The Huffington Post is one of the largest and most influential news sites in the blogosphere and its media-savvy founder is on television more than Snuggie commercials.

Now the never-shy Arianna Huffington is using her bully pulpit to take on the major players of Wall Street and is advocating that people move their money to community banks.

She cites the growing gulf between Wall Street and Main Street, and we all know who comes out on the winning side of that contest. Not just content to yap about it, she’s calling the big banks out and calling people to action.

According to Huff (as I like to call her):

The big banks on Wall Street, propped up by taxpayer money and government guarantees, have had a record year, making record profits while returning to the highly leveraged activities that brought our economy to the brink of disaster. In a slap in the face to taxpayers, they have also cut back on the money they are lending, even though the need to get credit flowing again was one of the main points used in selling the public the bank bailout.

So she’s doing something about it by creating a new video and website called Move Your Money. It advocates the use of community banks, who generally did not feed at the trough of securitized debt obligations and shady lending practices, yet who are still suffering through the economic downturn.

The site offers tools to find small banks and credit unions.

The goal is to send a clear message to the big banks that they can not reap massive profits during boom times and then walk on the backs of the taxpaying public when storms come.

This is a great concept. Hopefully Arianna can use the power of her media exposure to bring publicity to this cause and affect real change in the banking system, the end goal of this effort.

If you’re interested in learning more you can visit the site or follow the movement through Facebook and Twitter.

One Response to “Arianna Huffington’s War on Big Banks”