The Muddled Mindset of the Mob

Over at Brutally Honest, there's an essay on some of the "good people" involved in the Occupy movement. One of the "good people" was a lady pastor from Southern California. And a former (we can only hope) if not present, Obama supporter. But, then, let's let her say it:

The people have finally arrived at the place where they are saying, "Enough!" They are making strong statements that are definitive; closing accounts at Bank of America because they are tired of the banksters charging us to use our own money.

"Banksters." Catch that? That oh, so clever way she equates "bankers" with gangsters". I wonder if she thought that up herself or is just repeating it because she thinks it's cute?

Here's something for you to ponder, Pastor Sue: "the labourer is worthy of his hire" -Luke 10:7
The bank provides a service to its customers. Should they do this for free? There is overhead associated with giving you access to your own money. No one is forcing you to put your money in their bank. Keep it in a coffee can in the back yard, or stuffed under your mattress if you like. And if you're on vacation and run short of cash, just run home and get some more!

The fee that's got Pastor Sue's choir robe in a bunch, is the response to the micromanaging of the banks by Congress. A fee that they used to charge to retailers was reduced by Congress, and the banks, who need to make a profit to keep the doors open, pay the tellers and bookkeepers and building maintenance people, the utility companies, the printers, the sign makers, pay for the buildings the furnishings, the slightly larger coffee cans they keep your cash in, and the "free" coffee they serve in the lobby...all those things, and more! Are the people who build and service ATM machines, the data entry people who keep track of your account, the people who answer the phones (yeah, yeah...after "press one for English"), are they not entitled to be paid for what they do?

Or instead of boycotting the banks, maybe Pastor Sue and her friends can pool their money and start their own bank? They can hire lawyers to help them navigate all the state, federal and local regulations, rent or buy a building, pay all those salaries the staff requires...oh, I forgot! This is a volunteer bank! Scratch the salaries! And then, after they have done all this, they can offer free access to their depositors' money, at no charge, twenty four/seven. Assuming they can get any depositors. After all, how are they going to pay any kind of interest if they can't charge for any of their services? And why would anyone want to deposit their money in a bank with no ATMs, that pays no interest and a limited number of locations (1).

Let me know how that works out for y'all as a business model!

VIDEO: Peter Schiff Debates Zucotti Park Occupy Wall Streeters

Crossposted at the Left Coast Rebel

This is simply just too cool. You can almost hear the collective "Occupy-I-am-entitled-to-everything-I-want-simply-because-I-have-a-pulse" synapses misfiring in the crowd as Peter Schiff engages them (poor saps have probably never even heard his viewpoint that he aptly expresses).

There are too many quotable moments from Schiff here, "WalMart doesn't hold a gun to their head" may just go down in interweb infamy:

I love how Allahpundit notes that Schiff pulls this thing off like an Austrian-school ninja.

Indeed.

More from Nick Gillespie at Reason.com:

"Did a corporation end slavery, or did the government end slavery?!?!"

That's the sort of question investment guru and radio show host Peter Schiff fielded as he debated Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters last week in New York's Zuccotti Park.

Schiff is no ordinary observer. As the prinicipal of the financial firm Euro Pacific Capital, he's a full-fledged and unapologetic member of "the 1 Percent." As an outspoken radio show host (listen online here) and commentator, he not only predicted the housing crash and financial crisis, he railed bank and auto-sector bailouts as they were happening. Schiff believes that capitalism offers is the only hope for young, frustrated people to have a vibrant and prosperous future (get information on his latest book, How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes, here). So he went to Occupy Wall Street to engage and debate the protesters.

Touring the Occupy Wall Street scene in New York with a sign that read "I Am the 1%, Let's Talk," Schiff spent more than three hours on the scene, explaining the difference between cronyism and capitalism, bailouts and balance sheets, and more.

"The regulation we want is the market," said Schiff. "That's what works."

Via Memeorandum.

Occupy THIS!

I will confess I haven't been following the Occupy Wall Street nonsense that closely, one, because I haven't as yet had a smelly hippie shoving a sign in my face, and second, the patent absurdity of some of the things they say they "want". More on that in a moment. Today, along with the smelly hippies, I heard there was a group of United and Continental pilots down in the "occupied zone" trying to garner attention for their labor resolutions. Other unions and even Mooove On dot org are trying to run to the head of the parade and shout "Follow me!"

Most notable to me, among the things the original group said they wanted, is the call for the complete forgiveness of debts some of them were asking for. Primarily focusing on their student loans, but, as long as we're storming the Bastille, hey! let's just do away with all of them! Those rich fat cats have enough money, let's just cancel all our loans.

All I ask is that before you initiate this proposal, is give me enough time to make a few down payments on a Lamborghini and some beach front property, and then cancel away! Do away with all those nasty loans!

A couple things come to mind that these geniuses of math and finance probably never thought of. One, after all debts are forgiven, that portion of every bank's assets will evaporate. Expect a run on every single bank in the US. The lucky few at the head of each line (read bankers and their "fat cat" friends) might be made whole, but when those assets dissolve, so do the savings of thousands upon thousands of Americans. And then, better plan on paying cash for your next house, or car, or even your next latte at Starbucks, because no one in their right mind is going to loan anyone any more money if those debts could be dissolved on a whim.

Then, figure whatever relief you received by getting out of debt would be quickly wiped out by inflation. If no one in the US has a house payment, car payment, credit card or student loan payments, then millions of people would have thousands of dollars in disposable income they didn't have before. When more dollars chase the same number of goods and services, the prices those goods and services command will go up.

And just out of curiosity, when we are dissolving everyone's loan debt, does that include Uncle Sam and the states, too? Everyone with a T-bill or municipal bond in their retirement portfolio can kiss their retirement goodbye as well!

All legalities aside, even as economic fantasy, this idea clearly would never fly. Our budding anarchists should go back to school. Or get a job. Preferrably both.