Peter Boyle

Once a week I have a chat to Simon, an aged pensioner, who learned the meaning of real hunger as a child growing up in a poor family in Ireland. In his working life in Australia, first as a labourer in the Snowy Mountains scheme and later for the local council, he forged a strong working-class identity.

Every Saturday morning, Simon buys a few treats for the kids in the housing commission block he lives in. He stops by the Green Left Weekly stall we run outside the supermarket, shows me the treats he’s bought and tells me a story ... or six!

“Hey, you see that bank over there”, he says gesturing to the building across the road, “they are the real robbers”.

“I only go into a bank because the government forces me to do it to get my pension”, he adds before he launches into an angry speech about the “blood-suckers in fine suits”.

Simon’s impromptu sermon on the banks was confirmed this week when Westpac announced an increase in fees on accounts and cuts to the interest it pays on deposits, all of which will add an estimated $350 million to its income.

Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch announced in the same week that it was revising Westpac’s profit forecasts upwards to $3.35 billion, a 19% increase on last year’s profit.

“What a racket! They use our money to hold us up. It is bloody daylight robbery”, says Simon before shuffling up the road. Simon’s humanity is a stark contrast to the greedy banks.

If you want your money put to better use, consider becoming a regular contributor to Green Left Weekly’s Fighting Fund. A few dollars a week, or once a month, it all helps. All you need to do is give us a call on the toll-free line 1800 634 206 (calls from within Australia only), write to us at PO Box 394, Broadway, NSW, 2007, or donate online at <http://www.greenleft.org.au/fogl.htm> — and we will help make the arrangements.

Last week, such regular contributions by “Friends of Green Left Weekly” made up $360 of the $1,988 we raised for this years’ Fighting Fund.

With some $210,000 (84% of our target) still to raise this year, we desperately need your help. You may not have a choice about becoming a regular donor to one of the big banks, but you do have a choice about becoming a Friend of GLW. Consider it an investment in a just and sustainable future, and an act of solidarity with the Simons of this world.

From Green Left Weekly, March 22, 2006.
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