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REAL Capitalists Move Our Money from Big Banks to Credit Unions
Conservative free market entrepreneurial capitalist Karl Denninger notes:
If you have an account at a BANK, go move it to a CREDIT UNION.
You know, a place that you own and is a mutual association of people?
Yes. One that you own. Where the fees assessed go to provide services to.... you, not to feather the nests of bank executives and stockholders.
Denninger is right.
As HowStuffWorks points out:
Banks are for-profit companies. They make money by charging intereston loans, collecting account fees and reinvesting all that money to earn more profit. But as for-profit companies, they also pay state and federal taxes.
Credit unions, on the other hand, are not-for-profit institutions. Technically, credit unions are owned by their account holders, known as members. Any profit earned by a credit union is either invested back into the organization or paid out to members as a dividend [source: Federal Reserve]. As a not-for-profit institution, credit unions pay no state or federal taxes, meaning they can charge lower interest rates than banks for most financial services.
Real free market, capitalist entrepreneurs want to own and control our own capital. With credit unions, we do so.
Moreover, the big banks no longer do very much traditional banking. Most of their business is from financial speculation. For example, less than 10% of Bank of America’s assets come from traditional banking deposits. Instead, they are mainly engaged in financial speculation and derivatives. (and see this).
Credit unions and small banks, on the other hand, are mainly engaged in traditional banking functions like storing deposits and making loans to Main Street.
As I noted yesterday:
1. The only way to save the economy is to break up the giant, insolvent banks
2. The bought-and-paid-for politicians refuse to do so (because … drumroll, please … they’re bought and paid for by the big banks)
No wonder churches, local governments, community groups, prominent business men and others are divesting from the big corrupt banks.
***
The big banks are not engaging in capitalism … rather, they are engaging in socialism, fascism, looting, kleptocracy, oligarchy or banana republic behavior (depending on your preference of wording).
On the other hand, smaller banks are engaging in capitalism – and are actually allocating capital to entrepreneurs (what banks are supposed to do).
If we downsize the giant, socialist banks, the small banks will thrive, thus reinvigorating the entire economy … saving capitalism in the process.
Real capitalists will move our money away from the giant, socialist banks and to credit unions ... where we own and control our capital.
And where our hard-earned money works for us, instead of being gambled and thrown away in the global casino.
In addition, people who are against the Federal Reserve [hello, ZH readers] should move their money out of the giant banks, as that is one of the most effective ways to undermine the Fed's power.
Specifically, ending the Fed and reining in Wall Street are two sides of the same coin. While even top-drawer economists say we must end the Fed, and many libertarians argue that ending the Fed would “change everything”, the Fed is the big banks and the giant banks are the Fed.
It will be impossible to pressure Congress to end the Fed as long as the giant banks have purchased Congress lock, stock and barrel. The dinosaur banks will pressure their water-carriers in Congress to not only keep the Fed alive, but to give it more and more powers.
So all those who want to end the Fed should also support the Move Your Money movement and divest their funds from the giant banks, because only then will it be possible to end the take away the Fed’s main supporters: the giant banks.
As Charles Hugh Smith noted recently:
There are only three things–and only these three–that will cripple Wall Street’s democracy-killing concentration of wealth and power:
1. Transfer the 99%’s money out of Wall Street and the Too Big To Fail Banks
2. Remove campaign contributions from our democracy in a way that the corporate legalist lackeys in the Supreme Court cannot overturn, i.e. entirely publicly financed elections
3. Abolish Wall Street’s dealer, pusher and protector, the Federal Reserve.
My reasoning is very simple:
Everything else people want to see happen cannot happen if:
1) Wall Street and the SDI (systemically dangerous institutions) a.k.a. too big to fail banks, control most Americans’ financial assets and debts
2) The Federal Reserve exists to enable and protect the SDI’s wealth and power via Primary Dealers, the discount window and other pusher/dealer mechanisms
3) Wall Street and the other SDIs can use the billions of dollars they skim from our accounts, IRAs, 401Ks and pensions to buy political influence and protection from regulation and competition.
Therefore these are the necessary foundations of any real change.
As long as Wall Street and the other SDIs control much of the nation’s financial markets, assets and debts, and the Federal Reserve exists to protect and enable their predation and parasitic skimming, they will have the means to reap billions in profits which can then be funneled into our cash-corrupted political system of for-sale toadies and apparatchiks.
If we don’t end the Fed, it will keep propping up the Wall Street con artists.
If we don’t downsize the giant banks, they will keep propping up the Fed.
Get it?
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I also wanted to note that simply not doing home loans doesn't mean an institution is, thereby, safe.
Commercial real estate is a disaster area right now with little hope for near term improvement. We have a massive surplus of office and commercial space in the U.S. Specializing in that market would be quite far from a guarantee of bank safety.
If we have a massive surplus, it's because it's too damned expensive. Try renting a storefront some time and you'll be shocked at how much rent the owners want. And I mean more like Main Street and thereabouts; starting with a mall is liable to kill you.
This raises an important point.
Getting away from the too big to jail banks is good but not enough. Look around on line for ratings of banks and credit unions. You might find meaningful differences in the ratings of two different institutions in your town or area. Yes, you *should* be able to get your money insured by FDIC back if your small bank or credit union goes bust. But why chance it if you don't have to? Put your money in the more or most highly rated of the small institutions in your area.
Hmmm, it almost makes me think that Congress will vote on legislation in the not too distant future to put the thumb screws to the credit unions. We can't have Sally, Dick, and Jane move all their money out of the TBTF banks without some ramifications. And the US Congress will obey their bankster masters.
The federal reserve bank, been performing justice-abortions and robbing savers to feed the rich for 98 years.
For thieves by thieves.
Months ago I moved my accounts from BofA to a regional bank. There are no credit unions where I live. I saved $18 a month in fees from moving them. I only wish I'd have done it sooner.
I checked my babk fees for the first time in my life.
DAMN!
I never knew it was so much! I payed over 230 euro last year in fees for my 3 accounts! And for what? They got to keep my money, I never need assistance or whatever.
I'm moving my accounts and closing them down to internet banks like keytrade
I use a small regional bank, too. Free coffee. Free cookies. Free checking. Free this and that. Nice tellers.
I'm in West Virginia, retired (no employer 'link') and can find no credit union in state or online that we can plug into - any suggestions?
Many of the banks in West Virginia are still relatively local in their capitalization and lending policies. While they are connected to the FED (as all banks must be) and are for-profit industries, they are a fair sight better than the biggies.
Credit Unions are great--Navy Federal has the indirect connection to big government via the MIC, which is unfortunate, but it has always been a good place to do business.
If it ever gets to post SHTF, then local credit unions will rule.
You might try this website: http://www.findacreditunion.com/Home_Page_2.html
It seems to have pretty complete listings for my area. Many credit unions are open to people who "live, work, worship, attend school or visit in" certain areas. Pretty wide open.
Local banks are just as good. The idea is to get your money out of the big, multinational banks that own our government.
If this dump your bank movement succeeds, you will have a Credit Union on every street corner. But that's a big IF.
There's more of US than there are of THEM. And more and more are waking up, so maybe the question is WHEN.
Just move as much money as you can miss in gold and silver. A bet against the banks and the fed while you perfectly know where your money is!
+1 in the sense that PM's are the ultimate hedge. Realistically though, for those of us morons who cant get complelely out of debt and off grid fast enough, the upcoming shit storm will be largely about surviving whatever it thrown at us.
Not knowing the course, there are lots of good moves to hedge oneself. Convert some cash to PM's. Keep some cash handy. Coins are an interesting option as well for many reasons. Even better if they are older (junk silver, copper, etc). Stock up on supplies including food and critical items needed for emergencies - even better when one can shop for long-term items at the best prices. Unfortunately, some personal protection and other similar gear is not such a bad idea either.
Moving cash to a credit union is another smart move. In fact, I have an appointment tomorrow morning to do just this. Yeah, I am running a little late on this one. But, better late than never.
Of course, the ultimate hedge is to keep your head out of the sand and pay attention to the early warning system (Zerohedge, of course). There may be a point where throwing cash at real goods makes sense. Or cash at certain debts. Or ?.
Edit: also... find like-minded people in your area, get to know your neighbors, take a hard look at your area, etc. It is likely that all specific plans will be ruined, but adapting on-the-fly is all about information. The more you know, the better the chances of riding the storm out to whatever world awaits us in the near future.
Yay
http://www.ronpaul2012.com/2011/11/06/ron-paul-wins-first-place-in-2012-...
I have been working on this issue for two years. I own a construction company in Washinton State and have completely canceled all business relationships with every major bank. My latest casualty is my Alaska Airlines card, where I have averaged a monthly charge of of 100+k a month for air miles. Fuck em. Bank of America can kiss my ass...for the few free flights I have recieved I have contributed to the future failure of my children. Fool me once and so on. We better all wake up to the coup that has happened in our country before we lose it, we don't have much more time before it is too late.
That's great buddy! What do you call your company if you don't mind?
Have some heart, incorporation is people too.
GW, I just found your video ... outstanding dude! ... bet that feels better!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yfWL9Xt0TMs
I "get it" GW ...you want to shift your money around this corrupt system, like defund both the Fed and the Big WS Banks.
Your shiftiness is merely re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic because you are not addressing the route cause of all this corruption in society. That monopoly institution, Govt
You are plastering over and pissing around with the effects of corruption not the cause of corruption: Govt ...you just won't face up to it wil you?
Zero Tax = Zero Govt
Problem/s solved
Right the government being completely gone will solve all problems. Hunger will end, peace will reign and we will all hold hands and sing Coombiyah. This view is as naieve and foolish as those who think the answer is to leave the government intact but get rid of all multi-national corporations.
Government = Central Banks = Mega Corporations = ultra rich families who own all three
It's like agreeing to a fight with Mike Tyson if he only uses his Left hand and teeth. You aren't adressing the problem which is about to pummel your skull in.
Your shiftiness is merely re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic because you are not addressing the route cause of all this corruption in society. That monopoly institution, Govt
What you're missing is that govt. and the banks are one, so you can stop giving the banks your money as well as not pay taxes. It is good to spread the word about moving money out of the big banks because more people will be willing to do that than will be willing to quit paying taxes. There will be fear of going to jail or getting big penalties by not paying taxes, but there is nothing to fear about moving your money from a big bank to a credit union.
zero tax zero government: what are your precedents? somalia? also root cause. but seriously, is an armed society a polite society? not better courts of law, no courts of law? may sound good to you and your cronies but is this real political speech in any vaguely practical/possible/desirable way?
jeff montanye
is an armed society a polite society?,(Somalia is a Islamic Thugocracy),can't compare Apples and Horse shit.
In THIS society yes it is,esp in CCP states.
You quickly learn to NOT honk that horn 4-5times, you do not mouth off, and flip the bird.
You think before you act, because the repercussions can be devastating.
Thus, you learn to live with crap that is crap,l and really does not matter.
You ever know who is armed,you can enter 95% of all Establishments with no fear of being a slaughtered lamb, by a lone maniac.
I get the other, we need all of it.
whadaya mean we can't mouth off anymore?
jeff montayne
You have correctly pegged ZG & associates. They advocate an overly simplistic and rather egotistical creed of rebellion against all authority.
some of ZG's quotes:
“In a free market there are NO RULES, that is the definition of free. If you want an example of a free market without any rules (free of Laws, judges, lawyers, regulations, employment and consumer protection legislation) see the brilliant free - black - market in illegal drugs.”
"Yep, some adults telling other adults what or how they should do things. They can all go fuck themselves."
“So setting rules is stupid par excellence. Free = freedom (no rules, self determination on any issue).”
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/coming-new-recession-game-plan
So he's into warlordism ie the black market for drugs where might makes right. Brilliant.
The difference between Somalia and the US is that they are under theocratic law with low degrees of technology and government coordination.
There have been virtually no examples ever of a governmentless civilization. Also the handful that chose that route were quickly annihilated by regional warlords and fascists.
Government in the US is clearly deeply corrupt and unaccountable. Replacing that with crime syndicates and warlords is absurd in the utmost. Say what you want about Hobbes, he was clearly right that some superior power compells the lower impulses of man to not be quite so prolific. Any period of history without a reasonably strong government is rife with warlordism.
While it would be wonderful to have some sort of anarcho-capitalism, we simply haven't shown the maturity as a species to do anything of the sort. That said we clearly are in desperate need of an evolution in how we relate with one another. Just saying end all government is patently absurd and something I haven't heard since I was a Freshman in college and the Black Bloc anarchists spouted similar tripe. Those guys would be on your side ZG until the exact minute when your mutual goal was reached, then they would come for you.
My "precedents" are the Govt system which does not work. History demonstrates Govt is corruption incarnate wrapped up in a sham staffed by liars and frauds
Just for starters take 80 years of conflict in Isreal-Palestine. How is Govt 'resolving' that cancreous boil in the Middle-East? Isn't the Govt institution supposed to bring 'democracy' and 'stability' and 'Law and Order' to a nation? 80 years of abject and complete miserable failure for Govt there. In fact the Isreali State has brought 80 years of totalitarian hell that would make George Orwells 1984 blush if you go to the occupied West Bank with no less than 600 check-points
How about Europe and America. Every State/Council is bankrupt and every Country. We could then list every communist Govt and its totalitarian and economic hell in history.
The lesson is the bigger Govt gets and the more it consumes peoples freedom and wealth. Western or Eastern Govt is the exact same beast, a bunch of creepy monopolists sitting behind desks feeding off society and telling them how to behave. Govt destroys freedom and destroys productive wealth. Period
'Democracy' is a pure fantasy, it never existed. How can our personal liberty be enhanced by giving our authority over to someone else? the idea is so stupid it's beyond cretin. How can giving our wealth over to others to spend do we imagine others will spend it for the greater good? Another dumber than moron idea. These liberals and philosophers bake such stupid cakes they should be put in the funny farm
The fact is "democracy" is a liberal word used as a front by parasites to hed-fuk the gullible into being robbed (taxed) of their earnings and abused of their liberty as their wealth pays the wages of the States thugs (Police, Judiciary etc)
You want a precedent of freedom (ie. no rules or Law whatsoever)? Try the black market in drugs (or black market anything) which works perfectly with happy suppliers and consumers and $Billions of goods changing hands every year. The black market is one of the few free markets left not regulated to hell by the frauds, crooks and monopolists hiding behind 'democracy'. This free market works so well it even has time to run rings around the clown State trying to persecute it. Decades of success without the State, its Law and Police
That's because unlike the free market the Govt controlled markets are ruined (USSR and North Korea to the EU and America). Govt ruins everything it touches: US property, US healthcare, US pensions, US banking, US energy, US Nuclear, US State subsidised transport, agriculture and green7renewables etc. How much failure do you need to give up on a fuking dumb idea????
Go to a US town recently bankrupt and free of local Councils and Police. Does anarchy break out? Nope. Peace breaks out, normal, natural social order with people just getting on and getting along with their lives
You want a rule free, zero Govt, massive example? See nature outside your window. No animal defers their life to a cancerous Govt body. Nature is an individualistic based system with no central control and no bunch of parasites creaming off others work. Decentralised, un-monopolised, free no-rules nature works far better because of it. Much better than this thousands of Laws red tape bankrupt by loonatic Govt phase we're in
Govt is the biggest Social and Economic mistake in history... history proves it convincingly and overwhelmingly ...starve the cancerous beast and stop sponsoring it.. Pay No Taxes
The black market is one of the few free markets left not regulated to hell by the frauds, crooks and monopolists hiding behind 'democracy'.
Partly true. But they are paying off politicians, law enforcers and judges, which in itself is corruption within the black market and which makes the product more expensive, even if it were to be taxed in the open market.
"The world could not be any better, in any significant way, than it is now given the nature of man". I am not sure if anyone has said that before. but I would not mind the credit if no one has.
+10000
I cannot find one part of your statements with which I disagree.
Your name says it all.
As does yours.
It's a pity we have no time machine available to transport you back to the Wild West, I'm sure Billy the Kid would have appreciated your philosophies. The murder rate in those old towns that had little or no government was higher than the worst days of the 1980's South Central LA gang wars by a factor of 10. Society was indeed polite, if you consider being gut shot on a whim politeness.
Government isn't an answer, but corporations with no restrictions whatsoever would be more of the same. Look at all the rules one has to abide by to work for a corporation. You think those would disappear if there was no government? Hardly, they would multiply those rules by a thousand fold and being completely unaccountable, they would make whatever rules they want.
Those who long for no government by extension of the power vacuum long for corporate fiefdoms every bit as despotic as the ancient feudal system of lords. Indeed, this is the planned End Game anyways (See Zbigniew Brzenski's "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and it's Geostrategic Imperatives"), let us know how that works out for you.
You have a point, but you can weaken the beast before going for the kill.
why do half a job?
just stop paying your taxes... the sooner the beast is starved the sooner the repression stops and the sooner our economy recovers
@Zero Govt
The government does not need our taxes. Taxes are an illusion so that they can manipulate the social engineering.
Government can print its own money, as they do already, and make an example of you and others. Not a good idea.
The Greek politicians are now living a life of hell, not knowing when they are going to be lynched. It does change your perspective of what you've done wrong.
When things get real bad, they will all be hunted down. We all know the targets and they themselves know that they will be hunted down just lke the Nazi's. This is a new era. There is no hiding anywhere on this planet for too long. I was traveling in Papua New Guinea and met a high school classmate that I had not seen for 20 years.
Zero Govt
Explain to me(I am stupid) how one stops paying taxes?
If you work for someone else,they deduct it before you get it.
If you do not pay the IRS you go to may go to jail, and you will lose everything you own.
So explain to me how one goes about this.
And LIVE a decent life afterwards.
I asked him the exact same question in the past and received no response. After a bit of internet research it seems that it's not possible without giving up your possesions and living as an outlaw. I'm waiting for the explantion.
well at least you already have an "Outlaw template" available:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Hvf8r3cX3vo
Haight-Ashbury redux
Occupy Vancouver death confirmedhttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/11/05/bc-occup...
So, what exactly is the reason you posted this totally off-topic link here? Are you trying to change the subject? Banker troll?
Once people know the rules, they can plan to win the game. The debt game puts everybody in a bind. The big banks get the poison in their Kool - Aid, too.
http://georgesblogforum.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/the-daily-climb-2/
Well Said:
Now lets all move our money into local community banks/credit unions ASAP!
I understand the concept of "Our Debt" (unfortunately). Don't quite get the idea of individuals moving "Our" money.
Gleefully left Banc of Amigos a year or so ago. But, then, they aren't part of the inner circle, so does that damage the Fed?
- Ned
GW, really, don't you have any response? such pussy reddies, please, state your true view. - Ned
Thanks George. Excellent article, as usual. I've never had my money in the TBTF banks. The only thing I do have in one of them is the mortgage, and it was not there to start. It was originally in a local bank, who transferred it to wells after about a year. I am not one to refinance when the interest rate we got is acceptable. But my money is in a local bank, and my wife's is in a credfit union.
My bank is my vault. Gold is my currency. My security is a small arms surplus with 30+ vigilant soldiers.
Screw the banks. Screw crony capitalism. A new order is arriving
Unfortunately, if too many of us move money out of the big banks to the point that their existence is threatened; congress will change the rules of the game, by limiting access, size, types of deposit and other shit so that credit unions would not be able to compete.
Nonetheless, let's push them to the edge anyway.