Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition of 200 groups, started raising $5 million last June to wage its campaign. It has field staffs in 12 states to get out its message and is also doing a petition drive.

Read the full article here.

SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS CALL ON U.S. CHAMBER TO REVEAL FUNDERS OF ADS ATTACKING FINANCIAL REFORM
Small business owners available for comment

Washington, DC – Immediately after Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd released his long awaited financial reform package on Monday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at gutting the legislation of one of its core components, the creation of a consumer financial protection agency.  Small business owners from the Main Street Alliance network responded today by stating their support for a strong, independent consumer agency and questioning the backing for the Chamber’s new ads.

“While we applaud Chairman Dodd’s leadership on this important issue, we believe the independence of a consumer protection agency is critical to ensure that it can do the job of protecting small businesses and other consumers from deceptive and abusive lending practices,” said Nancie Koeber owner of Champions Realtime Training in Central Point, OR.  Small businesses have been particularly hard hit by the recession as their customer base has dwindled and access to credit has dried up.  “Our business no longer participates in the Chamber of Commerce due to their continued lack of support for small business needs on a number of issues, including financial reform.  Small businesses deserve to know who’s funding these ads and what role the big banks are playing.”

The U.S. Chamber came under scrutiny in January for running ads attacking health reform in the name of the business community with covert funding of between $10 million and $20 million from the health insurance industry.  Last week, a Chamber spokesman admitted that a new volley of ads attacking health reform also has financial backing from health insurers.

The disconnect between the Chamber’s opposition to financial reform and the support of everyday small business owners raises the question of what role Wall Street have played in funding the Chamber’s new anti-financial reform ads, or funding the Chamber in general.  Tax records from 2008 show that 19 companies or individuals contributed between $1 million and $15.3 million to the Chamber, providing a third of its total revenue that year.

“The Chamber of Commerce is lobbying against financial reform, and is against a strong consumer financial protection agency, because the Chamber represents those big businesses that have profited by lack of oversight and regulation,” said Jeanne Boisineau, owner of JB Casting in Richmond, Virginia. “Numbering over 24 million, small businesses are the financial backbone of this country, and we deserve access to credit on fair terms so that we can continue to grow and re-create the much needed jobs lost in the past few years.”

In January, the Main Street Alliance released a survey of over 1,200 business owners in 13 states where more than two thirds of business owners surveyed (67 percent) supported creation of a consumer financial protection agency.

ABA’s Account: The subprime mortgage market collapse does “not warrant a fundamental overhaul of the basic regulatory structure. Banking regulators… have since responded in a coordinated and measured way to preserve both confidence and liquidity in the banking system.” – American Bankers Association President Ed Yingling, November 20, 2007

How wrong could they be: Mass foreclosures will continue until 2013.

Washington, DC – As the American Bankers Association swarms Capitol Hill this week in yet another attempt to avoid accountability for the financial crisis, Americans for Financial Reform is asking Members of Congress to consider what past statements from the groups’ president Ed Yingling reveal about how he has fundamentally misunderstood the role the big banks he represents have played in this financial crisis.

Heather Booth, Executive Director, Americans for Financial Reform: “Why would you even entertain advice from an Association who represents those who created this financial crisis and is led by someone who has – time and time again – been fundamentally wrong about the how unchecked greed made possible by lack of regulation has led to the near collapse of the banks he represents? The American Bankers Association can continue to profess they have all the answers in solving our economic woes, but the record speaks for itself.  We need real financial reform that will crack down on greedy and abusive behavior by banks to prevent another financial crisis. Clearly, because it might cut into their million dollar paydays, that’s not going to be the talking points for those ABA members on the Hill this week.”

FLASHBACK: ABA’s Account vs. Reality

ABA’s Account: In April 26, 2007, ABA President Ed Yingling, commenting on why there’s no need to reform credit card companies practices, said,  “…the highly competitive nature of the [credit] card market puts consumers in the driver’s seat. For example, we have seen that features that are unpopular with consumers often are competed away.”

How wrong could they be: As the public knows all too well, the credit companies continue with outrageous fees, stopping only where specifically prohibited by law, like the CARD Act that Congress that went into effect last month.

ABA’s Account: On September 27, 2006, when discussing expanding accountability of big banks ABA President Ed Yingling said, “Congress [should] permit the regulators to continue doing what they do best, namely, rigorously apply safety and soundness principles in an environment that permits banks to grow and serve their communities.”

How wrong could they be: The banks reckless behavior and the regulators’ failure to act caused the largest financial collapse since the Great Depression.

Click here for the report, here for the latest Huffington Post blog from NPA Director George Goehl, and here for video from the press conference.  See below for the press release.

National People’s Action, Senator Durbin Release Devastating Chicago Foreclosure Report
Report Reveals a Foreclosure in Chicago Foreclosure Every 22 Minutes

March 15, 2010, Chicago – 18 months after reckless and predatory lending took down the U.S. economy, foreclosures are occurring at a record pace and Washington has yet to enact any meaningful reform of the financial industry.

While the minority and low-income neighborhoods that were the main targets of predatory lending continue to bear the brunt of foreclosure, the devastation is spreading.   The sub-prime crisis has meant high unemployment and slashed City and State budgets, which in turn has led to foreclosure spikes in virtually every neighborhood in the City of Chicago.   Over half of the land in Chicago is within 1/10th of a mile of a foreclosed property.  In addition, the average Chicago homeowner has lost $27,000 in their home’s value in the last 5 years.   Citywide that adds up to approximately $15 Billion in wealth down the drain.

‘The picture we get is that foreclosures only happen in low income and working class communities,’ said Curtis Smith, a community leader from the Lakeview Action Coalition.   ‘We know that the foreclosure crisis is a wave that is afflicting communities of all stripes.  In my community, Lincoln Park, the rate of foreclosures increased 105% in the last year, which is the largest increase in Chicago.  It has taken longer to reach us, but the foreclosure crisis is here.’

The escalating rise in foreclosures in Chicago last year shows that the financial crisis is far from over.  Risky and reckless subprime loans that caused the foreclosure crisis are still legal – Banks and mortgage brokers can still sell  option ARMs, interest only, and no doc loans.  The U.S. Senate is considering following the House to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would stop the spread of risky and reckless financial products, but it faces stiff opposition from the banking industry.

“Predatory and subprime lending created an unprecedented foreclosure crisis that sent our economy into a tailspin, resulting in millions of people losing their jobs, and spurring even more foreclosures.  To keep this from happening again, we need a strong, independent consumer protection agency that will protect all of us from predatory and unsafe financial products,” said George Goehl, Executive Director of National People’s Action.

National People’s Action is a national organizing, policy, research, and training center for grassroots community organizations dedicated to building power to reclaim our democracy and advance racial and economic justice. For more than 36 years, NPA has worked to build and strengthen people’s organizations, develop indigenous leadership, and advance campaigns for a more just, equitable, and sustainable society.

Washington

Heather Booth, Executive Director, Americans for Financial Reform: “We applaud Chairman Dodd for moving forward towards passage of legislation to protect American consumers and increase the stability of the economy. The American public has been at the mercy of the Big Banks and their reckless behavior for too long, and we need to move ahead swiftly to fight back against their efforts to derail reform. We will continue to advocate for the strongest financial protections for the American people.”

“While we appreciate Chairman Dodd’s work, we remain concerned about aspects of the bill and believe that it must be strengthened as it moves through the legislative process. One of our key concerns is the independence of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). A strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency must be the cornerstone of any meaningful reform. We believe the best way to structure a strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency is through a stand alone agency, and we are troubled by the provisions that allow Consumer Financial Protection Agency decisions to be appealed to a council dominated by institutions that failed consumers in the past, and by holes in its enforcement authority.  Derivatives, and other elements of the shadow markets must be clearly and effectively regulated, without exceptions or loopholes that undermine these rules, and we must put real measures in place to take on the menace of ‘too big too fail’ banks playing heads they win tails we lose games with our economy.

“While we are still reading the language, features of the proposal we applaud include the civil rights office and mission at the CFPA, the step towards increased accountability and decreased conflict of interest at the Federal Reserve represented by Presidential appointment of the President of the powerful New York Fed, and inclusion of the corporate governance reforms which industry opponents are trying to strip from the bill.

“The Big Banks, and their army of lobbyists, are out in full force to weaken and defeat meaningful legislation. Everyday that we delay is another day the Big Banks are winning. We urge the committee to begin mark-up next week, as planned, and pass a strong bill by the Easter Recess. It has been well over a year since the Big Banks bought our economy to the edge of the abyss. It is far past time for action.”

On the call will be Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Consumer Program Director, Heather Booth, Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform, Nancy Zirkin, Executive Vice President for Policy of the Leadership Conference, Heather McGhee, Washington Director of Demos and Lisa Lindley of AFSCME.

Who: AFR Leaders

What: Press Call on Financial Reform

Where: Contact us for call-in information

When: Monday, March 15^th at 5:00pm ET

The first rule of real financial reform is that you can’t stop fighting for it.

The second rule of real financial reform is that you CAN’T STOP fighting for it.

Big banks must be held accountable, consumers must have independent regulators looking out for their interests, and the casino economy must be ended. However, there will be no accountability, there will be no protection against future crises, and there will be no end to reckless greed and speculation unless people keep shouting and demanding it.

Last year, when the country was outraged over executive bonuses at AIG, a frightened House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass new restrictions on bank bonuses. But, when the outrage faded from the news, the bank lobbyists were still on Capitol Hill and the Senate failed to take any action. Those restrictions never became law, as the Senate continues to dawdle.

Read the full post here.

Click here to see the full report (pdf).