Taking Back Our Money!

In Copenhagen last December, Dr. Vandana Shiva asserted that locally-oriented organic farming could solve up to 40% of the global warming problem. Sounds simple, right?

Well, that same localized approach applies to our money, too. Keeping it out of corporate hands takes a little bit of logistics but is worth it!

At long last, I just switched my cell phone to CREDO, part of the Working Assets company. It feels nice not to be giving the Plutocracy my money anymore.
Over the holidays, they started running a special that is (finally) do-able: free phone, 1000 talk minutes, 1000 texts for $49.99 a month. They're even buying out folks' current cell phone plans. I picked it up a few weeks ago. So far, so good!

(Oh so hey, email me at gotgoddess@yahoo.com if you're thinking about signing up. I think they're handing out cash for referrals!)

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Found on Huffington Post: MOVE YOUR MONEY. Video and articles about how and why to bank locally, invest locally, get your money to work WITH you, not AGAINST you!

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And sent in by my friend, Woody:

Stop Using your Credit Cards.
UseCashMovement.org
By Bernard Schaer

If you have credit cards, like most of us, you˙ve probably been
getting mail from your card-issuing bank lately. A letter per card is
what I˙ve been getting during the course of a few weeks, advising
me of changes they are going to make to the terms and conditions
that govern the use of my card. Adjustments, they call it.
In light of the second phase of the Credit Card Act of 2009, kicking
in in February, card issuers are raising interest rates and fees even
on customers who have been paying their monthly payment regularly
and without fail to stay ahead of the new law.

Another thing that will be outlawed by February 2010 is the
universal default scam which has been applied generously
and profitably in the past. Today, with universal default, if
you˙re late paying your credit card bill, your insurance, mortgage
or car loan rates can also increase says Heather McGhee of Demos,
a New York public policy research group. A single late payment can
raise auto insurance rates as much as 50 percent.

Big Banking is out of control. Many corporate financial
institutions received a share of a trillion dollars of taxpayer
money as bailout. At the same time banks hiked interest rates on
existing credit card debt, lowered and/or canceled small business
credit lines, and imposed more and higher fees and penalties with
near impunity.

As taxpayers, workers, citizens and merchants we can fight
back. There is an easy, immediate and direct path toward banking
and monetary reform that benefits people, not corporations, through
everyday transactions in the marketplace.

Use cash.

Today, one of the biggest moneymakers for Big Banking are credit
and debit cards. Users of debit and credit cards pay for the
convenience these cards provide through fees, penalties and
interest. Merchants pay fees that average about $3.50 on every
$100, plus the cost of those days they wait to be reimbursed by
the banks. The merchants pass these fees on to their customers in
the form of higher prices. Every time we buy something we pay that
fee, whether we know it or not. It˙s this simple: Every time we
use cash instead of plastic, we will deprive banks and financial
institutions of the profits that purchase the influence and power
that has corrupted our financial and monetary system. Together we
can change the balance of power by doing just two things: Use
cash instead of plastic and the local merchant might even give
you a break for paying cash. Enlist others to do the same. Go
to http://www.UseCashMovement.org

Bernard Schaer
Las Vegas