-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Doug Henwood Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 7:39 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Money is money
On Nov 8, 2011, at 1:30 PM, 123hop at comcast.net wrote:
> 1) If the problem is political, there is some political consciousness
changing as a result of people deciding to move the money to a place where
they imagine there's more local control.
But one of my points is exactly the opposite: the small banks and credit unions already have more money than they know what to do with, and will put thee new influx into Treasuries and GNMAs.
> That local control might be an illusion, but the fact of (sor far) 4.5
billion dollars being moved around is not an illusion,
$4.5 billion is trivial. I'm looking forward to seeing some real numbers, and not just the claims of advocates, though it's going to take another 6 or 8 months before we know.
> and it's just the beginning. If it proves not to be a game changer, it
might be the first step of the many steps involved in people realizing that
they can actually play more of a role in the allocation of resources. Like
OWS, it moves the center of gravity from "them" to "us." A good thing.
Individual decisions can't cut it. Finance needs to be politically regulated.
> 2) Money might be money, but it still makes a difference in whose pockets
it is. If I understanding accounting, the amount of leverage a bank can have
depends upon deposits. The smaller the deposits, the smaller the leverage.
There is then the possibility that decreasing that leverage will decrease
the amount of speculation that goes on and also the amount of
credibility/legitimacy capitalist banking enjoys.
Do you think that if small institutions get big they will still act like they did before?
Doug has it all correct here. Those small institutions are every bit as vicious as CitiBank. IPA pushed for an interest cap on pay-day loans. Bans (e.g., Heartland, a sort of local bank) don't make ePay-day loans: but Heartland people were at the City Council hearing to cast their weight against it. Why? Well, where do you think the loan sharks get the money they loan out!
And changing one's bank account is not even a micro-mini step toward radicalization. It's the opposite: Trying to get to heaven in a rocking chair. I suggested (faintly) a few days ago that _if_ the withdrawals were seen and felt asd a collective act, they _might_ be a small step into politics. Clearly they weren't; they were just a bunch of pointless individual acts, anti-political.
Carrol