From Bill Moyers Journal

January 8, 2010

BILL MOYERS: During the recent holidays, across the ocean in London, in the very heart of the city, the district where St. Paul's Cathedral and other historic churches nestle in the same neighborhood as the big multinational banks, some financiers were showing signs of contrition. These modern day Ebenezer Scrooges were actually questioning how they earned their fortunes.

According to the "Financial Times," they were asking themselves how "Financial capitalism has become synonymous with," and I quote, "Crazy risk-taking, with the passing off of toxic investments to unwitting counterparties and the earning of multi-million dollar bonuses, regardless of merit." Talk about mea culpa.

This epiphany came soon after the British government said it will slam a fifty percent tax on bonuses over 25,000 pounds — that would be anything over 40,000 dollars here in the U.S. In April the tax on those who make more than l50,000 pounds — that comes out to an annual paycheck of around a quarter of a million, American — could go as high as fifty percent.

But that news — as well as tighter banking regulations in the United Kingdom — elicited a hearty "Bah Humbug!" from the London branch of Goldman Sachs, which has hinted that if the tax hike goes through, it just might shut down its London operations and ship them to Switzerland, land of the cuckoo clock and secret bank accounts. Take that, patriots.

But as David Corn and Kevin Drum just told us, on this side of the Atlantic, the specter of tighter regulation or higher taxes isn't keeping American bankers up at night, to the contrary. Last month, the American Bankers Association sent out an update a "call to action" memorandum crowing over its success watering down the bank reform bill that had been approved by the House and urging its members to beat back similar legislation in the Senate. It concluded, "As one of your New Year's resolutions, please vow to do everything in your power to show, and to have your colleagues in your bank show, your Senators the right path to true reform."

It helps, of course, when the so-called right path is paved with gold. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, an indispensable source for information on money's role in politics, reported in November that "The finance, insurance and real estate sector has given 2.3 billion dollars to candidates, leadership PACs and party committees since 1989." You heard me right: Billions. A sum that eclipses every other sector — including the defense and health care lobbies.

All of this is beginning to break through to harried taxpayers across the country. There may not be a movement yet for fundamental change, as David Corn said, but here, there, and elsewhere, citizens are waking up, looking around, and asking, "What can we do?" Go to our website at PBS.org and click on Bill Moyers Journal and you'll see what I mean. We'll link you to nonpartisan grassroots organizations pushing for financial reform.