THE LITTLE GUY LOBBY.ORG 

CURRENT ISSUES

No more bailouts for the banks, insurance companies, and other corporations who caused the massive problems in the first place.  Why should we the taxpayers pay for their mistakes and misappropriations? This is insane! 

Why is it when everything is going great and corporate profits are in the billions the cry is for free markets and to keep government out of business. Yet, when things go the other way and large corporations face bankruptcy, they want and demand government bailouts. And of course these bailouts are in reality paid for by the average American taxpayer. This is wrong and must come to an end. No more bailouts!

 Stop the unconscionable bank and credit card late fees and 30% interest rates! 

Why have bank credit card and late fees been increased after the banks received over 1 billion in TARP money. This is unconscionable. Last year Congress summoned the leaders of the country’s biggest banks to Capitol Hill and took them to task for what critics call punitive fees and unjustified interest rate hikes. But so far, no legislation has been passed. One of the most onerous practices that should be outlawed is called universal default. You can have a perfect payment record with a credit card company, but if you are late paying another bill or your credit score slips for some reason (maybe you have big medical bills) you can get hit with the default interest rate – as high as 30 percent a year. Several big banks say they’ve gotten rid of the universal default penalty. If they have, this action is voluntary, which means it can return at any time. Congress needs to ban this unfair practice to prevent every credit card issuer from using it. Lawmakers also need to put an end to credit card contracts that let the bank change the terms of the deal – boost penalty fees or change the interest rate – at any time and for any reason – with just 15 days notice. This is blatantly unfair.

 End the “Too big to fail” argument by not allowing mergers to take place that would have the effect of disrupting real free market capitalism. Bigger is not always better. 

WE agree, if a corporation is too big to fail, that is solid evidence that it is too big period and should be broken up into smaller pieces. Why is it that the free market advocates raise the issue of Big Government, yet ignore the problem of BIG Corporations. We agree, bigger is not always better. And usually smaller units allow for more competition. More competition in many cases translates into lower prices which is a good thing for all Americans, rich poor, or middle class..

Read the article, Why too big to fail is Un-American

 Eliminate bonuses for executives when the company is losing money. Duh.

If a company is losing money, why is it then some executives continue to receive multimillion dollar bonuses? This is insanity! There is nothing wrong with someone being compensated for performance. Tiger Woods makes millions a year- GREAT!, he performs and earns it. But if you are a corporate exec and your firm is losing millions or billions a year, YOU DON’T DESERVE A BONUS!

Read here how American Airlines doles out bonuses despite $375 Million Loss

GM $23 million dollar pension 

Stop the H1-B visa program that allows corporations to import cheap labor at the cost of more layoffs for Americans. 

There is a huge middle-class in America that is being left out of the job market. With a 4 year degree in hand and in some cases a postgraduate degree and they still can't get a job, because the would of been job is held by a H1-B individual for a lesser wage or monopolized by Managers that once were H1-B themselves. With the crunching job market, we need to give jobs back to Americans. Without jobs, there is no spending. No spending meaning the economic downturn will continue to go on downward.

STOP all OFFSHORE OUT SOURCING. Modify H1-B Visa/INS laws to make it mandatory to give privilege to US citizens first over H1-B visa holders. The reason for H1-B visa was because of labor shortages, not because of cheap wages. Now, there isn't any job left to be had with so many engineers being laid off. We need to fix this Loop hole in the H1-B and other Visa programs. Create jobs for Americans before providing employment for those coming from over seas. !

Amend the Prescription Drug program to permit government negotiation on prices with the drug companies. This bill should never have been passed in the first place!

That would I believe be in line with the oft-professed but seldom practiced theories of Adam Smith. This was a case of Washington lobbyists at their finest hour. 

 Immediately stop raiding the treasury and stealing the social security and Medicare surpluses.

The SS & Medicare surpluses have been stolen ... used as part of the general fund for all government expenditures.The deficit soared from Carter's $74B to $200B at the end of 83. What Reagan did was raise SS tax to, ostensibly, finance not only current retirees, but also pay in advance for future retirements. Then Reagan went on the spend the SS dollars collected and Bush continued to do so. Clinton was building a surplus; the Bush/Greenspan-approved tax cuts squashed that. So the idea has been to cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, and then pay for that by increasing taxes on the middle class and the poor (who pay SS tax on every penny they earn). Then Bush and the Rs said, "Gee, these are only IOU's" ... they're "trust the government funds." And now the "solution" is to cut benefits, which were already paid for. This fraud, theft, criminal behavior, driven by Republicans, but in which too many Democrats colluded, is the story that won't be told 

read the article, “Looting Social Security from The Nation

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