IIRON

Love Mercy, Do Justice, Walk Humbly with God

You might have seen other IIRON blog entries about Chicago area clergy committing to preach about economic justice.  We thought we’d share one of these sermons with you.  This sermon is by Rev. Richard Lanford, pastor of St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Skokie. St. Peter’s UCC is a member of Northside P.O.W.E.R. which is a member of IIRON.

The scriptures that Rev. Lanford refers to are Psalm 72: 1-7, 12-16 and Isaiah 3: 13-15 and are transcribed from the NIV below the video.

Psalm 72: 1-7 Of Solomon. Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness, He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor.  He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations.  He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.

For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.  He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death.  He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.  Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him.  May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long. Let grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. Let  its fruit flourish like Lebanon; let it thrive like the grass of the field.

Isaiah 3: 13-15  The Lord takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people.  The Lord enters into judgement against the elders and leaders of his people: “It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?”

End this Depression: Fire Ed DeMarco

It was one of the actions on the agenda of National People’s Action’s national convention in D.C. (held jointly, that day, with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, in an inspired act of bridge-building between two very different organizations). We were in the lobby of the headquarters of the FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency), the regulatory body which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We were there to see Ed DeMarco, the acting director (his appointment was never confirmed) of the FHFA. But we did not have an appointment, and some of us were carrying signs that made Mr. DeMarco look kind of bad, such as an oversized pink slip with his name on it. An officer shouted out, “These people are protesters, and they need to leave!” He started moving towards us, gesturing. A few of us tentatively started to back away.

Then someone called out, “I say, my people! I got a story!” It took us by surprise, and no one responded. So he started over, and this time we followed along.

“I say my people!” “What?” “I got a story!” “What?” “Tell the whole wide world this is people’s territory!”

We shook the walls with our voices. The officer backed away, meekly. There were, come to think of it, only 3 officers there, facing off against hundreds of us, packing the lobby. And now we were shouting out in unison. What could the officer really do about it? After he backed off, the next time we went through the chant we shouted out with even greater force. “THIS IS PEOPLE’S TERRITORY!” We were feeling it.

Why were we there to hand Ed DeMarco a pink slip? Here is some context.

We are in a depression. It’s a depression that means, among other things, that today’s college seniors are graduating into an economy which will plunge half of them into long-term unemployment and underemployment. That’s some way to start your working career. (Or does the notion of a “career” even make sense anymore?) And these college graduates are the lucky ones of their generation. Behold the future of the American middle class.

Why are we in a depression? In a familiar nutshell: Banks got bailed out, we got sold out. One of the main reasons why the economy continues to stumble along in this depression is that individuals and households are burdened by too much debt. Especially mortgage debt, and, in particular, underwater mortgage debt. (An underwater mortgage is where you owe more on your home mortgage than your home is actually worth.) According to new figures released just the other day, there is now $1.2 trillion worth of this excess debt in the country ($58 billion just in Cook County). This debt is a result of Wall Street’s predatory lending bubble, and now acts as a giant vacuum sucking wealth out of people’s pockets, out of our communities, out of the productive economy, out of job creation–and up into the already bloated pockets of Wall Street.

And this affects everybody, including students who have even never touched a mortgage.

So we need to write down the principals of underwater mortgages. (This means reducing the amount that people owe on those mortgages.) This will make life a lot easier for the people with those mortgages. But it will also lift up the entire economy, creating millions of jobs. This is a clear issue of justice, and a clear economic issue. Economists agree that this is a necessary step to economic recovery. The Federal Reserve agrees. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan agrees. And even the FHFA, the regulatory body charged with overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Which brings us back to our visit to the FHFA headquarters, and our business with Ed DeMarco. Although you may never have heard of him, Ed DeMarco ranks very highly on the list of people doing the most harm to the economy of this country. And that’s because DeMarco, a hold-over from the Bush administration, is blocking Fannie and Freddie from writing down mortgage principals–even though (to repeat) the agency he heads, the FHFA, has itself concluded that would be a beneficial move.

Ed DeMarco is one person in America who richly deserves to be unemployed. Obama needs to fire him, and replace him with someone who actually gives a damn about this country.

That was the message we went to the FHFA to deliver. We occupied the entrance to the building, we heard devastating stories from people struggling with underwater mortgages, we shouted, we chanted. Ed DeMarco did not come to meet us. We left behind the pink slip. And DeMarco is now on notice that community organizations from across the country know who he is and know what he’s doing to this country. We want him out. He’ll be hearing from us again.

Put People First!

By Rev. Marilyn Pagán-Banks, President of IIRON and Executive Director of A Just Harvest

I have often preached about the power of words—of the need and ability to speak life, hope and possibility into our communities, our world, the universe.  God spoke life out of chaos.  Scripture tells us that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21 NRS).

This was affirmed for me during my time at the 2012 National People’s Action Conference in Washington, DC.

The theme of the Conference was “Put People First!”  The workshops, plenary sessions and direct actions were each strategically designed to clearly restate the message that it is time for this country to “Put People First!” – not the 1%, not big banks and not corporations.

National People's Action Conference

We heard stories of struggle and pain by folks hit the hardest by the economic crisis.  Tears were shed and shouts of “that ain’t right!” resounded throughout the crowd.

We heard stories of powerful work being done in communities all across the nation, refusing to be silent and invisible to those accountable to the common good.  Chants reflecting the resiliency of the human spirit were shouted—“se ve, se siente, el pueblo está presente”—stirring up a common conviction to be heard and taken seriously by decision makers.

Throughout the NPA Conference participants were reminded that those that have destroyed our economy and are looking to fix it on the backs of average people have drummed it into the minds of listeners that “we are in a spending crisis, government is too big, we need to make more and more cuts to the social safety net”.  They know how to get their message out—and it has been consistent.

One of the speakers said that we need a movement of “truth tellers.”  We must be just as deliberate, strategic and consistent with our message!  We have a revenue crisis—not a spending crisis.  And we know where to get the money.  “The truth is on the march and nothing will stop it” (Emile Zola).  This is how we fight back while those protecting the interests of the wealthy continue to say “cut back.”
As a Christian, I am called to proclaim the “Good News”—that is, God desires that we have life, and have it more abundantly.  The “we” is all of us—not some of us!  I, too, am called to be the Word made flesh.  In this moment, I say “yes” again to this call!

Panel at NPA Conference

Caribbean-American writer, poet and activist—Audre Lorde once said, “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

As President of IIRON and a member of National People’s Action, I claim my power and my voice and covenant to speak truth to power—unapologetically, unashamedly and unafraid.  I do so knowing that I add my voice to thousands of others in a unified, reverberating message calling for an economy that “Puts People First!”

IIRON’s Covenant for Economic Justice lays out principles that would begin to guide an economy that puts people first.  Please read it, and if you agree, sign on.  Let us know if your organization or congregation would like to endorse the Covenant.

Finally, I invite you to join IIRON on June 10 as we publicly unveil the Covenant and call on elected officials to support it.

A Few Words About Tactics

Don Floyd, IIRON Lead Organizer

Given the many direct actions taken by the “have-nots” (aka, the 99%) in both Chicago and D.C. over the past few days, I thought it appropriate to haul out a few words from someone who knew a bit about action. Saul Alinsky, considered to be the father of modern American radicalism by many, wrote a booked called Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals which was published in 1971 shortly before his death.

I’ve excerpted Alinsky’s list of “rules” on tactics below. I strongly recommend that anyone seriously interested in social change read the entire book.

Always remember the first rule of power tactics: Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

The second rule is: Never go outside the experience of your people

…The third rule is: Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy.

…The fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.

…The fourth rule carries within it the fifth rule: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.

…The sixth rule is: A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.

…The seventh rule: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.

…The eighth rule: Keep the pressure on.

…The ninth rule: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

…The tenth rule: The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

…The eleventh rule is: If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.

…The twelfth rule: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

…The thirteenth rule: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Geithner’s Door

by Will Tanzman, Co-Director of SOUL (Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation)

From Saturday through Monday, a delegation of leaders represented IIRON at the National People’s Action (NPA) conference in Washington, DC.  At the conference, more than 500 people from NPA affiliates across the country came together to share stories, strategies, and analysis, and to do actions on important elected officials and corporate executives.

The highlight for me was when 1,000 people went to the house of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, one of the architects of the 2008 bank bailout who first gave trillions of dollars to the big banks and then did his best to protect them from investigation and accountability.  It was clear that he was home but refused to come out and meet with us.  We knocked on his door, sang “we shall not be moved” when he did not come out, and had homeowners in foreclosure testify on a bullhorn just a few feet from his house.  We do not take lightly going to somebody’s house, but we have tried meeting with Geitner.  He has refused to deal with the foreclosure crisis affecting the homes of millions of people, so we felt it was important to take this crisis to his doorstep.  The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal covered the action, so our voice was further amplified by the media attention we received.  I have been angry at Geitner for three years, so it was great to get the opportunity to express my anger in a powerful and effective way.

The next day, hundreds of people packed the lobby of the Federal Housing Finance Administration.  FHFA’s director, Ed DeMarco, is refusing to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce mortgage debt for millions of homeowners who owe the banks more than their homes are worth, because of the crisis caused by the big banks.  When we walked in to ask for a meeting with DeMarco, the police demanded that we leave immediately.  However, there were just 3 of them and 500 of us, so we called their bluff and chanted, sang, and testified inside FHFA’s lobby for more than half an hour before moving on to our next target.

It’s great to be part of NPA actions and to meet leaders and organizers from other groups across the country.  Leaving the conference, I felt my home renewed that we can build a successful movement for economic justice in this country.  Let’s bring a larger delegation next year!

The Mounting Student Debt Crisis

By Weili Zheng, Roots of Justice and IIRON Student Network

Student debt now totals more than one trillion dollars. The average student graduates owing about $23,000. More than half of students take loans, and one in ten will default.  In addition, it’s not just for-profit institutions that are thrusting loans upon students who will have little means to pay them back. Aside from the Harvards or Princetons—schools with generous endowments—students at non-profit academic institutions have had to take loans to pay for the enormous private school tuitions.

Tuition prices have risen exorbitantly since the 1980s, far faster than salaries have. As a result, students and families have to reserve a far larger portion of income for college education.  Even students who work multiple jobs, have family contributions, and receive merit scholarships may need to take loans in order to pay for tuition. With very accessible federal loans, as well as swelling costs of higher education, it is not very difficult to tell where all the student loan debt came from.

As a second year college student, upon high school graduation my peers were faced with the choice of forgoing an education that means the world towards obtaining the jobs that we want, or taking large loans, and, in turn, subjecting ourselves to years of debt payments. Though this statement seems like a bold declaration, almost an ultimatum of sorts, it conveys the seriousness and urgency of a situation where young men and women are forced into a disparaging relationship between themselves and their debt. When speaking with my peers, it is clear that the issue of debt continuously lurks in the back of most students’ minds. There are of course exceptions; bright, young academic minds who on the merit of their intelligence or athletic ability graduate with little debt or no debt. Also of course there are the even luckier few whose parents or relatives have been saving for the duration of their adult lives to pay down the cost of a college education.  For the average student however, many are either confronted with college debt or the horrifying alternative: the uncertainty of possible periods of extended unemployment and poverty.

Of course, even after obtaining a college education, graduates are finding navigating the work world and securing their desired employment to be far from a sure thing. Among the class of 2010, only slightly more than half of graduates managed to acquire a job by the spring of 2011. Though some went back to school, others find themselves unemployed and pursued by their alma mater or a debt collection agency for repayment on their loans. Many have had to take low-wage jobs outside of their field just to stave off the accruing interests, never mind paying off the principle.  These graduates find themselves mired in a new form of debt slavery, with hundreds to pay back in loans each month, but very few options for employment or income.

The world is becoming an increasingly competitive place.  In order to remain employable in a sustainable and professional career, a college education is almost a necessity. Unfortunately, the resources required to obtain a college education are vast and often out of the reach of many students without loans.  Yet after taking the loans, younger graduates are finding that their degree does not guarantee a good job, or even any job.

Trickle Down Fatigue

by David Hatch, Executive Director of IIRON

My Reflections on IIRON’s Trip to Springfield on Wednesday with Make wall Street Pay Illinois :

When asked why the Illinois Chamber of Commerce opposed sun light legislation to disclose corporate taxes (2/3 of publicly traded corporations in Illinois pay NO taxes), its spokesman Doug Whitley mouthed the same, extremely tired talking points of trickle down economics.

Essentially, the corporate lobby is completely reliant on the notion that they are the source of all wealth, jobs and economic well being, that any regulation or taxes will make them move away and take all that with them (jobs particularly). They rely on blackmail to avoid socially responsible behavior. Workers, communities, customers, governments provide nothing to the corporation, the corporation provides all the benefits and we are damn lucky to have them.

They have no real answer for why working people should pay taxes and have laws regulating their activities but corporations shouldn’t. When pressed on that, the position is exposed for what it is: “we count and you don’t… and we have the power”.

They have no answer, really, for why a business cannot be regulated, pay its fair share of taxes and be profitable, which is an admission of a failed business model, one that relies on public support (wealth transfers from government, workers, communities and the environment) and is based on a moral exceptionalism in which the rules that apply to ordinary people do not apply to them.

The results of more than 30 years of this dominant narrative is that corporations are out of control with no care or accountability for the harm they cause (e.g. housing/banking  bubble, crashing the global economy in 08, Chase’s billions lost to speculation just this week, oil spills, bribes, etc.) while governments from the municipal to the federal level give in to their blackmail and give them everything they want. Workers wages have flatlined while profits and executive pay have skyrocketed, the social safety net is being slashed, shared public goods are abolished, our public infrastructure is crumbling, and nearly all indicators are that America is declining in key areas of public welfare each year.

This really has become a practically difficult but intellectually simple proposition: Will we hold our elected officials accountable to us?  Will we reign in these corporate blackmailers, moochers and bullies, or will we let them turn our democracy into a plutocracy, a nation completely run politically and economically by a tiny elite?

The Illinois Chamber of Secrets

by Rev. Marilyn Pagán-Banks, President of IIRON and Executive Director of A Just Harvest

As an ordained minister and someone who heads an anti-hunger organization, when I hear the President and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Doug Whitley, say that “the biggest loophole in the Illinois Tax Code is that the state does not tax individuals for the purchase of food or medicine”, I’m sickened!  Once again, the most vulnerable are being blamed for the economic crisis that was actually caused by corporations concerned only with their bottom-line.

Carrying signs that read, “No More Secrets” and “Disclose Taxes” and donning flash lights symbolizing the need to “shine a light” on corporations that are not paying their fair share of taxes,  members of Make Wall Street Pay Illinois visited Mr. Whitley at his office in Springfield yesterday, asking him to support SB282.  SB282 is a bill that would require Illinois publicly traded corporations to report on the taxes they pay to Illinois.

His immediate response was “no.”  He went on to make arguments, which were really no argument at all.

He said, “Individual tax returns should be private.”  We replied, “this bill is not about individual tax returns, this is about publicly traded corporations.  Corporations are not individuals.”

He said again, “this information should not be open to the public.”  We replied, “the tax returns of non-profit organizations are open to the public, why shouldn’t publicly traded corporations be held to the same reporting standard?” He didn’t answer.

He said, “the IRS sets the rules, no laws are being broken.”  We replied, “this is not about whether or not laws are being broken, this is about having all the information disclosed so that we can look at how 2/3 of publicly traded corporations in Illinois pay no income tax.  Then we can begin to fix the tax code to ensure all corporations are paying their fair share.”

We asked, “how do the one-third of the corporations that actually pay their taxes feel about this bill? Do you represent them too?”  He had no reply.

IIRON leaders at the Illinois Chamber of Commerce on May 16, 2012.

At this point in the meeting, the Lakeview Action Coalition reported that they had just met with Director Hamer of the Illinois Department of Revenue and he supported the need for transparency, the concept at the heart of SB282, and committed to further studying the bill.  Mr. Whitley had no reaction to this news.

It was obvious Mr. Whitley would hold fast to the “charge to aggressively promote the interests of Illinois business” (taken from his bio) and would not be moved to use his position to support the interest of the state of Illinois, its citizens, the people most affected by budget cuts due to lack of revenue—so we closed the meeting in prayer and exited the meeting chanting powerfully.

As a person of faith, I am not discouraged by Mr. Whitley’s behavior—on the contrary my passion is rekindled.  I believe that God’s justice will be a light for all people (Isaiah 51:4).  I am charged to carry this light.

Psychopathic Economics

Why Do We Allow Behavior We Condemn In People To Be The Foundation For The Entire Global Economy?

(Note: If you agree with the following analysis, please endorse IIRON’s Covenant for Economic Justice.  It is a strong ethical alternative to our nation’s current economic values.)

The New York Times published an opinion piece by William Deresiewicz recently entitled Capitalists and other Psychopaths. Here is one quote:

“…Enron, BP, Goldman, Philip Morris, G.E., Merck, etc., etc. Accounting fraud, tax evasion, toxic dumping, product safety violations, bid rigging, overbilling, perjury. The Walmart bribery scandal, the News Corp. hacking scandal — just open up the business section on an average day. Shafting your workers, hurting your customers, destroying the land. Leaving the public to pick up the tab. These aren’t anomalies; this is how the system works: you get away with what you can and try to weasel out when you get caught.”

The piece points out that studies have found that while psychopaths make up 1% of the general population, they make up 10% of Wall Street. It also cites another study that found the wealthy more likely to lie and cheat.  Like Deresiewicz, I believe this is not a coincidence but the nature of the economic system we mistakenly equate with democracy, the U.S. Constitution and even Christianity. Those equations could not be more wrong.

First, what is a psycopath? It is a person who has no empathy or regard for others, who singularly pursues only his or her own interests. They are dishonest, manipulative, lacking in guilt and often cruel. These are the people we try to avoid in life. But unfortunately, they are the model for our economic system.

The excellent documentary The Corporation points out that the modern corporation 1) is defined by law as a person and 2) is obligated to pursue only profits for its shareholders in its decision-making. The corporation as legally defined must not concern itself with its workers, customers, country or the environment except in regard to maximizing profits. The Corporation asks, if corporations are persons, what kind of persons are they? Using the World Health Organization’s checklist they determine that the corporation, the dominant institution of our time, is created in the image of a psychopath.

Corporations are obliged to obey the law, but they spend great sums of money financing the campaigns of our elected officials who write the laws.  Corporations also frequently place industry insiders into the regulatory agencies that interpret and enforce the laws.  Yet we still find daily reports of wrongdoings and fines, fines that are usually quite insignificant to the corporation’s bottom line and in comparison to the crime committed. The dominant business model clearly considers such fines to be a routine cost of doing business.

So, this is the foundation of our economic system.  The human race has a system for distributing goods and services and for managing our material well-being that relies on attitudes and behaviors we would condemn in any individual we encounter in our daily life; a system that can only be characterized as immoral and evil.

The very idea that a “free” market is the best way to meet humanity’s needs seems very naive because it ignores the fact that today’s winners will consolidate enough wealth and power so that they can eventually control both government regulators and the market.  It seems much more naive than the idea that people might be more productive without a dog-eat-dog competition that yields extreme winners and losers.

The very notion that people are only motivated to work productively or create value based on the possibility of crushing poverty and exploitation on the one hand, or wealth that is hundreds to thousands of times greater than one’s peers on the other, is a deep statement about the human person which has stood unchallenged for far too long. The Times article points out the prevalence of smart and creative people in the arts and sciences who create and produce tremendous benefits to society that are neither tied to incentives for great material wealth or the threat of starvation. I would add teachers, social workers, organizers, nurses and workers in scores of other occupations who experience rewards above and beyond the material wealth.  Why do we find during every blizzard in Chicago, people digging out and pushing one another’s cars? Why does every natural disaster result in people coming together rather than tearing one another apart? Are we as a people only productive if we behave as psychopaths? Is that who we really are?

The human race now has the material and technological capacity to create a sustainable economy that provides for everyone on the planet.  It may not provide for opulence and waste for all. We surely must decide to live closer together, ride more trains and buses and do without quite so much “stuff”. We surely would need to put back more things into the commons and less into private ownership and hoarding.  But we could all thrive. What is standing in the way? An economic system predicated on extreme individualism, selfishness, greed, envy and inequality. How else could we hasten the demise of the human race by having average citizens subsidize the profits of the fossil fuel industry? How else could we accept crushing poverty, hunger, homelessness and disease in the midst of opulence, hoarding and frivolity? Our acquiescence to this system is a crisis of justice and human survival. It is a deep moral and spiritual crisis as well.

In the past several decades, almost no one in the mainstream press or academia has effectively questioned these values.  But the economic crash of 2008 has created millions of underwater homeowners, intractable long-term unemployment, and bleak prospects for so many jobless and indebted college graduates that there is now widespread fear for the prospects of the American middle class. The Occupy Movement and renewed activism of organized labor and other progressive forces may be setting the scene for such fundamental questioning of values underlying capitalism. It is high time. An economy based on an ethic of psychopathology cannot be the right answer. We are surely better than that.

Note:  please sign IIRON’s Covenant for Economic Justice.  It is a strong ethical alternative to today’s dominant economic values.