Banks braced as Bank Run 2010 day arrives

[Newsjock]

Source: The Independent

The world's banks will collapse tomorrow when millions of people withdraw their money simultaneously to "destroy" the system. Or maybe not.

It all began two months ago with a muddled interview on a French regional newspaper website by Eric Cantona, the footballer turned film actor. Cantona, 44, suggested that it was time for a "bloodless" revolt against capitalism. "If 20 million people withdraw their money, the system collapses, no need for weapons, blood, or anything," he said. Was this a joke? Had Eric, the sardine philosopher, become a cod revolutionary?

More than 34,000 people around the world, mainly in France, Italy and Britain, have taken Cantona's big idea seriously. They have pledged their support to internet sites which have called for a co-ordinated "bank run" tomorrow. Another 27,000 are said to be "considering" joining in.

Politicians and bankers, who initially ignored the growing "buzz" surrounding the Cantona bank raid, have been making increasingly jittery remarks in recent days. They say there is no danger that the banking system will collapse, even if the super-wealthy Cantona withdraws all his own millions (which he insists that he will). They fear, nonetheless, that mass demands for cash could gum up the system in some countries and cause, at least local, liquidity problems.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/banks-braced-as-king-erics-day-of-reckoning-arrives-2152196.html

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http://bankrun2010.com

Why have we launched this action?

First of all, we wanted to raise public awareness on the functioning of the monetary system.

The overwhelming majority of holders of a bank accounts, savings accounts or even a pension plan, are unaware the way money is created or what the banks are doing with the money that 'they are given. They know nothing about the principle of money as debt. They do not know the reality behind words like "asset bubbles", "Treasury bills", "Hedge Funds" or "securitization". Hence the media in general make little effort to inform in an objective, transparent and accessible way to all. The only thing the public really understands is that most major financial crimes and insider trading remain mostly unpunished, but they are the first to pay the consequences.

Not only do we deplore how many questions posed by ordinary citizens on the economic situation remain without clear answers in your columns, but we also regret your lack of zeal in denouncing the measures that have allowed the global economic situation get to the point where it is today: a situation that has bought our heads of states and Governments to their knees before the rating agencies, trembling with fear at the idea that our currencies are deteriorating.

Our politicians can't meet both the interests of financial markets and those of its citizens. So, it is time to remind them who they were elected to serve.

Strikes and demonstrations are no longer useful because whatever we do, we are not heard. And whatever they do, we are not consulted. So we decided to hit the system at its core - THE BANKING SYSTEM

[Turbineguy]

1. Muggers

will be waiting outside the bank to help you.

[TalkingDog]

13. And every ATM?

Not so much.....

[kentuck]

2. No problem...

The Fed just printed $600 billion to back up the banks. They will be happy to loan to the Europeans. At a fair interest, of course.

[Arctic Dave]

3. Thought this was going to be a wikithread.

[Skink]

4. I do that every week.

[NNN0LHI]

5. People still keep money in the banks?

Wish I had some to keep there.

Don

[RandomThoughts]

6. do the average people have that much money?

The income disparity does not make peoples savings accounts that much, take all money out of the market that might have an impact.

But really the concept of the 1% is to get everyone in debt.

[originalpckelly]

7. I don't know if this will work this time, because of numbers...

but the idea of bringing it down with the banking system is not bad at all. In this country, we might be able to do the same thing. I think, though, you'd have to have a run on a single bank. Target that bank. It would receive emergency loans, most assured, but then start to target other banks. Do this systematically until each bank has been fucked up. At every chance give the powers at the top of the country the opportunity to negotiate an ordered change to a new system.

The trick is figuring out what new system would be better than the status quo. Revolutions, which this would be, are very dangerous if specific goals are not established before they begin. A new transition system would have to be created. A study of possible systems should be made by scientists with expertise in each area. Really consider what new system should rise. Then, it should be started.

It would be necessary to create something like a list of commandments that should not be broken by any new system. Hard, real metrics that the public at large could use to find out if the new system is fair or if it is merely turning into the old system under a new name, or even worse, a horrible and tyrannical system.

Fucking with things like this, as I said before, is a dangerous proposition. One really has to wonder if the status quo is all that bad considering what might be a possible outcome. But that is the nature of life. With everything there is a risk. The trick is managing risk.

[Hydra]

9. By the rules, this sort of thing shouldn't work

The banks don't keep that much cash on hand anyway, and can order it from the Fed as needed.

I suppose it boils down to whether the Fed would greenlight a bank's demise because it's convenient at the time. Otherwise they'll just throw them a (fake) life preserver.

[justinaforjustice]

10. Withdraw $ From The Big Banks, Put $ into Credit Unions. n/t

[RegieRocker]

14. Done right after the 9 trillion bailouts by Bush

[bluestateguy]

8. Remember how effective the Gas Out boycotts were in protest of high gas prices?

Yeah.

Right.

[SheilaT]

11. This is a stupid idea on many levels.

First off, if it actually worked, it would be the average person who would be screwed, not the wealthy.

Many, maybe most, of us run our paychecks through our checking accounts, out of which we pay our bills and take out money for day-to-day spending. While we may not have all that much money in there at any given time, to cause a run on the banks that would make that relatively trivial sum of money completely unavailable to us, would wreck all kinds of havoc on the individuals.

Banks in this country are required by law to keep some percentage of their deposits actually on hand. I have no idea what that cash amount is, but considering that a very, very large number of financial transactions are actually electronic ones, it's probably a more or less constantly diminishing percentage. I know a lot of people who basically never have cash on them because they use their debit card in lieu of cash.

Secondly, as someone else has already pointed out, it would probably have the same effectiveness as the gas boycotts did.

[TalkingDog]

15. Probably wouldn't work in America, but consensus is it has a chance

in Europe.

American's have much more security which is offset by much less freedom.

If the European banks become unstable, it may not spread to the US, but it will shake things up.

[SheilaT]

16. So it's a real good idea for millions

of not-rich people to lose everything? To make a point? The point would be that the rich will come out ahead no matter what, that's the point that would be made.

You need to read back to the stories of the bank failures at the beginning of the Great Depression, when many ordinary people lost their entire life savings.

[TalkingDog]

17. Umm... I don't think I weighed in on the wisdom of the action

merely reporting what I've read sans commentary.

[SheilaT]

18. It did come across to me as

an approval. Perhaps I read something into your comments that was not there.

[Blue_Tires]

12. took my $$$$ out of BOA two years ago

credit union for me

[Karenina]

19. Crash JP Morgan. Buy 1 silver coin. Holiday season is here! n/t