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Gov't Bailout Plan Fails to Stem S&L Bank Crisis

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Gov't Bailout Plan Fails to Stem S&L Bank Crisis 893 new readers to socialist press TH£ needed by May 19 Page7 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 54/NO. 21 MAY25, 1990 $1.25 Curtis Gov't bailout plan fails appeals to Iowa high to stem S&L bank crisis court for 'Financial Vietnam' for U.S. banking system The political triumph of last August, in have to be taken over. The Federal Savings Supervision seizes insolvent S&Ls, which which Congress and the president agreed to and Loan Insurance Corp. (FSLIC) -the are then passed on to the RTC. The RTC pump $167 billion into an S&L industry federal insurance fund that was supposed to oversees the day-to-day operations of the new trial clean-up, is fast becoming a financial Viet­ guarantee individual S&L deposits of up to bailout, including the closing, sale, or merger nam. $100,000- had not only been bled dry, it of bankrupt thrifts and the sale of assets - -Business Week, April9, 1990 was minus $87 billion. like real estate -from S&Ls taken over by Initial government efforts to solve the S&L the government. BY SUSAN LaMONT crisis were doing little to stem the soaring The new law also included stiffer regula­ In August 1989 federal legislation was losses. The new law, with the infusion of tions for S&Ls, to curb the speculative in­ passed that set up new laws and a vast net­ billions of dollars from the government, was vesting in real estate, junk bonds, and other work of government machinery aimed at aimed at an overall solution that would sta­ ventures that contributed to the insolvency of bailing out the rapidly sinking savings and bilize and restructure the S&L network, many thrifts. Some provisions of the new law loan banking system. thereby preventing the crisis from precipitat­ are: At that point, 223 insolvent S&Ls - or ing a breakdown in the banking system as a • Thrifts must have more tangible capital thrifts, as they are known - had already whole. to back loans- $3 for every $100 in loans been seized by the government. Losses at The new savings and loan law set up the by 1995. many of the remaining 2,750 S&Ls were Resolution Trust Corp. (RTC) and the Office • S&Ls have to hold 70 percent of their mounting into the billions of dollars, and it of Thrift Supervision, both under the U.S. assets in home mortgages and mortgage-re­ was expected that 500 more S&Ls would Treasury Department. The Office of Thrift lated loans. • Thrifts are restricted from entering real estate development and barred entirely from holding junk bonds. Thousands protest U.S. • Both savings and loans and commercial banks have to pay more for deposit insurance -for S&Ls, the cost rises from 20.8 cents to 23 cents per $1 00. bases in the Philippines • The Savings Association Insurance Fund replaces the FSLIC and is under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), bases agreement past the expiration date. For BY RUSSELL JOHNSON which insures commercial bank deposits of MANILA - Hundreds of demonstrators the bases to remain, she said in her televised up to $100,000. statement, the Philippine constitution would were teargassed and beaten by riot police on The estimate last August was that the May 14 as they attempted to rally outside the have to be honored. Anew treaty would have bailout would cost $166 billion over 10 to be negotiated, ratified by the Senate, and Central Bank Building in central Manila. years. Over 30 years, including interest on then submitted to a national plebiscite if Inside, U.S. and Philippine government loans taken out by the government to pay Congress so determines. Militant/Sara Lobman officials were sitting down to begin "explor­ for the bailout, the cost was given at $300 Mark Curtis during sentencing in 1988 atory talks" over the future of U.S. military Aquino's stance was a concession to the billion, with $225 billion coming from bases in this country. pressure of broadening opposition to the taxpayers - that is, working people - BY SANDRA NELSON Forty thousand U.S. servicemen, civilian bases remaining past 1991. Almost all sena­ and the rest from surviving S&Ls, through tors, for example, from liberal Aquino sup­ DES MOINES, Iowa - Mark Curtis ap­ support personnel, and their dependents are porter Wigaberto Taiiada to her rightist op­ Continued on Page 11 pealed to the Iowa Supreme Court on May stationed at six military facilities here. The ponent former defense minister Juan Ponce 14 to review his September 1988 conviction. largest of these are Subic Bay Naval Station Enrile, have called for dismantling the bases. The motion was filed by his attorneys Wil­ and Clark Air Base, northwest of Manila. Tafiada was instrumental in organizing an liam Kutmus and Lylea Critelli. The bases are the most visible instrument international conference against the bases, Curtis, a union and political activist, was of continuing U.S. domination over its former Tablada tour framed on false charges of rape and burglary colony. They were established under the Mil­ which is being held here concurrent with the exploratory talks. • and sentenced to 25 years in prison. An Iowa itary Bases Agreement imposed on the Phil­ Enrile is out on bail awaiting trial on wraps up zn appeals court ruled against Curtis' appeal of ippines by Washington in 1947 as a condition charges of "rebellion." The government ac­ his frame-up on April 24. for relinquishing its direct rule. cuses him of being a key figure among the Curtis is asking the state Supreme Court The agreement is set to expire in Septem­ rightist politicians, businessmen, and army New York to order a new trial. His petition explains that ber 1991. Washington is calling for its exten­ officers who backed the December 1989 he "has maintained his innocence throughout sion into the next century. all of the proceedings .... He urges that he putsch against Aquino. The coup attempt, led Addressing the nation on the eve of the by former Enrile aide and cashiered colonel, was falsely accused and framed by the Des talks, President Corazon Aquino rejected any Gregorio Honason, was only defeated after Continued on Page 4 executive decision to extend the existing U.S. fighter planes from Clark Air Base pro­ vided support to pro-Aquino elements in the Philippine army. A new accusation of the U. S. govern­ Striking Eastern Machinists to ment's prior knowledge and intervention in the December events was leveled by the trustee: 'No contract, no peace' deputy commander of Philippine forces at Subic Bay naval base, Brig. Gen. Artemio BY SUSAN LaMONT lution of the underlying conflict is not pos­ Tadiar. He told a Senate subcommittee May International Association of Machinists sible. Nor is it possible, as trustee Shugrue 7 that 20,000 U.S. marines· were landed at members on strike at Eastern Airlines in insists, to run a safe airline with scabs." Subic Bay for "rest and recreation," several . Miami are mapping plans for a "No contract, The Miami strikers were referring to a times their usual number, in the week prior no peace" rally May 23, to coincide with the full-page ad taken out by Shugrue in the to the putsch. They remained until the coup upcoming meeting between Martin Shugrue Miami Herald, New York Times, and other was crushed, he said. and the airline's creditors. major U.S. dailies on May 11 - an ad that In the week prior to the opening of the Shugrue is the trustee appointed last month angered many strikers. exploratory talks, three Gls have been assas­ by the federal bankruptcy court to run East­ In his "Open Letter," Shugrue states that sinated in the red-light districts that surround em, an action that removed Frank Lorenzo the scabs hired to replace strikers are "Eastern Subic Bay and Clark, allegedly by New from the airline's management. Lorenzo employees" who are "beginning a new chap­ People's Army guerrillas. The NPA issued a heads Texas Air Corp., Eastern's parent com­ ter in the history of Eastern." Shugrue also statement calling on U.S. servicemen to leave pany. Eastern has been in bankruptcy pro­ says the airline "is safe today" - despite the country immediately "or suffer the agony ceedings since five days after the Machinists ongoing Federal Aviation Administration in­ of attrition." strike began March 4, 1989. vestigations and numerous safety violations Opening the talks at the Central Bank, Lorenzo's removal was a victory for all documented by strikers. Foreign Minister Raul Manglapus protested labor, says the strikers' leaflet for the upcom­ For many strikers, the letter cleared up any a $220 million shortfall in aid Washington had Militant/Margrethe Siem ing action. "The lAM, however, went on strike doubts that Shugrue was favorably disposed promised in 1988 in return for use ofthe bases Culminating a successful six-week to receive a fair and equitable contract, not to the union, although informal talks are until 1991. Settling this claim should be the US. tour, more than 400 heard Cuban just to get rid of Frank Lorenzo. There will be continuing to take place between Shugrue first point of the exploratory talks, he said. author Carlos Thblada May 11 in New no peace at EAL until we get a contract." and lAM District 100 President Charles Ignoring Manglapus' plea, Washington's \brk City. See story page 3. "A cessation of hostilities without a reso- Continued on Page 6 Cootinued on Page 2 Sales teams sign up new readers in the Midwest To help boost the international Two thousand workers slaughter tant and three copies of Perspectiva working-class areas.
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