Dear Editor:
The following is an open letter to Councilman Steven Fulop from Occupy Jersey City. This is Part 1 of a two part letter:
We are sure you are aware of the Occupy Wall Street movement which began in New York City in September of 2011 as an uprising against corrupt and greedy banks, businesses and government.
The movement has inspired many other ‘occupations’ across our nation, including one in Jersey City’s Journal Square.
We are called Occupy Jersey City and we’ve been going strong since October of 2011, initially occupying and sleeping in Journal Square 24/7, and now meeting twice weekly through winter into current spring, where we plan peaceful, community based outreach and actions.
We are committed to restoration of ethical government, where people, not profits, are first priority, and where such ethical government is free from the bondage of corruption of excessive corporate influence.
Occupy Jersey City’s first and well-publicized action was a peaceful rally against corporate corruption at Jersey City’s Goldman Sachs building on our waterfront, where on that day, we saw an extremely semi-militarized effort to protect Goldman Sachs from about 150 non-violent peace activists with signs.
It is well known that you held an extremely high and powerful position at Goldman Sachs for several years before volunteering and being deployed to Iraq. When you came back you worked again on Wall Street. Now, as councilman, you have announced your candidacy for mayor of Jersey City.
In recent years, yes, Jersey City has been shamed due to high-level local governmental corruption, and things must change for the better.
That being said, the informed residents of Jersey City as well as people globally, are well aware of the alleged corruption of Goldman Sachs and its repercussions around the world. Recently, there have been investigations for insider trading for example.
As reported in the mainstream media, via whistle-blowers and explained in the award-winning documentary “Inside Job.”
In the 2000s, the financial industry was mostly controlled by five investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Bear Sterns), two financial conglomerates (Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase), three insurance companies (AIG, MBIA, AMBAC) and three rating agencies (Moody’s, Standard & Poors, Fitch).
Investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, bundled mortgages with other loans and debts into “collateralized debt obligations” (CDOs), which they sold to investors. Rating agencies gave many CDOs “AAA” ratings. Subprime loans led to predatory lending. Many home owners were given loans they could never repay and now we are suffering globally from these crimes, housing foreclosures being just one symptom.
Goldman Sachs alone allegedly sold more than $3 billion worth of CDOs in the first half of 2006. Goldman Sachs also bet against the low-value CDOs, telling investors they were high-quality.
We understand that this financial collapse, felt globally, occurred after you left Goldman Sachs, but the foundation was being built during years prior.
Respectfully,
Occupy Jersey City
General Assembly