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Public Banks

Why The Fed Needs Public Banks

December 2, 2020 Ellen Brown, ScheerPost.com. , , ,
On November 20, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin informed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that he would not extend five of the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) set up last spring to bail out bondholders, and that he wanted the $455 billion in taxpayer money back that the Treasury had sent to the Fed to capitalize these SPVs. The next day, Powell replied that he thought it was too soon – the SPVs still served a purpose – but he agreed to return the funds. Both had good grounds for their moves, but as Wolf Richter wrote on WolfStreet.com, “You’d think something earth-​shattering happened based on the media hullabaloo that ensued.” 

World’s Public Banks Gathered At First-Ever Summit

November 16, 2020 Andrea Germanos, Commondreams. , , ,
"There is no excuse for the continued funding of billions of dollars in coal, gas, or oil projects. This must stop now," Sophie Richmond, a coordinator with Big Shift Global, said in a statement. The event in question was the four-day Finance in Common Summit, which ended Thursday. Hosted by France, the virtual summit was billed as a way "to stress the crucial role of Public Development Banks (PDBs) in reconciling short-term countercyclical responses with sustainable recovery measures that will have a long-term impact on the planet and societies."

Neoliberalism’s Death Knell?

March 22, 2020 Michael Hudson, Information Clearinghouse. , , ,
In the latest It’s Our Money podcast, PBI Chair Ellen Brown and co-host Walt McRee speak with renowned economist Michael Hudson, member of the Public Banking Institute Advisory Board. Walt introduces the episode: The global economic devastation produced by market-driven profiteering has resulted in distressed and deprived citizens taking to the streets by the hundreds of thousands in cities around the globe and continues its destructive exploitation of our planet’s resources. The culprit is an aging “neo-liberal” economic system which produces historic social inequality while consolidating power in the hands of a few. Our guest, renowned economist Michael Hudson, says this system is more neo-feudal than neo-liberal – and that its inherent excesses are on the verge of bringing it down. Ellen reports that one example of its demise may be in Mexico where its new president is creating new public banks to help address some of its neo-liberal market inequities.

How A Public Bank Could Free S.F.’s Money From Wall Street

November 4, 2019 By Ida Mojadad, Sfweekly.com , ,
Of all the vivid characters in Hustlers, from Jennifer Lopez’s magnetic Ramona to Cardi B portraying her own lived experience, the 2008 financial crash is the one that will be familiar to most contemporary Americans. In the movie, the Great Recession spurs a crew of New York strippers into making a living by drugging rich-looking men to spend lavishly at clubs as their own twisted way of surviving in a system that doesn’t protect people like them. “We got to start thinking like these Wall Street guys. You see what they did to this country?

Opening The Public Bank Floodgates

November 2, 2019 Staff, Publicbankinginstitute.org , ,
“These [public] banks could follow in the footsteps of the German KfW Group, a collection of state-owned infrastructure banks that directed more than one-third of its funds to climate and environmental protection in 2018—not just in Germany, but in thirty countries. So instead of propping up oil pipelines, public money could catalyze a rapid transition to a zero-carbon economy. Public banks can also drastically reduce the cost of financing infrastructure projects, because if the lender is a public bank, interest payments can be re-used for public benefit, rather than to enrich investors.”

Los Angeles And San Francisco Announce They Are Moving Forward With Plans To Start Public Banks

October 11, 2019 Staff, Publicbankinginstitute.org , ,
Close on the heels of the Public Banking Act being signed into law last week, LA City Council President Herb Wesson announced he will be introducing a motion within the week to hire a banking expert to draft a comprehensive plan for a public bank for the City. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that San Francisco was also pushing ahead with plans for a city-owned bank. Wesson announced the motion in a press conference (Facebook link) celebrating the unprecedented success of AB 857 in front of Los Angeles City Hall on Monday Oct 7.

100 Years Ago, Farmers And Socialists Established The Country’s First Modern Public Bank

August 3, 2019 By Thomas M. Hanna and Adam Simpson, Inthesetimes.com , , ,
One hundred years ago July 28, a bank in Bismarck, N.D., opened its doors for the very first time. This would have been an unremarkable event, likely lost to history, except for the fact that it was a public bank, owned by all the residents of the state. A century on, the Bank of North Dakota (BND) is still the only publicly owned bank in the continental United States (a second public bank was recently established in American Samoa)—though potentially not for long. The BND is enjoying renewed time in the limelight as activists look to the institution as an example of how to regain democratic control over finance...

Wall Street Beware: The Public Banking Movement Is Coming For You

July 22, 2019 Robert R. Raymond, Truthout.org ,
It may not come as a surprise to hear that the majority of Americans don’t trust the banking system in this country. Only 27 percent of those surveyed in a 2016 Gallup poll said they had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the institution — less than half of the record high set in 1979. And the lack of trust is spread relatively evenly across the political spectrum — it’s not just liberals or those on the left: Almost everyone is fed up with the banks. And if banking institutions don’t exactly spark joy, their lead characters...

100 Years: The Bank Of North Dakota (Part II)

July 21, 2019 the Bank of North Dakota , ,
While the Bank of North Dakota attempted to establish itself on a firm and responsible foundation, difficulties arose from three fronts: First, the League-owned Scandinavian American Bank of Fargo went into receivership in February 1921, after audits revealed a number of marginal and worthless loans, and inept management. Many people around the United States wrongly assumed that the bank in question was the experimental Bank of North Dakota (BND). Even among those who made the distinction, BND suffered by association. The Scandinavian American Bank had been having significant troubles all the way back to 1919, two years after the NPL purchased it.

A Green & Just Transition Requires Democratized Public Banks – Costa Rica Style

July 6, 2019 By  Thomas Marois, Open Democracy , , , ,
Public banks, in particular, are shown to have much greater financial capacity than commonly believed. Whereas the IATF 2019 Report claims there is only $5 trillion in combined public bank assets (so, hardly sufficient to tackle the $4 to $6 trillion in additional annual climate mitigation investments by 2030), the TNI contribution demonstrates that there are nearly 700 public banks around the world that have combined assets nearing $38 trillion (that’s about 48 percent of global GDP). Put otherwise, 20 percent of all bank assets are still publicly owned and controlled.

The Bankers’ ‘Power Revolution’: How the Government Got Shackled by Debt

June 2, 2019 Ellen Brown, Web of Debt. , ,
US debt is unnecessary. has been financially sovereign ever since President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the dollar off the gold standard domestically in 1933. This was recognized by Beardsley Ruml, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in a 1945 presentation before the American Bar Association titled “Taxes for Revenue Are Obsolete.” “The necessity for government to tax in order to maintain both its independence and its solvency is true for state and local governments,” he said, “but it is not true for a national government.” The government was now at liberty to spend as needed to meet its budget, drawing on credit issued by its own central bank. It could do this until price inflation indicated a weakened purchasing power of the currency.

Divest From Banks That Fuel Climate Change, Establish Public Bank

December 1, 2018 Erik McGregor. , , ,
New York, NY – As global leaders assemble for the 4th Annual Climate Finance Day, New Yorkers, including representatives from environmental, community and student groups, held a rally at City Hall on November 28, 2018 and call on NYC to divest public money from banks that fuel climate change and to establish a municipal public bank to help fund the transition to a just, sustainable economy. At the rally, Public Bank NYC, a broad-based coalition of community, worker rights, environmental, and economic justice groups, will release new findings showing nine of the largest banks eligible to hold City deposits (“NYC designated banks”) are major investors in the fossil fuel industry, including the proposed Williams Pipeline, which would carry fracked gas across the New York Harbor.

The United States Is More Socialist Than You Know

October 15, 2018 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG. , , ,
Compared to other wealthy countries, large sectors of the US economy are more socialized than is realized. From energy to water to transportation, land and more, and from cities and states to the nation, there is public ownership and control. The neo-liberal era of privatization is winding down. This has particularly accelerated following the 2008 financial crash. We speak with Thomas Hanna, author of "Our Common Wealth: The Return of Public Ownership in the United States," about reclaiming public goods and how to prepare for the next financial crash. Plus, we put the current news in the context of the bigger picture.

Campaign For Los Angeles’s Public Bank Gets Into Full Swing

August 17, 2018 Staff, Publicbankinginstitute.org , ,
November's Public Banking ballot initiative will allow the citizens of Los Angeles to vote on the first step to creating a city-owned bank. Public Bank LA, along with an overflowing room of community groups and advocates, launched their action campaign July 28 for creating public support for the ballot measure. Chair Ellen Brown and Suzanne O’Keeffe from Public Banking Institute were there in support. ...Advocates were presented with a detailed plan that includes community outreach, political outreach, street art, field strategy into neighborhoods, and media. The campaign is designed to communicate the benefits of public banking, answer questions, and generate excitement around freeing the City from Wall Street and using the power of a bank to benefit the people of Los Angeles.

A Public Bank For Los Angeles? City Council Puts It To The Voters

July 6, 2018 Ellen Brown, Ellenbrown.com ,
Voters in Los Angeles will be the first in the country to weigh in on a public banking mandate, after the City Council agreed on June 29th to put a measure on the November ballot that would allow the city to form its own bank. The charter for the nation’s second-largest city currently prohibits the creation of industrial or commercial enterprises by the city without voter approval. The measure, introduced by City Council President Herb Wesson, would allow the city to create a public bank, although state and federal law hurdles would still need to be cleared. The bank is expected to save the city millions, if not billions, of dollars in Wall Street fees and interest paid to bondholders, while injecting new money into the local economy, generating jobs and expanding the tax base.
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