In San Francisco yesterday, about two hundred demonstrators, mostly mature and educated, flaunted witty, well-crafted signs of outrage about the bail-out.

Richard Tamm, 61, a former computer programmer for the Federal Reserve Bank, said “Some of these companies are bankrupt and they won’t admit it. We need to wake up to what actually is happening — to force Obama to do the right thing.” Tamm added that trying to support the existing “failed financial oligarchies” was a move in the wrong direction.

Passing motorists honked their horns in support of the effort, organized by A New Way Forward. Bruce Hartford of the same organization said, “What we have today is government of the powerful, by the lobbyists, for the wealthy, and it’s our fault to a certain degree because we have let them get away with it.”

About 20 law enforcement officers present made no arrests.

“We are here to say loudly, as a nation, that we want to bail out the people, not the banks and the CEOs,” said Nancy Mancias, of CodePink Women for Peace.

All photos by Luke Thomas. A version of this article is available at FogCityJournal.com.