Occupy

[Don Coyote]

So I heard that over a million people closed their bank accounts today.

There was a group of folks with signs outside of a BoA and Wellsfargo this. Saw them after I closed mine.

[Telarus]

I liked this story, truthvalue undetermined:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/02/1032624/-He-has-a-right-to-speak,-said-the-cop-to-the-banker

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

So I heard that over a million people closed their bank accounts today.

There was a group of folks with signs outside of a BoA and Wellsfargo this. Saw them after I closed mine.

Whoohoo!

I'm hopeful that the banks will freak out, causing more people to close their accounts.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I liked this story, truthvalue undetermined:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/02/1032624/-He-has-a-right-to-speak,-said-the-cop-to-the-banker

I really like that he's trying to rally more people to do this, it's a great idea!

[Laughin Jude]

I liked this story, truthvalue undetermined:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/02/1032624/-He-has-a-right-to-speak,-said-the-cop-to-the-banker

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I don't know if I'm more shocked by the story... or more shocked that this story could be shocking in a free country...

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

ABC news likes its hyperbole! To clarify; TOTAL in the last few months, not just today. Still, that's impressive.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2011/11/07/bank-transfer-day-adds-45-billion-in.html

Bank Transfer Day, the grass-roots movement that urged bank customers to switch to credit unions on or before Nov. 5, led to at least 650,000 new credit union members and a total of $4.5 billion in new deposits, according to the Credit Union National Association.

That's the total over the course of October, amounting to more than the total for all of 2010.

[Juana]

Impressive!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Totally sweet.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

BoA did away with their $5/debit card transaction fee.  They issued a rather butthurt statement.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/business/bank-of-america-drops-plan-for-debit-card-fee.html?_r=1

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Huntington Bank has also dropped all debit card fees, I'd love to find another bank for my money, but I can't open an account here until I get my residence permit.

[Cain]

http://www.sublimeoblivion.com/2011/11/07/brics-of-stability/

As repeatedly noted by Mark Adomanis, the Russian liberals and the Western media have predicted about 10 of the last zero Russian revolutions. Likewise, the "Jasmine Revolution" in China that was the subject of so much talk about a year ago has fizzled out like a wet firework. Meanwhile, the Arab world remains in the midst of convulsions, and political instability is spreading into the West – most visibly in Greece and the Med, but also in the guise of Occupy Wall Street and associated movements in the US.

This is no doubt disturbing and aggravating to Western supremacists (it is telling that that the media organization providing the most detailed coverage of OWS, RT, is both non-Western and the object of venomous bile from the American exceptionalism culture warriors). Doesn't the West (and the US in particular) have democracy, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, free media, economic opportunities, equality under the law, etc. – things that are all starkly and completely absent in countries of the Other, e.g. Russia and China? What the hell are the hippies and liberals protesting? Are they doped up unemployed losers, useful idiots of Leninist agents of influence, or both?

I think the answer is far simpler than it seems. In Russia, younger people tend to be both higher earning (their skills are better fitted to a capitalist economy) and more economically optimistic than their parents, not to mention their grandparents. They are also far more pro-capitalist, and substantially more supportive of Putin and Co. than the older generations (who have not done as well under capitalism, and who have fonder memories of communism). In fact, in the minds of Russian youth – and in stark contrast to the picture drawn by uninformed commentators – capitalism, prosperity, and the Putin era are closely linked. Hence, no real Russian equivalent of OWS (at least for now).

While I'm far from as well informed on China, it basically seems to have the same dynamics. Young people there are now far more educated than the middle-aged, let alone the immiserated elderly, and – many of them single children and enjoying far higher incomes than those of their less well-educated parents – are now coming to enjoy many of the creature comforts of rich country lifestyles, such as Internet access, cars, foreign travel. The young are the most active protest group, and keeping them satiated is most important for avoiding revolution. A similar dynamic also appears to be at work in India and Brazil. Hence, no "Spring" or OWS-equivalent in those countries either.

[Chairman Risus]

http://gawker.com/5857715/pressured-to-name-leader-occupy-denver-elects-dog

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock insisted that his city's occupation name a leader in order "to deal with City and State officials." And he got his wish! Occupy Denver has elected Shelby, a border collie, as its leader. Long live Shelby!

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/11/occupy_denver_leader_dog.php

Despite the new political burden, Shelby remains unfazed: She sprung into action immediately, earning a joke from one occupier that this puts her ahead of most elected officials. Although she spent much of her first night in office celebrating (read: napping), it's unclear if the news has successfully hit home. "Are you the new leader?" Peter John Jentsch quizzed her in a voice usually reserved for children. "Are you, girl? Are you?"

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Damn, that's a cute dog!

[Bruno]

Border Collies are, like, the smartest kind of dog.

I'm sure she'll do well in her new leadership role.