News Release

Congressional Moves to Protect Consumers and Provide Financial Oversight Good First Step

Jennifer Ettinger — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:11:55 -0700

WASHINGTON – Campaign for America's Future co-director Robert Borosage today praised the House Financial Services Committee for taking steps to protect consumers from predatory financial practices by approving the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. In praising the legislation, Borosage noted that the bill should be strengthened as it moves through Congress to prevent another economic crisis.

STATEMENT OF ROBERT BOROSAGE

Although the legislation has far to go, the committee created a much-needed independent agency to protect consumers from predatory lending and deceptive practices. Now the House and Senate must strengthen and pass the bill.

Chairman Frank should be complimented for fending off a fierce effort against the legislation by the big banking lobby. They couldn’t kill it, but they did weaken it significantly.

The Committee limited enforcement authority for 98 percent of the nation’s banks, which control 20 percent of assets; exempted auto loan and insurance products; and omitted provisions to enforce important community lending standards. Most damaging, it replaced President Obama's proposed independent oversight board with an advisory committee of financial regulators who failed to protect the American public from Wall Street in the first place.

The House bill is a good first step. It should be strengthened on the floor of the House. It will take a major mobilization to protect it against obstruction in the Senate.

# # #

**NOTE: Media representatives interested in interviewing Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage should contact Jenn Ettinger at jettinger@ourfuture.org. **

HOUSE PASSES BUDGET THAT REPRESENTS HISTORIC CHANGE

Toby Chaudhuri — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:27:21 -0700

WASHINGTON – Campaign for America’s Future co-director Roger Hickey said that the federal budget passed by President Obama’s allies in the U.S. House marks a major shift from the failed policies that got us into this economic mess.

STATEMENT OF ROGER HICKEY

Conservatives in Washington created the worst economic crisis in generations. They mortgaged the country – running up record deficits and record foreign debts – without making the investments vital to future prosperity. That bill has come due. The economic recovery package and this budget are needed to begin moving us in a dramatically different direction.

This budget represents transformational change. It puts people first, invests in our future and helps us get out of the hole we’re in.

People across the country are behind the president’s budget because it will move the country toward long-term economic recovery. It makes investments we need to recover – in health care reform, green jobs, climate protection, education and other vital programs for working families.

# # #

PROGRESSIVES, EMBOLDENED BY OBAMA ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN, READY TO TURN THE PAGE AND FIX THE ECONOMY

Jennifer Ettinger — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:43:04 -0800

The progressive base is on the march in support of the long-term investments President-elect Obama outlined in his economic recovery plan today, according to a statement released by Campaign for America’s Future co-director Roger Hickey. In response to the deepening crisis and more job losses, the Campaign for America’s Future last month released the Main Street Economic Recovery Plan that was endorsed by more than a hundred economists and dozens of labor and public interest leaders who represent more than 20 million Americans. All of the key elements of the Campaign for America’s Future’s “substantial, strategic, and sustained” recovery plan are in the president-elect’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

STATEMENT OF ROGER HICKEY

The economy is worsening and the time for talk is over. It’s up to us to make change happen now. The economy needs exactly what Obama calls for – swift and bold action. The benefits of moving a bill quickly are clear and the dangers of delay are growing. We need to stimulate renewed growth, create jobs, and get help to working families across the country.

Progressives are on board and moving fast to press Congress to pass the president-elect’s plan without delay. Obama’s smart plan for preventing a protracted recession in the short-term is aimed at investing in America to ensure prosperity in the long-term – by creating jobs, generating clean energy, modernizing infrastructure and expanding access to health care and high-quality education.

We at CAF help to lead a strong coalition of activist groups – called the Jobs and Economic Recovery Campaign – which is already working hard to ensure that the economic recovery plan remains big and bold, retains substantial public investment, creates jobs now and puts us back on the path to long-term prosperity.

# # #

**To schedule an interview with Campaign for America’s Future co-director Roger Hickey, please contact Jennifer Ettinger at 202-587-1639 or jettinger@ourfuture.org.**

NEW REPORT: PUBLIC INSURANCE OPTION NEEDED TO PROVIDE AFFORDABLE, QUALITY HEALTH COVERAGE

Toby Chaudhuri — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:11:13 -0800

A new public health insurance plan that competes directly with private insurers is essential to controlling health care costs and improving the quality of care, according to a new report released today by the Institute for America’s Future and the UC Berkeley School of Law’s Center on Health, Economic & Family Security. The report, by health care expert and UC Berkeley professor Jacob Hacker, says a public health insurance plan like Medicare offered together with private health plans could result in $1 trillion in national savings over ten years by driving down costs, improving efficiencies and fostering innovation.

President-elect Obama, his health care point person Tom Daschle, Senate Finance Committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus and House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee chairman Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., have all embraced the idea of adding a public plan to help fix the ailing health care system, but the insurance industry opposes a public option. New data in today’s report provides fresh ammunition to this debate by showing how a public plan can maintain lower costs over time while providing broad, guaranteed and quality coverage.

Dr. Hacker released the report on a conference call with reporters today noting that the clearest evidence of the savings produced by a public plan is its premiums.

“Premiums with a public plan cost about three-quarters the amount private insurers charge for the same set of benefits,” said Hacker. “It’s an essential element to any national health care reform proposal.”

Hacker said that private plans operating without public insurance competition have been unable to contain spiraling health care costs and unwilling to cover at-risk patients. However, a public-private hybrid can provide an important check on both public and private sectors, ensuring flexibility, accountability and inclusiveness.

Rep. Stark agreed with Hacker on today’s call, declaring that it’s time we had an alternative plan that’s driven by cost-controls and quality care, not private profit.

“A public plan is an important component of any health care reform,” said Rep. Stark. “A public plan like Medicare would be more efficient and would provide greater choice. Without a public plan, insurance companies will have little incentive to control costs, reaping profits at the expense of beneficiaries.”

Institute for America’s Future co-director Roger Hickey joined Rep. Stark and Hacker on the call, noting that the national health care debate will center on the public insurance option.

“Public insurance as part of a comprehensive solution was fully debated in the 2008 elections,” said Hickey. “People across the country believe public insurance is a common-sense choice that will help control health inflation and assure quality.”

Hacker’s report, “The Case for Public Plan Choice,” clearly shows that public insurance has a better track record than private insurance at reining in costs while preserving access to quality services. A public plan is essential to set a standard against which private plans must compete. The report outlines how public insurance has pioneered new payment and quality-improvement methods that have often set the standard for private plans and how it has the potential to carry out these vital tasks even more effectively in the future, using information technology, large databases of practices and outcomes, and new payment approaches and care-coordination strategies.

# # #

**A summary and copy of the full report, “The Case for Public Plan Choice,” is available at http://institute.ourfuture.org/hacker, or http://www.law.berkeley.edu/chefs.htm. A recording of the call is available at http://assets.ourfuture.org/audio/20081217-Hacker-Plan-Press-Conf.mp3.**

ECONOMISTS, LABOR LEADERS: ECONOMY NEEDS SUBSTANTIAL, STRATEGIC, SUSTAINED $900B OR MORE BOOST OVER TWO YEARS

Toby Chaudhuri — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:23:37 -0800

WASHINGTON – The economy needs at least a $900 billion boost over the next two years, according to a detailed economic recovery plan released today by more than a hundred economists and dozens of labor and public interest leaders who represent more than 20 million Americans.

With payrolls plunging, retail sales dropping and manufacturing contracting, the Campaign for America’s Future today released a statement signed by 127 economists, 27 major labor leaders and 59 public interest organizations, outlining a “substantial, strategic, and sustained” program for economic recovery. The statement, released on a conference call with reporters today, calls for a floor of $450 billion a year for the next two years. Given the severity of the recent financial crisis, they argue that $450 billion a year over two years should be considered the “floor” of any plan.

The plan stresses that investments be made in areas vital to the economy – in energy efficiency and renewable energy, in modernizing our collapsing infrastructure and in expanding pre-kindergarten and college affordability. It urges aid to states and localities to avoid devastating layoffs, and assistance to the low wage workers most impacted by the downturn.

Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage said these investments should be made as soon as possible and not only continue for two years, but be sustained with needed investments afterwards.

“Congress must know by now that the time for delay, for half-measures, for one-off rebates is over. We need a substantial, strategic and sustained plan to get this economy going,” said Borosage. “President Obama has the moment, the mandate, and the majority to drive fundamental reform over this next period. It is vital that citizen leaders not sit by passively, but help define the course and clear the way.”

University of Texas professor and economist James Galbraith joined Borosage on today’s call. Galbraith said these investments will have a greater return on investment in generating jobs and growth than tax cuts, and should be the centerpiece of a strategic recovery plan.

“Economic recovery in an existential crisis like this means actually building a new economy,” said Galbraith. “For that, we need investment—to restore our roads, rails, transit, broadband, and water systems, to build parks and museums and libraries, to protect the environment.”

United Steelworkers president and AFL-CIO executive council chair Leo Gerard also joined Borosage on today’s call. Gerard said signers of today’s statement will mobilize a major educational effort to encourage Congress to act rapidly to create a plan ready for President-elect Barack Obama to sign on day one, noting that “substantial action to get the real economy going is long overdue.”

# # #

**For a copy and summary of today’s economic statement and a complete list of signers, please visit http://ourfuture.org/mainstreetrecovery .**

MAIN STREET ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN
http://ourfuture.org/mainstreetrecovery

Breakdown of the investments outlined in the economic plan (investment area -- first year, second year. Figures in billions):

--Green investments -- 50, 50
--Infrastructure -- 75, 150
--Aid to states -- 50, 75
--Education -- 40, 40
--Research and development -- 5, 10
--Health care -- 15, 55
--Unemployment insurance and COBRA subsidy -- 15, 15
--Food stamps -- 15, 15
--Poverty reduction -- 40, 40
--Middle-class tax cut -- 145, -
--Total over two years -- 900

More than 127 economists, 27 major labor leaders and 59 public interest organizations signed the Campaign for America’s Future’s economic plan. Signers include:

--John Sweeney, president, AFL-CIO
--Andrew Stern, president, SEIU
--Gerald McEntee, international president, AFSCME
--Anna Burger, chair, Change to Win
--Ron Gettelfinger, president, UAW
--Dennis van Roekel, president, NEA
--Leo Gerard, international president, USW
--Mike Wessell, senior advisor, Alliance for American Manufacturing
--Robert Borosage, co-director, Campaign for America's Future
--David Bonior, chair, American Rights at Work
--James Galbraith, economist
--Robert Johnson, economist
--Heidi Hartmann, President, Institute for Women’s Policy Research
--Jane D'Arista, Financial Markets Center
--Robert Kuttner, co-editor, The American Prospect and Demos senior fellow
--Julie Matthaei, Professor of Economics, Wellesley College
--Jeff Faux, economist, Economic Policy Institute
--Dean Baker, economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research
--Carl Pope, director, Sierra Club

ECONOMIC CRISIS MAKES “RUBINOMICS” IRRELEVANT

Jennifer Ettinger — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:00:00 -0800

WASHINGTON – Responding to concerns that President-elect Obama’s new economic leadership team is dominated by people who played a role in creating the current crisis, Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage said that deepening economic emergency makes “Rubinomics” irrelevant. Borosage said that today’s announcement is a key step toward enacting a bold economic recovery plan.

Many progressives are concerned that the president-elect’s economic team is dominated by allies of former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who opposed the regulation of derivatives and other measures blamed for the economic crisis. Rubin is senior counselor and director of Citigroup Inc., which has just received a $20 billion cash infusion and hundreds of billions of dollars in loan guarantees from taxpayers.

STATEMENT OF ROBERT BOROSAGE
It's not the personnel, it's the policy. And on this, Obama has been clear. He's announced a massive recovery plan based on putting people to work with public investment in areas vital to our future.

The crisis we face makes Rubinomics irrelevant. Deficit spending must go up, finance must be re-regulated, trade imbalances must be reduced and manufacturing can no longer be scorned.

Obama is choosing experienced hands for the crisis, trusting that their experience does not impede the new thinking needed to get us out of this hole. He'll set the direction. And so far, he’s on course.

# # #

**NOTE: To schedule an interview with Borosage, please contact Jennifer Ettinger at jettinger@ourfuture.org or 202-587-1614.**

NEW AD ASKS AMERICANS TO REMEMBER WHO WE ARE, DEFINE OUR OWN LEGACY

Jennifer Ettinger — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:57:12 -0700

WASHINGTON – With the American economy sinking and the global downturn deepening, a new ad today’s New York Times proclaims an emerging era of progressive reform. It calls on Americans to remember the legacy of previous generations who rose above the Great Depression. The ad, sponsored by the Institute for America’s Future features an image that merges that generation with the new and says, “Remember Who We Are.”

The ad is the sixth and final in a series sponsored by the Institute for America’s Future that encourages Americans to demand a real debate focused on major crises facing the nation.

Institute for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage said our job as Americans is clear, if we’re to define our own legacy.

“We need bold reforms, big enough to address the problems we face. We have to choose new leaders and then hold them accountable to the promises that have been made, and the agenda that the country needs.”

Those who say that, despite the catastrophes, despite the election, this is still a conservative country, simply don’t get it. “It is not enough,” Borosage said, “to kick start the economy, bail out Wall Street and return to business as usual. We need a dramatic change of course. New public investment in energy and conservation and infrastructureto generate jobs here and now. Affordable health care for all. An end to the war in Iraq. Revival of our global reputation and alliances. A new national strategy in a global economy that works for working people. Empower workers and hold banks and corporations accountable. Investment in education from pre-K to affordable college. Call Americans to public service, asserting the common good over the private interest.

We have this in us, because the new majority today are the children and grandchildren of the generation that faced the Great Depression, and responded with bold and persistent experimentation. They empowered workers and held banks accountable. They built America to provide jobs. They empowered workers to organize. They established Social Security. Now, once more, we face an economic crisis at the end of a failed conservative era. Once more we need an era of bold and persistent reform. And now is the time to act.

The Institute for America’s Future is urging people to bring the ads with them to public meetings, church groups and civic associations – and to discuss them on the internet – building the growing citizen demand a debate on real issues, not personal attacks or irrelevant smears.

Other ads in the series outlined how the American dream is slipping out of reach for more and more families; targeted corrupt robber barons behind the Wall Street meltdown; looked at our spending priorities with the nation mired in massive military expenditures; addressed the imbalance in our trade relationships with countries across the globe; and examined the fragile state of the health care system.

The full text of this week’s ad follows:

Remember Who We Are
#6 in a series
A Debate Worthy of a Great Nation in Trouble

We are the children and grandchildren of the people who confronted the Great Depression, and beat it.

When we look back at what our parents and grandparents did in a dozen short years, it takes our breath away.

They brought big business to public account. They empowered government to address the needs of working people. They organized labor unions. They created Social Security. They rebuilt the nation’s public infrastructure. They vastly expanded the numbers of the “we” in “We the People.” Then they fought and defeated fascism, making much of the world more democratic and free.

And they came to understand, as their president said, “There is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy.” It is founded on jobs for all who can work, security for all who need it, freedom and opportunity for all to enjoy the fruits of scientific progress.

But now after three decades of conservative misrule it’s as if those principles were mysteries after all. We’ve got in the habit of letting public good be subordinated to corporate greed. We’ve let our economy be run into the ground. We’ve let bankers practice larceny on a catastrophic scale. We’ve let labor unions be attacked and our entire middle class be trampled. We’ve let religion and patriotism be harnessed to the pursuit of power.

And we have barely survived an ignorant presidency marked by an illegal war in Iraq, an icy indifference after Katrina, a brazen attack on our liberties and a bald complicity in torture.

Still the democratic impulse that our parents and grandparents handed down to us is alive. It tells us what we must do: We can choose new leaders and hold them accountable. We can take on the big lobbies and the small minds that stand in the way of progress. We can restore our civil liberties and respect for human rights; enact universal health care; protect a worker’s right to organize; invest in renewable energy; end the endless wars; regain America’s standing in the world as a model of freedom.

And we can build a new prosperity, from the bottom up.

That is the “true patriotism” President Roosevelt urged upon our parents and grandparents.

We know what must be done. The time to do it is now.

INSTITUTE FOR AMERICA’S FUTURE
For more go to www.ourfuture.org

# # #

MAJOR PROGRESSIVE AND LABOR LEADERS DEMAND CONDITIONS FOR DRASTIC FINANCIAL BAILOUT

Toby Chaudhuri — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON – Major progressive, labor and consumer rights leaders joined forces today to demand important corrections to the Bush administration’s financial rescue proposal despite warnings from the administration’s top economists who got us into this mess.

The groups, representing more than 20 million Americans, sent a letter to members of Congress today urging them to require basic conditions before agreeing to any financial bailout request. The groups also announced that hundreds of events will be held across the country on Thursday to demand conditions on the bailout.

With a groundswell of opposition forming around the Bush administration’s $700 billion bailout request, Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage said Congress must not write President Bush a blank check for $700 billion without conditions.

“The financial crisis won’t go away on its own and doing nothing is not an option. Neither is writing a blank check for $700 billion to the same folks who got us into this mess, especially without a clear system of oversight and accountability.” said Borosage. “This is common sense. If American taxpayers are asked to bail out the financial industry, at the very least, we deserve to know how our hard-earned money will be spent.”

Representatives from top progressive and labor groups-- including the Campaign for America’s Future, AFL-CIO, SEIU, AFSCME, AFT, NEA, ACORN, Alliance for Justice, Center for American Progress and Center for Community Change -- met at an emergency closed-door meeting yesterday to develop a statement of principles for bailing the American economy out of its financial woes.

The statement urges Congress to insist on public oversight and transparency, taxpayer protections and equity, regulations to ensure this doesn’t happen again, major public investments to support the economy, increased accountability for executives and directors and aid for homeowners who were misled by predatory lenders.

More than 35 leaders signed the statement, including Borosage, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, SEIU president Andy Stern, AFSCME president Gerald McEntee, United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard, ACORN president Maude Hurd, Center for American Progress president John Podesta, Center for Community Change president Deepak Bhargava and USAction president William McNary.

# # #<

TEXT OF LETTER
DEMANDING BAILOUT CONDITIONS

A Call for Common Sense

Every man, woman, and child in America is now being told to ante up $2,000 – an estimated $700 billion in all – to bail out Wall Street’s recklessness, or the very people who created this crisis are telling us that they will bring down our entire economy.

The Treasury Department’s proposal that the Secretary be given essentially unlimited authority to spend $700 billion to bail out any financial institution across the world is irresponsible and unacceptable.

We urge the Congress to insist on some basic conditions for any bailout.

Public Oversight. This kind of power can never be centralized in a single individual – much less one who did not even stand for election. Any funds must be controlled by an independent entity, with consumers and workers given seats on its board. Congress should be empowered to name independent monitors and to approve all board members.

Protect the Taxpayer. The Treasury bill would have taxpayers buying paper that nobody else wants at prices far above its current value. If a firm wants to auction off its toxic paper to the US Government, taxpayers should get equity in that firm equal to any amount paid in excess of the paper’s value. This will deter profitable firms from using the government as a dumpster for their toxic paper. And it will insure that if the bailout works and the firms become profitable, taxpayers, not simply bankers, benefit from the upside.

Curb the casino. This crisis was caused because sensible regulations of the banking system that worked for dozens of years were dismantled or went unenforced. No bailout can go forward without requiring the necessary regulation to insure this does not happen again. Any institution, which receives assistance, should agree to come under a microscope going forward in terms of disclosure requirements, and it should have stringent capital requirement imposed upon it.

Invest in the real economy. Ending the bankers strike is not sufficient enough to avoid the recession into which we have been driven. Major public investment in new energy and conservation, rebuilding schools and infrastructure, extending unemployment and food stamps, helping states avoid crippling cuts in police and health services – is vital to get the real economy moving and put people back to work. No bailout should proceed without being linked to support for a major public investment plan to get the economy going.

Hold CEOs and Boards of Directors Accountable. Wall Street CEOs shouldn’t be pocketing millions while taxpayers are forced to bail them out. Any firm that applies for relief must agree to cancel all stock option programs and CEOs should have stringent limits placed on their compensation until the Company has repaid all taxpayer assistance.

Aid the victims, not just the predators. Both bankers and home owners made foolish bets that home prices would keep rising. Many homeowners, however, were misled by predatory lenders into taking mortgages that they didn’t understand and couldn’t afford. It would be simply obscene to help the predators and not those that they preyed upon. No bail out of the banks should take place without measures to help people in trouble stay in their homes. Explicit provisions should ensure use of the full array of financial and legal tools available to the government to stop foreclosures and restructure home mortgage loans for ordinary Americans, including amending the bankruptcy code to allow judges to modify mortgages. Where workouts are not feasible, people should be allowed to stay in their homes as renters.

--Robert Borosage, co-director, Campaign for America’s Future
--John Sweeney, president, AFL-CIO
--Andy Stern, president, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
--Gerald McEntee, president, Am. Fed. of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
--Randi Weingarten, president, American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
--Larry Cohen, president, Communications Workers of America (CWA)
--Dennis Van Roekel, president, National Education Association (NEA)
--Leo Gerard, president, United Steelworkers (USW)
--Maude Hurd, national president, ACORN
--Nan Aron, president, Alliance for Justice
--Amy Issacs, national director, Americans for Democratic Action
--Kevin Zeese, executive director, Campaign for Fresh Air & Clean Politics
--John Podesta, president, Center for American Progress Action Fund
--Deepak Bhargava, president, Center for Community Change
--Deborah Weinstein, executive director, Coalition for Human Needs
--Donald Mathis, president, Community Action Partnership
--Jane Hamsher, firedoglake.com
--James D. Weill, president, Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
--Brent Blackwelder, president, Friends of the Earth
--John Cavanagh, director, Institute for Policy Studies
--Sarita Gupta, executive director, Jobs with Justice
--Wade Henderson, president, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
--Carissa Picard, esq., president, Military Spouses for Change
--Sally Greenberg, executive director, National Consumers League
--Christine L. Owens, executive director, National Employment Law Project
--Gary Bass, executive director, OMB Watch
--Adam Lioz, program director, Progressive Future
--Joanne Carter, executive director, RESULTS
--William McNary, president, USAction
--Paula Brantner, executive director, Workplace Fairness
--Dan Cantor, executive director, Working Families Party
--Mark Lotwis, executive director, 21st Century Democrats

NEW AD QUESTIONS FINANCIAL BAILOUT WITHOUT CONDITIONS

Toby Chaudhuri — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON – With people across the country calling for greater oversight of the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial markets, a new ad in The New York Times and on several blogs today asks pointed questions that need to be answered before Congress hands the administration massive amounts of taxpayer money and unlimited power.

The ad features an extortion note with cut-out letters that read, “Give us $85 billion or the economy gets whacked.” The ad goes on to expose the latest reality in the financial crises: “It turns out that last week’s emergency bailout of once-mighty AIG was chump change. Now Wall Street is extorting another $700 billion from the taxpayers to cover their losses.”

The ad, called “Banksters Run Amok,” is the second in a seven-part ad campaign series sponsored by the Institute for America’s Future that encourages Americans to demand a real debate focused on “seven national crises that won’t wait.” This week’s ad focuses on the Bush administration’s “fast track” proposals in response to the possible meltdown of the U.S. financial system triggered by the mortgage crisis.

Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage said that the real heist occurred decades ago when conservatives in power deregulated the financial system.

“Americans deserve a full accounting of how we got into this financial mess,” said Borosage. “Conservatives destroyed commonsense rules of the road allowing financiers to make billions playing with our system. These huge sums spent to cover bad bets could’ve been used to make America better.”

The ad raises three basic concerns surrounding the bailout. It points to the need for oversight in return for rescuing the banks. It also raises questions about the corruptive influence of Wall Street money on our politicians and justification for bailing out bankers rather than spending valuable taxpayer dollars on helping average Americans who need it most.

Each ad in the series seeks to provoke widespread discussion of major challenges facing the country. Leaders of the Institute are urging people to take the ads to public meetings, church groups and civic associations – to demand the debate the country needs.

The first ad outlined how the American dream is slipping out of reach for more and more families. Other ads in the series will focus on our soaring global debt, broken health care system, collapsing public infrastructure, the looming global warming challenge, increasing robber baron corruption and the seemingly endless occupation of Iraq and the war on terror.

The full text of this week’s ad follows:

BANKSTERS RUN AMOK
>#2 In A Series
A Debate Worthy of a Great Nation in Trouble

“Give us $85 billion of the economy gets whacked.”

It turns out that last week’s emergency bailout of once-mighty AIG was chump change. Now Wall Street is extorting another $700 billion from the taxpayers to cover their losses.

And like AIG, Bear, Fannie and Freddie, their brink of disaster plea is conveyed to the Feds as a dire threat, almost a ransom note: “Save us or we’ll take everyone down with us! We’re too big to fail!

These huge sums spent to cover bad bets could have been used to make America better—fix a broken health care system, end our addiction to oil, rebuild a country that’s falling apart. Instead we’re forced to bail out the banks to keep a credit meltdown from laying waste to the real economy.

Finance is too important to be left to the bankers. Our grandfathers learned that lesson in the Great Depression. But over the last thirty years Wall Street money and market fundamentalism took over Washington, disarming the cop on the financial beat. Now we’re paying the price for that folly.

3 Basic questions for the debate

What serious regulation of Wall Street banking practices must we demand in return for rescuing the banks?

Wall Street is a monster donor to both major parties. How can we trust any promise to crack down on these miscreants from politicians who compete for their contributions?

Rather than just bailing out bankers, shouldn’t we be helping the folks they victimized – freezing home foreclosures, renegotiating mortgages, reviving usury laws to cap predatory interest rates, investing public money in the real economy and putting people to work?

INSTITUTE FOR AMERICA’S FUTURE
>for more go to www.ourfuture.org

# # #

**NOTE: To obtain an electronic copy of the “Banksters Run Amok” ad, background information and additional resources, please visit www.ourfuture.org.**

WAR ROOM OPERATION TO TRACK CHANGES IN ECONOMY; DELIVER TALKING POINTS AND SOLUTIONS

Toby Chaudhuri — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:00:00 -0700

WASHINGTON – The Campaign for America’s Future launched an economic war room today to help frame the ongoing debate as the economy changes at an increasing pace and continues to get worse for millions of Americans. The operation will deliver daily poll-tested talking points to candidates, elected officials, talk show hosts, columnists, bloggers, labor leaders, activists and others, tying the latest research by think tanks like the EPI Policy Center to the latest opinion research by top strategists.

Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage said the alerts will include a set of persuasive facts and arguments on key issues, linking to a comprehensive analysis of solutions to economic problems on people’s minds.

“The change in the economy has been abrupt and serious,” said Borosage. “Economic issues are obviously on everyone’s mind, so it’s important to understand what is happening and to have messages that can move people. Our effort provides real policy alternatives to the political messaging already out there.”

Democratic pollster Celinda Lake and Drew Westen, an Emory University professor who has studied the way Americans think about issues and make decisions, are advising Borosage on messages they have tested and measured for impact. Lake and Westen joined Borosage on a conference call with reporters today to launch the messaging project.

Lake said on today’s call that Americans are increasingly convinced the country is on the edge of a recession and that Washington is not responding adequately.

“Economic problems are creating deep discontent across America,” said Lake. “The American Dream is slipping away and people want leaders to focus on kitchen-table issues like jobs, education, health care, housing and retirement. They are to ready to support our ideas if we present our values and policy solutions in a compelling way.”

Westen said Americans, whether Democratic or Republican, are persuaded more by emotions and values than by a laundry list of issues so policy arguments must be linked to broader themes to connect with them.

“Progressives typically bombard people with a laundry list of issues and policy positions, while conservatives offer them emotionally compelling appeals, whether to their values or prejudices,” said Westen. “The war room is designed to change that.”

The need for the economic war room became clear when the Campaign for America’s Future met with dozens of elected officials and progressive leaders to discuss economic messaging. The group found that opinion leaders were better versed at political messages but less so on solutions and effective ways of communicating them. To fill that gap, more than 3,000 federal- and state-elected officials and 3,000 activists are already receiving alerts from the economic war room.

# # #

**NOTE: Media representatives interested in more details about the economic war room should visit www.ourfuture.org/makingsense. Anyone interested in receiving real-time alerts, may do so by signing up on the website.**