Buck Naked Politics

M&I Bank Responds to Boycott Threat, Irony Abounds

Thursday, as you know, Wisconsin unions members threatened to remove their money from M&I bank, whose execs gave heavy campagin donations to Wisconsin's anti-middle-class governor, Scott Walker (who signed a bill Friday that reduces public employees' right to collectively bargain for decent benefits and wages).

M&I's response to the boycott threat begins:

"M&I has not taken, and will not take, a position either for or against the budget repair bill. As M&I has publicly stated before: M&I has not contributed to any candidate and did not contribute to Governor Walker or Mayor Barrett in the last gubernatorial election...."

I must interject.  Corporations are legal fictions: they can't do anything, anymore than cars can  drive themselves.  It's the people who run coporations that do things (or don't) in a corporation's name, like puppeteers.  M&I's response continues:

"M&I employees contributed to both Wisconsin gubernatorial candidates in the last election."

From M&I's puppeteers, the anti-middle-class governor got 183 donations ($85,000); his opponent, Tom Barrett, got 68 donations ($16,000) [data from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign]. 

Given the dollar amounts (if I correctly pasted them into Excel), one could say that the M&I puppeteers who donated to the gubernatorial campaigns were 5-to-1 in favor of the anti-middle-class governor. 

In November of 2008, M&I received $1.7 billion in loans from us taxpayers through ex-President Bush's bank bail-out program (TARP).  Back then, M&I's puppeteers were eager to receive hefty quantities of tax dollars.  Now, they just don't care whether Wisconsin's teachers and garbage collectors get a share--and in exchange for real work, no less.

Incidentally, M&I's puppeteers have failed to pay us back.  At the same time, they managed to pay themselves--in part, using money they borrowed from us.  It gets worse.

Wisconsin Protesters Exercise the Power of the Purse against Anti-Middle-Class Sentiment

by D. Cupples |  These days, fighting for the interests of folks who lack corporate-jet access seems about as fruitful as a jellyfish protesting the ocean that washed it ashore.

Yes, my mind is on Wisconsin, where the anti-middle-class governor and his Republican cohorts in the legislature have declared war on people who depend on regular paychecks.

Yesterday, it all seemed hopeless when Wisconsin officials passed the bill that stripped public employee unions of collective-bargaining rights.

But then something happened: a branch of M&I bank in Madison closed early after Joe Conway, a local Firefighters Union president, advised protesters to move their money out of that bank.  (Apparently, M&I execs had contributed heavily to the anti-middle-class governor’s campaign, and M&I refused to publicly oppose state officials’ anti-middle-class stance.)

Dane 101 has a video clip of the protestors chanting "Move your Money." I doubt it'll stop with M&I bank (at least, I hope it doesn't stop there). The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel states:

 “The unions, which include the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and teachers unions in Madison and Green Bay, said they would also target other businesses whose employees donated to Walker [the anti-middle-class governor].”

That’s the answer: the power of the purse.  It was money from anti-middle-class business folks that put anti-middle-class officials in office.  And where did those business folks get their money (I mean, aside from fat government subsidies, loans, or contracts)?

Some of it came from middle-class folks, who spent part of their paychecks  patronizing  those businesses.  And if middle-class folks start boycotting, those businesses will feel it.

Even without a boycott, businesses will suffer if anti-middle-class officials continue sucking dollars out of workers’ pockets. (If workers lack money, they can't support as many businesses, right?)

It’s a shame that so many folks are blind to the bigger picture.  But then, blindness to reality is why our nation keeps Foxnewsing itself into crisis after crisis.

Addition: the Daily Chronicle states:

"...labor leaders say the events in Wisconsin have helped galvanize support for unions across the country, and they hope to use the momentum to help fight off the attacks and grow their membership.

"Said the president of the AFL-CIO: 'I guess I ought to say thank you particularly to Scott Walker [the anti-middle-class governor]. We should have invited him here today to receive the Mobilizer of the Year award from us!'"

Backlash can be satisfying.  If you want to help the folks in Wisconsin, you can donate at http://www.wisaflcio.org/