Forum Post: Mass Divestment
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 8, 2011, 2:29 a.m. EST by y2kproblem
(6)
from Portland, OR
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I would suggest that every OccupyWallStreet protestor and sympathizer take the initiative during the month of October to withdraw all of their funds from savings accounts, checking accounts, stocks, etc that are associated with a politically corrupting Wall Street institution. Remove your personal funds from Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, Citigroup, US Bank. If you don’t know if your “local” bank is a subsidiary of another larger Wall Street bank, then do your research and make the decision to move your funds to a truly local bank or local credit union where you can exercise some measure of local control.
At the heart of the movement is the rightful belief that our government is serving an exclusive corporate constituency that together does little to serve the remaining 99% of Americans. That the act of voting has been reduced to the placement of preference for a given candidate’s soundbites and hollow intentions as programmatically offered forth by corporate controlled media outlets.
We know what is really going on!
Politicians on both the left and the right have been corrupted to serve only corporate interests because they and their actions are bought with corporate funds. Let’s take those funds back!
Let’s divest ourselves of this system as completely as possible. Let’s send a message directly to the corporations that will actually force them to care. The message that corporations are not citizens and shall have no role in the political system that belongs to the people.
A run on the Wall Street banking system coupled with reinvestment into community banking institutions will not destabilize this county. It will only destabilize and disempower the 1%, who are successfully leveraging our savings against us.
Now that is an original idea. The question becomes, where do you put your money once you've removed it? The answer: Small local banks.
A national flight of capital from the big banks (Chase, Wells Fargo, BofA) to small local banks would keep your cash safe while achieving a much bigger effect than this march ever could, and no requirement to get some bought fat ass in Washington to do something on your behalf.
In England we've revived the old tradition of rioting, & whilst I can't condone burning peoples homes, & looting, I fully understand their frustration & anger. As one rioter, when asked "Why they were doing it" said :"We're just getting some of our taxes back"! The "system" doesn't work, scrap it and start again. ONE PEOPLE, ONE WORLD. THERE IS NO PLANET B. We can't trust politicans to do anything other than get rich, and screw the poor, but what happens, when the poor have no more money to give? Slavery/human trafficking is on the increase, coincidence?. "They got the guns, but we got the numbers" Bless you all, keep up the pressure, we will prevail.
Better yet, charge $10,000 to a Bank of America credit card and refuse to pay.
Divest YES - Money is the only thing that gets their attention, the sad fact is WE FUND THE LOBBYIST through 401k and pension funds which invest in corporate America who then buy politicians, Billions a month enter the markets from the retirement sources, shut that down, you get some attention real quick.
We get shafted a second time with shoddy corporate oversight ( board members ) who are not looking after shareholder interest (company owners), most companies are run for top management through exorbitant salaries and stock options for "talent" thats in fact a dime a dozen.
As a hardhat in Boston said the pipeline we need to stop is the one from Wall St to D.C.
I agree. I think that is a great first step. I think there needs to be more. Over the last few days I have been following the many many streams on facebook and forums across the country. As concisely as I can muster I will try to explain exactly what this movement is for those that are confused, and explain how the People can fight.
First, this is not a political movement. It has nothing to do with being a Liberal or Conservative, Democrat or Republican, Muslim or Jew or Christian or Atheist. It has nothing to do with the Left or the Right. This is a Financial Revolution. This is a revolt of the 99% that are throwing off the yoke of financial oppression to free our Government from the corrupt control of the 1%. We are no longer willing to sit idly by and just voting in hopes that the elected officials will ignore the puppet strings and do what is right. We are taking our future into our own hands and standing up to fight for what we believe in, a Government for the People by the People.
We live in a Feudalistic Capitalist society governed not by the elected officials but by the person who donates the most money to their cause. The top 1% controls the money and thus controls the laws, fixing them to better themselves rather than better the 99%. So we, the serfs, are rising up against our oppressors. We will fight for ourselves. We will not ignore the 1% mocking us while they sip champagne and wonder "Why do they starve when they can eat cake." Like the American and French Revolutions we will rise against the Monarchy and attain our freedom.
In a modern American society it is virtually impossible to violently fight a rebellion against the 1%. The military industrial complex has insured that the general populace can not compete in an arms race. The 2nd amendment was intended to keep the Government honest with the ability of the populace to rise up if it ever overstepped it's bounds. The forefathers did not envision a future of smart bombs, drone airplanes, and tomahawk missiles. So what weapons can we fight with to effect this Financial Revolution? What peaceful, civil, and responsible solutions is there? We have, our money.
We will cripple the banks by refusing to acknowledge their credit system. We will en mass refuse to pay our mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit cards, unpaid medical bills, insurance, etc. We will couple this with pulling our money out of their Banks. Unified, we will force the banks to relinquish their control on the Government so that the Government can do what they need to do to correct the system. Meanwhile, we will still go to work, buy groceries, pay our utilities, and live normal lives.
The 1% have to be accountable for their actions. They have to relinquish control. They can not live in their ivory towers and ignore us anymore. The 99% are here to fight for our country. We are American and we believe that the American Dream is still alive. We just have to work hard to wrest it from the iron grip of our oppressors.
More do less talk