America, move your money!

Move Your Money out of the too-big-to-fail, bailed-out-but-we-still-won’t-give-you-a-loan-and-we’re-raising-your-rates banks and into the small local banks that have been truckin’ along all this time, supporting our communities, giving us loans, and treating us like the neighbors we are.

This is a movement launched by Arianna Huffington, whom you may or may not care for, that makes a lot of sense to me (whom you also may or may not care for) — moving our money, or significant chunks of it, out of those disgustingly big banks and into our small community banks. And no, not just any little bank, not the unstable ones that might go under overnight, but the A- and B-rated banks that are doing it right and have been all along. (Look here to find one near you.)

I think it’s a great idea and I’m seriously thinking about doing it. Unfortunately, I’m already in the middle of changing banks, just so I could get a safe deposit box near my home. The new bank, although much more conveniently located, is a big national bank. The nearest top-rated community bank is only another half mile up the road, next to my favorite supermarket, as it turns out. When the dust settles from the current move, maybe I’ll move my “millions” again, all except those necessary to maintain the box.

After all, folks, taking our business elsewhere when we’re unhappy with an establishment is a tried-and-true method. It’s why some businesses prosper and others fail. When the banks reopen next year, let’s handle those big, bailed-out buffoons the old-fashioned way.