This Saturday

AshleyO · 10-12-2011, 11:42 PM

OWS is having a march to Chase Bank downtown and in solidarity, each and every person involved with OWS and with a bank that has been guilty of selling out the American people will be closing their accounts and switching to more ethical credit unions or local banks.

Just thought some of you might want to know this as a way of seeing what you can do if you were interested in participating.

Jonathan · 10-13-2011, 05:29 AM

It's a nice symbolic gesture, but the bank accounts of those affected are hardly a blip on the radar of these guys.

AshleyO · 10-13-2011, 10:31 AM

Obviously the solution is to either do absolutely nothing or resort to violent direct action then.

In your case, Jon. Just do nothing since anything you even remotely try wont even matter.

Jonathan · 10-13-2011, 03:36 PM

That is a very lovely false dilemma.

I even fucking said it was a "nice" symbolic gesture. There's a ton of effective things you could be doing that aren't platitudes or inciting violence. Sorry I hurt your feelings, I guess.

Solumina · 10-13-2011, 11:34 PM

Why do any of those accounts still exist? If people were so appalled by the banks actions that they are willing to close their accounts now then why weren't they willing to do so before?

CuckooTuli · 10-14-2011, 01:55 AM

It's a symbolic gesture. Asking why now is like asking why the hell we need Comic Relief, because people should already be donating to charity anyway. Great - but they don't. It's just a fact of life that many people need a concrete cause to galvanise them into taking action.

The sad fact is that most acts of activism will not result in a palpably fairer, less racist, or whatever, society. That doesn't mean they don't mean anything, or that they can't achieve something, even if it's mostly some hippie noise about consciousness raising (man).

Jonathan · 10-14-2011, 01:28 PM

We might as well be asking why protest now, when the abuses of the financial institutions and elites aren't something that just started a month ago.

I think it's great if people want to pull their accounts for moral vindication. Thinking it will cause the banks themselves some actual pain is delusional though.

wolf moon · 10-14-2011, 03:45 PM

I really like this concept. I can't imagine actually doing it.

Jonathan · 10-16-2011, 06:42 PM

For anyone not aware, twenty three people were arrested for doing this in NYC.

This is unacceptable by any metric. People being asked to leave private property is one thing, being locked into it is fucking kidnapping. I hope all the affected people can look forward to a staggering legal settlement.

Miss Absynthe · 10-16-2011, 08:01 PM

I'm curious as to the ethics of one who occupies as a means of protest a land that is already occupied?

Versus · 10-17-2011, 01:49 AM

Now I feel compelled to try to find dirt on USAA. Not that I can switch banks right now, but I'm still curious.

Jonathan · 10-17-2011, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miss Absynthe

I'm curious as to the ethics of one who occupies as a means of protest a land that is already occupied?

What's the question? I'm fairly sure that the right of the people to peaceably assemble as enshrined in the US Constitution gives the occupation its legitimacy.

Solumina · 10-22-2011, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Versus

Now I feel compelled to try to find dirt on USAA. Not that I can switch banks right now, but I'm still curious.

I've heard some rather troubling things about their insurance but nothing that is really that much worse than the average insurance company so I'd say it really isn't enough to taint the whole company. When you get a chance you could always look at Navy Federal Credit Union as all military service members qualify for them.

x-deviant-x · 10-22-2011, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solumina

I've heard some rather troubling things about their insurance but nothing that is really that much worse than the average insurance company so I'd say it really isn't enough to taint the whole company. When you get a chance you could always look at Navy Federal Credit Union as all military service members qualify for them.

What kind of crap have you heard about their insurance? I was looking for possible dirt but can't find anything. I just switched to USAA from Geico. USAA wants about 5 bucks more for a full policy than Geico wants for just one month (and for the past 2 years Geico has been the lowest rates I could find anywhere). So hell yeah i switched. I'm just wondering what kind of shit they're gonna give me should I ever have to make a claim.

Supposedly their rates are so low because they don't pay commissions to their employees, just hourly. But that sounds a bit odd to me. Gotta be something else to it than just that.

Geico is known for giving customers one quote that's cheaper than anyone else and then when you sign up they send a bs notice a month or so later about some error in their calculations and require another 10 or 20% increase on the policy. But they've never done this to me, I've just heard they do it to a lot of others.

Saya · 10-22-2011, 06:33 PM

Can anyone give me info on how credit unions work? We're doing this sometimes early November, and I've been meaning to switch banks for a while, but I'm kind of dumb when it comes to this kind of thing.

EDIT: shit, nevermind. The local one requires a 100 deposit at all times, me no can do.

Miss Absynthe · 10-22-2011, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonathan

What's the question? I'm fairly sure that the right of the people to peaceably assemble as enshrined in the US Constitution gives the occupation its legitimacy.

The question is that the land is already occupied from it's indigenous owners, so you are talking about rights that have been handed out to an invading population by the leaders of those invaders.

Quote:

As the New Mexico Independent reported last week, some of the ’99 percenters’ objected to the association of the word ‘Occupy’ with what one Daily Kos contributor called “…five-hundred years of forced occupation of [Native American] lands, resources, cultures, power, and voices by the imperial powers of both Spain and the United States. A big chunk of the 99 percent has been served pretty well by that arrangement. A smaller chunk hasn’t.”

Source: http://www.americanindependent.com/1...tive-americans

Solumina · 10-22-2011, 07:11 PM

Booo a $100 deposit seems steep, Navy Fed only requires $5. Credit Unions act like banks except with the account holders as investors, which is why the require a deposit at all times, they are not-for-profits, and there has to be a common bond between their members (like a career field or geographic location).

Deviant just make sure that if you make a claim that you are explicitly clear if you are not at fault as they seem to mark any and all claims as being your fault, even if there is no reason to do so (including things that happened while your car was parked and you were nowhere near it), and check back to make sure things were properly recorded in their system.

x-deviant-x · 10-22-2011, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miss Absynthe

The question is that the land is already occupied from it's indigenous owners, so you are talking about rights that have been handed out to an invading population by the leaders of those invaders.

Source: http://www.americanindependent.com/1...tive-americans

I've heard that Soros has paid the owners of the park to allow the occupiers to continue staying there. That's why they backed off from their initial demands to force the occupiers out so that the park could be cleaned. I don't know how true this is, but its not surprising. It is privately owned property after all. If the owners wanted them out they would be out. The owners are obviously gaining some sort of benefit from it. It's definitely not to the betterment of the park itself.

Miss Absynthe · 10-23-2011, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by x-deviant-x

I've heard that Soros has paid the owners of the park to allow the occupiers to continue staying there. That's why they backed off from their initial demands to force the occupiers out so that the park could be cleaned. I don't know how true this is, but its not surprising. It is privately owned property after all. If the owners wanted them out they would be out. The owners are obviously gaining some sort of benefit from it. It's definitely not to the betterment of the park itself.

Paid the owners of the park? I'm not talking about the owners of the park - my point is that it is a park (and an entire country) that has been stolen from another people and occupied against their will. I'M TALKING ABOUT THE ORIGINAL INDIGENOUS OWNERS OF YOUR COUNTRY - THE ONES WHO LIVED THERE BEFORE IT WAS COLONISED BY THE SPANISH AND THE ENGLISH.

Did you even read the article posted?

Versus · 10-23-2011, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by x-deviant-x

I'm just wondering what kind of shit they're gonna give me should I ever have to make a claim.

When the cunt monster totaled my car, they came out pretty quick, did an assessment, and wrote me a check. There wasn't any hassle and they didn't give me any crap.

I've actually been really pleased with USAA. And I get my paycheck a day earlier when I bank with them.

Miss Absynthe · 10-23-2011, 02:32 AM

Cunt monster.

I am SO having bizarre mental images due to this term.

Versus · 10-23-2011, 02:45 AM

As you should.

Miss Absynthe · 10-23-2011, 03:04 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH8yuld4DUE

Versus · 10-23-2011, 03:26 AM

I'm familiar with that. I think the one from Tokyo Gore Police is a little more appropriate.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...u-original.jpg

But have heard of Killer Condom?

Miss Absynthe · 10-23-2011, 03:29 AM

"The rubber that rubs YOU out!"

Nice.