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The Top Five Reasons To Move Your Money From Bank Of America

As hundreds of people remain encamped on Wall Street in New York City, and thousands of people across the country are taking part in a 99 Percent Movement aimed at battling economic inequality spurred on by enormous income gains by the richest one percent of Americans.

One of the financial institutions being targeted by protesters is foreclosure mill and government bailout recipient Bank of America (BOA). In Boston, thousands of people marched against BOA’s greed and in Los Angeles, numerous people were arrested while staging a sit-in at a local branch.

While many Americans may feel powerless against this banking behemoth, the truth is that Americans have a simple way to protest its greed and corporate malfeasance: simply move your money out of the bank to one of its competitors, such as a local credit union. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) recently encouraged Americans to do just that.

ThinkProgress has assembled five reasons why American consumers could consider moving their money and striking a blow to this abusive banking giant:

1. Bank of America Just Unveiled A Shocking New Debit Card Fee: Late last month, BOA announced that it would start charging a $5-a-month fee simply for consumers to use their debit cards for purchases. Although a few of its competitors have started using similar fees in recent times, BOA’s presence as America’s largest banking chain means that if it successfully enacts such a fee, it may be able to set a trend in the industry to make such charges the norm. More than 137,000 Americans have signed an online change.org petition protesting the fee. Most credit unions do not charge for using one’s debit card, and one credit unions, Delta Credit Union based in Atlanta, is even holding a “Switch Day” to encourage BOA’s customers to switch over to its services instead.

2. Bank of America Has Spent Millions Lobbying To Gut Reforms With Your Tax Dollars: Despite being bailed out to the tune of billions of dollars by the federal government, Bank of America has still had the gumption to spend millions of dollars in Washington battling new reforms meant re-regulate the financial sector. It spent nearly $4 million hiring a double-digit number of lobbyists in 2010, mostly aimed at gutting legislation related to banking regulations. Meanwhile, it spent a million dollars on campaign contributions in the 2010 electoral cycle.

3. Bank of America’s Practices Are At The Nexus Of The Foreclosure Crisis: Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan raised eyebrows recently when he excitedly cheered for faster foreclosures of Americans’ homes. Despite being found to be a major user of error-ridden “robo-signing” foreclosure practices last year, the mega-bank only briefly halted its foreclosure proceedings nationwide. It is also facing lawsuits by multiple states over its mortgage practices.

4. Bank of America Just Announced That It Was Laying Off 30,000 People: The “firm’s 30,000 job cuts are more than double what any other U.S.-based employer has announced so far this year, according to a employment tracking group.” The layoffs come after a decision by Bank of America, JP Morgan, and Citigroup earlier this year to “outsource IT and back office projects worth nearly $5 billion this year to India, as they seek to lower costs.”

5. Despite The Poor Economy, Bank Of America Continues To Reward Its Executives With Multi-Million Dollar Salaries: Despite blaming economic woes for layoffs of employees and its new debit card fee, the mega-bank continues to deliver huge paydays to its executives. The bank just announced that two of its former executives, Sallie Krawcheck and Joe Price, will receive a salary of $850,000 and a payment of $5.15 million and a salary of $850,000 and a payment of $4.15 million respectively. Meanwhile, BOA maintained its CEO’s salary of $950,000 plus $9.05 million in performance-based stock awards this year.

Americans do not have to stand by and allow a mega-bank to continue to rip off its consumers, to develop and foster abusive mortgage practices, reward its executives lavishly, and shortchange own workforce. They can strike a blow against this institution by simply moving their money away from it, either to its major competitors or into the country’s large network of community banks and credit unions.

In order to facilitate this process, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) — shortly after meeting with Occupy Raleigh protesters in Bank of America’s hub city — has introduced the “Freedom and Mobility in Consumer Banking Act,” which would ensure that Americans “have the right to immediately close any account at any insured depository institutions on demand, without cost to the consumer, that consumers receive any balance in their account immediately, and for other purposes.” The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has launched a petition drive in support of Miller’s bill. Sign their petition here. For resources on finding a community bank or credit union to store your money, see the “Move Your Money Project.”

Update

Organizers are putting together a “Bank Transfer Day” on November 5th and are encouraging Americans to pull their money out of big banks and put their savings instead into credit unions.

Update

Other organizers are calling for Americans to close accounts at “too big to fail” banks on November 12.

NEWS FLASH

More Than 200 Protestors March In D.C.’s 99 Percent Movement | More than 200 people marched in Washington D.C. today as part of the 99 Percent Movement that has swept the nation over the past few weeks. Protestors alternated between chants of “How to fix the deficit? End the war, tax the rich!” and “We are the 99 percent! So are you!” The diverse group cooperated with police as they marched through the streets of Chinatown.

Yglesias

Missouri Wine

It used to be a thing, apparently. Erik Loomis has the 1898 wholesale price list to prove it:

The past is a foreign country, I guess? The whole structure of the American wine industry, IIRC, was totally different pre-prohibition.

Yglesias

LA Mass Transit Is A Big Deal

Los Angeles isn’t a particularly transit-oriented city, but it is a very large city and as a result the LA mass transit system is actually one of the most important in the country. You can look at this in a bunch of different ways, but Brad Plumer’s chart of millions of dollars worth of congestion avoided by transit operations makes the point:

Simply because of its size, the LA transit system is bigger and more influential than the systems in more walking-oriented but smaller cities like San Francisco, Philadelphia, or Boston. This is one reason why it’s always worth paying attention to LA even though it’s not any urbanist’s favorite town.

NEWS FLASH

Ron Paul Wins Values Voters Straw Poll | Texas Rep. Ron Paul won the straw poll conducted at this weekend’s Values Voters Summit, a gathering of the religious right held by the Family Research Council. Paul captured 37 percent of the vote. Former pizza magnate Herman Cain, who has surged in recent primary polls, finished second with 23 percent, followed by former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry finished tied for fourth with 8 percent, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished sixth with 4 percent.

Climate Progress

State Department Admits Its ‘Independent’ Tar Sands Pipeline Review Was Paid For By TransCanada

The State Department has admitted their environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline was conducted by a contractor paid for by the pipeline company itself, a potentially illegal conflict of interest first reported by ThinkProgress Green. The Canadian tar sands company TransCanada has applied to construct a major pipeline through the United States to pump tar sands crude to Texas refineries for the international oil market, and is awaiting approval by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama. The State Department’s approval hinges upon a positive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), required by the National Environmental Policy Act to assess whether the pipeline is in the national interest.

A State Department official has admitted to the New York Times that the EIS was conducted by a company chosen and paid by TransCanada itself, flouting NEPA’s conflict-of-interest rules:

[Kerri-Ann Jones, the assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs] said that TransCanada had managed the bidding process and recommended three candidates with Cardno Entrix topping the list. The department vetted Cardno Entrix by consulting with other agencies like the Bureau of Land Management. TransCanada pays the consultant directly, but would not reveal the amount.

That Entrix was contracted by TransCanada to conduct the EIS first reported by ThinkProgress Green, now confirmed by the New York Times.

“Cardno Entrix did submit a disclosure statement acknowledging that it was paid $2.9 million to handle the environmental review of an earlier pipeline in the Keystone network,” the Times reports. “It did not mention another project it had done for TransCanada, consulting on a natural gas pipeline that runs through Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.”

A spokesman for TransCanada, Terry Cunha, told the New York Times that his company had recommended contractors to the State Department based on “technical ability, experience, and appropriate personnel.” But he said the final contract for the environmental assessment “provides that Department of State directs Entrix. As a result, we don’t have a direct relationship with Entrix.”

Climate Progress

Bombshell: State Department Outsourced Tar Sands Pipeline Environmental Impact Study to ‘Major’ TransCanada Contractor

http://images5.cpcache.com/product/218321075v1_240x240_Front_Color-Green.jpgThe Game was Rigged: Entire Environmental Impact Statement Should Be Invalidated

The State Department assigned an important environmental impact study of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to a company with financial ties to the pipeline operator, flouting the intent of a federal law meant to ensure an impartial environmental analysis of major projects.

The department allowed TransCanada, the company seeking permission to build the 1,700-mile pipeline from the oil sands of northern Alberta to the Gulf Coast in Texas, to solicit and screen bids for the environmental study. At TransCanada’s recommendation, the department hired Cardno Entrix, an environmental contractor based in Houston, even though it had previously worked on projects with TransCanada and describes the pipeline company as a “major client” in its marketing materials.

While it is common for federal agencies to farm out environmental impact studies, legal experts said they were surprised the State Department was not more circumspect about the potential for real and perceived conflicts of interest on such a large and controversial project.

John D. Echeverria, an expert on environmental law, referred to the process as “outsourcing government responsibility.”

The subsequent study, released at the end of August, found that the massive pipeline would have “limited adverse environmental impacts” if operated according to regulations. That positive assessment removed one of the last hurdles for approval of the proposed pipeline.

That’s from a stunning New York Times story today, “Pipeline Review Is Faced With Question of Conflict.”

UPDATE:  This story was first broken by Neela Banerjee of the L.A. Times.

Bill McKibben, of Tar Sands Action, tells me, “This is a crime still in progress. The surveillance camera has caught a clear image of the thieves and now we’ll see if the sheriff does anything about it or looks the other way.”

I think this is such a grotesque violation of due diligence that the entire environmental impact statement should be invalidated, and the process should begin anew.  That’s particularly the case here because as the NY Times reports:

Read more

Yglesias

The Herman Cain Era

Not that Herman Cain is going to win the GOP nomination, but can I just note for a minute how absurd it is that he’s doing well enough in the polls that those of us in the media need to pay some attention to what he’s saying and his ideas?

He’s not a real politician. He’s not a notably successful businessman. And most of all, he hasn’t spent any time learning about the issues. It’s genuinely not that difficult to acquire some minimal grasp of public policy. Lots of elected official do it. Lots of people in the press do. Matt Damon knows a thing or two. Cain is just running around saying “nine-nine-nine” a lot. He doesn’t even particularly seem interested in politics. If we need a sideshow to the Perry-Romney race, can’t we just go back to Michele Bachmann?

Politics

Bill Bennett: Perry Supporter’s Comment On Cult Of Mormonism Is ‘Bigotry’

ThinkProgress filed this report from the Values Voters Summit in Washington, DC

Conservative Bill Bennett spoke out against pastor Jeff Jeffress’ comment yesterday at the Values Voters Summit, where he reiterated his view that “Mormonism is a cult.” A big supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), Jeffress introduced governor at the conference yesterday. Today, Bennett condemned Jeffress, telling the prominent Perry supporter, “You did Rick Perry no good, sir”:

Do not give voice to bigotry. Do not give voice to bigotry. I would say to Pastor Jeffress: You stepped on and obscured the words of Perry and Santorum and Cain and Bachmann and everyone else who has spoken here. You did Rick Perry no good, sir, in what you had to say.

Watch it:

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) took the stage shortly after Bennett, and he praised Bennett’s earlier speech, saying, “Speaking of hitting it out of the park, how was that Bill Bennett?” Yesterday, Perry had praised Jeffress’ speech by saying that he had knocked it out of the park.

Jeffress is no stranger to controversial comments about religion. In the past he’s said that Mormons, Jews, and Muslims are “from the pit of Hell.”

Rebecca Leber contributed to this report.

Yglesias

Don’t Delay Egyptian Democracy

So far, the Egyptian Revolution has mostly led to further political disorder rather than to an outbreak of positive political change. In the eyes of some, that makes the case for delaying elections and trying to strengthen liberal forces vis-a-vis Islamists. Mark Lynch says no:

This would be a mistake. The continuing rule of the armed forces, without any legitimate civilian institutions, is in fact causing many of Egypt’s problems today. The activists who continue to take to the streets are right to point to the inexplicable failure to lift the emergency law, the continuing resort to military trials of civilians, and the crackdowns on the media and civil society. The longer Egypt defers elections, the worse that conditions will become — for liberal forces and for all Egyptians. Does anyone really believe that elections will go better for liberals after another year of a collapsing economy, protests and autocratic rule by the military?

Excellent points. I wonder, though, if any of these movements in Egypt really know what needs to be done to fix the Egyptian economy.

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