very afraid

The comments to my 3 Quarks Daily article on the shamelessness of the post-hegemonic state have been lively.

Here are my four suggestions so far for tactics for punching back against the big banks and other assorted bad guys:

1. Shareholder activism, as I have outlined at 3QD.

2. The Move Your Money campaign.

3. Lobbying local government to do as New York is doing: moving $25 million (more preferably) in public funds to local credit unions.

4. Civil disobedience, particularly directed at the offices of the largest banks and health insurance companies.

Now that winning elections is not enough, it is time to rethink tactics.

Finally, here is the quotation of the day, from today's New York Times:

'I can't tell you how often I heard the phrase, "reputational risk." "Oh, the banks wouldn’t do that." This is trying to shame the shameless.'

Who said that? Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the TARP.