The Other 98%

On Citizens United Anniversary, Supreme Court Lit with Giant Dollar Signs

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:28:54 +0000

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On the eve of the second anniversary of the much-despised Citizens United ruling, activists with the Other 98% and Backbone Campaign put a giant dollar sign light projection on the Supreme Court building to protest the ruling that undermined government of, by and for the actual people by defining corporations as people and money as speech.

Two years ago, the Citizens United ruling opened the floodgates to secretive and unlimited corporate political contributions and permitted far-right special interests like billionaires David and Charles Koch to wield undue influence over the Court and U.S. politics.

“The Kochs and their kind are engaged in a hostile corporate takeover of our nation’s political system,” said John Sellers, co-founder of The Other 98%. “We’ve come to the scene of the crime today – the U.S. Supreme Court – to tell the justices exactly what we think of the infamous Citizens United ruling that made that takeover possible.”

“The Citizens United ruling has been a disaster for the middle class, who’ve been under constant assault in Congress and in the Supreme Court by Republicans accountable only to big corporations and the wealthy,” said Andrew Boyd, co-founder of The Other 98%.

Banks, oil companies and other big business interests, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have spent millions on lobbying, political contributions and misinformation campaigns that hurt 99% of Americans in order to benefit the richest 1%. Citizens United has created a toxic political environment in which corporations can spend unlimited sums of money to oppose candidates and legislation that would benefit seniors, families and businesses – and there’s no better time to let it be known than the second Citizens United anniversary.

To see our other Citizens United Supreme Court action, click here.

On Citizens United Anniversary, Supreme Court Lit with Giant Dollar Signs is a post on The Other 98%

Our Citizens United Supreme Court Action: ‘The US Supreme Koch’

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:53:23 +0000

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On the second anniversary of the much-despised Citizens United ruling, protesters gathered at the Supreme Court and unfurled a large banner reading “U.S. Supreme Koch” to protest the undue influence that far-right special interests and billionaires like the Koch brothers wield over the Court and U.S. politics.

Two years ago, the Citizens United ruling opened the floodgates to secretive and unlimited corporate political contributions and gave a major boost to the rapidly expanding political empire of David and Charles Koch and those of other millionaires and billionaires.

“The Supreme Court has undermined government of, by and for the actual people by defining corporations as people and money as speech,” said Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, the largest grassroots health care advocacy organization. “The Citizens United ruling has been a disaster for the middle class, which is under constant assault in Congress and in the Supreme Court by Republicans accountable only to big corporations and the wealthy. It’s crucial that the justices be independent of corporate influences when they rule on matters like the health care case, which will forever affect health insurance consumers and 100 million people who rely on Medicare and Medicaid.”

Insurance companies and other big business interests, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have fought comprehensive health care reform for years, spending millions on lobbying, political contributions and misinformation campaigns that hurt consumers. Citizens United created a toxic political environment in which corporations can spend unlimited sums of money to oppose candidates and legislation that would benefit seniors, families and businesses.

Thanks to Health Care for America Now, Backbone Campaign, Greenpeace, Velvet Revolution and AFSCME for helping us pull this off.

Our Citizens United Supreme Court Action: ‘The US Supreme Koch’ is a post on The Other 98%

The Best New Year’s Resolution: Leave your bank in 2012.

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:51:31 +0000

Sign the petition

This Action In Partnership With

“I pledge, as my new year’s resolution, to move my money from megabanks like Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo at some point in 2012, preferably into a credit union or community bank.

Sincerely,
[your name here]”

Complete the following to sign. You’ll also receive periodic updates on activism opportunities from The Other 98% and Move Our Money.

The Best New Year’s Resolution: Leave your bank in 2012.

Quit smoking; read more; eat healthier – all great plans for 2012. But when it comes to new year’s resolutions, there’s only one that’s going to change the year for everybody: Leave Your Bank, and Move Our Money from the big banks in 2012.

Declare your New Year’s Resolution with thousands of other people today: in 2012, we’re going to Move Our Money.

Moving your money out of megabanks like Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America is not only a good thing for our economy – it’s a good thing for your wallet and your community.

Instead of paying ridiculous fees and needless surchanges, your money will be doing good closer to where you live – whether that’s through a credit union that serves non-corporate people, or a community bank that invests in your hometown.

Let the word know: in 2012, you’re going to move your money out of the megabanks once and for all.

Been delinquent on moving your money in the past? This is the perfect opportunity to finally get it done: let the world know it’s going to take place, and give yourself the entire year to make it happen.

The Best New Year’s Resolution: Leave your bank in 2012. is a post on The Other 98%

End The Banker Bonuses This Holiday Season

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:59:00 +0000

Sign the petition

The petition reads:

“To: John G. Stumpf, CEO, Wells Fargo
Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase
Brian Moynihan, CEO, Bank of America
Lloyd Blankfein, CEO, Goldman Sachs
James P. Morgan, CEO, Morgan Stanley
Vikram Pandit, CEO, CitiBank

According to the latest data on year-end bank bonuses, 3.5 million jobs with benefits could’ve been created by spending the bonuses from only six firms: Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and CitiBank.

Are you serious? At a time when record numbers of Americans are dealing with joblessness created by your financial crash, and homelessness created by your forged foreclosures?

It’s time to spend the unearned bonus money on human needs, not executive greed. We’re demanding that you stop the unearned bonuses this year.

Sincerely,
[your name here]”

Complete the following to sign. You’ll also receive periodic updates on activism opportunities from The Other 98%.

End The Banker Bonuses This Holiday Season

Did you know we could end the unemployment crisis this very moment?

It’s very simple – if last year’s bank executive bonuses from the six biggest financial firms we bailed out went to creating jobs with middle-class jobs with benefits, the unemployment rate would plummet to 6.75% – the same as before the financial crisis.¹

The banker bonuses have gotten more and more obscene – and instead of spending the money we gave them in the bailout on hiring new workers or failproofing their risky investments, the big banks are lavishing their executives with unearned bonuses. Even worse, that bonus money represents a small percentage of their total compensation – they could do the right thing and only take a small hit on their overall take-home pay.

How bad has it gotten? Even worse than we feared: According to the latest data on year-end bank bonuses, 3.5 million jobs with benefits could’ve been created by spending last year’s reported executive bonuses from only six firms: Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and CitiBank.²

Are they serious? At a time when record numbers of Americans are dealing with joblessness created by their financial crash, and homelessness created by their forged foreclosures? The big bank attitude seems to be “Big Bonus for me – the rest of you can go Scrooge Yourself.” Well, we’re not going to take it this holiday season.

Join us in sending a message to the big banks TODAY: it’s time to spend the bonus money on human needs, not executive greed. You can refuse the bonuses – or accept us Occupying your bonuses.

Some of the most brilliant economic minds to predict the financial crisis are now calling attention to the awful risk and moral hazard presented by out-of-control banker bonuses. Nassim Nicholas Taleb has taken to the New York Times editorial page with an inconvenient truth: it’s time to eliminate banker bonuses.³

Bonuses are particularly dangerous because they invite bankers to game the system by hiding the risks of rare and hard-to-predict but consequential blow-ups, which I have called “black swan” events. The meltdown in the United States subprime mortgage market, which set off the global financial crisis, is only the latest example of such disasters.

1. “Big Banks Bonus Bonanza Annual Report 2010“, Appendix: Total Job Creation By Bank, SEIU; Extrapolation of job data taken from “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey“, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor.
2. Ibid.
3. “Taleb: Banker bonuses should be banned“, Boing Boing.

End The Banker Bonuses This Holiday Season is a post on The Other 98%

It’s Time For Clarence Thomas To Recuse Himself

admin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:11:30 +0000

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This Action In Partnership With

The petition reads:

“Dear Justice Thomas,

We respectfully ask you to do the right thing and recuse yourself from the upcoming Supreme Court case regarding the Affordable Care Act.

Federal law requires that Justices recuse themselves when their “impartiality might be reasonably questioned.” Given that your household has, by your own admission, directly profited from lobbying against the Affordable Care Act, and stands to further profit from a Supreme Court ruling against the Act, we respectfully urge you to recuse yourself.

Sincerely,
[your name here]”

Complete the following to sign. You’ll also receive periodic updates on activism opportunities from The Other 98% and Health Care For America Now.

It’s Time For Clarence Thomas To Recuse Himself

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is set to hear a landmark case on President Obama’s Affordable Care Act – even though he has a direct financial stake in its failure. Justice Thomas needs to recuse himself.

How blatant is Justice Thomas’ conflict of interest? 74 members of Congress urged him to recuse himself from any decision regarding the ACA – more than six months before it even reached the Supreme Court. Justice Thomas only revealed under longstanding legal obligation that opposing the ACA brought his household hundreds of thousands of dollars through his spouse Ginni Thomas’ lobbying – with promises of future gigs if she can defeat the piece of legislation before the bulk of it goes into effect.

Sign our emergency letter to Justice Thomas today: Recuse yourself from ruling on President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

This isn’t a question of legal philosophy – this is a question of being honest. It’s time for Justice Thomas to recuse himself.

We echo the 74 members of Congress who joined earlier this year to affirm the following:

The appearance of a conflict of interest merits recusal under federal law. From what we have already seen, the line between your impartiality and you and your wife’s financial stake in the overturn of health care reform is blurred. Your spouse is advertising herself as a lobbyist who has ‘experience and connections’ and appeals to clients who want a particular decision – they want to overturn health care reform. Moreover, your failure to disclose Ginni Thomas’s receipt of $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, a prominent opponent of health care reform, between 2003 and 2007 has raised great concern.

This is not the first case where your impartiality was in question. As Common Cause points out, you ‘participated in secretive political strategy sessions, perhaps while the case was pending, with corporate leaders whose political aims were advanced by the [5-4] decision’ on the Citizens United case.

Given these facts, there is a strong conflict between the Thomas household’s financial gain through your spouse’s activities and your role as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

It’s Time For Clarence Thomas To Recuse Himself is a post on The Other 98%

It’s time to Occupy our Communities.

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:10:16 +0000

Looking for solidarity events with the November 17th Day of Action? You can find them here.

Last night, at one of the biggest General Assemblies ever, OWS called for the 99% movement to show it’s solidarity tomorrow by hitting the streets with simple cardboard signs with powerful personal messages. We hope you’ll take a few minutes to make your own tonight, using these as inspiration:

It’s time to Occupy our Communities. is a post on The Other 98%

“Tax The 1%”: It’s Time to Occupy Our Communities

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:22:58 +0000

Michael Bloomberg believes he can just evict Occupy Wall Street and the 99% will hush up? It doesn’t work that way – if our parks are deemed off-limits, we’re just going to occupy our communities, like Bay Area artist Brad Newsham and 1000 area residents did with a simple message: Tax the 1%.

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“Tax The 1%”: It’s Time to Occupy Our Communities is a post on The Other 98%

Why a Crowd Spelled Out “TAX THE 1%” on a San Francisco Beach

admin — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:48:01 +0000

[Press release available at http://www.humanbannersf.com/tax-the-1-percent/]

On Saturday, October 29th, over 1000 Americans laid their bodies down on a San Francisco beach to spell out “TAX THE 1%.” This protest was just the latest in the wave of protests that have swept the nation since protesters occupied Wall Street.

“I work hard every day,” said event organizer and Bay Area cab driver, Brad Newsham. “It isn’t right that I pay higher taxes than billionaires like Warren Buffet. And actually, Mr. Buffet agrees with me on this.” Recently the “Buffet Rule” has become a touchstone of Obama’s proposal to tax millionaires to fund his job program. Republicans in Congress have blocked both initiatives, but recent polls show that 73% of Americans (including 66% of Republicans, and 52% of Tea Partiers) support the Buffet Rule and want to raise taxes on millionaires.₁

The “TAX THE 1%” human banner was scheduled almost exactly a year before Election Day 2012. This is no coincidence. “We’re putting Obama and all the Presidential candidates on notice,” said event co-organizer and Other 98% founder, Andrew Boyd. “The 99% of us have been hammered by this economy. It’s time for the 1% to pay their fair share.” Over the last 30 years incomes of the 99% of Americans have stagnated, while the 1% has seen their share of the national income more than double over the same period.₂

“Everyone knows the game is rigged,” said Newsham. “One simple thing we can do right now to make things more fair is to tax the 1%. And we came down here to spell it out.”

“They say we’re not supposed to tax the rich because they’re the ‘job creators.’” said Boyd. “Well, where are the jobs? Instead of creating jobs, they took the money they got from the Bush tax cuts and put it into risky financial speculation that destroyed the economy.” Even with historically low tax rates for the 1%, job growth has declined. A recent CBS News poll showed that only 18% of Americans believe that cutting taxes on millionaires will spur job creation.₃

The percentage of taxes paid by millionaires has steadily declined over the last 50 years. In 1961, Americans earning over $1 million (adjusted for 2011 dollars) paid 43.1% of their incomes in taxes. Last year, millionaires paid 23.1% of their income in taxes.₄

Newsham hired a helicopter and photographer to fly overhead and take pictures. The event was a collaboration between Mr. Newsham and The Other 98%, a net-roots powerhouse with over 120,000 facebook followers.

The crowd was estimated at over 1000, including two San Francisco City Supervisors.

1. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/poll-73-percent-support-the-buffett-rule-including-66-percent-of-republicans.php

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/us/politics/top-earners-doubled-share-of-nations-income-cbo-says.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

3. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20114988-503544.html

4. http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/unnecessary_austerity_unnecessary_government_shutdown

Why a Crowd Spelled Out “TAX THE 1%” on a San Francisco Beach is a post on The Other 98%

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan: Do Right by Scott Olsen

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:10:01 +0000

Sign the petition

Dear Mayor Jean Quan,
It is unacceptable that the Oakland police assaulted unarmed Occupy protesters this week in a crack-down that left Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen in critical condition.

I demand that you fire police chief Howard Jordan for his role in the crackdown, order the Oakland Police Department to release all records, and begin a thorough investigation into police misconduct, punishing those responsible. Above all, you must allow peaceful protesters to remain in the park as is guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Sincerely,
[your name here]”

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Your comment to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan: Do Right by Scott Olsen

The violent police assault on Occupy protesters in Oakland left Iraq War Veteran Scott Olsen in critical condition with a cracked skull and hundred of others injured and sick. This is unacceptable. It’s time for Oakland Mayor Jean Quan to do the right thing.

Because of public pressure, she is allowing Occupy Oakland protesters back in the public plaza — for now. But the Mayor, Police Chief and Oakland City Administrator must answer for the larger issue of the abuse of power, excessive force on unarmed protesters, and our right to free speech and assembly under the First Amendment.

This Action In Partnership With

Mayor Jean Quan must:

Fire the newly-installed interim Police Chief Howard Jordan for his mishandling of the entire operation.
Order the Oakland Police Department to release all records about the use of force.
Begin a thorough investigation into police misconduct and punish those responsible.
Allow peaceful protesters to remain in “Oscar Grant” Plaza, as is guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan: Do Right by Scott Olsen is a post on The Other 98%

Dear President Obama: End Lobbyist Influence, Stop The Pipeline

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:07:56 +0000

Sign the petition

President Obama,

I am outraged about the evidence of oil lobbyist influence in the State Department’s evaluation of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline.

Mr. President, when you ran for office, you inspired millions with your call to change the way that Washington works by curbing the influence of lobbyists. Are you still that person, or have you sold out to Big Oil?

Reject your State Department’s Big Oil bias and the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Sincerely,
[your name here]”

Complete the following to sign. You’ll also receive periodic updates on activism opportunities from The Other 98%, Friends Of The Earth, DeSmogBlog, and Oil Change International.

President Obama: Stop The Pipeline

Have you heard about the Keystone XL pipeline? It’s a massive Big Oil project that would carry crude oil from Canadian tar sands, across the United States, and into the global marketplace – all while spewing enough carbon into the air to make it impossible to deal with future climate change.

That’s right – it will ruin our children’s future, while providing zero benefit to the American economy or American workers.

President Obama can veto the pipeline by himself – but groups like DeSmogBlog, Oil Change International, The Other 98% and Friends of the Earth investigated the cozy relationships between key State Department officials and corporate lobbyists for the pipeline, and they lead all the way to the president’s doorstep.

President Obama made a campaign promise to shut out oil lobbyists, yet the State Department’s blatant bias toward approving the Keystone XL pipeline is a clear example of oil influence over our democracy.

It’s not too late for the president to do the right thing. Join our letter to President Obama today.

Check out our investigative infographic on the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Obama administration:

Dear President Obama: End Lobbyist Influence, Stop The Pipeline is a post on The Other 98%