Reinventing Banking: From Russia to Iceland to Ecuador

[eridani]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/11/reinventing-banking-from-russia-to-iceland-to-ecuador/

Global developments in finance and geopolitics are prompting a rethinking of the structure of banking and of the nature of money itself. Among other interesting news items:

* In Russia, vulnerability to Western sanctions has led to proposals for a banking system that is not only independent of the West but is based on different design principles.

* In Iceland, the booms and busts culminating in the banking crisis of 2008-09 have prompted lawmakers to consider a plan to remove the power to create money from private banks.

* In Ireland, Iceland and the UK, a recession-induced shortage of local credit has prompted proposals for a system of public interest banks on the model of the Sparkassen of Germany.

* In Ecuador, the central bank is responding to a shortage of US dollars (the official Ecuadorian currency) by issuing digital dollars through accounts to which everyone has access, effectively making it a bank of the people.

[Sherman A1]

1. Excellent!

It is well beyond the time for some people oriented changes to come to this industry.

[Proserpina]

2. May all such revolutions end our flirtation with fascism, forever. Without bloodshed, or poverty.

The only way forward for People is to stop the accretion of power in the hands of banksters and multinational corporations.