The Coffee Party has Wall St. and K St. in its crosshairs. With a series of action-oriented proposals, the rapidly growing grassroots movement is urging its supporters to take on the Big Banks and other Wall St. fat cats who contributed to the economic collapse.
Here are some of the action items the Coffee Party leadership is proposing:
1. Organize informational discussions around Wall St. reform
2. Organize an action in your community to show your support for Wall St. reform
3. Participate in actions sponsored by the Americans for Financial Reform
4. Email Annabel Park, organization leader, with personal stories of foreclosures, small business loan rejections, etc
5. Sit down and engage in civil discourse with local bank managers
6. Take pictures of events at local banks and post them on Flicker
7. Visit your local Senate office and drop off signs, letters, petitions, etc
8. Move your money out of "Too Big to Fail" banking institutions
As Congress battles over the prospect of meaningful financial reform, the Coffee Party appears to be tapping into Main St anger at the lack of accountability and preferential treatment of Wall St. bankers.
While Wall St has rallied off its record lows in March 2009, real unemployment hovers around 17%, a record number of Americans are on food stamps, foreclosures remain at record highs, hundreds of small banks are failing, and the "Too Big to Fails" aren't lending.
In addition to taking on the Big Banksters who donate huge sums of money to Congresspersons and presidential candidates of both parties, perhaps Coffee Party supporters should consider two other key components of the debate.
First, despite tremendous bipartisan support, HR 1207, known as the "Audit the Fed" bill, may not be incorporated into the financial reform bill. This legislation would execute a full, public audit of the Federal Reserve, increasing accountability and transparency at the world's most powerful central bank.
Second, perhaps Americans should cease voting for politicians like Barack Obama, John McCain, George W. Bush, and the hundreds of other Democrats and Republicans who supported giving trillions of taxpayer dollars to the likes of AIG, Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the big banks.
Yes, had these firms not received the record bailout, we Americans would've likely experienced terrible, short-term pain. However, we would have likely laid down the foundation for genuine financial reform and fiscal responsibility in the medium to long-term.
As it stands now, the US has fallen deeper into debt, Main St is suffering, and Wall St is profiting.
* For more information on Coffee Party efforts in support of financial reform, please visit here.