A video surfaced on Instagram on Saturday, showing a possible bank run in Baltimore City at the MECU Credit Union, located at 2337 E Northern Pkwy.
The area is considered low/middle class working families (predominantly African American community). The video shows a large line of cars on Saturday afternoon and a line at the ATM. People weren't cashing in their paychecks because many people were laid off, as we noted, more than 14 million people in the last several weeks have lost their jobs across the county, and what we could be looking at is the beginnings of a bank run.
"As soon as the National Guard rolled into Baltimore City – many folks asked themselves – is this a revisit of the Freddy Gray unrest back in 2015," said Teresa Davis, owner and operator of Teresa Davis Productions.
Davis said for weeks the National Guard had staged military tent cities across the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. She said military Humvees had been spotted in East Baltimore (down the street from MECU bank), more specifically on East Monument Street, near the Johns Hopkins Hospital, which she adds is a low-income/high-crime area.
She said the last time Humvees were spotted on East Monument Street was back during the 2015 riots.
Davis said residents had concerns that military vehicles on the streets could suggest that social unrest is nearing. She said, "you know it is kind of weird, everyone just lost their jobs, people are freaking out, and now people are storming the bank."
"How are they going to pay their bills that are still mounting? How are they going to feed their families," she said.
Davis said residents are going to the local banks because they fear banks are going to fail, and unrest could be nearing.
"They want their monies out," Davis said, adding that some people in the community have been watching their 401ks crash, and others have been watching the news that a recession could be imminent.
Last month, the smart money in Mid-Town Manhattan and Hamptons were withdrawing as much cash as they could, with at least one bank running out of $100 bills.
Several weeks ago, we noted that the FDIC made an unusual request to all Americans to keep their monies in the bank because it is safe…
"Your money is safe at the banks. The last thing you should be doing is pulling your money out of the banks thinking it's going to be safer somewhere else."
The chart below shows the surge in demand for cash by Americans at the moment has surpassed all of 2008, and about to rival the panic ahead of Y2K that ATMs would not function...
"Here we go again," Davis said, referring to the possibility that social unrest like the 2015 riots could be nearing. She said there's certainly a different dynamic at play today, back then, thousands of people didn't lose their jobs all at once – it was years of wealth, health, and education inequality, on top of the trigger: Freddy Gray's death, that brought people into the streets. Now today, "social unrest could be more explosive."