"Move Your Money" is a bad solution

The group urging folks to "move your money" from big banks to small ones says that such moves will show the banks you mean business. Nonsense.

That may have been true many years ago when the government realized that allowing monopolies to exist was bad for the economy. It was also before people like Mayor Bloomberg fought to do away with regulation of the banks , Wall Street, the real estate industry,credit card issuers and the utility companies.

It was also before the Supreme Court decided that corporations were people.

Let us assume you take your money out and put it in a small bank. There is nothing to stop a big bank from buying out the small
bank, and you're back where you started - but worse. Now there are fewer small banks and more people unemployed.

This business of "A" bank becoming "B" bank getting bought out by "C" bank is ridiculous. Each bank changes its rules and you have to play the game of "Do you know where your money is?" Someone like Elizabeth Warren might have brought some common sense to banking regulation but she was never given a chance - forced out by bank lobbyists.

The tale of the campaign button

While looking for something the other day, I came upon a button. It said 2008, had a profile of Obama with the following words. "HOPE. ACTION. Change We can Believe In."

After eight years of being Bushwacked it was refreshing to get a change. Obama promised to change health care. Make it simpler, fairer, and more encompassing. He promised to get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan. He promised more transparency. He promised the usual campaign battle cry to fight against "Special Interests."

So far the only change I see, is the change in Obama. From a Sir Galahad we got a Don Quixote. From a fighter we got a dreamer.

Now the apologists have gone to bat for him. Even James Carville, who was slightly critical of the President has now started to say "Think of the Alternative."

While it is true that the alternative would be devastating, why do we have to have such choices. It is like asking someone would they rather be shot or poisoned. Why can't we insist on the Obama we voted for?

While I am disappointed I have not given up hope for him. Even Rip van Winkle came out of a deep sleep after 20
years. But we have to stop excusing his failures and demand he shape up. Do not use the "Think of the Alternative" argument as an excuse.

Maybe if we insist on a better Democrat we might even get some better Republicans.