Why Politics and Unions do not Mix Well.

A New Way Forward is a growing grass roots movement that wants to see the too big to fail banks broken up.

I am not sure the real core issue facing beleaguered homeonwers is breaking up the "too big to fail" banks. I think the "big four" (Wells Fargo, Citibank, Chase and Bank of America) might actually be an asset to the country IF intelligent financial rules were put in place.

Perhaps we are facing the irony of the "gift of the magi" because the "too big to fail banks" could instantly be a huge asset to the country, if they would not fight the real financial reform that is needed.

And of course, just who actually knows what the real financial reform is, that is needed?

My personal reservations about A New Way Forward is that it may be seeded too strongly with union groups. On top of that, I am no longer interested in community activism if the primary thing the activists do is figure out how to get their community a bigger cut of the tax pie. Apparently, at the recent rally pictured below in Illinois people were allegedly chanting "Raise our Taxes".

The problem is the Unions are having it both ways. The unions appear to prefer both political parties fight over their union members' vote, but then they also are involved in "grass roots" movements as well.

I would suggest that when the unions forced their members to vote for Barack Obama during the 2008 democratic primary and caucus contests, they created the present problem. Barack Obama was a worthy democratic candidate in 2008, but it is ridiculous to presume he actually beat Hillary Clinton fairly and squarely. If the 2008 democratic primary and caucus races had been fairly conducted, Hillary Clinton would have ended up with between 52-54 percent of the vote, and a similar delegate advantage as well.

Instead, democratic caucus cheating was rampant. I studied the caucus vote counts and basically Barack Obama's entire delegate lead over Hillary Clinton came from tainted caucus contests that never came close to representing what the polling companies were getting.

At one point, the polling companies actually did not want to disclose their results regarding caucus contests because they knew that Hillary Clinton was being shortchanged and they did not want to look so inaccurate in their pre-caucus poll results.

Then we have the strange case of Illinois (Barack Obama's residence state) moving up its 2008 primary date by 7 weeks to early February, while Michigan and Florida (Hillary Clinton states) were penalized for moving their date up. Barack Obama's landslide victory in Illinois gave him an advantage that he trumpeted in the 10 caucus contests that immediately followed that primary.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton had nothing to show for Michigan other than the mudslinging from Barack Obama to New Hampshire and Iowa voters condemning Michigan for trying to move up their primary date too close to theirs, and condemning Hillary Clinton for keeping her name on the ballot in Michigan as well.

The Michigan and Florida primaries were going to go to Hillary Clinton, Illinois was going to go to Barack Obama. Barack Obama got his bounce, Hillary Clinton was denied hers. the messing with these three states alone stole the democratic nomination from Hillary Clinton.

Factor in the caucus cheating, in which Hillary Clinton was either tied or leading in the polls in virtually all caucus contests but ended up losing the caucus delegate count by a 2-1 MARGIN to Barack Obama and the result was clearly in Hillary Clinton's favor.

I believe the unions paid a deep price for possibly contributing to several unethical maneuvers in 2008 to get Barack Obama selected over Hillary Clinton. (Research 2008 Las Vegas democratic caucus, Iowa caucus vote totals from precincts that border Illinois, and the late voter primary counts in Indiana precincts that also border Illinois).

Now the unions don't like what they see and they want a do over.

Hillary Clinton would not have let the banks walk all over her and that is why Barack Obama started to get large Wall Street donor campaigns.

When a self professed documentary filmmaker such as Michael Moore says nothing about the abuse his own state of Michigan was put through during in the 2008 democratic primary race, and also says nothing about Illinois moving its own primary date up 7 weeks to game the system, we can reasonably assume that SOMETHING WAS GOING ON.

I would suggest that the biggest political problems unions face is the idea that all of their votes are supposed to go to one candidate to maximize their influence. Why treat union workers so miserably by forcing them to go with one candidate? Why should union workers be treated as mindless minions whose vote can only go to the union committee selected candidate?

When politicians try to win the Union Vote, or when they try to win the Chamber of Commerce Vote, and so on down the line, it just contributes to all the political divisiveness that we presently are facing. If the Unions are for breaking up the banks, than for sure republicans will be against it.

If the unions had let the voting public decide who was the stronger candidate in 2008 between Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, then backed that candidate, they probably would be in a better position right now. AND, they would not have set a horrible precedent of prematurely manipulating the selection of the democratic party presidential candidate before the democratic voters of the country had voted.

So what does all of this have to do with the April 29th, 2010 protest march on Wall Street? The unions have created a polarized environment, which means any effort they make, no matter how legitimate, will automatically result in a backlash from those who have dealt with the unions in the past and not gotten the union vote.

How Swarm the Banks works.

Update - November 24, 2010 - With the growth of this website I am hoping that sharing important foreclosure information and ideas will help educate interested homeowners as to the kind of legal activities they can take in regards to their HAMP and Parallel Foreclosure experience.

Update - September 30, 2010 - due to "people power considerations" the idea of swarming the banks via phone calls is being given out freely to anyone who wants to try it in their own city.)

Please note, I am no longer advocating calling the banks en masse as the issue of home foreclosures is now in the mainstream. The information below is simply historical as to why Swarm the Banks was first started, but no longer reflects the direction that Swarm the Banks is now headed.

First view the blog column to your far left and your far right where it says "Shame the Banks". They are both filled with Shame the Banks story links from home owners who feel they are not being treated fairly by their banks.

The banks will be given a certain amount of time to respond to the homeowners letters. If the bank or financial institution does not respond within a certain amount of time, Swarm the Banks volunteers will be asked to call the particular bank or loan institution in question and ask what is going on with the specific loan case.

The phone swarming will continue until the banks figure out a reasonable solution.

Yes, it's that easy. You can start your own phone bank in your own city if you want to try and help your fellow home foreclosure victims.

Amazingly Entertaining 4 minute MSNBC Dylan Ratigan video about Banksters, the Law, and you called "Change the Law".

I would like to thank the Practical Democrat blog for making a topic about this video. The video is called "Change the Law" and originated from MSNBC and Dylan Ratigan. Click here to see the article and video.

I suspended my democratic loyalty after the way Hillary Clinton was treated in the 2008 election. I no longer watch any of the cable news channels, however I ESPECIALLY AVOID MSNBC and will continue to do so until Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and friends are off the air.

However, it doesn't matter what your politics are and who you support. Right now, the number one focus should be giving people the fairest chance to either keep their home, OR, THE equity that has been built up in their home.

The forceclosing (a new word?) of a home that still has equity built up in it IS UNACCEPTABLE.

For those who are curious right now I am for nither both major parties. I even started a blog called My Third Party to show my support for third party candidates as I don't believe either party deserves a boost in congress.

Welcome to Swarm the Banks.

I believe if we can assemble enough of a phone posse to start calling uncooperative banks and financial institutions who are not fairly handling homeowners situations, we can make a difference.

Stay tuned for more information. Just as important, please check out "Shame the Banks". If you are a homeowner with a story to tell, Shame the Banks is gathering stories about homeowners plights.

Eventually, I envision an evaluation of everybody's stories and whomever is in an outrageous situation will receive support from others who will call the financial institution to find out what is going on.

If enough people keep the phone pressure up, we can get the banks attention and get them to deal with us irrespective of their lobbying efforts in Congress.

Finally, you may be able to do something from your own home or apartment, to help others who are fighting to keep theirs.