Private Property Protection
One of the principles this country was founded upon is the belief in the right to property. Unfortunately, our government has become increasingly hostile to the notion of private property protection with the continual expansion of the administrative state. But one attack on private property has gone virtually unnoticed by most: the concept of bank bail-ins.
A bail-in is when the bank you entrust to hold your money takes what is in your account and uses it to bail itself out if it finds itself in financial trouble. The very concept of a bail-in makes it where your earned income, which you deposit into a bank account, ceases to be your private capital, i.e., private property, and makes it the bank’s property. Supposedly, banks can only seize the assets of accounts over $250,000 and can only take the amount that is above the FDIC insured $250,000.1 Here’s the thing: that can change.
By making bail-ins legal with the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act, Congress blatantly attacked private property rights, but in a very sneaky way. It also sets the stage for further attacks on your assets. For instance, what if the bank that holds the mortgage on your house decides to take it, even if you are not behind on the payments, declaring it legally owns it so long as you owe a mortgage?
Banks’ ability to do bail-ins needs to be rescinded. Your earned income is your private property and deserves protection from theft.
1Best, Richard. “Why Bank Bail-Ins Are the New Bailouts.” Investopedia. (2023). Accessed January 1, 2024. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090716/why-bank-bailins-will-be-new-bailouts.asp