As Their Profits Grow Steady - Every Criminal's Rich Already!

By Kyle Buott

This morning, we found out JPMorgan Chase, a massive investment bank in the US, misled the public on the size of its quarterly trading loss. They said it was $2 billion, when it was actually closer to $4.4 billion.

This is exactly how problems started in 2008 as the recession was beginning.  The big banks lied about their profits, they lied about their assets, and they lied about the so-called securities they were selling to people. By the time we found out they lied, the recession was in full bloom and millions of workers and their families lost their homes, their jobs, their savings, and their retirement funds.

Then our governments bailed the banks out to the tune of trillions of dollars around the world.  Here in Canada it has been estimated we bailed out our banks to the tune of $114 billion. 

Banks got bailed out, but people didn’t. The recession is not over. While corporate profits have recovered and the 1% grows richer, unemployment is still higher than when the recession began. For example, here in Nova Scotia, unemployment among young workers reached 32% last month. 

The solution is simple.  The big banks have proven they cannot be trusted with our money or with credit in general.  Democratic, public ownership of the banks would put an end to this nonsense, free up credit and reduce interest rates for workers and their families.

For-profit banking must end. Credit should be a tool to develop economies, not destroy them.

Kyle Buott is the president of the Halifax-Dartmouth and District Labour Council. This blog originally appeared at halifaxlabour.ca. 

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