Taking Back Our Finance System

A nationwide campaign, Take on Wall Street, is putting the people back at the table for a change.

By Jim Hightower

Instead of griping about the greedheads of Wall Street and the rip-off financial system they’ve hung around our necks, why don’t we Take On Wall Street?

That’s both the name and the feisty attitude of a nationwide campaign that a coalition of grassroots groups has launched to do just that. The coalition, spearheaded by the Communication Workers of America, points out that there’s nothing natural or sacred about today’s money-grubbing financial complex.

Far from sacrosanct, the system of finance that now rules over us has been designed by and for Wall Street speculators, money managers, and big bank flim flammers. So — big surprise — rather than serving our common good, the corrupt system is routinely serving their uncommon greed at everyone else’s expense.

The Take On Wall Street campaign has the guts and gumption to say: Enough!

Instead of you and I continuing to accept Wall Street’s plutocratic perversion of our democracy, we the people can rewrite their rules and reorder their structures so the system serves us.

For starters, the campaign has laid out a five-point people’s reform agenda that they’re taking to the countryside to rally the voices, anger, and grassroots power of workers, consumers, communities of color, the poor, people of faith, and the rest of the 99 percent.

The coalition is holding information and training sessions to spread the word, forge local coalitions, and teach people how they can get right in the face of power to create a fair finance system that works for all.

There’s an old truism about negotiating that says: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” The Take On Wall Street campaign intends to put you and me at the table for a change.

OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s the editor of the populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown. Distributed by OtherWords.org.