Money Mar 15, 2023 at 5:22 pm

If a Bank Can’t Do Something as Basic as Secure Deposits, Why Do We Have Banks in the First Place?

Post Office Savings Bank Charles Mudede

Comments

1

Shouldn't socialism for the rich be called something else? Like $ocialism?

4

I keep hearing people talk about mutual aid as if it will solve everything. I like some of the themes that people associate with mutual aid: gratitude and positive reciprocity. But it is not an ultimate solution. What is commonly called "socialism for the rich" is actually just mutual aid.

When you have a pocket of people who practice mutual aid, this increases their ability to accrue power and resources. It also creates an in-group, where there are expectations that you are very generous with other people who are part of the circle, but then you naturally become stingy with people outside of it. Time goes on, you accrue more resources, and all of the sudden your "mutual aid" group is just benefiting from "socialism for the rich".

This is why I care about the difference between open-source software and free software. Not just the legal differences, the cultural differences. Open source software is people with technical expertise practicing mutual aid in a way that enhances their ability to extract value from the rest of society. This is why open source projects are infrastructure which become products with other people add something on top of it. Free software, when it is tied to the original cultural values around its creation, empowers people to control their own lives and simultaneously practice mutual aid and charity - collaborating with other people who have technical expertise to enhance their own computing while also freeing people without technical expertise to have control over their digital lives. This isn't to say that free software is perfect - there are unfortunately powerful currents of misogyny and elitism and a cult of personality. But there are also people working to make it better. And it is worth making better.

At its best, free software is a dream of a better tomorrow.

5

You do realize this is just about making sure people get the money they already had back out of the bank, right?

6

@5: It’s about getting hate on the tech bros (whose payrolls would’ve been disrupted by SVB’s failure), and yelling about how great socialism would be, if only someone would finally practice it without the gulags, mass executions, and famines brought to agricultural regions by heavy-handed central planning.

Other than that, the Stranger’s words on this topic are pretty meaningless.

7

Oh God... another Mudede opinion piece extolling class warfare and socialism over capitalism.

@2 - well said.

The End.

9

vive la banking postale!

11

@3 The word you are searching for is Schadenfreude-- the shameful joy, in your case almost orgasmic joy, you are experiencing at seeing investors lose their money.

Just a quick question, --How many small investors or retirees do you suppose lost money in their 401K mutual funds which may have held shares of SVB.

Answer: By the end of 2022, nearly half of SVB shares were held by investment advisors, about 30% in mutual funds, 10% in hedge funds, and 8% in pension funds, according to data from FactSet

Feel better now.

A loss is a possible outcome in a capitalist economy... the point is many, many people invest in stocks... mommies, grandma's, teachers, doctors, factory workers... even young people investing for their future... they are all "capitalists" and share in the benefits of risk-reward.

Under socialism, all citizens share equally in economic resources as allocated by a democratically-elected government. Sounds dreamy... but can you point out one socialist country where this dream has actually worked out. Why... because a system which takes the risk-reward out of the equation doesn't work. Its like sending a steer to do a bull's job. (Oh, you didn't get that ... a steer is a castrated bull)

12

In Iceland they put bankers like this in prison and it worked. This country is literally the stupidest, greediest, most violent and hate filled country on earth....rather than scrambling to mobilize public resources to make sure banks didn't default on their various obligations, Iceland let the banks go bust. Executives of the country's most important bank were prosecuted as criminals.

https://www.vox.com/2015/6/9/8751267/iceland-capital-controls

FUCK THE WEALTHY. This country needs to take care of the homeless, the sick, the young, the elderly, the disabled, the disadvantaged, the working (as in labor), and protect the air, land, and water. These motherfuckers demand government be destroyed in every single instance EXCEPT WHEN THEY ARE THE ONES THAT NEED HELP.

13

"When Donald Trump raised the threshold for yearly stress tests from $50 billion to $250 billion in 2018,"

Donald Trump didn't do that alone. It was a bipartisan effort: https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1152/vote_115_2_00054.htm#top

14

@12: Whose left to employ THE POOR if you F$$K THE WEALTHY?

16

"Iceland let the banks go bust.
Executives of the country's most im-
portant bank were prosecuted as criminals."

well
that's
because
they're Stupid
& Unwilling to Suck
Billionaire Dick. not like

US! we whorship
their Cunning and
hand over to them
our Once-Great country
whilst bending over both
Backwards AND Forwards.

We're
FLEXIBLE!

& there's
one borne
every minute

17

You have a painfully simplistic world view. First of all, the SHAREHOLDERS of the stock of SIVB have ALL been wiped out. The people that were saved are business owners who employ people who spend money in their communities. So it was split down the middle. I suppose only people who have as much money as you should be allowed to operate freely in the country? Brilliant theory. Meanwhile, I suppose the bailouts of drug addicts, car thieves and those who write political screeds all day should continue because all offer so much to society.

18

why do Christofascists
the Prosperity Jesus freaks
always seem to Hate 'the Least of Us'?

with Handouts Bailouts and massive
Tax Breaks for the Richest -- not to
Mention TRILLIONS* for War
always given Primacy over
ensuring the Citizenry's
pursuits of Happiness
and Struggles to put
Food on their Table
not to Mention
Medicare for
ALL

*they very Cleverly
renamed the War Dept:
it's now the Dept. of Defense

which is why we So Heavily Invest
in our EIGHT HUNDRED Military
Bases Planet-wide. have we any
Foreign military bases here in
the Homeland? why Not?

how can They
defend their
Homelands?

something's not
Adding up.

19

Kristofarian Facts:

Three billionaires have more wealth than 1/2 the US population! Wow! Shocking! A Horror!

Reality:

130 million in the US are 19 years or younger.... how much wealth have they accumulated in their lifetime? Something close to "zero"...

So 130 million /321 million = 40% of the US population.... are 19 years or younger... like babies....or 80% of the 50% figure quoted could not have made any wealth practically speaking

Kristofarian Facts & Drama Score "10 points" for hysterical drama & the prized 5 Bull Plops Award for Distortion of Facts to feed hate and class warfare.

20

with Handouts Bailouts and massive
Tax Breaks for the Richest -- not to
Mention TRILLIONS* for War
always given Primacy over
ensuring the Citizenry's
pursuits of Happiness
and Struggles to put
Food on their Table
not to Mention
Medicare for
ALL

*which is why we So Heavily Invest
in our EIGHT HUNDRED Military
Bases Planet-wide. have we any
Foreign military bases here in
the Homeland? why Not?

hmmm?
Why Not?

Anyone?

21

@20
the Silence
of the clams

re abbey Diz

laura flanders show
with Abbey Disney

this chick ROCKS
a Billionairess
w/a SOUL
man oh
man

Articulate af
with a wonderful view of Today's Capitalism
who Knows where the Blame lies

https://lauraflanders.org/listen/

[also heard on listener-supported
KODX-fm 96.9 Seattle - live-
streamed as Well.]

wealth ['earned'] Income vs
working for a Living taxing
the Latter double for
the Privilege of des-
troying the ONE
Thing they'll
EVER Own:
their own
BODY.

whilst the others
Enjoying their Favoritism
set around eating mass Bon-bons and
count and Re-count their many many Monies

how's That work?
it's Totally Ass-backward:
let the Elitists pay Their FAIR Share

let the Whinging* begin.

*not really sure What
that word means
but it fits perfect.

22

@20

And those "hand outs" are voted and approved by the House, Senate and Signed into law by the president.
And... if that isn't enough, we have the Supreme Court overseeing the entire process in equity and law.
That is the will of the people by democratic process.

A trip to civics class might help you considerably as well as some basic courses in English composition.

Did Bezo buy both our Senator's votes?
Did Gates buy all of our representatives votes.
Did Schutz pay off the Supreme Court?

I guess we could all subscribe to your wild conspiracy theories and say its this and that, but in the end, you are just babbling.

The systems outlined above has given us social programs, equity programs, laws and adapted to the changes in our country over time.... its quite a broad jump in logic to assume the "deal is rigged" for, by and of the wealthy.

23

I like to loook ahead
and when it says
manlytoes it's
already Too
long for me

pass
pass
pass.

24

Speaking
of Letting the
FREE Market Decide!:

https://thenib.com/invisible-hand-to-the-rescue/

Tom Tomorrow ROCKS
whilst neolibs and
cons just
Don't.

and you can take
That to the Bank
if it's still
Open?


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