Ghosts of banks past and present

When I grew up, banks were stoic institutions with high ceilings and marble floors, and the people who worked there dressed in suits and took dealing with money very seriously. I’d often go to the bank with my grandparents, and it reminded me of a library with the predominant sound being that of dress shoes clicking on the floor.

Things have changed.

Now, when I walk into a bank, I feel more like I’m being approached by a car salesman. Young guys in jewel-tone dress shirts and black slacks are the order of the day; guys who probably cut their sales teeth selling gym memberships are now overly-excited to offer me bank “products.” Their training shows: they wave away concerns about additional charges or fees and, smiling all the time, get me to sign on the dotted line.

And the banks taught us as a country to think less of our money.  For many banking transactions, we'd incur $2 and $3 charges; with every transaction, we were being taught that throwing money away is O.K. Same with the credit charges:  every month, ridiculous $30 and $45 fees for things like being over the limit for $1 or missing your due date by a day.  All we could say was Oh Well, and continue throwing money away. If the banks didn't treat it as sacrosanct, why should we?

 

And then the bottom fell out. We finally realized that the freewheeling Wall Street wave we were riding wasn't really taking us with it into prosperity; that we were given the loans and credit, encouraged to take a wild ride of unsustainable, paycheck-to-paycheck living and then, when it all blew up, we were dropped as the banks sold us off and ran with the money, leaving us with huge bills and shitty credit while the banks got a clean slate.

That's been more than a little depressing.

Sure, people are occupying their public spaces because they're angry. But it also feels invigorating, like maybe if we go all Early America on our government, we can get some of the ethics of that early government back into our country's lifeblood again. It feels hopeful because we can think maybe, just maybe, we can get the government, as a body of our representatives, to hear us. Because it’s not really about money at all.