The City of Oakland has been severely impacted by predatory loan agreements with corporate financial institutions. One nightmare example is the 1998 fixed-rate swap agreement with Goldman Sachs. Oakland accepted a 5.6 percent fixed rate deal. After the market crashed and the Fed lowered interest rates, this loan obligation cost the city millions of dollars. Oakland was stuck with $4 million in annual interest to Goldman Sachs, which over the years added up.

Big banks make big profit at the expense of taxpayers when cities remain dependent on Wall Street loans. As city budgets get tighter, and there is an urgent need to meet basic obligations, politicians are more susceptible to getting involved in complicated borrowing agreements without fully understanding the high risks. Public banking can eliminate risky and profit driven loan deals and safeguard the resources of the city.

An Einstein Administration will have the counsel and support of Strike Debt and other radical financial think-tanks needed to avoid the dirty tricks of Wall St. grifters like Goldman Sachs and to build the Public Bank of Oakland, which will keep our City's wealth from being pick-pocketed.  And Einstein will be the best watchdog our City’s pension funds have ever had.

Please take the survey, and Einstein encourages you to elaborate on any of your answers in the comments section of this post.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F6DQZST

When: Thursday, October 2, 2014, starting at 10:00 AM
Where: The steps of Oakland City Hall, (East entrance), Oakland, CA 94612
Why: The Oakland Mayoral campaign needs a voice for the City’s oppressed residents

Oakland, CA – A dog for Mayor of Oakland?!  Sound crazy?  But the question, as we see it, is not, “Can a dog run the City?”  The question we should all ask is, “Can any individual be accountable for running the City?”

Of course, the Mayor doesn’t run the City single-handedly.  Nevertheless, who do we hold responsible when residents suffer from mismanagement of the City’s tremendous wealth of resources?  Is it not the highest elected official in City Government?  This system allows residents to blame the Mayor for not solving the social problems facing Oakland.

Without a fallible human in the Mayor’s Office, we must all play our parts in determining the route Oakland will take into the future.  Please read Einstein’s Platform and Blog (links provided below) and see if you agree that if Einstein is elected, the interaction of residents with City officials – and with each other – will change, radically.  No longer will we ask what the City Government can do for us.  Instead, we will see the way clear to changing the City ourselves, to expanding the power of residents of modest income, to shrinking the power of the rich by establishing a larger and more representative City Council.  No longer will we have a single individual to blame for our problems.  After all, how can a very good dog like Einstein cause social problems?

A selection of planks in Einstein’s platform:

• Greatly expanded democratic representation for the residents of Oakland
• An end to Orwellian surveillance and a restoration of privacy
• The rights of Oakland’s residents supersede the rights of police officers.
• Einstein will facilitate the creation of the Public Bank of Oakland and the Oakland Debtors’ Assembly.
• A maximum-wage requirement to eliminate the inflationary pressures that render minimum-wage requirements ineffective at increasing the purchasing power of Oakland’s hardest-working and most unappreciated residents
• Penalties for crimes must be apportioned according to wealth.

Einstein intends be a voice in this campaign for what is right and what is needed by many Oakland residents, without concern for what is legal or politically feasible.  A role in government for everyone is what is meant by democracy; financial independence for all benefits all; and the protection of civil rights by governing officials is necessary for full democratic participation in our society. 

Einstein For Oakland:  http://einsteinforoakland.org/index.html
Einstein’s Platform: http://einsteinforoakland.org/platform.html
Einstein’s Blog: http://einsteinforoakland.org/blog.html
Einstein on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Einstein-for-Oakland/811456748871029
Einstein on Twitter: @Einstein4Mayor
Paid for by the dog: https://soundcloud.com/cassie-thornton/einstein-for-mayor

Einstein in the media:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tCOiHrkoCk4
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q4DNfJz24A
http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2014/07/16/Einstein-the-dog-throws-his-collar-into-the-ring-in-the-Oakland-mayoral-race/5571405525022/
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/07/15/dog-from-occupy-encampment-joins-pack-hoping-to-become-oaklands-mayor/
http://www.usatoday.com/media/cinematic/video/12727893/einstein-the-dog-running-for-mayor-of-oakland/
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/07/16/Dog-Runs-for-Oakland-Mayor
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/weird/2014/07/16/dog-running-mayor/12734791/