Important tie of Obama with MAC(Gamaliel Foundation affiliate in Chicago)
http://www.community-wealth.org/_pdfs/articles-publications/state-local-new/report-awad-et-al.pdf
(snip)
Results
Chicago
“Since 1998, the Metropolitan Alliance of
Congregations (MAC) has fought for and won the
creation of a partnership with ten banks, providing
up to $1 billion in loans for 13,000 families through
2005. To ensure that the set-aside funds would be
utilized, over 100 MAC member churches and sister
organizations based in Aurora, Hazel Crest, Joliet,
and Chicago, Ill., agreed to recruit and train families
in homeownership. More recently, following the fall
2004 closure of a Chicago West Side Hospital and a
move to the suburbs, more than 3,000 individuals
(white, African American, Latino, and others) and
union leaders gathered in Chicago to challenge what
Gamaliel’s director of metro equity, Mike Kruglik,
terms, a “landscape of abandonment and neglect that
is morally wrong.”
At that meeting, veterans of the civil rights
movement openly supported civil rights for
immigrants. And together, they found common
ground with the health care workers union, Service
Employees International Union (SEIU) and its 400
rank-and-file in attendance. Together, their crosscoalition
agenda called for immigration reform,
expanded health care, fair school funding, and
transportation equity.
Invited and responding to MAC’s community
agenda were Illinois Congressmen Luis Gutierrez,
Danny Davis, and Jesse Jackson, Jr. Also in
attendance and speaking was then Illinois Senate
nominee, now U.S. Senator, Barack Obama.”
MUST READ..all the usual suspects involved..Carl Levin..Kwame Kilpatrick...Fannie Mae....Needmor Fund....the list goes on and on. Don’t let the philantropic aspect fool you either...most of these foundations and actors get billions of tax-payer money through the government.
The sad thing is that although uplifting minorities and the poor is a worthy goal...most of the money goes into the pockets of the race racketeers,politicians, democrats,socialists and the looters in society.
Now our entire economy is teetering on the verge of collapse due to nixing sound economic policy in favor of societal aims!
No doubt that Obama’s former church(Rev. Wright) is involved with MAC, but oddly enough...MAC’s website is down (eye roll)
Here is Obama, Dick Durbin and MAC trying to ‘shake down’ Bank Of America’ back in 2007 over housing and credit cards for ‘the poor’!! Going to paste it because the article is no longer at the short link shown on the search cache page.
http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:2pW9kxOG-AwJ:www.bankofamericabadforamerica.org/storage/documents/Banking%2520Newsletter%25201.pdf+%22metropolitan+alliance+of+congregations%22+%2B+%22Barack+Obama%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us
September 24, 2007
For Chicago, a Change for the Worse
“Just one day after a controversial Federal Reserve Board ruling on the proposed takeover of LaSalle Bank by Charlotte-based Bank of America, Chicago-area elected officials andcommunity leaders told a packed room at the Chicago Temple that they would continue to fight to win commitments for job preservation, community investment, and consumer protection. “I think we have every right to ask, to cajole, to demand that the largest bank in the country, Bank of America, when it comes to Chicago . . . make[s] concrete commitments,” Congressman Luis Gutierrez told the 350 people assembled at the September 15 hearing, which wasorganized by the Save Chicago Jobs and Community Investment Coalition. Gutierrez, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services, and Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias presided over the public hearing at which they listened to testimony from religious leaders, community organizations, labor leaders, andworkers about the impact Bank of America’s acquisition of LaSalle Bank may have on Chicago. While the merger has received preliminary approval from the Federal Reserve, it cannot take effect until at least September 29. A number of community leaders and elected officials are petitioning the Federal Reserve to reconsider its decision, and are also pursuing other regulatory paths to ensure that the deal preserves Chicago-area jobs and community investment while protecting customers from Bank of America’s anti-consumer policies. A Devastating Loss for Chicago The hearing took place just one day after Senators Richard Durbin and Barack Obama issued a letter to BofA asking that CEO Ken Lewis meet with them to discuss the potential consequences of the LaSalle acquisition. In their letter, Durbin and Obama cited concerns about job loss, reduced competition and its effect on consumers, the lessening of cultural and charitable support for the Chicago area, and the “the contraction of community reinvestment in distressed areas of Chicago.” A recent study confirms the assertions of the Illinois U.S. Senate delegation. At the hearing,Tim Mahon of Anderson Economic Group described his firm’s independentanalysis of the “I think we have every right to ask, to cajole, to demand that the largest bank in the country, Bank of America, when it comes to Chicago . . . make[s] concrete commitments.” U.S. Rep. Luis GutierrezIssue 1, September 24, 2007
Page 2
Chicago Banking Monitor • September 24, 2007 • page 2 economic impact of the acquisition. AEG conservatively estimates that over a two-year period, Chicago could lose 10,500 jobs, $48 million in tax revenue, and $780 million in wages from the economy. AEG’s analysis assumes that BofA is able to achieve only two-thirds of its announced savings goal of $1.5 billion; if the bank is entirely successful at cost cutting, the losses to Chicago could be even deeper.Chicago Can Do Better Bank of America’s refusal to make concrete commitments to Chicago stands in stark contrast to the company’s 2004 acquisition of Boston’s Fleet Bank. Even before securing regulatory approval for that acquisition, Bank of America made specific commitments to Boston aroundjob preservation and community investment. “Why won’t Bank of America do for Chicago what it did for Boston?” asked Service Employees International Union Local 1 Vice President Dan Schlademan, who together with Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations President Marilyn Pagán-Banks, Woodstock Institute President Malcolm Bush, and other coalition members met with Bank of America on September 6. While BofA at that meeting listened to concerns from the community, officials refused to make any specific commitments to Chicago. While LaSalle Bank has an established reputation for investing in charitable and civic causes—as well as supporting Chicago’s small business community through more flexible lending policies—Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias urged Coalition members not to set their sites too low in negotiations with Bank of America. “Let’s not ask them to do the same, let’s ask them to do even more,” Giannoulias said at thehearing. “They’re a national corporation, they have tremendous assets. They can do more.” A Climate of Fear and UncertaintyWhile big changes always carry with them a certain amount of uncertainty, BofA’s lack of communication with Chicago stakeholders has made those changes even more difficult to stomach for workers at LaSalle and the organizations that have counted on LaSalle’s support for years. SEIU’s Dan Schlademan presented the panel with statements from two LaSalle workers afraidof losing their jobs. In their statements, the LaSalle workers said they were afraid to appear in person after the bank threatened their severance packages if they became involved withthe Coalition. In addition to the direct bank employees who may lose their jobs as a result of the merger, contracted employees also see their livelihoods at risk. “I’m really worried about Bank of America,” said Carlos Malave, a security officer at LaSalle Bank who fears that Bank of America will hire a contractor that does not share the same commitment to fair wages andbenefits as his current employer. “I’m worried that what will happen to our family, if we can’t pay the rent or buy food for the kids, that’s a real possibility that if I lose my job I won’t find any other way for me to get any other income.” Community organizations share that same fear. Ed Shurna, Executive Director of the ChicagoCoalition for the Homeless, described what LaSalle Bank’s support has meant for the organization and for poor and homeless people. The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless works to address and prevent the root causes of homelessness, including poverty, forexample by advocating for affordable housing. A Change for the Worse, continued from page 1 “Let’s not ask them to do the same, let’s ask them to do even more. They’re a national corporation, they have tremendous assets. They cando more.” Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias
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Chicago Banking Monitor • September 24, 2007 • page 3 “Hope is often the only thing that homeless men, women and children have to hold on to,” Shurna told the panel. “But hope alone is not going to stop homelessness. We also need partners, financial partners who care about all people in the city.” LaSalle has been one of those partners, Shurna testified. “LaSalle Bank has set the bar very high and it’s walked the walk as well as talked the talk,” he said. “What commitment is Bank of America going to make to the city? What commitment is Bank of America going to make to its workforce? What commitment is Bank of America going to make to those organizations that reach out to all individuals, not just that can afford large bank accounts?” Consumers May Lose Too Bank of America is currently straining against the federal 10% cap on deposits intended to maintain competition in the industry and stabilize the banking industry as a whole. The company also controls one in five credit cards, making it a dominant player in setting the practices that other banks follow in everything from ATM charges to overdraft fees to credit card conditions. At the hearing, Illinois Citizen Action President William McNary shared stories from consumers who have been harmed by some of Bank of America’s questionable practices. McNary explained Bank of America’s policy of reserving the right to change terms on credit cards at any time, for any reason. As an example of the effects of such policies on ordinary consumers, he described the pit of debt Bank of America customer Dawn Seskind found herself in when her interest rate was suddenly raised from 9% to 26% because BofA decided she had “too much debt.” Though Seskind says she’d never missed a payment, her minimum payment doubled, and she now pays more than $100 a month in interest. Full documentation of BofA’s consumer practices is contained in a report published by the Coalition, A Change for the Worse: How the “Bank of Opportunity” Is Closing Doors on Chicago’s Workers and Communities, which is available for download at www.BankofAmericaBadforAmerica.com. “While corporations don’t have consciences, we trust that the men and women who run them do,” McNary said. “And so we appeal to the conscience of Bank of America’s CEO Ken Lewis who’s blessed enough to make $100 million last year, to sit down with leaders and elected officials and laborers and negotiate an agreement that preserves jobs, protects consumers and puts the community and public interest before their profit.” A Change for the Worse, continued from page 2 [W]e appeal to the conscience of Bank of America’s CEO Ken Lewis . . . to sit down with leaders and elected officials and laborers and negotiate an agreement that preserves jobs, protects consumers and puts the community and public interest before their profit.” Illinois Citizen Action President William McNary The Save Chicago Jobs and Community Investment Coalition Action Now; Citizen Action Illinois; Chicago Coalition for the Homeless; Chicago Interfaith Committee for Worker Issues; Chicago Jobs with Justice; Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations; National Training and Information Center; Northside Community Credit Union; Protestants for the Common Good; SEIU Local 1; and the Woodstock Institute. For more information, please contact Erica Hade at 312-233-8789. For more information, visit www.BankofAmericaBadforAmerica.org “