Occupy Wall Street Organizing Nationwide Boycott Against Banks

[Ares]

http://media.cnbc.com/i/CNBC/Sections/News_And_Analysis/_Blogs/NetNet/__DAILY_POSTS/bank%20transfer%20day.jpg

In an effort to send a message to big banks, some protestors, who seem to be associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, have organized an event to remove all funds from banks and into credit unions.

Protestors are calling the event "Bank Transfer Day" and are encouraging people nationwide to participate November 5.

The Facebook page for the event states the following:

"Together we can ensure that these banking institutions will ALWAYS remember the 5th of November!! If the 99% removes our funds from the major banking institutions on or by this date, we will send a clear message and give the 1% a taste of the fear that we experience every day when we aren't able to pay for our rent, food, medication, utilities, student loans, etc."

So far over 6,500 people have RSVP'ed for the event.

The protestors take issue with the Durbin Amendment, which is an addition to the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that caps the debit interchange fees banks can charge merchants.

The protestors oppose the amendment because they claim the banks will begin to charge their customers $3-$5 fees to off-set the money they will lose because of the interchange fee cap.

The event's Facebook page states:

WHY ARE WE BOYCOTTING?

The Durbin Amendment is an add-on to the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law No. 111-203), signed into law by President Barack Obama on July 21, 2010. The Act allows the Federal Reserve to regulate debit card interchange fees of banks with over $10 billion in assets. Over the summer, the Fed released the final rule on the matter by limiting debit card interchange fees to a maximum of 21¢ per transaction. In response, these "major banks" have decided that beginning early 2012 any consumer with less than $20,000 in combined accounts will be charged a monthly $3-5 fee if they use their debit card at any point during the month. This is a blatant attack on the 99% that cannot & will not be tolerated. In a stand of solidarity, on November 5th we will transfer our money & close our accounts with these major banking institutions to take our business to credit unions (or local banks if a credit union isn't available). Since #OccupyWallStreet began, these banks are donating our money (and money they've made with our money) to law enforcement agencies to heap abuse on our brothers & sisters. NO LONGER.

Bank of America [BAC 5.90 -0.38 (-6.05%) ] has already announced it will start to charge customers $5 a month for using their debit card starting next year.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44800021/

[Joe King]

The protestors take issue with the Durbin Amendment, which is an addition to the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that caps the debit interchange fees banks can charge merchants.

The protestors oppose the amendment because they claim the banks will begin to charge their customers $3-$5 fees to off-set the money they will lose because of the interchange fee cap.

Too bad they are seemingly missing the message that banks, as with any other business, simply find a way to pass their costs along to their customers.

[Sparky]

This is so uninformed on so many levels!

The first is the one that Joe King points out.

The second is that that they could best bleed the banks by simply NOT USING DEBIT CARDS! The amendment has cut the bank's transaction revenue in half. Run with it! My God, people are such cloudy thinkers.

Third: "So far over 6,500 people have RSVP'ed for the event." There are probably about 200 million Americans who have deposits. Most of the ones with big money do not want to see the banks get hurt. So they are probably going to need 25 million people to empty their accounts in order to make the slightest difference. With 6,500 RSVPs, they only need another 24,993,500. Oy.

[zap]

Those who have RSVP'ed will probabley be tagged as terrorists too.

[chad]

november 5th is on a saturday. lobby at all of them closes well before noon. can't close accounts at drive throughs. massive fail.

[Santa]

november 5th is on a saturday. lobby at all of them closes well before noon. can't close accounts at drive throughs. massive fail.

good catch...

[Shami-Amourae]

http://gold-silver.us/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1255&d=1318048878

[Cebu_4_2]

says close BY November 5th

[Serpo]

11 Facts You Need To Know About The Nation’s Biggest Banks (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/07/338887/1-facts-biggest-banks/)

By Pat Garofalo (http://thinkprogress.org/author/pat-g/) on Oct 7, 2011 at 1:05 pm
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/AP090507014372.jpg The Occupy Wall Street protests (http://thinkprogress.org/tag/99-percent-movement) that began in New York City more than three weeks ago have now spread across the country (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/06/336668/thousands-join-99-percent-movement/). The choice of Wall Street as the focal point for the protests — as even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/05/336510/bernanke-occupy-wall-street/) — makes sense due to the big bank malfeasance that led to the Great Recession.
While the Dodd-Frank financial reform law did a lot to ensure that a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis won’t occur — through regulation of derivatives, a new consumer protection agency, and new powers for the government to dismantle failing banks — the biggest banks still have a firm grip on the financial system, even more so than before the 2008 financial crisis. Here are eleven facts that you need to know about the nation’s biggest banks:

– Bank profits are highest since before the recession…: According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., bank profits in the first quarter of this year were “the best for the industry (http://www.mrswing.com/articles/Bank_Profits_Are_Highest_Since_Early.html) since the $36.8 billion earned in the second quarter of 2007.” JP Morgan Chase is currently pulling in record profits (http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-14/business/29418242_1_jpmorgan-chase-provisions-for-credit-losses-credit-card).
– …even as the banks plan thousands of layoffs: Banks, including Bank of America (http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/180977-bank-of-america-layoffs-largest-of-the-year-), Barclays (http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/12/markets/wall_street_layoffs/index.htm), Goldman Sachs (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/27/329777/goldman-layoffs-bonuses-cups/), and Credit Suisse (http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/12/markets/wall_street_layoffs/index.htm), are planning to lay off tens of thousands of workers.
– Banks make nearly one-third of total corporate profits: The financial sector accounts for about 30 percent (http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2011/03/more_profits_fewer_jobs.html) of total corporate profits, which is actually down from before the financial crisis, when they made closer to 40 percent (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/29/AR2010062901578.html).
– Since 2008, the biggest banks have gotten bigger: Due to the failure of small competitors and mergers facilitated during the 2008 crisis, the nation’s biggest banks — including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo — are now bigger than they were pre-recession (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/27/AR2009082704193.html?sid=ST2009090801107). Pre-crisis, the four biggest banks held 32 percent of total deposits; now they hold nearly 40 percent (http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/03/guest-post-15-years-ago-the-combined-assets-of-the-6-biggest-banks-totaled-17-of-gdp-by-2006-55-now-63.html).
– The four biggest banks issue 50 percent of mortgages and 66 percent of credit cards: Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup issue (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/27/AR2009082704193.html?sid=ST2009090801107) one out of every two mortgages and nearly two out of every three credit cards in America.
– The 10 biggest banks hold 60 percent of bank assets: In the 1980s, the 10 biggest banks controlled 22 percent of total bank assets. Today, they control 60 percent (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/26/too-big-fail-banks-keep-getting-bigger/).
– The six biggest banks hold assets equal to 63 percent of the country’s GDP: In 1995, the six biggest banks in the country held assets equal to about 17 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Now their assets equal 63 percent of GDP (http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/shooting-banks).
– The five biggest banks hold 95 percent of derivatives: Nearly the entire market in derivatives — the credit instruments that helped blow up some of the nation’s biggest banks as well as mega-insurer AIG — is dominated by just five firms (http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/shooting-banks?page=0,1): JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citibank, and Wells Fargo.
– Banks cost households nearly $20 trillion in wealth: Almost $20 trillion in wealth (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/03/middle_class_assault.html) was destroyed by the Great Recession, and total family wealth is still down “$12.8 trillion (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/09/econsnap0911.html) (in 2011 dollars) from June 2007 — its last peak.”
– Big banks don’t lend to small businesses: The New Rules Project notes that the country’s 20 biggest banks “devote only 18 percent (http://www.newrules.org/retail/news/banks-and-small-business-lending) of their commercial loan portfolios to small business.”
– Big banks paid 5,000 bonuses of at least $1 million in 2008: According to the New York Attorney General’s office, “nine of the financial firms that were among the largest recipients of federal bailout money paid about 5,000 of their traders and bankers bonuses of more than $1 million apiece for 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/business/31pay.html).”
In the last few decades, regulations on the biggest banks have been systematically eliminated, while those banks engineered more and more ways to both rip off customers and turn ever-more complex trading instruments into ever-higher profits. It makes perfect sense, then, that a movement calling for an economy that works for everyone would center its efforts on an industry that exemplifies the opposite.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/07/338887/1-facts-biggest-banks/

[Serpo]

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1MSuXT/www.iheartchaos.com/post/7119435284/hooray-for-the-american-justice-system-steal (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnmothiliM1qcbo9lo1_500.png)http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnmothiliM1qcbo9lo1_500.png (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnmothiliM1qcbo9lo1_500.png)

[Neuro]

Probably the court was lenient with the CEO, because of his advanced age vs the homeless man...

[keehah]

A fine list IMO.
With details on each demand at the link.
Seems like its missing a 'vote Ron Paul' at the end. 8)

7 Core Demands from the Occupy Wall Street Movement (http://www.goldstockbull.com/articles/7-demands-from-occupy-wall-street/)
By Jason Hamlin, on October 3rd, 2011 Gold Stock Bull!

I am writing this article to express my full support and solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests that have been growing rapidly across the country. In typical fashion, the media first ignored the protests and have now been trying to marginalize the efforts by constantly stating that the protestors have no goals. To the contrary, there have been a number of General Assemblies and online polls where the people have been voting on which issues are most important and which specific demands rise to the top. This is a lesson in true Democracy, something that we haven’t seen on Capitol Hill in quite some time.

After all, the degree to which the politicians have been voting against the will of the people is insulting to the idea of a Democracy or Republic. It is clear to most Americans, if not the full 99%, that the government has been corrupted, bought off and is no longer working in the interest of the people they are supposed to be representing. This is one of main underlying grievances, which manifests in a Congressional approval rate at an all-time low of just 12%. But there are also specific demands that have been well articulated, despite the insistence of the mainstream media to the contrary. I’ve pulled from the various sources and distilled the list to what I believe should be the 7 core demands from the Occupy Wall Street movement:

1) End the Collusion Between Government and Large Corporations/Banks, So That Our Elected Leaders Are Actually Representing the Interests of the People (the 99%) and Not Just Their Rich Donors (the 1%).

2) Investigate Wall Street and Hold Senior Executives Accountable for the Destruction in Wealth that has Devastated Millions of People.

3) Return the Power of Coining Money to the U.S. Treasury and Return to Sound Money

4) Limit the Size, Scope and Power of Banks so that None are Ever Again “Too Big to Fail” and in Need to Taxpayer Bailouts

5) Eliminate “Personhood” Legal Status for Corporations

6) Repeal the Patriot Act, End the War on Drugs and Protect Civil Liberties

7) End All Imperial Wars of Aggression, Bring the Troops Home from All Countries, Cut the Military Budget and Limit The Military Role to Protection of the Homeland

[Joe King]

5) Eliminate “Personhood” Legal Status for Corporations

They got this one backwards. It should read, "Eliminate corporate status for people"

[Neuro]

They got this one backwards. It should read, "Eliminate corporate status for people"
Good point!

[DMac]

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1MSuXT/www.iheartchaos.com/post/7119435284/hooray-for-the-american-justice-system-steal (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnmothiliM1qcbo9lo1_500.png)http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnmothiliM1qcbo9lo1_500.png (http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnmothiliM1qcbo9lo1_500.png)

Go big or stay home.

[Serpo]

http://www.rense.com/1.imagesH/newspprsplash.jpg