[GPSCC-chat] No Credit Card Debt?

[spencerg]

p.s.  Tomorrow, Monday evening, I plan to attend a potluck with Silicon 
Valley DeBug (www.siliconvalleydebug.org), and I plan to take whatever 
version of these brochures I have with me and discuss them with DeBug 
members.  Any comments I could receive on the text before then would be 
appreciated.  Thanks.


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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)



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##  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