Bank Transfer Day

Protests across the Middle East, Occupy Wall Street protests spreading across the country and, well, Bank Transfer Day? What's going on around here? Are people finally waking up and demanding change? Or didn't we ask for that a couple of years ago with the election of the first Black President? Obviously the dramatic changes in the Middle East dwarf anything happening in the U.S. at the moment, in some cases establishing inchoate democracy for the first time (often my toppling dictators who have ruled for decades). But the times they are a changing in the U.S. as well, it seems. And at the center of all these movements is the power of social media.

This is particularly true of Bank Transfer Day, an attempt by one person using Facebook to challenge the power of big banks like B of A and Wells Fargo, who were planning on implementing new monthly fees on using debit cards. Sixty dollars is, of course, not the end of the world, but the dramatic increase in fees and interest rates at banks and credit card companies has cost Americans billions of dollars. And many of those same banks played a huge role in the financial crisis. So what happened? The power of new media is the ability to disseminate information quickly and widely, even when that information comes from the non-celebrity, mainstream media lens. And one person started a movement that appears to have resulted in 650,000 people moving their funds from big banks to credit unions. This is not enough to send shivers through the spines of the industry, but it was enough to cajole them to eliminate that ATM debit card fee for the moment, and hopefully forever. 

Banks have the power to control our lives, essentially by controlling access to credit (to buy houses, car, fund education and/or start or grow a business) and the through accumulation of debt (which can undermine anyone's life if it gets out of control). Just ask the poorest countries in the world, so saddled with debt from loans in the 80s and 90s that they can't even provide basic services to their starving, ailing populations. But with a simple trip to two banks, the people made a stand without having to weather the pain of protesting in a park for weeks on end (though I obviously respect those brave souls as well). While The International (2009) was largely panned by critics and was essentially a flop (it did $25 million domestically on a budget of $50 million -- though it did net $10 in international gross -- and ranked #103 for the year overall), it actually captured the reality that banks have a considerable amount of power not only over citizens but governments and elites as well. In fact, fundamental change to the world economy would need to start with banks if anything profound were to result. Thus a little movement started by one Facebook user turned into a successful campaign that altered policy of two of these behemoths. Could it be the mouse that roared redux?