Making the Banks Run in the Direction We Want

By: Aaron Datesman

Dave Lindorff had this to say today:



It should be clear at this point that the Goldman cabal burrowed deep inside the Washington apparatus is working not to rescue the U.S. economy, but rather to ensure the survival and enrichment of the big banking establishment, and of course Goldman Sachs.

Well, duh! But then there’s this part, where he burrows into my head and splashes my secret thoughts up on the inner tubes:



If you have an account at any national bank, go there tomorrow and take it out. Transfer it to a local bank in your community. You'll get better service, your money will still be just as safe, and you won't be propping up institutions that have been stealing the country blind.

I have a little money in an account at Bank of America and will do this TOMORROW! And ....well, nothing will happen. I could do this at 10 and then go back to reading the blogs and pondering just how very awful everything either is, or is about to be, at 10:07.

Bank of America is the world’s largest financial services firm. It has more than 6100 retail branches and has received about $50 bn in TARP funds, along with an additional $118 bn in loan guarantees. This is outrageous, of course, but it’s also interesting. The firm’s market capitalization is only $19 bn.

Now, I’m not an economist, but looking at those numbers I get the sense that the firm is not really, uh, solvent. In fact, I think it’s a brain-eating zombie bank. So, it’s an interesting thing about how awful everything is, but I think in the current situation we have a lot more power than we used to have. Do you have an envelope to write on the back of?

I’m guessing it takes at least 500 customers to support a branch. $1000 works for me as an average account balance. This totals up to $3 bn. What do you say we all send this letter to our Congresspersons?



Dear Congressperson, If it’s too big to fail, it’s too big to exist. The nation’s largest banks and Wall Street firms have created a tremendous crisis with no accountability for their disgraceful behavior. Unless the Congress takes immediate action to nationalize and break up the nation’s largest financial firms, including Bank of America, I will withdraw my consent from the financial system. On May 5, 2009, I plan to close my accounts and withdraw my $xxxx balance in cash from Bank of America. This is my right as a citizen and as a depositor. I encourage the millions of my fellow citizens who also have accounts with BoA to do the same on this date. Sincerely, etc. cc: Kenneth D Lewis, CEO, Bank of America

Credit to Dave Lindorff (who is absolutely correct), but throwing a fit at the counter of the local branch of an enormous bank is not a stick. An activist-organized bank run, on the other hand, would be a very powerful weapon. Could BoA possibly withstand a billion-dollar bank run? If anybody thinks that the answer to this question is yes, I would love to know why you think this.

We have the internet to use. How could we get this done?

— Aaron Datesman



Posted at March 27, 2009 01:42 PM

