Move Your Money

Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, Arianna Huffington, and others have teamed up to make a website called "Move Your Money." The website urges people to withdraw their money from the "Too Big to Fail" banks--Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, and Wells Fargo; those which nearly brought down the entire world economic system through reckless lending practices, received an enormous, taxpayer-funded bailout, and now are refusing to lend to small businesses--and to deposit it into smaller, more socially responsible community banks. The website even has a tool that allows you to enter your zip code to find a bank in your neighborhood.

I actually moved my money--all twenty eight dollars of it--from Chase over to Albina Community Bank several months ago, and I couldn't be happier: the employees know my name; I've received handwritten cards in the mail; and at the end of the day, I know that the money I deposit there will be invested back into my community.

For those of us who like to pay lip service to liberal ideals, but who continue to invest our dollars with the likes of Bank of America and Chase, now would be the perfect time to put our money where our mouths are.