The Green Quote: Bono Rails Against $700 Billion For Wall Street, But No Billions For Fighting Disease, Hunger

by Michael dEstries September 25, 2008
Categories: Causes
Tags: bono.

“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger. That’s mad, that is mad.”

“Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs. But this is moral bankruptcy.”

– Lead singer of U2 Bono speaking today during day two of the Clinton Global Initiative.

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

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Pingback: » Government Bailout=”Moral Bankruptcy” & “Socialism for the rich.”
mr jiblet

Y’know, I made some pretty ignorant statements after I cleared my first million too.
Sara

I knew there was a reason my son has Hewson as a middle name. Bono is amazing. speaking the truth and i could not agree more.
http://celebrities.com/ Key

There are a lot of causes that money could be going to but won’t. The fact that the government wants to get it together so quickly for Wall Street of all things, is unseemly.
http://www.greenlivingsonoma.com michele tovar

What about all those who have lost their homes. What about the American dream of owning a home and because of the greed that we allow to persist their are thousands of Americans who have lost the roof over their heads, no bailout for them. Those on wall street should be ashamed.
Hil

I agree Michele, it is their own fault for convincing thousands of people that were in no position to purchase a home that they could, the money should be used to stabalize the middle class and help those people that are losing their homes, not to continue to save Wall Street.
fbr

Nobody forced anyone to buy houses they couldn’t afford or take more credit than they can handle. At the end of the day the responsibility lies purely on the people who lived beyond their means and bought houses they cannot afford, even if banks were actively encouraging them to do it.

In the current US system where profits are privatized and losses nationalized the banks will be bailed out with tax payer money. This is not a surprise to anyone, it’s how the system works. In true free market economy both the house buyers and the banks would have to deal with the results of their actions on their own without expecting the government to bail them out.
VeggieTart

Word, Bono.

And FBR, the “privatize the profits, socialize the risk/losses” is exactly the problem we are railing about. And if you aren’t angry about it, you very well should be. They’re so scared of socialism unless it’s the common man getting screwed over.

If we’re going to bail out the fat cats who got us into this mess–and the bankers who okayed these loans they should have known would turn out bad–then we should help the people who are in trouble as a result of deregulation and bad loans.

And if they want our money, they’ve got to have oversight tighter than a size-2 dress on a size-14 body.