Today's plan was to head to Broad Street and capture scenes in Central Falls for my neighborhood photo series. Driving down Front Street in Lincoln, however, I spotted these two political activists in front of the Post Office. This was too good of a photo opportunity to pass up, so Broad Street will need to wait.
I spoke to the two for a bit, all under the watchful eye of some postal workers unhappy with the display in front of the building. While they did understand the high level position taken by political activist Lyndon LaRouche - who's campaign they are supporting - they had very little understanding of the Glass Steagall Act or how it would relate to any possible impeachment of Obama. When asked what impeachable offense he's committed, they did recite a long litany of policies and decisions that have been detrimental to the country. That none of them actually constitute "high crimes and misdemeanors" appeared to be irrelevant.
The primary focus of the LaRouche position is on the reinstatement of the Glass Steagall Act of 1933. It was that Act that placed numerous restrictions on the practices of banks following the stock market crash in 1929. Starting in the Reagan Administration, portions of Glass Steagall were gradually repealed. The death blow to the Act was signed by Bill Clinton in 1999 when his signature enacted the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA.) Economists now credit GLBA as being one of the primary causes of the economic meltdown in 2008 and 2009.
Ironically, there is an attempt in the Senate to reinstate portions of Glass Steagall as part of a bill co-sponsored by John McCain (R-AZ) and the ultra-liberal Elizabeth Warren (D-MA.) The bill has not gained any support in the Senate and has virtually no chance of passing the House. It may be moot, however. There are three current laws that are crippling banks and driving banking fees through the roof: GLBA, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), and Dodd-Frank. Unless those three are repealed, there's not much a revitalized Glass Steagall can do to save the industry.
Post processing started with a classic filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, boost black, contrast, and protect highlights. A levels adjustment and a sepia photo filter were added in PSE. I also applied a selective dodge and burn to various parts of the image for improved contrast.
