HuffPo 5: Move your tax money, too

EagleBank Chairman and CEO Ronald Paul is taking Arianna Huffington’s “Move Your Money” campaign to the next level.

The original Huffington Post campaign, launched at the tail end of last year, urged consumers and small businesses to shift their deposits out of big financial institutions that have benefitted from a government bailout to more responsible community banks. In an article posted on the Website Monday, Paul urged local governments to make the shift, too.

However, Paul avoids the anti-Wall Street rhetoric that helped Arianna Huffington's campaign resonate with so many consumers.

"To be clear, I am not opposed to large banks. I just see them as less capable of serving the needs of local customers," he writes. "Community banks understand where the growth opportunities are in communities across the country because they live there. They also have the sense of personal and professional accountability that can only come from seeing their customers every day.”

Paul notes that his hometown, Washington, DC, is considering moving some funds into community banks, and he says communities across the country need to consider doing so as well.