Occupy Houston & Good Jobs Great Houston In Washington—A Report From Amy Price

My friend Amy Price has traveled to Washington with Occupy Houston and Good Jobs Great Houston to take the fight for economic fair play and the 99% to our elected officials and to the offices of the big lobbyists.

(Update 12/8/11—Here is Amy’s second day in Washington.)

(Above–Picture taken by Amy of an occupation on the National Mall.) 

Amy was a recent candidate for Houston City Council. With that race over, she is remaining involved in the fight for a better Houston and a better nation.

Below is an account from Amy of her first full day in Washington.

Here is Occupy Houston.

Here is Occupy DC.

Here is Occupy Wall Street.

Here is Amy’s report–

I came to Washington DC on Monday of this week, along with about 100
other Houstonians, to meet up with people from across the country who
have taken over the National Mall and are here to demand that our
government start–well, governing. Folks will be coming in through
Wednesday, leaving Friday, and by the time it’s all said and done we
should number about 2,500. The group here is pretty diverse: all ages,
different ethnicities, way different backgrounds. What we have in
common is the realization that austerity economics is not the solution
to America’s economic problems.

Walking past the Capital Building, I had an acute sense of history
wash over me, and I felt privileged to be literally in the shadow of
the symbol of our nation’s legislature. I wish the folks who worked
around that building–the senators and congress members elected to
serve their constituents–felt the same way. Even the most casual
student of American history knows that America got out of the Great
Depression by spending the money necessary to put people to work. The
Works Progress Administration, the manufacturing that accompanied WWII
and other programs ushered in the golden age of America’s middle
class.

But creating jobs is not what our elected representatives are chosing
to do. They concentrate instead on cutting spending, as if not
spending money is going to put people to work. They work on a free
trade agreement with Korea, as if NAFTA hasn’t done enough to kill
American manufacturing. Instead of strengthening banking regulations,
they gut them, starting the spirals of unchecked greed and
technological slight-of-hand that allowed multinational financial
institutions like Bank of America to usher us into the second worst
financial crisis this country has seen.

We have come to Washington to demand that Congress pass the
president’s jobs bill, that they extend unemployment benefits, and
that they begin working for 100% of the people, not the 1%.

Today, we visited with our senators and representatives and made our
demands known. Sometimes we got the officials themselves. Often, we
spoke with staffers. Throughout the day, in any given part of the
legislative office buildings, you could hear chanting, see crowds of
people spilling out of offices and into the hallways. It’s not a
solution to our problems, but maybe it’s a start. Here’s hoping that
willing people of good conscience can still make a difference in the
USA.

Tomorrow we hit K Street. In depth details to come.