Hudson: Too Big To Jail

[don]

Michael Hudson

[astonas]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

Interesting.

While much of what he says will be familiar to iTulipers, I enjoyed his brief tangent differentiating the banking models of mercantile England and socialist Germany (touching on China's as well).

Thanks for posting!

[don]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

Interesting.

While much of what he says will be familiar to iTulipers, I enjoyed his brief tangent differentiating the banking models of mercantile England and socialist Germany (touching on China's as well).

Thanks for posting!

Me too. Often Hudson elaborates with some new insightful tidbits.

[raja]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

Hudson's solution is for government to take over the Big Banks.
That won't work.

Why? Because there is no incentive for politicians to gut the banks. Their banker golfing buddies give them campaign contributions so they can get re-elected. It's naive to expect politicians to bite the hand that feeds them . . . as we can see from the dearth of bankster prosecutions.

The People -- us -- are the ones that have a stake in getting rid of the big banks, not the politicians. So I suggest that the People do it themselves.

There's a bank on almost every corner . . . plenty of competition.
If the People simply stopped using the big banks, and started using the little banks, they could Starve the Beasts. In other words, Boycott the Big Banks, as I have been advocating in my iTulip signature for the last 5 years.

How difficult is it to open up a new bank account, and write a check transferring funds? Not very.

It's an idea whose time has come.
It needs is to go viral.
People must understand that the big banks are the villains . . . and that shouldn't be so hard to accomplish in the age of the Internet.

[shiny!]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

Private individuals should certainly move their money to community banks and credit unions (I did years ago), but businesses that exist in more than one location usually need all their banking done at the same bank. Small community banks can't offer that convenience.

I tried to convince my company to switch to a local bank or credit union, but we couldn't find one that could service our eight offices in four different cities. I suspect that's a big reason why businesses, even small businesses like ours, stay with the big banks.

[don]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

Private individuals should certainly move their money to community banks and credit unions (I did years ago), but businesses that exist in more than one location usually need all their banking done at the same bank. Small community banks can't offer that convenience.

I tried to convince my company to switch to a local bank or credit union, but we couldn't find one that could service our eight offices in four different cities. I suspect that's a big reason why businesses, even small businesses like ours, stay with the big banks.

Businesses yes, individuals no. I kept my independent (been around a century) bank in Cali when I moved to Florida. Everything is working beautifully.

[BadJuju]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

I bank at a credit union.

[flintlock]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

But don't the big banks just ultimately swallow the smaller ones?

[RebbePete]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

Hudson's solution is for government to take over the Big Banks.
That won't work.

Why? Because there is no incentive for politicians to gut the banks. Their banker golfing buddies give them campaign contributions so they can get re-elected. It's naive to expect politicians to bite the hand that feeds them . . . as we can see from the dearth of bankster prosecutions.

The People -- us -- are the ones that have a stake in getting rid of the big banks, not the politicians. So I suggest that the People do it themselves.

There's a bank on almost every corner . . . plenty of competition.
If the People simply stopped using the big banks, and started using the little banks, they could Starve the Beasts. In other words, Boycott the Big Banks, as I have been advocating in my iTulip signature for the last 5 years.

How difficult is it to open up a new bank account, and write a check transferring funds? Not very.

It's an idea whose time has come.
It needs is to go viral.
People must understand that the big banks are the villains . . . and that shouldn't be so hard to accomplish in the age of the Internet.

The big question I have: how much do the big banks even need individual depositors anymore?

[don]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

But don't the big banks just ultimately swallow the smaller ones?

and I do keep updating my bank for just such an occurrence.

[BadJuju]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

and I do keep updating my bank for just such an occurrence.

Why not use a credit union?

[don]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

Why not use a credit union?

an independent, regional bank or credit union. I think they're a wash in this regard.

[BadJuju]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

an independent, regional bank or credit union. I think they're a wash in this regard.

I suppose so. We have a very large credit union here that extends regionally because it is for a major corporation.

[Polish_Silver]

I'm in on the boycott.

In other words, Boycott the Big Banks, as I have been advocating in my iTulip signature for the last 5 years.

.

I closed almost all my accounts at big banks one year ago. I cannot refinance at this time, so BofA still has my mortgage.

Occupy has expressed intereset in BBB, but most occupy participants do not have enough money saved to make a difference.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Hudson: Too Big To Jail

The big question I have: how much do the big banks even need individual depositors anymore?

Last I saw for BoA was about a year ago. If I recall correctly, $1.1 trillion was sitting in deposits, $550 billion of which were retail deposits. I think JP Morgan's about 2/3 that size. Even if Americans aren't saving much, there are 300+ million of us. If there's an average of 5,000 in the bank for individuals and families (average, not median), that fits the bill about right. I think there's about $7 trillion totally sitting in deposits. The ratio's probably 50/50, individual/business. At least twice that is floating around as retail credit. Again, I'm working off memory. So take it with a grain of salt. But I think if you poke around, you'll find these numbers are in the ballpark.

It matters. Even now.