Unless you've been living in a cave somewhere, you're probably familiar with the subprime mortgage crisis and the shock waves it's sending through the economy. The fallout so far has been severe: millions of working people are facing foreclosure, and more than 350,000 construction workers have lost their jobs.
In response to the crisis, Congress has been considering a bill entitled the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. Preventing foreclosures is certainly a good goal -- but this bill contained a provision that would amount to a $25 billion government bailout for corporate homebuilders. The Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) has released a report (PDF) that explains how the actions of these same corporate homebuilders helped bring on the subprime crisis -- which makes it pretty unseemly for Congress to be rushing to bail them out.
LIUNA General President Terry O'Sullivan explains:
Under the Act's "carry-back" provision, corporate homebuilders and Wall Street investors would get $25 billion in tax breaks through 2010 compared to the $9 billion designated to actually help homeowners. The carry-back would allow homebuilders to apply losses from 2008 and 2009 as far back as four years against taxes paid on profits - a two-year extension of the current carry-back allowance - even though much of the builders' profit came from their own subprime lending and speculative over-heating of the market.
The Senate's bill will use taxpayer money to pay for corporate homebuilders' reckless and unethical behavior.
Today, LIUNA took this message directly to the homebuilders in a way that they couldn't ignore. The National Association of Home Builders -- the trade group that represents corporate homebuilders -- brought their members to Washington today to participate in a "Lobby Day", where they would go to the offices of their Members of Congress and ask them to support the $25 billion bailout. When those members came out to board their buses to Capitol Hill, though, they met a vocal contingent of workers whose message was simple: the mortgage crisis shouldn't become an excuse for corporations to belly up to the trough.
I was fortunate enough to be there this morning with my camera, so here's a slideshow of some of the memorable moments that ensued...
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Wonderful street theater! Your photos capture the action nicely.
Posted by ILCAMedia on May 1, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Posted on May 1, 2008 at 11:15 AM