However, market rates aren’t preordained by God. Public officials assume (wrongly) that financial fees are set in stone because they are based on so-called market rates. When there are revenue shortfalls, cities typically impose austerity measures and cut essential community services, but Wall Street gets a free pass - payments to banks are considered untouchable. Public officials believe they have little choice but to cough up. For this, banks charge billions of dollars in fees each year. State and local governments in the United States rely on Wall Street firms to put together bond deals, manage their investments and provide financial services. It was a blow against both the austerity agenda and the iron grip of Wall Street on American cities. The City Council approved the resolution unanimously. And I don’t understand why the city can’t use the same kind of concept on some of these big banks, saying, ‘Hey, help us out or, you know, we’re not going to deal with you any more.’ ”
But I do know, if I go to a bank and they give me a bad deal, I don’t deal with that bank any more. The campaign slogan wrote itself: “Invest in our streets, not Wall Street!”Īt the city council debate, Timothy Butcher, a worker with the Bureau of Street Services, got up and said, “I don’t know a whole lot about high finance. Sewer inspections ceased entirely the number of sewer overflows doubled from 2008 to 2013. City jobs had been slashed by 10 percent, flood control procedures had been cut back, crumbling sidewalks were not repaired and alleys were rarely cleared of debris. To try to balance its budget, Los Angeles had enacted hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts over the previous five years.
cities-New York, Los Angeles and Chicago-together with their related agencies and pension funds, do nearly $600 billion of business with Wall Street every year.
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