It sounds an awful lot like you're leaning towards saying "unless someone gives banks/investors their money, it's 'socially irresponsible'".
If this is the implication, I disagree with that.
However the rest of your point I agree with. I heard on the radio a little while ago that there's a line out the door and around the block at IndyMac's headquarters in Pasadena, most people are opting to yank their funds out of the bank even after being told by federal regulators that they are insured and their money is safe. There are a couple of things that might be read into this:
1. People don't trust what they're being told by the FDIC (this is stupid/irrational)
2. People are "punishing" the bank for being so cavalier/reckless with their money in the first place (this is somewhat warranted or justified).
While it's easy to conveniently lump all the blame on "irrational" people pulling their money out of a bank, perhaps if the bank hadn't made themselves vulnerable to such distrust by being so cavalier in the first place, they wouldn't be dealing with the consequences today, no?
I'm not defending the people who ARE being foolish about this, but if I had money in IndyMac, I'd probably be pulling it out today too, just because they've betrayed my trust by being so reckless. . . Not necessarily because I don't believe in the federal guarantees behind my account (at least not this time. . .
).
There is no "social obligation" on the part of people to hand their money over to a bank or anyone else however. If they want to be stupid with it and hide it in their mattress or whatever, such is their prerogative. Foolish, yes. But maybe if the banks were more trustworthy and/or willing to pay more % return for it, maybe some of those people would be inclined to give their business to the bank.
In general, I think a lot of people are just sick and tired of being told half-truths by their banks, getting tossed a few measly % points their way like so many crumbs from the master's table while the banks make humongous returns elsewhere with THEIR money, and then get added insult to injury added by getting slapped with fees for everything under the sun on top of it. So is there some resentment out there? Probably. I think a lot of the problems IndyMac is having right now (not all, but a lot) are somehow attributable to their OWN past sins.