Denninger is again calling for a boycott of the big banks. We at Swamp Report support this 100%. The TBTF’s will not be TBTF if we move our money out of them. We however believe the boycott should be extended to at least the top 10 banks, not just the top 4. Do it today!
This is a call for a boycott.
A call to break these institutions by destroying their deposit base and “net interest margin”, one consumer at a time, as a protest against the outrageous actions these firms have taken in terms of risk and their shifting of the costs of that risk, which should have resulted in their failure and closure by The FDIC and OCC, onto the backs of their customers via outrageous fees, interest rates and costs, along with the direct subsidy being paid by all taxpayers generally.
Now The Huffington Post has picked it up and suddenly there’s a Facebook group for it too.
Huffpo said:
The idea is simple: If enough people who have money in one of the big four banks move it into smaller, more local, more traditional community banks, then collectively we, the people, will have taken a big step toward re-rigging the financial system so it becomes again the productive, stable engine for growth it’s meant to be. It’s neither Left nor Right — it’s populism at its best. Consider it a withdrawal tax on the big banks for the negative service they provide by consistently ignoring the public interest. It’s time for Americans to move their money out of these reckless behemoths. And you don’t have to worry, there is zero risk: deposit insurance is just as good at small banks — and unlike the big banks they don’t provide the toxic dividend of derivatives trading in a heads-they-win, tails-we-lose fashion.
Her solution isn’t perfect. There’s still the possibility (probability), as Rolfe Winkler points out that, with implicit government guarantees, the banks will still take on too much risk. But limiting the size of banks is a step in the right direction. And making both shareholder AND bondholders take losses is too! The FED, on the other hand, will never limit the banks in any meaningful way, since it is legally owned by them.
Below is Rolfe’s marked-up copy of the Chairbair’s testimony:Sheila Bair Systemic Rist Testimony 072309
