I am not much of an implementers, but if we wanted to do something to target and reform our screwed up society, I have an idea. The great vulnerability of our capitalist culture, especially in the U.S. and Western Europe, is fractional reserve banking.
For those that don’t know, a quick summary is that any given bank only has to keep a small percentage of their deposits on hand. This allows them to invest other people’s money for fun and profit. Many resources explain the concept and its evils in far more detail than I can get into here.
So how is this an exploitable weakness? Well, if you have seen It’s a Wonderful Life, you probably already know. Because banks only hold a fraction of the reserves needed to cover their depositors’ accounts, they are vulnerable to “runs.” A run on a bank happens when the customers lose confidence that the bank will be able to cover their deposits and rush to withdraw their money before the bank runs out of money (FDIC insurance was setup to protect depositors from this phenomenon).
How do we use this to fight the bankstas? We deliberately cause runs on banks. Of we can get enough people to withdraw their money from a bank, the bank won’t be able to return people’s money to them. Even if you don’t have an account with the target bank, you can help by spreading fear (Big Bank is the targetof an internet attack, ge yourmoneyout before they collapse - you don’t want to have to wait for the FDIC to give you your money, do you?) An additional collateral attack than can be made is to simply not pay any debts (mortgages, credit cards, etc) owed to that same bank. The non-payments will accelerate the time frame for which the bank will run out of money.
Also, if you short the bank’s stock before the run or when it starts, you can profit from the banks collapse.
The real key to the plan (the part I haven’t figured out yet) is how do we get enough people to panic over a particular bank to get the party started. Subsequent banks should be easier after the first.
Be aware that some states have laws that make inciting a run on a bank illegal, although the constitutionality of such laws is still up for debate. Truth is a defense to libel, so if there is an attempt to sue for that, you get to conduct in depth discovery on the financial condition of the bank (just how bad are all of those loans and derivative instruments they hold? How low is their cash in hand compared to their depositors receipts?)
How is inciting bank runs (which i doubt we could achieve) in any way activism?
how would you get people to do something like this that has like less than zero immediate positive impact on their lives?
With the advent of Central banks, causing bank runs, especially by a few activists is basically impossible. If you tried to pull something like this off, all you will do is cause the bank to borrow money from the central bank, although it will never come to that point because realistically enough, you won’t get enough people on board to withdraw cash from the bank.
And say even if you somehow succeeded in causing widespread banking collapse, well, American capitalism thrived after 2008. So it is unclear what exactly would be accomplished. In order to bring about a revolution, you have to build a revolutionary movement. Otherwise, you are just spreading chaos for no reason.
All this would achieve is making people less likely to run on the bank later. Not enough people would be convinced, and everyone would want to be smug the next time. Crying wolf isn’t usually a great plan.
Well, if you have seen It’s a Wonderful Life, you probably already know.
My good fellow, this is an Motion Pickture from seventy years erst. Personally, I really want to do a Catch Me If You Can, but I don’t entertain that specific fantasy in any seriousness.
Also, if you short the bank’s stock before the run or when it starts, you can profit from the banks collapse.
In addition to how you’ve mentioned that making a run on a bank is legally restricted, this point here is insider trading. While it’s cool and good in this case, it means you would need 10,000 people, each with 100k in investments, to all keep a secret.
I hope you have people to casually chat with, to bounce ideas off. No one has a perfectly balanced mind, and we all benefit from being informed by each other. This sort of post is the sort of thing that has its place in casual chats.
