A few things that happened in the past few weeks got me thinking.  First was Skank of America's $5 monthly fee for using a debit card.  That was so infuriating that it even got a Faux News talking head to shred her card on TV.

Then there was Occupy Wall Street.  I take a different tack than many of the protestors there.  I'm not against trading and Wall Street making money.  I am opposed to socializing the losses and privatizing the gains, which is what we did in the fall of 2008.

In response, I've been a big proponent for people joining credit unions.  Credit unions have lower fees and they charge lower interest rates.  And while the interest they pay on savings is still miniscule, it's still more than you'll get at a commercial bank.

Why is this?

Because banks are run for the benefit of their shareholders.  They exist to increase shareholder equity.  They've done a crappy job of this for the past decade, but that's what they exist to do.

Credit unions exist for the benefit of their members.  They do not exist to increase shareholder wealth.  Their reason for being is to serve the members, who get to vote for the board of directors that oversees operations of the credit union.

And that means that credit unions are communist.  But Americans seem to like this communist endeavor.  After all, about 43 percent of the economically active population belong to credit unions.

Know what other organizations are communist?  Huge mutual insurance companies.  State Farm is the largest insurer in the country.  It's the company that insures my car, apartment, and co-op.  And just like a credit union, a mutual insurance company exists for the benefit of its members.

There are 1,400 members of the association that represents mutual insurance companies.  According to that organization, they write half of all auto and home policies and 31 percent of business insurance policies.

And insurance by itself is communist.  I cannot think of a single product in the world that can be defined by the phrase "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need." 

Think about insurance.  You pay in regularly, and you hopefully rarely collect.  But when it's time to collect, you get paid.  You're paying in when you can, and you're collecting when you need it.  Hello, Karl Marx?

Finally, there's the NFL.  It takes in $9 billion in revenue every year, and the Super Bowl is routinely the most watched event on television.  Every weekend, hundreds of thousands of Americans attend NFL games, and millions more watch games at home or at a sports bar.

These people are supporting a communist institution.  Wonder why a team like Green Bay can compete for free agents with large market teams in New York or Chicago?  Because of communism.

The NFL shares its revenue equally among all its teams.  And we cheer for it.

So be careful when you listen to the talking heads who say that Americans hate socialism, or more accurately, communism.

When 43 percent of the population banks with a communist institution and 50 percent have insurance policies with one, do Americans really hate communism?  When millions tune in every year to watch games played by a communist league, they clearly don't hate it.

They just don't understand what communism is.