Portside

'Let me be clear: No amount of offensive remarks will stop me from standing up to House Republicans who are bought and paid for by the big banks.'

I knew Friedan and I know she believed the system wasn't just about men and women, either. The author recounts her hours long conversation with Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique, Labor Day weekend 2005, five months before her death. Betty was thoughtful. Finally, she commented: 'We didn't challenge the system enough.'

The Federal Reserve's newest bank president, a Republican who served as a top Treasury Department official during the financial crisis, called for policy makers to consider breaking up big banks to prevent future government bailouts. His proposals also include: Turning large banks into public utilities; and taxing leverage throughout the financial system. Seven years after the crisis, it is now time to move forward and end TBTF.

Breaking up the biggest financial institutions would reduce the level of financial monopolization in America and the corresponding political influence of the largest banks. Too few banks control too much of our money. Not only is it risky for the reasons stated above, but it gives them even more influence in Congress. At the end of 2014, the largest four banks held 35% of all bank deposits. These same four banks spent at least $21 million lobbying the federal government.

"It's hard to imagine Democrats' 2016 nominee will be truly tough on Wall Street banks that break the law, if they won't commit to banning their advisors from receiving legalized bribes from those same banks," says Charles Chamberlain of Democracy for America. Still Hillary Clinton has refused to address the issue.

Detroit's bankruptcy wasn't inevitable. Neither is Chicago's. But the austerity hawks don't want you to know that...When cities and states borrow money by issuing bonds, the lenders are typically high-wealth individuals, who purchase the bonds to get a tax break. It is a perverse system through which, rather than paying their fair share in taxes, the wealthy are instead able to lend that money to us, charge us interest for it, and then claim a further tax break on it.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who once served as President Obama’s chief of staff, received more than $600,000 in campaign contributions from executives at investment firms that manage Chicago pension funds. The head of a New Jersey board that determines how the state invests its $80 billion pension fund was in direct contact with top political and campaign fundraising aides for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during his re-election bid.

With our banking system in private hands, the simple truth is that as the debt levels accelerate, so does runaway inequality. Therefore key to controlling runaway inequality is to dramatically curtail the power of high finance.