MoveOn Wants to Prove Communism Works

Dear MoveOn member,

Last week the Obama administration took tough, decisive action with the auto industry, forcing the resignation of the CEO of General Motors.

The president knows that we can't trust the same folks who got us into this mess to help lead us out.

It's time to do the same for the banks. And the best way to start is by firing Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. He's the worst of the worst.

Lewis's poor management helped ruin his company and our economy. Shareholders are calling him "reckless" and citing "disastrous missteps."1 Worse, Lewis accepted $45 billion in taxpayer bailout funds, but instead of using all the money to get the economy going again, he let $3.6 billion go to bonuses for top execs.2

There can't be real reform on Wall Street until the CEOs who brought down the banks we had to bail out are long gone.

Can you sign our petition asking Treasury Secretary Geithner replace the leadership at bailed out banks—starting with Ken Lewis? Clicking here adds your name:

The petition says: "We can't trust the same people who got us into this financial mess to help lead us out. Replace the leadership at the bailed-out banks, starting with Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis."

Lewis is the CEO of the biggest bank in the United States.3 If Secretary Geithner forces him to resign, it'll send a strong message to the rest of Wall St.: The era of zero accountability is over and reckless behavior that puts our economy at risk won't be tolerated.

Of all the folks who helped bring about the recession, Lewis is one of the worst:

* Shareholders say he helped drive the company into the ground. Bank of America has lost billions—and 90% of its value—in part because Lewis "hastily arranged the ill-considered acquisition" of Merrill Lynch.4
* Even after the crisis, he hasn't changed his ways. He ensured that high-level staff received bonuses—despite recent announcements that the bank was laying off another 35,000 employees.5
* On top of all this, he's fighting against more rights for workers. Three days after receiving $25 billion in bailout money, Bank of America brought together powerful banking interests to figure out how to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that makes it easier for workers to form unions.6

Ken Lewis has got to go. And we need to look closely at the other bailed-out banks that may need new leadership too.

Our friends at Service Employees International Union (the country's fastest-growing union) have been leading this campaign for a few weeks—and they're building momentum quickly. If hundreds of thousands of us act, together, we'll be impossible to ignore. Please sign today!

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Patrick S., Eli, Lenore and the rest of the team

My response, which (of course) bounced back because they don't want to get emails from the plebes:

Dear MoveOn:

To prove that the government now owns those companies it's bailed out, the White House fired the CEO of General Motors. Now you're telling them you want them to fire all of the others who head those who've also received bailouts. I have news for you: ownership of business by government is COMMUNISM.

Further, you might want to actually find out what's happened on Wall Street and everywhere else. Then maybe you'll amend your petition and demand that everyone in Washington, D.C. be fired for their negligence--especially Senators For Life (there are 102 of them right now) including your best friend Nancy Pelosi.

You see, MoveOn, those are the true culprits in this disaster, not the businesses who supposedly failed by "fleecing" Americans. Those businesses only did what they were designed to do: make money by leveraging investments. When Jimmy Carter opened up the housing market to them back in the day, they jumped in with both feet.

Yet when a big fat 8% of American homes were in foreclosure, a CRISIS was declared and all of these bankers started whining that they needed saving. Instead of letting them fall and letting the ones who lived through it learn a lesson, though, your buddies like Pelosi and Obama were all on the bandwagon to bail them out.

So I say we start a petition to get rid of all the worthless morons in Washington. Let's see...boy, that's a lot of pink slips. Tell you what, if you'll get the people to fill them out, one by one, for each member of the House, the Senate, and all senior members of the White House staff, I'll go down to Office Max and put up the cash to purchase all those pink slips.

Deal?