Move Your Money: A New Year's Resolution

[RC]

Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman of the HuffPost Investigative Fund, began talking about the huge, growing chasm between the fortunes of Wall Street banks and Main Street banks, and started discussing what concrete steps individuals could take to help create a better financial system. Before long, the conversation turned practical, and with some help from friends in the world of bank analysis, a video and website were produced devoted to a simple idea: Move Your Money.

The big banks on Wall Street, propped up by taxpayer money and government guarantees, have had a record year, making record profits while returning to the highly leveraged activities that brought our economy to the brink of disaster. In a slap in the face to taxpayers, they have also cut back on the money they are lending, even though the need to get credit flowing again was one of the main points used in selling the public the bank bailout. But since April, the Big Four banks -- JP Morgan/Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo -- all of which took billions in taxpayer money, have cut lending to businesses by $100 billion.

Meanwhile, America's Main Street community banks -- the vast majority of which avoided the banquet of greed and corruption that created the toxic economic swamp we are still fighting to get ourselves out of -- are struggling. Many of them have closed down (or been taken over by the FDIC) over the last 12 months. The government policy of protecting the Too Big and Politically Connected to Fail is badly hurting the small banks, which are having a much harder time competing in the financial marketplace. As a result, a system which was already dangerously concentrated at the top has only become more so.

>The Rest< http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/move-your-money-a-new-yea_b_406022.html

Good Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icqrx0OimSs&feature=player_embedded

[StarfarerBill]

1. Hence my new sig line, inspired by Goldstein1984's excellent OP on the subject.

[LiberalFighter]

2. Which pillow?

[earth mom]

3. What money?

We make a decent income, but still live paycheck to paycheck.

[abelenkpe]

5. Just don't use a big bank nt

[WT Fuheck]

4. what money?

I move all my money around all the time in my pants pocket.

[snot]

6. I've already moved it, BUT

does anyone know who's behind the "Move Your Money" website? They provide NO info re- that.

For all I know, it's some big consortium that happens to own a lot of small banks and is simply trying to exploit an opportunity.

[femrap]

7. Socially Responsible Investing

has been around for decades. As a broker, I was saying 'Put your money where your Heart/Soul is' in 1982. And this included investing LOCALLY.

I'm simply amazed that the RICH of Huffington took so damn loooooooooong to come up with this idea.

I find it pathetic. Who in their Progressive/Liberal mind would have funds at Citicorp, BofA, Wells, Chase????? Seriously. I don't care if it's just a checking account or a credit card.

US Bank offers a decent Visa...funds go to American Indian Relief Council. US Bank is HQed in Minneapolis (at least it's not a NYC bank) and is the 12th largest bank...last I looked.

Check out Solari.com