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I'm not so sure that cashing out and keeping the money under the mattress (or any other form of the same) will make much difference, because all of the economic indicators that are showing we are in for the big crash (and of course economic common sense) also show that the dollar will be significantly devalued. As in, devalued to a degree unheard of in the past. With the shift in the oil market to other currencies and upcoming huge divestments in the US dollar, it will be pennies on the dollar in a heartbeat.

Gold doesn't taste good either. Pretty soon, beans and boolits will be the strongest currency around.

Native Americans did it right. Trade beads, furs, meat, veggies, pottery, crafts, handmade goods for what they desired or needed. But when the white man nosed in, their form of an economy crashed. Hmm, wonder what the connection there might have been? (Last line was sarcasm).

Hmmm...I've been trying to add credit to my cell phone all morning with my bank card and it keeps telling me the service is unavailable. Now I'm very suspicious. Think I need a trip to the bank this afternoon. Trust no-one! especially not a bankster.

Maybe I misread the OP and the concerning articles, but are they saying that the destabilization is going to come from "Occupy" types who want to save us all from the big banksters corruption?

Sounds like they're just blaming it on the good guys, or infiltrating them as they do with many organizations, in order to scapegoat them and avoid blame.

We all know, or we should, who is really engineering this collapse. And the redistribution of wealth has been ongoing for decades. And that wealth is not and will not all of a sudden start going to the middle class.

Credit Union posting in WI

www.pioneercu.org...

Credit Union posting in WI

Listen, these cyber attacks on our banking system has been happening for a long time now. No one bank or credit union - or business for that matter - is immune. This is not news. This in the press on a daily and weekly basis.

The trouble right now is that everything - and I mean everything - is electronic. Not just banking, but businesses large and small would not be able to function if they were to go offline.

Just because you are at a credit union or a small community bank doesn't mean you are immune. You are less of a target, perhaps, then a bigger institution, but smaller organizations also don't always have the manpower, technology, and brain power to thwart these attacks.

Criminals in the cyber arena are going after the smaller institutions and the smaller companies now, not just the big fish. Again, this is all over the media and press if you follow these trends closely.

I wasn't able to access my account all weekend via my bank's phone system.First it said it didn't recognize my pin#.Then after re-entering said account information not available.

I wasn't able to access my account all weekend via my bank's phone system.First it said it didn't recognize my pin#.Then after re-entering said account information not available.

Yes, well, as with most things in life, the bank isn't about to announce publicly to the whole world - let alone their clients - that they are getting absolutely bombarded with cyber attacks. Banks are much more discreet, and relay only what is wholly necessary to the public, as do most businesses. However, if you follow the stories in the press and media, these attacks are becoming more and more common nowadays. This approach by the banks to be discreet is well-documented in the press in recent weeks and months.

If the cyber criminals can destabilize the financial and banking system, they have essentially impacted the quality of life of the citizenry without having to even get up from their laptop. My speculation is that this is just another frontier for electronic warfare between competing international interests. I believe most of these cyber attacks originate overseas.

Never once had an issue accessing my accounts at my bank....online or in person. Their web server was running as fast as it does any other day of the week, hinting at no server "attacks". When any server comes under attack, even low level attacks...performance is is noticeable to those who know what a server attack looks like from the outside view. As I said, small banks ARE safer than "big banks".

Credit Unions/

A deposit in a credit union is an investment. That is why your statement list the number of shares you own. I think if the banking world falls apart then credit unions will be the first to be "cypressed' after all they are more of an investment than a deposit, compared to all the TBTF banks. I would(and do) keep my money in a brokerage account where the brokerage does not trade or make real estate and personal loans.

Never once had an issue accessing my accounts at my bank....online or in person. Their web server was running as fast as it does any other day of the week, hinting at no server "attacks". When any server comes under attack, even low level attacks...performance is is noticeable to those who know what a server attack looks like from the outside view. As I said, small banks ARE safer than "big banks".

How many people run the IT department at a small bank, and what are their credentials? I would stack the resumes of a New York-based big bank against a small town bank any day of the week.

The difference is in size and scope. Smaller banks are relatively unknown, but more vulnerable because they don't have the IT staff and brainpower to thwart a highly sophisticated cyber attack. Banks like Chase, Wells, Citi, etc. all have MIT grads running their IT departments. They have the best and brightest.

So, if the measure is simply IT staff knowledge and know-how, big banks win hands down.

But there are more risks than just cyber attacks. Most of the banks that failed during this past recession were the smaller community banks. Yes, we had some bigger banks collapse as well. Indeed. But, in terms of sheer numbers, the smaller banks collapsed a lot faster and in much greater numbers than the bigger banks.

Also, as I mentioned, in terms of product diversification, small banks lose that bet as well. The fortunes of small banks are tied to the whims of the local community and a specific localized geography. Bigger banks are not tied to a single local geography. Big banks have diversified income streams, and a wide geography to serve. Areas in economic decline are balanced by stronger economic growth areas.

By comparison, if a local economy goes south, the community bank usually goes right with it.

Also, just because you did not have any problems using their online banking does not mean that the community bank has never been under attack. In fact, you would never know most of the time because you cannot possibly log in every minute of every hour of the day to know when the online banking was slowing down due to a cyber attack.

What we do know from public sources is that small banks, and small companies are not immune to cyber attacks. And, in most cases, when an attack occurs, the bank is usually very cautious about what they tell the public. As in any corporation, you don't know what is going on behind the scenes behind closed doors unless you work at the bank in question.

In terms of sheer capital, the smaller banks are lobbying the American Banking Association to advocate on their behalf to stop the Basel III capital standards from coming into effect. This means that small community banks are admitting that they are under-capitalized. Some of the biggest banks in this country are already Basel III compliant, which means they have already met the strict capital regulations soon to come into effect.

In short, the bigger national and regional banks have the shock absorbers to handle the recession better than the smaller community banks, if only by capital standards alone.

Lastly, one of the main reasons why small banks are riskier is because they are notorious for giving away freebies to their customers - free checking accounts, free online banking, waiving loan fees, etc. It's a great situation for the customer of the bank who doesn't pay any fees, but not so much for the shareholders.

As a result, these smaller banks don't make much money for their shareholders. This is why the bigger banks who do make money and are highly profitable because they do charge fees are able to so easily able to buy out these competitor smaller banks. Smaller banks are notorious for giving away these freebies to the detriment of their shareholders and employees.

So, if you are with a small community bank that pays high rates on CD's (certificates of deposits), it means that they are under-capitalized and trying to shore up loan losses.

If you are with a small community bank, and they give away all their products and services for free, they won't be in business for very long.

If you are with a small community bank, and they only have one location, if the local economy goes south, so will the bank.