Arianna and Rob Johnson, director of the Economic Policy Initiative at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, urged Americans to move their money to community banks during an appearance on the Ed Show with Ed Schultz on Wednesday.
Just last week, Arianna and Rob unveiled Move Your Money, a challenge to Americans fed up with too-big-to-fail banks. The initiative encourages account holders to withdraw their money from big, mismanaged banks and move the funds to smaller, better-managed community banks--institutions that are still lending.
Arianna explained that community banks are more likely to lend, and to help fuel a recovery among America's small businesses, "Community banks are much more likely to reinvest that money in the community and actually help create jobs...because... $1000 billion less money has been lent to communities from these four banks that we bailed out."
Visit MoveYourMoney.info to find a community bank near you. Click here for answers to frequently asked questions about how to move your money.
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Oh, and I moved all my money today; but not to a Community Bank. After putting in a couple of local zip codes, I couldn't find any locally that didn't have Board of Directors linked to either AIG, another bailout bank, Chamber of Commerce, or large religious organizations. So, I went to a local not-for-profit Credit Union as described in another article. Cheers.
Don't do business with banks or investment banks which got TARP money.
But really, from that point on, the trading of shares only benefits the traders, and people trying to screw around with the company via a takeover, greenmail [popular in the 80's], and so called holder activism, which is usually Kirk Kerkorian trying to make the company fire 25% or more of it's staff for a temporary profit increase, distributed to the shareholders; or in an attempt to split up the company which also causes job losses.
As far as the stock mkt goes, having had a series 6,7,63, 24 licenses in the past, I can tell you that all the market does nowadays is act as a casino for wealthy individuals or people trying to become wealthy via trading, or gambling. The companies listed truly only benefit on one day for the entirety of their existence - the day they go public and receive money to operate. Next is a secondary, etc offering. But once they get their cash, the play on the stock only makes them act irresponsibly, because they begin to believe their own nonsense of "worth" and use the stock as if it were a form of cash.
banks give us barely any interest, lots of fees and little security.
my grandmother used to divide all her husband's paycheck into dollar bills and put them in envelopes that were designated for different things.
cash makes things very easy.
you also get discounts if you are smart about it
The government has allowed all this to happen, thanks to the immense amount of power banks have managed to gain over our elected officials and the legislative process.
Deregulation, the Right Wing holy grail has been at the root of this problem, like so many others, which have allowed an entire generation and class of capitalist carnivores to roam freely and take whatever they want from the people and the government.
There has never been a more pressing reason to dismantle and eradicate this cancer from our country than what we have seen in the past months with health care reform, and in the coming months with finance reform.
Visit: http://www.facebook.com/MoveYourMoney?ref=nf
The banks and land companies raped the farmers of the mid-west in the '30's. Everyone looking back thinks that was an evil. But, what is happening now on Wall Street is worse by orders of magnitude. When the crash occurred and the depression set in we did not have the supposed regulation to prevent it. Those people might be excused for their ignorance.
Today we have the luxury of looking back on the lessons of the roaring '20's and depressing '30's to avoid making similar fiscal mistakes. Instead of learning from the past we are repeating it due to a select group of greedy money lovers. I mean, who really needs a hedge fund!
When you woke up this morning, you were a pawn in class warfare.
"According to the Economic Policy Institute report, in 1965, U.S. CEOs in major companies earned 24 times more than a typical worker; by 2007, they made 275 times more. U.S. CEOs also make far more than CEOs in other advanced countries, the report said."
That is just wrong.
This suggestion to move your money from large institutions is a tangible, peace-love step in the right direction. The people need actions like this to tilt the odds back in the favor of the shrinking middle class. If people are apathetic and miss opportunities to take simple steps like this one - things will only get worse.
I typically compare these people's salaries and responsibilities to the POTUS or the Chairman of the Joint Chief, both of whom make UNDER $500K a year !!!!!! Tell me that a Wall Street exec or health insurance bigwig deserves tens of millions of dollars plus bonuses and who knows how much in stock and other hidden gifts and goodies !
The truth is, all this money these people are getting is money that is truly owed to the people. Whether it's better insurance coverage and not being denied at any cost, or whether it's banks not charging withdrawal fees or ATM charges. They are helping themselves to our money because they have a stranglehold on the lawmakers in DC and can rewrite the rules to their liking.
They are now set to go to court to have their money (it's actually out money, but they consider it their own...) recognized as "free speech"... They will only be content when they own the system outright, and this must be stopped at all costs !
It's like the feudal system wrapped in the industrial revolution. The people with the money make the rules which are to help them make more money all off of the backs of the "commoners".
Move your Money dot info
http://moveyourmoney.info/
If enough people start moving their money that a real trend develops, it will have potentially serious implications for Big Bank. If the MSM fails to cover the story, then the MSM is likely trying to smother it. If they do pick it up, it will also be very revealing to see exactly what kind of spin they put on it. They have the power to turn this into a nationwide phenomenon and can also portray the movement as a positive or negative thing.
For my part, I stopped buying French wine ages ago because I disagreed with their nuclear testing. I don't buy goods from "Pound Shops" (I don't know if you have them in the states; they are super cheap shops known in Japan as 100 yen shops). Look at the labels and they are all made in China, Pakistan and other countries where workers are treated little better than slaves.
Maybe we can't change the system but don't let the system change YOU!
We checked out several smaller banks through fdic.gov . We found one which has been in business since 1942 and family owned. It's regulated by FDIC as well as our State. They pay slightly higher interest rates, but best of all they're small enough to know you by name and LISTEN. Re the ATM hassle - this bank recognized the problem and worked out an agreement with a larger bank so we can use our ATM card at their machines.
Use the FDIC on line resources - you'll be surprised at the wealth of information you can get, then move that money mister!