[GPSCC-chat] No Credit Card Debt?
spencerg
spencer.graves at prodsyse.com
Sun Dec 12 11:07:25 PST 2010
Hello, All:
When will be the next event at which people will want literature to
distribute?
Also, would anyone like to help me produce bookmarks and tri-fold
brochures? If yes, please reply.
The 'Just Say "No!" to Abusive Banks' brochure mentioned Dec. 7,
which has now past. Yesterday, I drafted a brochure and a bookmark with
a similar theme on "Credit Cards and the Great Recession", encouraging
people to transfer any use of credit cards associated with major banks
to a credit card obtained via a credit union. I sent drafts to this
list but have not seen them. I don't know if the list is down or it
blocks attachments. Below please find the text. Both include graphics
for no credit cards in addition to the finance industry profits and
Green party logo on the previous brochure.
Comments?
Spencer
### bookmark
Credit Cards
and the
Great Recession
Stop using credit cards with major banks (or non-profits using major
banks), because they provide power to the bankers who are destroying the
international economy. Use cards from credit unions or community banks.
The finance industry in the US now "earns" a third of US domestic
corporate profits, thanks to legislation underreported by the mainstream
media. Use credit unions or community banks to minimize your
contributions to that.
### brochure
Credit Cards
and the
Great Recession
Do you use a credit card with a major bank? Many credit cards
ostensibly with non-profit organizations are managed by major banks, who
make substantial profits from those cards and give a small portion of
those profits to the non-profits.
If yes, we suggest you use instead a credit card with a local credit
union or a small community bank. Credit unions are cooperatives owned
by their customers / members, are more likely to invest locally and are
less likely to contribute to destabilizing the international economy,
engage in predatory lending practices, etc.
No Credit Card Debt
If you have credit card debt, you can help yourself and the
international economy by paying that off as quickly as possible -- if
necessary with a loan from a local credit union or a small community
bank. Virtually any loan will carry a lower interest rate than credit
card debt, though you need to check.
Avoid major banks, because any business with them increases the power
they have skillfully used to enrich the senior banking executives while
destroying the international economy, creating massive unemployment, and
forcing the poor and middle class to accept less for their labor.
Corrupt Profits of the Major Banks
The financial industry in the US (banks, securities, insurance) "earned"
34% of total US domestic corporate profits over the past decade, up from
16% for 1934-1999 (see below).
Some of this increase in profits developed because consumers have no
effective means of protecting their interests in this sector. Instead
of innovating to provide better service to consumers at reduced cost,
banks have innovated to maximize their profits at the expense of
consumers. This includes colluding in setting credit card rates to harm
consumers.1 This should be an antitrust violation, but most
politicians are elected with massive contributions from big business,
especially major banks, and the commercial media would lose advertising
revenue and profitability if they exposed it.2
If you think this is outrageous, as we do, we encourage you to minimize
your contributions to this by transferring your financial dealings to a
credit union or a small community bank.
Process for changing a checking account
1. Choose another financial institution (see below).
2. Open a new account. Ask for forms to facilitate the transfer.
3. Get checks, credit, debit, ATM cards for the new account.
4. Transfer direct deposits and automatic payments to the new account.
5. Stop writing checks or using a debit card on the old account.
6. Wait until your last check has cleared.
7. Submit a "Close and Transfer Letter" to close your old account and
transfer remaining funds to the new account.
8. If you have also paid off any credit card debt with a major bank,
congratulate yourself for having ended your personal contributions to
bank executives' multi-million dollar compensations. Encourage your
friends to do the same.
Financial Industry Profits as a Percent of US Domestic Corporate Profit 3
www.cagreens.org/santaclara
Green Party of Santa Clara County, CA
P.O. Box 390372
Mountain View, CA 94039
ph: (408)294-5779
email: spencer.graves at prodsyse.com
Credit Unions in San José, CA
The following is a list of 9 credit unions in the San José area.
Because of their different ownership and legal constraints, they are
more likely to focus on building the local economy and less likely to
engage in the risky behaviors that created the current "Great Recession".
Alliance Federal Credit Union (www.alliancecreditunion.org)
Commonwealth Central Credit Union (www.wealthcu.org)
Keypoint (www.keypointcu.com)
Meriwest Credit Union (www.meriwest.com)
Provident Credit Union (www.providentcu.org)
San Jose Credit Union (www.sjcu.org)
Santa Clara County Federal Credit Union (www.sccfcu.org)
Star One Credit Union (www.starone.org)
Technology Credit Union (www.techcu.com)
Valley Credit Union (www.valleycu.org)
###############################
## text from previous emails on this subject:
##
Attached is a draft bookmark on "No Credit Card Debt", supporting the
general resistance to major banks, we've discussed. This morning, I
sent a brochure-length piece on the same theme. I'm happy to provide
Open Office or MS Word copies for anyone who would like to help edit
such. (NOTE: The margins on the PDF versions do not match the margins
on the original. To make the margins on the attached work properly, I
would have to make further adjustments to the Open Office version.)
Monday evening, I'll be attending a holiday potluck of Silicon Valley
DeBug (www.siliconvalleydebug.org), and I plan to take a few copies of
both the attached bookmark and the companion brochure. Any comments
would be greatly appreciated.
Best Wishes,
Spencer
############################
December 7 came and went without a Pearl Harbor disaster for
the major banks. Attached is a proposed replacement for our Dec. 7
brochure. This is only a draft. Comments are eagerly sought, both on
the subject matter as well as the expression. (Please let me know if
you'd like this in Open Office or MS Word format.)
Is the Green party ready to ask people to pressure politicians
and prosecutors to prosecute illegal foreclosures and fraudulent banking
practices in encouraging people to lie on loan applications? Apparently,
many and probably the vast majority of foreclosure attempts in the US
have involves low level banking employees signing statements that UNDER
PENALTY OF PERJURY, they have done investigations that they clearly
could not possibly have done. We could make a major issue of this,
demanding these cases be investigated and prosecuted. Low level
employees faced with jail sentences should be pushed to testify against
their managers, who were obviously guilty of conspiring to commit
perjury and illegally confiscate people's homes. Bank employees
processing foreclosures involving fraud should be prosecuted for fraud
and grand larceny, and bank managers encouraging such practices are
guilty of conspiring to commit fraud and grand larceny. They should be
prosecuted to the maximum extent allowed by law -- with senior banking
executives who promoted those practices facing thousands of consecutive
one year sentences for conspiring to commit fraud and grand larceny --
thereby contributing to destroying the international economy.
Are the Greens willing to make a campaign of issues like this?
We would need a legal team, who is ready to defend us individually and
collectively. I think this is a sleeping tiger that could catapult the
Greens into a much bigger position in the next election. However, we'd
need to be prepared to be sued for libel, which means that we'd have to
make absolutely certain that anything we say can be supported by
independent sources -- solid footnotes to more than just flybynight.com.
If a major bank were to sue us for libel, I would hope we could then
counter sue, demanding records on all foreclosures so we can contact
many of the victims, and ask about the circumstances under which they
got into the problem loan in the first place. A campaign like this
could be what the world needs to change the terms of the debate on these
issues internationally and fix the current Great Recession.
Comments?
Spencer
--
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Operating Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph: 408-655-4567
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