Occupy Wall Street Morons Pushing For Boycott Against Banks

09 Oct, 2011 by William Teach

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And, when I call them morons, I’m not simply using typical language that us folks in political blogging use against our opponents (unlike those on the left, I do not consider them enemies, like the left thinks about the right): in this case, they are morons. Here’s a CNBC story from Friday which jumped into trending over at Memeorandum

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.

Moron point number one: one of the things that propelled the United States, and the world, into the Great Depression was a run on the banks, where people were taking their money out, or attempting to take their money out, of the banks. Moron point number two: those uber rich 1% tend to have their money in other places than banks. Moron point three: by doing this, they are going to harm average citizens, not those icky rich people.

Surprisingly, they mention the Durbin Amendment as a reason for doing this

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.

Moron point four: if they’re upset with Durbin Amendment, Dodd-Frank, Barack Obama, and the Democrats for passing it, why the hell are they planning to boycott the banks? Why not boycott donating to Durbin, Dodd, Frank, Obama, and Democrats? Why not go protest at the White House, Congressional building, and the buildings that house the congressional offices? Why not say they will not vote for Democrats?

What is moron point number 5?

Well, they’re using this Guy Fawkes mask stylized with the American flag. How is that a moron point? Well, consider what Cracked (yes, I know, but, they’re correct) has to say about 8 historical symbols that mean the opposite

While anarchists may be right that Fawkes was the only person ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions, they’ve forgotten what those intentions were. Fawkes wasn’t trying to destroy an evil theocracy, he was trying to install one.

Fawkes was a fighter for Spain and the Catholic Church. His goal was to end the slightly more egalitarian Protestant revolution in England by restoring Catholic domination. If the Gunpowder Plot had actually succeeded, Britain would probably look less like an anarchist commune and more like the fascist police state Alan Moore warned us about.

Cracked is entirely correct. For their symbol, I recommend