In the henhouse and going nowhere -- now what?

Posted by CODEPINK Staff

Cofounder Medea Benjamin has a great piece on Henry "The Fox" Paulson up on After Downing Street, a capstone to our demonstrations against the bailout these past couple weeks in NYC, D.C., L.A. and elsewhere.

Benjamin questions why Congress ignored the warning signs of financial disaster and ignored how Paulson orchestrated much of the disaster for his own gain. She writes:

To see the absurdity of Paulson in charge of the crisis, Congress need only have looked at Paulson’s past. On the very day that Congress passed the bailout, The New York Times published a shocking story about how the SEC was lobbied in 2004 by the nation’s five largest investment banks to change a regulation that limited the amount of debt they could take on. The exemption unshackled billions of dollars held in reserve as a cushion against losses on their investments, and led to the unraveling of the financial sector. Among the five banks leading the charge to change the rule was Goldman Sachs, which was headed by Henry Paulson. Translation: Paulson was one of the architects of the crisis!

Benjamin's not the first to point out the fox in the henhouse. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Robert Scheer, a Los Angeles contributing editor Robert Scheer, Jim Shea of the Hartford Courant and dozens of others have been appalled at Paulson's now control over billions of taxpayer money.

But it seems what's done is done. Paulson got his bailout money and Congress has dumped even more into the banks. Some call to fire Paulson -- the chances of that are slim. So what's next? What can we do in the face of this grand injustice?