I’ve been a Citibank customer for years.  I’ve never had any real problems with them, though recently their account structures have changed, such that in a month or so I’d have to hold $15,000 in my accounts in order to avoid any fees.

Fortunately, there are alternatives, and I’ve been a member of a particular Internet-only bankfor a couple months now. To me, the difference is night and day: I have an ATM card which I can use anywhere without fees.  My savings rate is four times what I was getting with Citi.  Comparatively, the new solution is ages ahead in their online banking solution.

I’ve been pleased enough that I walked into my local Citibank and closed my accounts there.  Citi has also had a pretty bad record in terms of government bailouts and managing their money.  I can’t believe that they, Bank of America, and other big players can’t continue to do business without stupidly raising debit card fees and requiring huge amounts of cash on deposit.

In the past 24 hours, the Oakland Police Department brought down a storm of shit on the Occupy Oakland movement.  The scary part is that a member of the protest, Scott Olsen, is now in the hospital in critical condition due to a teargas or flashbang projectile hitting him in the head.  His skull was fractured.  The Huffington Post and the Guardian are providing updates.

This shit is fucking unbelievable.  America today stands up for the “free speech” of corporate entities which eat away at the underpinnings of our society, but when it comes to freedom of assembly we have suddenly dropped the bar.  This is not excusable.  Watch the video footage of the gassing of the crowd in Oakland, and tell me that this the same country we knew twenty years ago.