Move Your Money
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Hoarders | ||||
|
||||
Tired of “too big to fail”? Tired of the US government’s eagerness to spend billions of public dollars to bail out the very institutions that brought the global economy to the brink of ruin? Tired of record profits (Goldman Sachs) and massive CEO bonuses (just about every big money bank) in the midst of the Great Recession? Tired of letting the big boys use your money to get themselves rich through speculative shenanigans and investment in globalized enterprises that destroy both the biosphere and human communities? Tired of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer?
Then STOP GIVING THEM YOUR MONEY!
Stop willingly handing over your cash to the big corporations and financial institutions that are hell-bent on squeezing every last drop of blood out of the fragile earth and its fragile people in order to realize short term financial gains regardless of the long term consequences. Every penny you deposit in a bank or invest in a stock or mutual fund is being used to do something. What kind of activity are you financing? That lusty extra percentage point is the bait in a Faustian bargain. Don’t sell your soul for pennies. Don’t sell out the planet, its life, and its people in order to buy more shit to shove in your closet. Find out what your money is doing, and if it ain’t doing good, MOVE YOUR MONEY!
Banking
Close your accounts at Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Wachovia, US Bank, etc and open an account at a community-oriented local financial institution, such as an FDIC insured local bank or NCUA insured local credit union.
You can find a local bank by entering your zip code here:
| Move Your Money |
You can find a local credit union at findacreditunion.com
Check out moveyourmoney.info for more information about local banking and credit unions. You can also find them on facebook.
Investments
First of all, think about the word “investment”. What exactly are you investing in? Are you playing a numbers game, betting on odds for a high return with almost no consideration for the kind of real world activity that is being financed by your hard earned cash? Or are you investing in a better world for you and your children? What exactly constitutes a successful return on your investment? A higher number on your statement, or a viable, livable, vibrant, clean, just, and beautiful world? Forget about numbers. Imagine the kind of world you want your children to live in and then put your money into businesses and funds that promote the kind of activity you really care about. The good news is that you can earn reasonable returns while simultaneously taking some responsibility for what your money is actually doing and helping to fund a better world.
Look into Socially Responsible Investing (SRI). If your current financial adviser says you should steer clear, find a different adviser. Invest in a just and green future (which in the end is the only lucrative investment going).
Check out the Social Investment Forum, SocialFunds.com, and The Community Investment Center for much more information about SRIs as well fund comparison tools.
Do you know what your money is doing? Find out! Then MOVE YOUR MONEY!
PrintRecent Posts:
Sit
/ Sun 24 Jan 2010Off to another 10 day silent meditation course at the Illinois Vipassana Meditation Center (Dhamma Pakasa). It’s been more than a year since my last long sit and it is definitely time to blow out the pipes. For more about the organization, see dhamma.org. For more about my own experience doing this, see Vipassana. // [...]
Food, Inc.
/ Sat 5 Dec 2009Watch the trailer and then go get the movie. This may be the easiest, most potent and visceral way to have a peak behind the veil of the corporate food production machine that rules over us, ravishes our environment, makes us sick, squeezes out our last pennies, systematizes cruelty to animals, exploits the dispossessed (the [...]
Tundra Swans
/ Sat 5 Dec 2009Driving down to the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge on a cold and sunny day to see the Tundra Swans // Share|
Music Feast
/ Wed 27 May 2009Back in the day, ’round the time I was living with the Olson family and studying theology, some friends (Bryan, David, JG, Damon, myself, who else?) would gather in the three season room up on the second floor of the Olson home (usually with a gallon jug of Carlo Rossi to pass around) and listen [...]
Up Next: Hiking and Farming
/ Wed 27 May 2009A few days traversing the Superior Hiking Trail with a couple of good friends, then off to Jimmy and Catie’s farm to watch over the sheep, goats, donkey, lama, turkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, and cats for a week. 15 pregnant ewes, I’m told. Could get interesting. // Share|
Sit
/ Mon 27 Apr 2009After a day’s reflection, and a little bit of adjusting to the re-entry, I realize that I just spent the last weekend participating in an event of unqualified beauty. There was simply nothing that was not beautiful about the three days I spent meditating with a couple dozen other Midwestern souls in a small retreat [...]
