Yeah, we tried to apply with a local credit union and a local bank right after the announcement. Both said they'd prioritize their internal customers before processing ours and we've heard nothing since from either.

While being with a local bank would have helped (especially if we had any debt with them), their behavior doesn't put me in a big rush to give them business either.

I've never been naive, but the way America responded to this was with blatant corruption, and it's truly disheartened me. We've shown who we are in a very real way, and I say "we" because we're all complicit and responsible for it.

>> but the way America responded to this was with blatant corruption

America is far too incompetent to plan for corruption in times like this. Just assume stupidity when it comes to bureaucracy. That was definitely the case here.

Somehow there's always a lot less "incompetence" and "stupidity" when it comes to getting money out the door for huge companies.

It's the combination of bureaucratic incompetence (the banks) and savvy malice (the large companies and rich individuals figuring out how to game the system and pick up some cash cheap).

The average Joe should not be held complicit for this. I think there is a general understanding what a problem this kind of corruption is but effectively no way for most people to resist it without undertaking extraordinary personal risk or expense. They're also very effectively propagandized into believing one side or the other will fix the problem if we can just get them enough power.

I personally strongly disagree with this. It's my opinion that what people need to do more of is to own responsibility, not avoid it, even if the only realistic capability we have is philosophical. Without the basis of a belief that WE are responsible, we are robbed of its feeling of ownership, and we'll never move toward anything permanently good for any of us.

If it's one thing America needs more of, it's to stop scapegoating everything we can point the finger at and get back to working together knowing that it's OURS to fix.

*Rant over

The rest of your comment I agree with, but we have to start with a different belief system (I think anyway) before we'll ever be any good at the rest.

Agree with all your points here. We all have to pitch in to have a real hope of unplugging and reconstructing the system.