GABNET/MARIPOSA ALLIANCE SAY: POOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST OFF THE SINKING FINANCE SYSTEM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2008

Reference: Dr. Annalisa Enrile
GABNet, Mariposa Initiating Committee
chair@gabnet.org
Tel: 619-316-0920

GABNet/Mariposa Alliance stand in firm opposition to the proposed $700 billion bailout, viewing it as government welfare that holds the poorest people responsible for the mistakes and lifestyle maintenance of the richest.

At this weekend's first presidential debate, both candidates remained virtually mum on the proposed 700 billion dollar bailout of Wall Street, in recognition of the fact that virtually everyone of the middle-class and low-income class find such a bailout unconscionable and heinous. Both candidates offer platitudes about "protecting" Main street, justifying the bail-out as a way of preventing home foreclosures and further suffering and deprivation of the poor people of the US.

The most we can say is that at least, there is at last some recognition of the existence of exceedingly poor people in the richest country of the world. In the US, the top 10% of Americans own 71% of all private wealth. Furthermore, the richest 1% of Americans own more than the bottom 90% of Americans.

But we have further news to offer: they are already suffering, as home foreclosures hit those who belong to the lowest income stratum of the population and over 2 million people have already lost their homes. More: that a significant section of those who have lost their homes or are in dire threat of losing their homes are women, as they are more likely than men to receive subprime mortage loans, yet are head of households, women with children, women who are already holding down two to three jobs to keep a roof over their family's heads.

These people are neither heard from nor represented in any of the discourse surrounding the worst financial crises America has seen since the Great Depression. They are people who are not even of Main Street but rather of South Side Street. Rather than a "rescue package," each will in effect be responsible for 7000 dollars of the great Wall Street bailout. After having been suckered into fraudulent mortgages by the whiz kids of the banking/financial system, they will be further penalized.

This kind of criminal economics is part of the same system that imprisons Filipina workers responsible in an endless bailout of the Philippines economy, the remittances from their meager salaries enabling the archipelago to stay afloat despite a crisis economy. As Filipinas are made to shore up and maintain the government and economy of the Philippines, so are low income American women being called upon to shore up and maintain the economy of a state-monopoly capitalist United States.

GABNet/Mariposa Alliance would rather that a bailout plan begins with the relief of those threatened by foreclosure, based on reasonable criteria. This whose correct redistribution of funds will both re-saturate the market with cash and assist those who deserve relief, rescue, bail-out, far more than the conscienceless and rapacious Wall Street companies. CEO's, whose pay sucks up cash from an already struggling market, should just be fired from their jobs, without golden parachutes and frankly, without a cent. They have already received more than enough compensation, considering their stupidity, and frankly they should be held responsible for the mortgage manipulation which border on the criminal.

Our rule of thumb with regards to this bail-out is very simple: impoverished women and children first off the sinking Wall Street ship.