The Banks Backed Down – Can We Chalk a Victory for OWS?

Bank of America and the other biggest banks announced their intent to charge a monthly fee to their customers for the use of debit cards.   Their customers stood up and said: “No!”.  They not only said “No!” in Zucotti Park and the streets, many said  “No!” by moving their deposits out of the big banks and into local and regional institutions, such as credit unions.  The big banks got the message very quickly and backed down.  They announced that they had decided not to charge the fee.  Hooray for common sense!

Can we chalk it up as a victory for OWS?  That’s a lot less certain.   But, in my opinion, it is much less likely that the big banks would have changed course if there had not been an OWS movement.  I hold this opinion for three reasons.  One, without the OWS movement and the media attention it garnered it would have been a lot more difficult for the voices saying “No!” to be heard or to realize that they were part of something bigger.  In this aspect, OWS acted as a megaphone.  Two, OWS gave an immediate example that  people acting in concert could affect change.  I was quite surprised at how quickly individuals began moving money out of the big banks and how quickly the big banks noticed.  Three, OWS showed that individual financial decisions can be a voice, one that speaks a language the big banks understand.  As each of us decide what bank, what broker, what financial advisor and what fund manager we shall take our custom to,  that choice matters.  We have options about where to invest our 60% share of the wealth.  If we don’t like how the poster boys of excess: the overly compensated executives and fund managers and bankers are behaving with our money, we have the ability to take it away.  And, the poster boys have just been reminded of that. OWS has helped us realize that we aren’t stuck with what the 1% want to give us.  Changing the business culture is possible.   And, perhaps, not as difficult as we imagined.

As the police clear the tents in Zucotti Park and the other places around the world where the vanguard of the Occupy Wall Street Movement first made itself visible, it is important to note that they haven’t cleared the people, the idea or the movement away.  I think making the big banks back down showed that OWS has momentum.  Once a movement has momentum it is not arrested by clearing out a location.  Just as the Occupy Wall Street Movement quickly spread from Zucotti Park around the world, it is not tied to Zucotti Park.  The tents are not a requirement.

What is required is that the Movement remain visible and vocal.     The movement can come back to the parks and streets where and  when the need arises.  None of the demonstrations or sit-ins of the sixties lasted nearly as long as the encampment in Zucotti Park.  They appeared at one place briefly and then another.  The important thing was that they kept appearing.  And, back then, internet organized flash mobs were unknown. Having stayed at Zucotti Park so long, the OWS movement demonstrated the breadth of its support.  By my guage, the OWS has a much broader base of support in the general populace than any of the 60′s protests and demonstrations.

One thing about a movement is that it has a flow, like a river.  You can’t dam it completely, the water will always find a way around.  If you force the river out of one place it flows to another.    Where the river’s channel is narrowed, the water simply flows faster and more forcefully through it.   Push the movement out of Zuccoti Park and it will simply appear somewhere else, and it may gain force in the process.  So, let us not mourn the the loss of some tents.  Let us instead realize that, like the river, the OWS movement flows on and is gaining volume and force.

Standing with Penn State and Joe Pa

I have been greatly distressed by the news coming out of State College, Pennsylvania.  I am greatly saddened by what is reported to have happened in the athletic facilities at Penn State.  I’m saddened that a legendary career has ended this way.  I’m not condoning or ignoring any of what happened  But, I need not add my condemnation.  There is condemnation enough.

Rather, I’m willing to standby the Penn State community and Coach Paterno because sometimes we are called to standby those who must bear the consequences of their own decisions and actions.  We are called to add our strength to theirs to face what must be faced. I’m willing to stand by the Penn State community, including Coach Paterno, for that reason.

In regard to Coach Paterno particularly, I’m willing to stand by him for an additional reason.  The whole of a life should not be judged  solely by its failings.  Sometimes we are called to standby someone to bear witness  to that which is good and noble in them also.

Zuccotti Park – Tip of the Iceberg

The epicenter of the Occupy Wall Street movement is Zuccotti Park.   It’s become a significant problem for the Mayor of New York City.  Mayor Bloomberg  has thus far successfully walked the tight-rope.  He has to keep the City open for business and, at the same time, not infringe the right of Occupy Wall Street to protest how that very business is conducted.  I’m not without admiration for Mayor Bloomberg.  But, brilliant and measured, as he is, he doesn’t understand what the Occupy Wall Street Movement is, or is becoming.  Consider this quote, as reported in the New York Times:

“My personal view is, why don’t you get out there and try to do something about the things that you don’t like, create the jobs that we are lacking, rather than just yell and scream,” Mr. Bloomberg said Thursday. “But if you want to yell and scream, we’ll make sure you can do it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/nyregion/for-bloomberg-wall-street-protest-poses-a-challenge.html?_r=1&smid=fb-nytimes&WT.mc_id=NY-SM-E-FB-SM-LIN-FBW-110411-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click; visited 11/7/11

Perhaps it’s his personal wealth that blinds him.  Mayor Bloomberg is clearly at the top of the 1%.  He is reported to be the 12th richest person in the country with a net worth of $19.5 billion, most of it from and still invested on Wall Street. http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/; visited 11/7/11.   He sees the Occupy Wall Street Movement as just kids yelling and screaming in a park in his city.  He supports their right to yell and scream but like the many of the rest of the 1%, he’s not listening, yet.  He probably thinks that the movement will go away, perhaps with bitter cold in a winter only weeks away.  I hope he’s wrong.  I hope that Occupy Wall Street will  prove that it can’t be driven away so conveniently.  Perhaps then Mayor Bloomberg and more of the 1% will begin to hear what is being said.

If Mayor Bloomberg was hearing what Occupy Wall Street was saying he wouldn’t make a comment that essentially boils down to “Get a Job!”  Isn’t that the point here.  We have rescued the machinery that the 1% uses to create and hold their wealth.  But, they aren’t putting that money to work on Main Street.  They’re sitting on it.  Credit for small business and ordinary people remains tight, despite attempts by the government to ease it.  Unemployment remains above 9%, despite government attempts to reduce it.  Job creation is improving but remains tenuous and anemic.  Current job growth will take many years to make a substantial reduction in unemployment.

Occupy Wall Street is trying to tell Mayor Bloomberg and others that there are too few jobs.  They are pointing out that the 1% is hording money and not putting it to work where it can create jobs.  The furor over excessive executive compensation is but a first focus on this problem.  But,it is something Occupy Wall Street is clearly pointing out. The admonition to quit yelling and screaming and get a job in these circumstances evidences  ignorance and avoidance of responsibility.  Who has the greater ability to create jobs, the folks in Zuccotti Park or Mayor Bloomberg and the 1%?  Who is failing the nation on this issue?

Beneath the ignorance evidenced by Mayor Bloomberg’s “Get a Job!” statement is an even more troubling lack of perception.  The “kids” in Zuccotti Park and whether they have jobs isn’t the whole issue.  They are just the tip of the iceberg.  They really do represent the unrest, dissatisfaction and desire for change in the way business is conducted of  much of the 99% .     The amount of money held in the IRAs, 401Ks, and straightforward savings and investments by the 99% is substantial.  It is  a little bit greater than the amount held by the 1%.  Mayor Bloomberg and the rest of the 1% need to listen to the yelling in Zuccotti Park.  It’s a warning.  They are the voice standing on the tip of the iceberg .  They are yelling: “Change course for your own good!”  The 1% would be wise to listen.

I’m Too Old to Sit in the Street

I’ve never been the public protesting type.   And, now, even though there is a protest I’d like to join, I’m too old and soft to be sitting in the street.   But, I believe that Occupy Wall Street offers a real hope of changing our business culture, especially the business of financial services.  So, what can I do.

Well, I can do the same thing that a lot of the 99% can do.  You see,many of the 99% have some wealth.  No, we don’t have the seven and eight figure incomes of the 1%.  Most of us are still working for a daily living and only dreaming of being able to retire.  But, we are the ones who hold most of the IRAs, 401Ks and have some savings and investments.  We’ve worked hard and saved.

In our savings and retirement plans is our voice to add to those who occupy the streets.  And, we can speak a language that Wall Street already understands.  We can go to our brokers and advisers and tell them that we want investments evaluated differently and we want to invest in ways that will change the culture of Wall Street.

I read Mark Cuban’s blog: Blog Maverick, on his advice to Occupy Wall Street. http://blogmaverick.com/2011/10/14/my-soapbox-advice-to-the-ows-movement-and-then-some.  He puts forth some very interesting ideas.

But the point is that you don’t have to go sit in the street to raise a voice of protest.  There are other ways that may also be effective.

OWS, Please Don’t Go to Washington

One of the critiques of the Occupy Wall Street movement, usually leveled by the objects of the protest, is that the movement needs to focus its attention on Washington.  The gist of the critic’s comment is: “take your complaints to the government.  It’s their job to fix this.”  What that means is: we’re not going to fix it.  We have ours and we like it that way.  It’s also a tactic to deflect your movement.  Wall Street wants you to spend your energy flailing away at politicians.

Please don’t fall for it.  Stay where you are.  You’re in the right place.  Taking your movement to Washington will only dissipate its energy.  Your business is to create a new financial culture.  Washington won’t help you do that.  Even if we set aside for a moment the current lack of Washington’s ability to govern, cultural change is not the business of government.  Governments form and reform as response to culture and cultural change.  They don’t create it.

Stay the course right where you are.  You’re in the right place and you are talking to the right people.  God willing, they eventually will listen to you.