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As The Big Banks Post Record Profits And Pay Out Obscene Bonuses, What Should We The People Do: Stand Up Or Roll Over?
On February 1, 1960, four students sat down at a lunch counter at the former Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina.
4 students!
They were protesting racial segregation. They were denied, service, harassed and arrested.
Greensboro was and still is a backwater, yet their courage and commitment sparked and helped drive a national movement that would, within a few years, transform this country.
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.
.
Banks R’Us. Today, there are bank branches in almost every neighborhood — except the poorest ones where pay day lenders reign with their usury on their mind and in their interest rates. When it comes to credit, the poor pay more — and the banks know it and profit from it. There are also mortgage brokers galore in every community. Fraud is their middle name.
They are there to do business, but they could also become convenient targets for civic engagement.
So what is to be done? So far, very little has been. While the Banks are aggressively lobbying; citizens groups are passively sending e-mails. Never before have so many allowed so few to dominate the discourse. The banks are clearly winning over the regulators and critics.
Nevertheless, protests against the big banks are beginning. There will be one at the end of October at the American Banker’s Association convention and greedfest in Chicago.
But you don’t have to go to “Sweet Home Chicago” to find targets of outrage, or even trek down to Wall Street. You know where you bank! Yes many branches are just made up of ATM machines. They want your money, not to hear from you! But the bigger branches are not far. They advertise everywhere. They are everywhere, doing business as usual.
Your money in; their profits out.
That could change. Think of the Greensboro 4, just a few people then made enough noise to get things going.
Today, you don’t have to call them sit-ins, just polite but firm and “protracted” conversations with the banksters. If a million people called their 800 numbers at once, what would happen? Why not informational picketing to advise consumers about how they are getting ripped off with high rates and excessive fees?
.
.
.
.
.
.
On February 1, 1960, four students sat down at a lunch counter at the former Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina.
4 students!
They were protesting racial segregation. They were denied, service, harassed and arrested.
Greensboro was and still is a backwater, yet their courage and commitment sparked and helped drive a national movement that would, within a few years, transform this country.
.
.
.
.
Banks R’Us. Today, there are bank branches in almost every neighborhood — except the poorest ones where pay day lenders reign with their usury on their mind and in their interest rates. When it comes to credit, the poor pay more — and the banks know it and profit from it. There are also mortgage brokers galore in every community. Fraud is their middle name.
They are there to do business, but they could also become convenient targets for civic engagement.
So what is to be done? So far, very little has been. While the Banks are aggressively lobbying; citizens groups are passively sending e-mails. Never before have so many allowed so few to dominate the discourse. The banks are clearly winning over the regulators and critics.
Nevertheless, protests against the big banks are beginning. There will be one at the end of October at the American Banker’s Association convention and greedfest in Chicago.
But you don’t have to go to “Sweet Home Chicago” to find targets of outrage, or even trek down to Wall Street. You know where you bank! Yes many branches are just made up of ATM machines. They want your money, not to hear from you! But the bigger branches are not far. They advertise everywhere. They are everywhere, doing business as usual.
Your money in; their profits out.
That could change. Think of the Greensboro 4, just a few people then made enough noise to get things going.
Today, you don’t have to call them sit-ins, just polite but firm and “protracted” conversations with the banksters. If a million people called their 800 numbers at once, what would happen? Why not informational picketing to advise consumers about how they are getting ripped off with high rates and excessive fees?
.
.
.
.
.
.
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