New American Tea Party

The New American Tea Party is a grass roots organization that protests the "broader political implications of a government that has grown too large".

The New American Tea Party was inspired by the February 19, 2009, rant from CNBC financial reporter Rick Santelli, who stood in the Chicago Board of Trade surrounded by cheering traders and ranted about not wanting to pay his neighbor's mortgage and how capitalists should band together and dump derivative stocks in Lake Erie—as the founding fathers of the American Revolution threw tea into Boston Harbor.Daily Finance: The Rick Santelli epic continues (February 23, 2009)

"You know, the new administration's big on computers and technology? How about this, President and new administration. Why don't ya put up a web site to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give 'em to people that might actually have a chance to prosper down the road? And reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water!"—CNN financial correspondent Rick SantelliCNBC: Santelli's Tea Party (February 19, 2009)

"I'm not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives, but the American people are struggling every day to meet their mortgage, stay in their job, pay their bills, to send their kids to school, and to hope that they don't get sick or that somebody they care for gets sick and sends them into bankruptcy.

"I think we left a few months ago the adage that if it was good for a derivatives trader that it was good for Main Street. I think the verdict is in on that."—White House Press Secretary Robert GibbsExaminer: White House Press Secretary spouts plain talk defending stimulus housing planf (February 20, 2009)