In the Berkeley-Oakland area and the entire San Francisco Bay Area
region, only Rep. Pete Stark, who ran a local bank before he went to
Congress, punched No on Friday's second vote on the Wall Street giveaway.
Icon progressive Barbara Lee voted Yes. "I understand that with this
bill's passage we will not magically turn the economy around, reverse
the rise in unemployment or end the recession," Lee said in a statement
issued Friday. "But I must err on the side of caution so our seniors can
have some confidence that their pensions are safe. ..."
(This is indeed a new feature of financial crisis. Ordinary workers have
been enmeshed in paper asset games with the loss of defined benefit
pensions, replaced by 401(k) investment pots. Better to advocate
doubling Social Security benefits than give in to this especially
pernicious financialization, a sign of an economic order more removed
from real production and real prosperity than ever. -C.A.)
Stark told the local newspaper, "It's the same pressure we had when we
voted for the Iraq war, this constant threat of disaster if you didn't
vote the way the administration suggested, and that's what concerns me."
Stark said he'd have preferred to hold hearings for a month, listening
to families facing foreclosure and others truly at risk in this
financial crisis.
Full story at
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_10630792
Charles Andrews
_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
