In recent articles on The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington outlines steps recommended to prevent a "Third World America".  Among those steps, moving money from too-big-to-fail banks to small community banks or credit unions.

"There are many things we can do, right now, to take matters into our own hands and move our families to safer financial ground.  Moving your money out of the mega-banks that helped wreck our economy and into a smaller, more responsive community bank or credit union is a great place to start," states Huffington.

Huffington continues, "These big banks took our bailout money but cut back on lending, paid themselves record bonuses, and kept on with all the greedy, ruthless practices that earn them billions a year.  By moving our money, we're saying we're not going to take that anymore.  And since the deposit insurance... is the same as at big banks, there is zero risk involved."

Huffington encourages Americans not to wait for Washington to act.  "The big banks may be "too big to fail" - but they are not too big to feel the impact of hundreds of thousands of people taking action to change a broken financial and political system."

The Move Your Money campaign website helps visitors find a local community bank or credit union and allows Americans to share their personal stories and testimonials of leaving the mega-banks. 

The site estimates that 2 million people moved their accounts, comprising a shift in deposits of approximately $5 billion "from the demi-gods to the mortals" - just in the first three months of 2010.

The site also provides an easy, seven-step guide to switching financial institutions.  "Saying that it’s too difficult to move your money is really no excuse."  The "7 Easy Steps" guide was compiled by Stacy Mitchell of the New Rules Project's Community Banking Initiative.

Says Huffington, "The big banks and credit card companies are not on your side, and when we start taking control of our own finances we affect the national financial system... the greatest antidote to despair is action."  

Huffington's book, Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream, was released in September 2010.