Editor’s Note: Golly gee Jim-Bob! Not sure where we picked this up from – hold for link to original.
Everybody knows the GOP’s biggest weakness is money, so why not hit ’em in the sweet spot? That’s what many amazing Wisconsin firefighters did yesterday when they collectively began withdrawing their funds from Madison’s M&I Bank — whose executives and board members were among the highest donors to Governor Scott Walker’s campaign.
Heeding a call by Firefighters Local 311 President Joe Conway to ‘Move your money,’ union members withdrew over $100,000 from the bank, with some reports stating that number is as high as $192,000. Either way, it was a hefty enough chunk of change that M&I shut its doors and closed for the day at 3PM.
This is a very simple, very peaceful way to inflict some serious damage on the money-grubbers; super kudos to the Firefighters Union.
Anecdoctally — ‘M&I Bank received $1.7 billion in bailout money via President George W. Bush’s Troubled Assets Relief Program. The bank was acquired by the Bank of Montreal in December of 2010 for $4.1 billion in stock,’ reports Dane101.
UPDATE: Stranded Wind over at DailyKos has photos of the protest outside M&I, and says the ante has been upped to $600,000! ‘What these pictures show are six hundred ordinary citizens descending on the M&I branch near the Wisconsin Capitol after learning of their purchase of the gubernatorial election last November. Two firefighters with old school ideas about saving had over $600,000 between the two of them and they demanded cashier’s checks on the spot.’
Makes me wonder what the banks would do if EVERYONE withdrew their money ALL AT ONCE nationwide. And their other stuff like stocks, bonds, savings plans, and just keep their money somewhere else.
Well, the daily kos link has this delightful video that truly lifted my spirits this evening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTFASpNOpHw&feature=player_embedded#at=33
Yes!
Instead of creating and promoting the world wide crack epidemic in her “Just Say No” campaign Nance R. should have just said yes to her hubby’s speech on this day and manifested that.
Ronnie Reagan had the power –or at least spoke of it. Turns out he never used it in much of the right way pre-lucid dementia . But this speech is fucking amazing and dream like, sad he used a speech about human freedom and potential as a deep conversation of lies instead of a creative opening to action to what we want, need , and deserve. Daddy trauma. Does anyone remember hearing this? I don’t, I was something like a week old — but curious to know how others took to this at the time… I present Reagan at his 1980 labor day speech defending collective bargaining as a fun-dam-mental human freedom
article from truthdig including speech video and text. I highly recommend a watch and a read through.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/reagans_defense_of_collective_bargaining_20110311/
We have all kinds of power we don’t usually use. It’s time to start using it.
Very cool!
What an elegant, effective way of getting their point across!
And in other union news —
After N.F.L. Talks Fail, Union Decides to Decertify
Talks between the N.F.L. and the players union broke off
Friday, and the union took steps to dissolve itself, sending
the country’s most popular sport into labor turmoil and
imperiling the 2011 season.
The union is expected to seek an injunction to prevent owners
from locking players out, and perhaps file antitrust lawsuits
against owners, using big-name players as plaintiffs. The
collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight, and
after 16 sessions with the federal mediator George Cohen, the
sides still remain far apart on the percentages of revenues
each would receive, the fundamental issue that divides them.
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na
The sweetest thing I have read in a very. long. time.
“Super kudos” indeed to the Firefighters Union of Madison of Wisconsin for showing great ingenuity and chutzpah!