OP: I believe these people are upset about no jobs, the increasing gap between the rich and poor, and all the bail out money given to the banks with no return. That's what I get out of it.
Thank you! That makes more sense.
Banks...I'm all for credit unions, but agree that banks have major issues that need addressed and that they do have the ability to take advantage of people.
One thing I'll never forget that may seem very minor to some is when I used a well-known bank for my working checking account. I was friends with most of the tellers and one especially and would go in there to chat with them on occasion, but I always deposited my paycheck at the drive-through. That account was very specific...it was used solely to deposit paychecks only and spend only at the grocery store or restaurants, so it was small. I'd always allow an extra five bucks in there "just in case" anything minor was miscalculated before the next paycheck, such as my previous habit of running to Taco Bell after work for a 79 cent taco.
One day I looked at my account and found myself $600 in the red and it was going up quickly. I immediately went into the bank and the tellers were shocked. I'd never had an issue before.
It turned out that the bank had a new manager. The new manager decided they should put charges in front of deposits and that deposits would not be available until the next BUSINESS DAY, although charges to the account's debit cards would go through the moment they were made. Well, they never told this to their customers by mail and had no information about it in the drive-through.
So when I did as I had done for years and deposited my check on Friday and then paid for purchases that weekend using my debit card, they were bouncing right and left and I was being charged their fee for each individual thing that bounced. That weekend, those 79 cent tacos cost me about 41 dollars a piece! The tellers were upset and said "that's wrong, this will be fixed."
I went to the manager, who was extremely snotty and told me that they posted signs inside the bank stating the new rule. Well, I'd deposited it in the drive-through! He refused to remove the charges and tried to preach to me about taking responsibility for knowing this stuff. I was SO mad and the tellers were too when they heard him. They apologized and one said she was considering quitting.
I imagine the bank made a nice little profit during that little transition. In total, I believe it turned out to be around an $800 loss for me. Not much to many, but that's a lot to a single mom. (this was years ago)
Then I found out that I had no legal recourse. For some reason, banks have their own legal system so if I wanted to have any type of legal recourse I had to go through...the banks. The regular courts don't handle it. Banks have their own legal system! I was very shocked to find that this happens in the United States, that they can make their own legal system outside of the law that applies to me.
So if little old me lost that chunk of change, I'm guessing people with more money lost quite a bit more. In a bigger city, I suppose it would have been a bad move, but it was a small town without many options, so it was actually a pretty strategic move that most likely earned them a nice bit of cash with little impact to the number of customers they had. I did close my account and went to a credit union instead, but they already made their profit off of me.
If this is the type of behavior that is being protested, I don't disagree with it. Power coupled with little accountability is a dangerous combination.
This protest does sound weak though. It's very difficult to get a straight answer from ANYONE about the very specifics of it and what they hope to accomplish. Sounds like they are lacking in the leadership department and that is allowing them to accomplish nothing but looking pretty stupid. They need to be clear, otherwise it's just mob mentality and a waste of energy that could be very useful if properly channeled.
