Break up the banks; give us real reform, now!

It's hard to believe! Two years after the big banks crashed our economy and took trillions in bailouts (much more than just the TARP), they're giving themselves record bonuses and going back to business as usual: telling Congress what to do.

Even after Goldman-Sachs was finally charged with fraud by the SEC, none of the rules for the banks has changed - and many of the "too big to fail" bailout bandits used our money to become bigger than ever.

The financial reform bill being debated in the senate does do some positive things, but it proposes a weak consumer protection bureau under the control of the Federal Reserve (which is under the control of ... Wall Street) and does not even include one of the most important reforms: breaking up the big banks. As JwJ has argued for years, "too big to fail" is more than an economic risk; it is a threat to democracy.

Senators Sherrod Brown and Ted Kaufman proposed the "Safe Banking Act" that would limit the size of the banks. We must prevent these banks from being so big they can take down the entire economy -- or stifle our democracy.

Tell your Senator: Break up the banks; give us real reform, now!

Our jobs, our economy, our democracy is at stake!