IIRON

Campaigns

Federal Campaigns

Move Our Money!  The big banks took our bailout money, but refused to return the favor to homeowners in foreclosure. They pay tens of millions of dollars to their CEOs, but aren’t lending money in the community.  Let’s move our money to local credit unions & community-based banks that will invest in our local community.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan: Use your clout on the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group to win real relief for homeowners! The $25 billion robosigning settlement was a slap on the wrist to big banks who created the housing bubble and crashed our economy.  Homeowners are still more than $300 billion underwater, and Lisa Madigan has the power to hold banks accountable in her capacity on this working group.  We call on Madigan to 1) meet regularly with IIRON regarding the working group’s progress, 2) work for principle reduction for underwater homeowners, and 3) call for a moratorium on foreclosures, especially those initiated by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.  Join our Facebook Group – Lisa, are you listening? – for the latest updates on this campaign.

Jobs & Infrastructure:  To solve the unemployment crisis and address our crumbling infrastructure, IIRON is calling on our federal government to invest $3 trillion in America’s crumbling infrastructure over the next 5 years and put America back to work. IIRON supports two current bills as a good step forward:

The American Jobs Act would provide $447 billion for infrastructure investment and for state and local governments.

Emergency Jobs To Restore The Emergency Dream Act sponsored by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky would invest $227 billion over 2 years to create over 2 million jobs, being paid for by a tax on millionaires through a Fairness in Taxation Act.

Financial Speculation Tax: It is a revenue crisis, not a spending crisis, and our federal government needs to make big corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share. Taxing high volume speculative deals would discourage Wall Street’s casino mentality and raise significant revenues. Harkin Defazio is an imperfect step in the right direction.

Make Wall Street Pay – Illinois Campaign

Enact a Responsible Tax Policy and Increase Revenue
Illinois cannot afford to further roll back the corporate tax rate, while working people continue to pay our fair share. Make Wall Street Pay Illinois will fight any attempt to lower the tax rate for corporations.

Make Wall Street Pay Illinois demands tax reform that creates a fair and progressive system, and generates the revenue needed to rebuild the Illinois economy. This will require multiple reforms, including the permanent decoupling of federal bonus depreciation deductions, the elimination of numerous unsupportable tax loopholes, and the capping of vendor sales tax discounts.

Establish an Illinois Public Development Bank
Make Wall Street Pay Illinois proposes the creation of a publicly-owned financial institution—an Illinois Public Development Bank—which would accept deposits of state tax revenue and put these funds to use in ways that tilt the economic playing field back towards the 99% through economically and environmentally sustainable lending practices, such as:
• Infrastructure projects,
• Stable and affordable lending for small businesses, family farms and green friendly new industries
• Loans and other services to strengthen community banks and credit unions
• Profits to boost revenues for the Illinois state budget, not bonuses for Wall Street executives.

Regulate and Cap Interest on Car Title Loans
Car title lenders encourage low-income families to borrow against their largest asset at triple digit interest rates. These practices are unregulated in Illinois. Make Wall Street Pay Illinois believes that no one should lose their car or be put into perpetual debt because of usurious car title lending interest rates. Interest rates must be capped at 36%; and loan conditions and collection practices must be significantly reformed.

Make Wall Street Pay – Illinois Member Organizations: Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, IIRON, Illinois People’s Action, Lakeview Action Coalition, National People’s Action, Northside P.O.W.E.R., SOUL