Written by Thomas Magstadt   

The OWS model of public protest is a sane and sensible response to the misdeeds of the banks and "wealth managers" who created the bubble economy that collapsed in 2008. If all of us who were harmed, who watched in disbelief and dismay as businesses failed, pensions, investments, and home values melted down, and unemployment shot up, were suddenly to stream into the streets, there would be a revolution in this country. The first middle-class revolution in history, no less.

Problem is, it won't happen. Not because most of the 99% don't sympathize with the OWS movement, but because we're Americans and our DNA predisposes most of us not to take part in public protests. That's what the 1% are counting on. And that's why they really don't give a damn, why they can ignore opinion polls pointing to a rising tide of middle-class discontent, and we're no match for them.

Face it: the plutocrats have no respect for the middle class for one simple reason. The middle class does not act up. The middle class is apathetic - or, politically speaking, just plain pathetic.

Imagine what would happen if everybody who is mad as hell suddenly dropped what they were doing, walked off the job, and streamed into the streets. The plutocrats and the politicians who pander to them would cower. The arrogance of the super rich would instantly morph into the impotence of the vastly outnumbered.

But that's a pipe dream. In Greece, yes, but not in Greenwich Village, Greensboro, or Grand Forks.

No, for better or worse, the middle class will never take to the streets. If citizen action is ever going to move Wall Street or Washington, it will have to be some other way.

Don't bother to write to your congressional representatives. They don't care what you think. They care about getting re-elected. That's all. They don't need your vote nearly as much as they need corporate campaign contributions and PAC money. So get over it. That's a dead end.

So what can we do. Hit Wall Street where it hurts. I'm talking about the banks and financial institutions that got us into this mess in the first place. Here's how:

1. Pledge to vote against all incumbents in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, until Congress starts showing some respect for the people. You will know that has not happened until Congress does at least three of the following: breaks the monopoly hold of big banks on the US economy, undertakes serious tax reform, closes tax loopholes for the rich, makes deep cuts in defense spending, balances the budget without raiding the Social Security Trust Fund, creates a new system of universal health care at affordable costs, and abolishes all benefits it has provided for itself that it has not provided for the rest of us.

2. Move your money out of banks that are "too big to fail" (Bank of America, US Bank, Wells Fargo, and the like) – to small local banks. They aren't too big to fail.

3. Pay for everything possible with cash. Don't pay banks to "lend" you money every time you make a purchase. Meanwhile, find out who (what financial institution) actually issues the credit card(s) you use. You might be surprised.

4. Pay the full balance on your credit cards religiously every month. Don't pay the exorbitant interest credit card companies charge. Banks pays less than 1.0% on certificates of deposit but charge 4-5% on new home loans, which they promptly sell only to be packaged or "securitized" into a totally different type of derivative "asset", sold again, and so on. That's bad enough, but the credit card companies, charge you on average 15 percent now – rates that are at or above historic record high and rising every week. Here's what CreditCards.com reported in October:

"Annual percentage rates (APRs) on new credit card offers reached 15 percent for the first time in the four-year history of CreditCards.com's Weekly Rate Report. It's the seventh straight week in which the national average APR for a new credit card offer has either topped or equaled a record high, dating back to late August."

5. Close your savings account. Put the cash in a safe deposit box or in a safe in your home. Don't let the banks use your money until they start offering decent interest rates. Banks deposits yield less than 1% now. Try to borrow money from a bank these days. Seriously, try it. See what it would cost you. Meanwhile, bankers are back to multi-million-dollar bonuses.

One more thing you can do. Copy and paste this URL into a search engine:

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/687782/take_five_minutes_of_your_day_to_keep_wall_street_occupied_with_this_amazing_at-home_activism_plan/#paragraph4

Watch the video, then do what the guy says. It's easy and won't cost you a penny. But for once you can turn the tables on the banks. And it's perfectly legal.

If enough of us were to take these steps, all acts of a new form of civil disobedience, we would see a change on Wall Street and in Washington. As things stand, the fat cats and the puppets they put in office and keep there with a never-ending cash flow do not respect voters because PACs and super PACs, not voters, decide elections now. That will never change until voters defeat enough incumbents in enough elections to break the spell of money.

By the same token, if enough people vote against banks and the deeply complicit Federal Reserve System by taking the steps outlined above, banks would have no choice but to compete for the public trust – and, more specifically, for lost deposits. It wouldn't even be necessary in most cases to remove the money from the bank. Just take it directly from the cash window to the safe deposit box (at my bank, a distance of about 30 feet). And don't take it out again until the bank offers a competitive interest rate on savings deposits.

We're being treated like the servants and foot soldiers of the 1% whose net assets have increased 275% while the rest of us have been running in place. They don't think the 99% can or will do anything about it. Up to now, they've always been right. For once, let's prove them wrong.