You think banks like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and so forth are actually competing with one another? You think the only reason these banks have become so powerful on the national scene is because they "tend to provide services that more people want"? Really? Are you being intentionally naive? Do you work for one of these big banks?
I don't feel that I get lesser service using my credit union instead of one of the big banks. But getting publicity is part of what makes a bank get more business. The neg reputation of some of the bigger banks can drive away members which would be great. Their corruption and too big to fail syndrome hurts everyone. People switching to a smaller bank or credit union isn't artificial. It's directly related to the practices of the larger banks.
Is there anything that prevents you from switching from Bank of America to your local credit union? If not, then yes, I think there is free market competition there. You have the choice of where to bank. People are choosing to bank at the big banks. You telling them to not bank there to "punish" the big banks is really just you telling them to choose a bank for some reason other than what they believe is best for their own interests. Again, the only person being hurt there is the customer. This is actually circular though - if you start from scratch and launch 50 new banks, a few of them are going to provide better services than everyone else. Those will, through competition, become the new big banks. That's how competition works - you don't end up with a bunch of equally big banks.
Naivete through cynicism. Thanks for identifying someone I trust even less than politicians and the big banks. Fortunately, this rebellion is heading toward a complete non-event. I will continue to baa like a sheep, thanks.
Certainly - and lots of people agree with you, which is what causes them to bank at your credit union. But people as a whole are choosing the bigger banks, which is what makes them bigger. Agreed - this is all part of the free market competition that's in place now. And that's fine - if people make the economic choice that it's better for them to bank with their local credit union, great! But that's not what these "revolutionaries" are suggesting here - they are suggesting that you drop a big bank to punish them, rather than because its beneficial for you.
At any rate, though I doubt this particular incident will have any impact at all, I like the viewpoint expressed through this movement (and these movements) and I like the fact that a realistic viewpoint of the incredibly lopsided power differential between the wealthy/politicians and the rest of us is creeping more and more closely to the public view, and to having real influence over the country. I hope it continues, expands, and becomes stronger in the future.
The threshold has been raised very high due to globalism. In the past, the tyrants of specific nations were localized to that nation. The tyrants knew that you could only suck up just enough blood to leave the country barely alive in order to maximize the exploitation. They would fund the wars to protect their nations to ensure that there was a country there, hanging on, still alive, so they could pillage it further. However, globalism has removed these borders. And without borders, the tyrants will manage to move from system to system without the shackles of political affiliation. Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, whatever. The elite in Europe can very well be the same elite in South America thanks to internet. They roam free like viruses plaguing any type of economy. The worst part is that they don't even have the civility of their forefathers to at least keep the host countries alive. They don't need the specific country to survive (U.S). There are other nations that can make great hosts (China, India) and the parasites will suck them dry before moving on. A local revolution would mean nothing. We would fight each other while the rich simply sell U.S stock to buy Chinese stocks with a click of a button. We'd be left drowning in each other's blood, too stupid to see that the labels of republican and democrat are just words made up by the rich to keep us against each other.
I can't get the links to work here at work. This kind of looks like something I saw being organized by a guy who has some ties to the Obama Economic team who was advocating a day like this but also going a step further and asking people not to make their house payments. The thing is I saw it on Glen Beck .... now hold on!!! I've never watched an entire show, much less more than 5 minutes, but this one caught my attention. (Glen Beck is media wh0re in my opinion and self pretentious a-hole). He was attempting to build a case that an effort to organize this type of event is akin to treason. - whatever. Anyone know who's behind the movement? It just so happens I was going to withdraw all of my savings in cash for a couple of reasons this week. Maybe today would be a good day. (I'm not missing the house note though)
I am wondering if "Anonymous" has considered channeling his or her's energies into organizing people to vote and fund candidates to enact reform? While I don't agree with the Tea Party's principles to their credit they have gotten politicians at all levels of government that support those principles and are even sticking to them in the face of entrenched opposition. If the Tea Party can do it I then why not work to get a political revolution regarding financial reform?
