Would you pay $8 million of a chocolate-chip cookie? Or $10 million for a brownie? Of course not, but that didn’t stop Santa Clara County workers and community members from holding a “Big Bank Bake Sale” on June 18, selling baked goods at ridiculous prices. Why? To recover the money that banks have scammed from taxpayers. With banks illegally rigging interest rates to maximize their own profits,  Santa Clara County could have lost as much as $54 million.

Hundreds of workers rallied during the bake sale and called on the board of supervisors to join other local governments in investigating this bank fraud and recovering taxpayer dollars (scroll down for video). Our message to county officials: It’s time to reinvest in quality community services and a cutting edge workforce. Instead of cutting frontline services, county leaders should investigate the millions of dollars taxpayers have lost to banks due to illegal interest-rate schemes.

In the meantime, Santa Clara County workers will keep finding sweet ways to get our community’s money back. And that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Learn more about the “Libor” scandal: www.communityfirstsantaclara.com