Moveon.org Takes Credit for Dodd-Frank Consequences

It’s been so long since we saw anything actionable come out of Obama’s MoveOn.org. Now, a letter from the organization is encouraging their base to pull their money out of banks.

Dear MoveOn member,

The big Wall Street banks crashed our economy, refused to clean up the mess, and still haven’t been held accountable.

Now the Occupy movement has inspired people everywhere to take action in protest and a lot of us have realized there’s something we can do to fight back: close our accounts and move our money out of the big Wall Street banks and into community banks and credit unions.

This week, in the lead-up to the November 5 Make Wall Street Pay day of action targeting the giant banks, we’ve set up a new “Move Your Money Pledge.” Our goal is to get as many people as possible pledging to close their accounts with the big banks.

Are you ready to show the Wall Street banks that we’re going to hold them accountable ourselves? If you’re ready to stop banking with Wall Street—or if you already have—click here to sign the Move Your Money pledge:

Yes, I want to sign the Move Your Money pledge.

By signing the pledge you’ll be able to turn your private choice as a bank customer into a powerful public display of outrage and protest by joining tens of thousands of others who are ready to switch banks and close accounts.

We have resources available to help you find a new bank and a guide for how to go through the process of closing an account. Whether it’s a spare credit card, a savings account, or your personal checking, every account counts.

If we can get a huge number of accounts closed at the major banks we’ll certainly impact their bottom line, but we’ll also do something even more powerful—we’ll send them a very clear message that the public’s outrage is only growing stronger and that we’re not going to let them off the hook for the damage they’ve done to our economy.

Can you sign the pledge and close an account?

Yes, I’ll sign the pledge.

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Elena, Robin, Stefanie, and the rest of the team

There are a few key things to pay attention to in the letter. First is the credit given to Occupy Wall Street – as if it has anything to do with why people are already moving from big banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America to local community banks and credit unions. The real culprit is the Obama-supported Dodd-Frank bill which forced banks to move fees from retailers to bank customers.

As a result of Dodd-Frank, fees that used to be included in the prices of goods and services at the time of purchase are now being put upon bank customers whether they buy those goods or not. Seeing that added cost on bank statements has people leaving the big banks in droves for credit unions and home town banks. Any thoughts on whether retailers will reduce their prices as this goes into effect?

The additional fees are what have customers making the switch – not some letter from MoveOn.org. That won’t stop MoveOn.org from taking credit for the huge number of switch-overs once they occur – mark my words on that.

Another key phrase is “We have resources available to help you find a new bank..” – of course they do. No way their bank choices might be politically motivated…

This is but another instance of the Obama organization trying to  find a way to spin a positive from a mess that they created. Dodd-Frank is causing a consumer shift from one set of financial institutions to another. Instead of considering the implications of that unintended consequence – they’ll spin it and take credit.

H/T @pcam for tweeting about the MoveOn letter