Bank of America and the Failing Economy

The whole Bank of America charging for using debit cards thing bugs me.

It bugs me not so much because it's another $5-a-month-nickel-and-dime-fee, but because of what it ultimately represents: a repetition of the very cycle of greed that ultimately underlies why banks-- and much of the greater corporate world-- fell on its butt, a couple of years back.

Have they learned NOTHING?

Folks, if you have an account with BofA, it's time to close it... and it doesn't matter whether you have deposits above the threshold where you are exempt from the fee.... and here's why: You are being charged for the "Fundamental Cost of Doing Business."

Let me offer some analogies: BofA's debit card fee is like the grocery store charging you 20 cents for running the register, or a house painter charging you $5 because he/she has to use a paint brush, or the utility company charging you $3 a month to read the meter. You wouldn't pout up with that, right?

BofA is a bank. Part of the core of being A Bank includes actions like counting money and having the basic functionality that goes with... well... being a bank.

It reminds me of the 90's when my business bank (BankOne, now Chase) decided it would charge my business (a retail store) $1.50 per $1000 to count cash included in deposits. I closed and moved my accounts (which often had $20,000-$50,000 balances) the next day... even though I was technically above a limit where the fee wouldn't apply to me.

The point being... it wasn't the $1.50 (just like it isn't the debit card fee, itself), but the fact that I was being charged for a bank to perform the core actions of a bank's business.

I'm sorry, if a business-- any business-- is not capable of functioning without charging for its fundamental actions that make that business possible, then it has NO BUSINESS being in business.

To wit, BankOne ceased to exist not long after it started in on a cycle of "fees for everything." By its actions, it would seem BofA is heading into a cycle of its own that may signal the beginning of its end.

The most powerful thing we can do is "vote with our dollars." I have voted with mine: I bank with a regional bank that has been in business-- under the same fundamental ownership-- for 104 years. It doesn't charge me fees, and it even continued to make a profit while all the "Big Corporate" banks were crashing.

Imagine THAT!?!?!

Of course, this bank is very "Un-American" because its management is satisfied with "making a profit" every year, and isn't caught up in the compulsive obsession with "we MUST make more and more profit every year" that drives most of corporate America and the machine of capitalism.

I hope you read this, and agree that this action by BofA (sure to be followed by other large national banks) is simply wrong.

I hope you act, and move your BofA accounts to a local Credit Union (usually fee free) or a regional/local bank that's not "part of the problem" that messed up our financial lives, in the first place. BofA has already been given a second chance, in the form of a bailout with your tax dollars. They (and others) do not deserve a third chance.

But it's not enough to just THINK and SAY "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" You have to ACT on it. Don't be complacent. Don't leave it up to "others" to make a change. Be the change, as Gandhi once said.

At the very least, if you agree with this, share it on your own pages, tweet it, link to it and spread the word...

As Big Level Greed gives way to Individual Courage

I have been thinking a lot about the slow-motion disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. It's hard not to... it's everywhere, all the time.

At first, we watch these things like they are train wrecks. It seems "distant," like it "happened to THEM, over THERE." But then this thing happens... the train wreck never stops. And it goes from being this "event" far away, to something that affects ALL of us. It stops being "just another news story" we can shrug off as we reach for another beer...

It's scary, it's freaky... People are no longer "just watching;" they are getting angry. And that's a good thing.

I heard a very interesting perspective, the other day.

Someone said "This was a necessary disaster."

I was a little outraged, at first... but then I heard the entire line of reasoning, and it made some sense.

We ARE living in an age of change. We are increasingly moving towards a place where the old ways of greed (think the stock market, investment scandals, banks collapsing, the real estate bubble) are falling apart. But these things did not fall apart till there was a massive calamity to overturn the apple cart.

As all this continues to topple, we are entering an age of "Individual Courage." We have passed a subtle "tipping point," where the average person in the street is moving away from a centuries long era of apathy and helplessness ("What difference can *I* make? Pass me another beer") towards an era of individual empowerment. I guess many never trusted "Big Business" or "Big Government" in the first place, but we didn't feel empowered to DO anything...

That is, until things get so bad, that we're shaken out of our stupor.

Anyway, this idea I was shown... is that this long slow disaster that never ends, affecting so many and breaking even more hearts... is another tipping point. Although nobody can deny the catastrophical environmental impact, this may just be the needed event that will finally shake up the broader population enough... to realize that we really do need to develop alternative energy, and to personally take a stand in support of it. Demand it. It's no longer "good enough" to just sit in your recliner and nod, saying "yup, they really need to develop alternative energies."

The end that is at hand is not so much for Big Oil, as it is the end of Big Oil being allowed to place hurdles in the way of alternative energy... to protect their own self interest. Again, another
"brick" in the House of Greed is going to fall, as a result of this disaster.

But we needed something THIS HORRIBLE to be shaken out of our apathetic sleep... to wake up and say "NO! This will NOT stand!"

It's easy for us to point fingers and make them the villains and us the victims. But ultimately... this isn't about blame and who did this... but about examining what caused this. And we have to accept our own part in this. Because even though we can say this is "BP's fault," WE are responsible for making BP who they are.

And then we must change the paradigm that "creates" the BPs of the world.

One of my favorite... ehmm... "heroes"... is Gandhi. And one of his quotes I really like is this: "BE the change you wish for in the world."

It's a nice thing to say... not as easy to live. Looking at the mess in the Gulf, how can we live the change we need?

Personally, I don't think it's about boycotting BP... that's noble, and it makes us feel good, but it's ultimately a band-aid. We're still driving a car and putting gas into it. This is about individuals demanding access to the choices that lead to real change. It's about thousands-- millions-- of individuals writing to their local utilities and DEMANDING a "Green Power" option. And then signing up for it, even if it costs 10% more. It's about hanging onto your car for three years
longer than you'd planned so you can afford to buy the more expensive hybrid. That way the auto companies know-- because of their sales-- the direction they must take.

A couple of years ago, I got a little flyer with my electric bill from PSE (Puget Sound Energy)... announcing that I could choose to have my electricity come 100% from wind power. Yes, I realize a lot of power comes from coal, not oil... but the point here is that a change was
offered. And I agreed to pay 10% more for my electricity, in order to support a new cleaner paradigm. Meanwhile, I gain back the 10% by using those low-energy bulbs.

Our former state of apathy is built on a foundation that change "simply happens." The new paradigm of Individual Courage (and accountability) will be built on the foundation that change is something we "MAKE happen."

REAL change doesn't come from bombing some big oil company's headquarters or boycotting and picketing their gas stations. Whereas such actions make a big splash, a few wrists are slapped, and it quickly becomes yesterday's news as the status quo continues. REAL change comes as a result of making individual choices (multiplied by millions) that renders the already obsolete paradigm/product irrelevant.

It won't happen tomorrow, or next week, or next year... but it will happen because the age of greed and apathy is coming to an end. It's not going to be easy, however... that's why this is an age of COURAGE. We have to walk our talk... we have to ask the question "What can *I* do to help change this paradigm?" And realize that we are not helpless, even though we may feel "very small" in the face of the task ahead.

Demand green energy.
Plan your meals... so you grocery shop twice a week, not every day.
Don't say "I really OUGHT to carpool," instead CARPOOL.
Use a replaceable water filter, instead of buying bottled water in plastic bottles.
Buy the local brand because it didn't have to be shipped here, burning fuel.
Above all, be willing to be slightly inconvenienced in the name of change!

We don't have to give up anything much, we just have too change the "framework" we wrap around what we do.

We can make a difference... individually. Where we get trapped in apathy is when we start thinking what we do is not "big enough" and "won't make a difference." I call it the "Cure for Cancer Syndrome." People think their contributions do not matter, unless they invent the (metaphorical) cure for cancer. NOT SO! An avalanche begins because one tiny ice crystal shifts slightly... yet nobody would deny that an avalanche can wipe out an entire village.

Start... by just being really awake and "conscious" snowflake. THAT is all you need to do.

Finally, a personal note of thanks to my lovely fiancee, who inspired many of the thoughts in this article. I couldn't do any of this without you....