail for this. But, the Enron loophole is still not CLOSED, for example, allowing speculators to resell barrels of oil over and over again before it reaches the gas station owner. It's basically, legal gambling at our expense. What were those lawmakers thinking then? What are you thinking now? Either do the right thing, or you're part of 1%."
Reasons:
Why are oil prices high? The Enron Loophole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdtTGYQBMU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNp0y0SjOkY&feature=related
Rolling Stones Reporter: Truth about Goldman Sachs--how they have cornered the markets--basically, The Enron Loophole and the Repeal of Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waL5UxScgUw
Why is OWS not targeting GE Commercial on their $139,000,000,000 bailout?
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/ge-pays-taxes-14-billion-income-ceo-jeffery-immelt-jobs-advisor-president-obama-politics-13224912
Jeffrey Immelt's GE paid $0 in Taxes in 2010, and no outrage???!!! WTF???? Target: GE !!!!
The big banks were the recipients of the bailout money. The real villains are the politicians who gave them the money and they are in Washington DC.
And yet we keep reelecting them. How long has Barney Frank been in office now?
sub forum for corp names
http://occupywallst.org/forum/want-to-know-why-ows-targeting-chase/
"Why is OWS targetting Chase? What about Goldman Sachs? or Citibank? They were worse offenders than Chase.
Enlighten me." True enough, but Chase will do.
one thing seems clear... some of these banks can give a shit about America, the world or the economy... all they care about is staying in the casino...all in the guise of "profit for shareholders"...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/josephhargett/2011/10/14/what-do-bank-of-america-jpmorgan-ge-have-in-common/
True that.
similar thread here; http://occupywallst.org/forum/do-you-idiots-realize-that-chase-paid-back-every-p/
I think it is good question,,, we all need to know this stuff.. not simply jump of the band wagon for the fuck of it
see this link:
https://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=MjVpY2kzZHM2bGhlNG5hOXJtNDU5ZjVjYWMgOWEyNHNyaHE4dWdiMmw1b3ZhbW83MjNpMGdAZw&ctz=America/New_York&gsessionid=OK
Seems a union organized the march. Maybe they don't like Chase.
Laying off 14K workers after a bailout? That's low.
I'm not saying they are saints but, good gravy, Goldman Sachs and Citibank get a pass?
No pass for them either, but different groups may prioritize differently. If political money becomes more transparent, it dings all of them.
I found this in regards to the OWS protest scheduled for tomorrow in front of Chase bank:
https://www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=MjVpY2kzZHM2bGhlNG5hOXJtNDU5ZjVjYWMgOWEyNHNyaHE4dWdiMmw1b3ZhbW83MjNpMGdAZw&ctz=America/New_York&gsessionid=OK
It seems that a union organized this march. That could explain a lot.
that hardly looks like a union....
Labor activists? And "...The Chase march is coordinated by the Labor Outreach Working Group, a working group of the Occupy Wall Street movement, in a continuation of the outpouring of union support ..." is not union?
hehehe ... it looks more like a simple working group to me... I don't see anyone getting paid... what would they unionize for?
There are more than enough information centers (reliable) around the internet for you to get answers to this question. Long story short, Chase used bailout money to make tons of money, acquiring more customers by failing to positively act with other financial institutions during the time we were on the verge of economic collapse just to devalue those institutions so that they could be purchased for pennnies on the dollar. While Chase did pay back it's bailout money with interest it never once entertained cutting the tax payer in on profits made using our bailout money, and it continues to treat it's customers (including the bailout acquired customers) as though they are losing money, even though they are now making more money then they ever dreamed!
Huffington Post had this to say in April "The banking behemoth, which grew even larger in the three-month period ending in March, said profit skyrocketed to $5.6 billion, 67 percent more than the same period last year." They did all this while reducing lending, and lending is how banks profit. They profitted 67% more while not lending, they instead employed gouging!
That's interesting because our mortgage is with Chase. THEY contacted us to restructure our mortgage at a lower rate, no closing costs. We are a bit puzzled as to WHY they would do this but hey, sometimes you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
(But I do have to admit that I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop ... like are they somehow going to mess us over or something.)
I'm glad to hear that they want to restructure your mortgage, the same can't be said for my bank. It's possible that they are using some of that profit they acquired to help you out, if the deal looks reasonable go for it!
{Sheepishly typing} You know what? I used the wrong word. They offered to refinance at a lower interest rate, not restructure our mortgage. BIG difference. I am so sorry about that.
But still, by doing this, we will shave a couple of percentage points off our fixed rate and lower our monthly bill tremendously.
The deal does look reasonable but like I said before, I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Banks aren't known for doing you favors if there isn't something in it for them. I can't figure out why they are doing this.
if you haven't had trouble keeping up with payments, it really gets me why they would do it but hell, who knows!?! My bank is resistant because we haven't had trouble keeping up and won't unless I lose my job (or some other disaster). The problem is my house is worth about a third of what we paid for it because of the collapse. I'm supporting the movement because I believe Wall st. speculators caused the collapse that stripped property value, and they should either be in prison or begin immediately re-writing mortgages to reflect real values.
There were so many factors that led to the bust. Decisions by the government; home owners refinancing out the wazoo to buy more stuff; banks, brokers, and lenders riding the gravy train. It was like a party that nobody thought would end.
I'm a really sorry about your home value.See, to me and my way of thinking (and admittedly, I am not a finance person) I would think it would be in the bank's best interest to restructure the debt for certain homeowners. Wasn't there talk of the government forcing lenders to restructure a certain amount of homeowner's debt?
Maybe I just imagined that in my dreams.
yeah, in no way am I letting the refinancing addicts off the hook! Anyway, no you aren't imagining things, there was supposed to be a forced restructure but our politics has gotten so crazy (both parties I might add) that there was no way our politicians could stay the course and see it through. In fact one of the reasons we didn't fake a missed payment was because they were supposed to start with people that were comfortably making payments as a way to stimulate the economy (basically keep those people stable and in their homes they will spend or invest more over the short and long term blah blah).
That's exactly what I had heard about, which made perfect sense to me. There are many honest folk out there who are responsible with their finances who are being sunk by the deflated value in their properties.
The NY Times had an article a while back about homeowners who deliberately did not pay their mortgage but rather waited for the bank to foreclose on their property. They took the money that otherwise would have gone to the banks and socked it away for the future. In these homeowner's minds, it made more fiscal sense to walk away from a mortgage that was under water than to wait for the value to go up on their homes. At least they had some money in their pockets.
I completely understand their sentiments.
Chase paid back the tax payer bailout funds with interest, that is the profit that the tax payer received. So really, the question you should be asking is, why hasn't the government distributed the profit that they made from the bank bailout funds back to the tax payers.
good question, but the profit and the interest are not the same, Chase made billions on the acquisitions.
That's capitalism, you only get what's contractually yours. Maybe if Congress had a clue and stipulated that taxpayers receives x amount of earnings for the next few years, we wouldn't be here. Again, this is a government problem. The banks got into trouble in the first place because the government wanted every joe shmoe to be able to afford a mortgage, and surprise, a lot of deadbeats got loans they shouldn't have. And now, the banks are being chastised for being too careful. The problem is not the banks, but our elected officials.
agreeable.
Why is OWS not targeting GE Commercial on their $139,000,000,000 bailout?
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/ge-pays-taxes-14-billion-income-ceo-jeffery-immelt-jobs-advisor-president-obama-politics-13224912
Exactly.
All the banks pad TARP back with a govt making a profit ... When are we occupying Detroit ?
Do you really want to go to Detroit?
:)
LOL....seriously??? LOL
Yeah, I am. Why just Chase?
It is not very nice to sneer at somebody's question. I think it is a very valid question that doesn't deserve derision. If you don't want to answer that's fine but you don't need to sneer.
I apologize. If your question is why just Chase, the answer is I dont know. Goldman is the worst in my opinion. If your question is why Chase at all, well, that is another story because they were involved in the same kind of thing. But Goldman is the top tier of it and I dont know for the life of me why not them.
Thanks for your apology. Peace.
I agree with you about Goldman Sachs. That's why I was puzzled.
I posted a link above that may shed some light on this.
Many more people will come to your side when you are proactive (for “new” Business & Government solutions), instead of reactive (against “old” Business & Government solutions), which is why what we most immediately need is a comprehensive “new” strategy that implements all our various socioeconomic demands at the same time, regardless of party, and although I'm all in favor of taking down today's ineffective and inefficient Top 10% Management System of Business & Government, there's only one way to do it – by fighting bankers as bankers ourselves; that is, using a Focused Direct Democracy organized according to our current Occupations & Generations. Consequently, I have posted a 1-page Summary of the Strategically Weighted Policies, Organizational Operating Structures, and Tactical Investment Procedures necessary to do this at:
http://getsatisfaction.com/americanselect/topics/on_strategic_legal_policy_organizational_operational_structures_tactical_investment_procedures
Join
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/StrategicInternationalSystems/
because we need 100,000 “support clicks” at AmericansElect.org to support a Presidential Candidate -- such as any given political opportunist you'd like to draft -- in support of the above bank-focused platform.
Most importantly, remember, as cited in the first link above, that as Bank Owner-Voters in your 1 of 48 "new" Business Investment Groups (or "new" Congressional Committees) you become the "new" Congress replacing the "old" Congress according to your current Occupation & Generation, called a Focused Direct Democracy.
Therefore, any Candidate (or Leader) therein, regardless of party, is a straw man, a puppet; it's the STRATEGY – the sequence of steps – that the people organize themselves under, in Military Internet Formation of their Individual Purchasing & Group Investment Power, that's important. Sequence is key.
Why? Because there are Natural Social Laws – in mathematical sequence – that are just like Natural Physical Laws, such as the Law of Gravity. You must follow those Natural Social Laws or the result will be Injustice, War, etc.
The FIRST step in Natural Social Law is to CONTROL the Banks as Bank Owner-Voters. If you do not, you will inevitably be UNJUSTLY EXPLOITED by the Top 10% Management Group of Business & Government who have a Legitimate Profit Motive, just like you, to do so.
Consequently, you have no choice but to become Candidates (or Leaders) yourselves as Bank Owner-Voters according to your current Occupation & Generation.
So please JOIN the 2nd link, so we can make our support clicks at AmericansElect.org when called for by e-mail from the group in the 2nd link, and then you will see and feel how your goals can be accomplished within the strategy of the 1st link as a “new” Candidate (or Leader) of your Occupation & Generation.