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While pundits and economists worry about Wall Street’s well-being, Americans worry about losing their jobs, paying their bills and the health of the planet. The capitalist marketplace promotes the exploitation of people and natural resources as cheap fixes. But you don’t have to abandon your values to save a buck. Welcome to the People’s Marketplace.

By Martina Steiner.

Are you disgusted with your bank? Is it one of the institutions that gambled with the money of hard working folks, lost it, and then walked away from the financial crash unscathed while you continue to feel the pain?

Have you ever heard the financial golden rule, “Make your money work for you?” Well, today we’ll explore how to stop your money from working against you, by moving it from that big, profit-greedy bank to your local community bank or credit union.

It’s called the Move Your Money campaign. It was organized by political commentator and writer Arianna Huffington and some friends in late 2009, and it’s the perfect way to punish the big banks and invest in your own community. The 6 big banks targeted for divestment are Bank of America, Citi Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. While big banks exist to make profit for their shareholders, small banks exist to serve their members. Check out moveyourmoney.info – that’s move-your-money.info for all the information you’ll need, including a search feature to find an alternative near you.

In a nutshell, you’ll be moving your money to a credit union or community bank. Credit Unions are not-for-profit cooperatives. To find one near you visit www.creditunionsonline.org. And don’t let the not-for-profit status fool you. They still make all the types of loans you might need, like an auto loan or home mortgage loan. Community Banks are for-profit but their mission is to serve local families, businesses and farms. Find out more at the Independent Community Bankers Association’s website, www.icba.org.

But individuals don’t have to shoulder all the burden here. Another very effective way to punish the big banks is to move the accounts of your labor union, church, or other organization to a smaller, locally based institution. In New York a coalition of labor unions are starting a Move Your BIG Money campaign. They are threatening to pull their millions of dollars from the big banks they do business with unless those banks make some big changes. Namely, they want banks to stop the foreclosures that are devastating hard working communities, and start modifying mortgage loans. In St. Louis, a public employees union took a stand for their workers by moving $100,000 from Bank of America, calling it an unethical institution for, among other things, lobbying against financial reforms that would have benefited Main street over Wall Street.

So, make your money work for you, and your community, and move it. Try it, and stretch your dollar to meet your values. Together, we can take back the economy.