Main Street not Wall Street! Action October 1st

While attention has focused recently on the Wall Street financial crisis, working families in Vermont and across the country have been facing an economic crisis in recent years, including: unaffordable healthcare, the lack of livable-wage jobs, foreclosures and a general decline in spending power. The Vermont Workers' Center is part of a national labor-community-faith coalition called Jobs With Justice, which is organizing a national day of action on October 1st. Across the country, people will conduct rallies, street theater, bake sales and actions to tell Congress and Wall Street that people are fed up with corporate greed and demand action to address the economic crisis facing working people, not just Wall Street financiers.

Workers' Center members will be giving Vermonters an opportunity to make their voices heard about what priorities Congress should have in dealing with the economic crisis, through a Vermonters Speakout Survey. The Workers' Center will deliver the responses to Vermont's Congressional delegation.

Workers' Center members will be gathering at the corner of Main Street and Church Street in downtown Burlington at noon on Wednesday, October 1st.

More information:

The first bail-out "compromise" failed largely due to overwhelming opposition from working families, because it did not address the needs of Main Street and constituted yet another give-away to the wealthy. Jobs with Justice is telling Congress:

• Make the people that created and profited from the mess pay for the clean-up, now.
• Any infusion of capital must have specific, binding public ownership requirements.
• Restructure and rein in the reckless private financial institutions.
• Pass a real recovery plan, for Main Street as well as Wall Street, paid for with progressive taxation, that addresses the needs for good jobs, affordable housing, health care, pensions, infrastructure and 'green' economy.

"Where is the bail out for the 47 million uninsured Americans without healthcare and the many millions of others facing unaffordable increases in costs for basic healthcare. Isn't that a crisis? Where is the bail out for those communities impacted by plant closings that throw thousands out of work. Isn't that a crisis?," says Dawn Stanger, President of the Vermont Workers' Center - Jobs With Justice. "Why is it only a crisis in our country when it involves Wall Street banks, private equity firms, investment houses and the wealthy that control their shares? And why does Wall Street's crisis suddenly become all of our problem."

Congressmen Welch's statement on why he voted against the bailout

Economist Dean Baker's cut on why the bill was bad

A piece on how to pay for the progressive economic recovery plan we need