BILL IN CONGRESS WILL SAVE JOBS; GOLDMAN SACHS ACTIONS WERE CRIMINAL

Washington, D.C. and New York, N.Y.-- If the Local Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4812) becomes law, it will create or save more than 675,000 local community jobs and more than 250,000 education jobs, according to the latest estimates from the House Education and Labor Committee.

In a letter from a coalition of more than 300 groups that have endorsed the bill, including the AFL-CIO, the groups write:

"We need bold congressional action in order to put Americans back to work and prevent more layoffs and cuts in crucial services. The Local Jobs for America Act will not only provide employment for hundreds of thousands of jobless workers, it will create and save jobs for workers who are providing services that our communities badly need."

Communities across the nation are dealing with serious budget shortfalls that are forcing layoffs and cuts in vital human services, actions which committee Chairman Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) says “threaten to derail our nation’s economic recovery.”

Meanwhile, the SEC is bringing a civil suit against Goldman Sachs for fraud.

Why? In a nutshell, Goldman slapped a "Grade A" label on investments that they had specifically designed to fail, and then sold them to unwitting investors and made billions of dollars.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was created during the Great Depression, in the wake of hearings that exposed a multitude of ways in which big investors had taken advantage of small customers or had taken on too much debt. Now, after the Wall Street meltdown of 2008 triggered a global financial slowdown, the agency is trying to reinvigorate itself — and ensure that it remains a major player as Congress considers large-scale financial regulatory reform.

It's good to see regulators finally starting to hold Goldman accountable with a civil suit—but what they did could be criminal and if so, they should go to jail.

This push has a real shot at succeeding. More and more congressional representatives are demanding a criminal investigation each day. The whole country is pissed at Wall Street. But a slap on the wrist isn't going to change their behavior, especially with Republican lawmakers overtly declaring that they will not support reform for the finance industry.  Wall Street executives and the top bankers in America no doubt live in an insular bubble, and could care less about the economic wealth of the poor and middle class.

The plain truth is that too often, Wall Street's business plan relies on screwing over regular American working families and getting rich off of our misfortunes.

Just look at what's happened over the last year—people have lost their homes, their savings, their pensions. Meanwhile firms like Goldman are handing out billions of our tax dollars in bonuses while working families are left to struggle to make ends meet.

It's time to stand up and say "Enough!" What they're doing could be a crime and if it is, they need to go to jail.

Next Thursday on April 29, about 10,000 labor activists will march and rally in the heart of New York's financial district, calling for commonsense rules to hold Wall Street accountable and restore our jobs. For more info on this rally, go the GOOD JOBS NOW! website.

Photo below:  The Goldman Sachs Building in NYC.  It promised thousands of staff executives, including over 5,500 in the UK, a 33 % pay increase with additional bonuses after turning a profit back in 2009.  No wonder Wall Street and the banking industry oppose regulation.