It's an amusing story, and I'd rather call it deinstitutionalized.
For a number of years, I was a member of stock 'unit' (to buy/sell stock). It's a big-name unit and I'd rather not say their name. I'd probably been a member for at least seven years.
One day....as I tried to log in.....it refused to allow me access. I called the support line. They couldn't figure out why (almost 90 minutes were wasted on this). I eventually got led to a IT guy, who discovered about 30 seconds into the call....I was on a non-American list (I worked in Germany, for the Air Force, and had a APO-box).
The IT guy read off the note....there had been some kind of rule handed down (fed level), that if you met x-conditions.....even as an American, you were going to be treated as a non-American. So I was given limited access...told to sell off my stock, and 'leave'.
I spent several hours reviewing options and found a Texas bank dealing with banking and stock. It took 15 minutes to open an account, and I transferred my situation to them. No problem.
It's been around 12 years since then....I hardly think about it. But oddly....once a year, from this institution (the non-American group).....I get an email about my status. Yeah, I'm still listed there.....still an open account....with around 16-cents left in the account. For some reason, they goofed-up and left the account open.
How many folks got screwed this way? I would imagine out of Germany....probably over 100. If you were in the military.....you had status. If you were a civilian working for the military....you didn't have status (from what I could figure).
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