The Growing Movement for Publicly Owned Banks

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



YES! Magazine / By Ellen Brown

The Growing Movement for Publicly Owned Banks
We the people have given away our sovereign money-creating power to private, for-profit lending institutions Some states are moving to take that power back.

March 28, 2010 |


“Hundreds of job-creating projects are still on hold because Michigan businesses and entrepreneurs cannot get bank financing. We can break the credit crunch and beat Wall Street at their own game by keeping our money right here in Michigan and investing it to retool our economy and create jobs.” —Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero in The Detroit News March 9, 2010


Michigan, which has an unemployment rate of 14 percent, has been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn. Virg Bernero, mayor of Lansing, the state’s capital, and a leading Democratic candidate for governor, proposes to relieve the state’s economic ills by opening a state-owned bank. He says the bank could protect consumers by making low-interest loans to those most in need, including students and small businesses; it could also help community banks by buying mortgages off their books and working with them to fund development projects.

Bernero joins a growing list of candidates proposing this sensible solution to their states’ fiscal ills. Local economies have collapsed because of the Wall Street credit freeze. To reinvigorate local business, Main Street needs a heavy infusion of credit, and publicly-owned banks could fill that need.

In a recent article for YES! Magazine, I tracked candidates in five states running on a state bank platform and one state (Massachusetts) with a bill pending. Just one month later, there are now three more bills on the rolls—in Washington State, Illinois and Michigan—and two more candidates joining the list of proponents (joining Bernero is Gaelan Brown of Vermont). That brings the total to seven candidates in as many states (Florida, Oregon, Illinois, California, Washington State, Vermont, and Idaho) campaigning for state-owned banks, including three Democrats, two Greens, one Republican, and one Independent. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/economy/146123/the_growing_movement_for_publicly_owned_banks

[Demeter]

1. Now I Know Who to Support for Governor

Thanks for the post!

[Double T]

2. For Profit Banks need to be converted to the equal of non-profit credit unions.

Large Banks such as Bank of America, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan/Chase need to be broken up into much smaller non-profit banks. wall street banks are criminally corrupt and need to be dismantled. The world would be a better place.

[customerserviceguy]

3. People have the opportunity to make that happen

The first step is to withdraw money from the big banks, and the second is to encourage all the local businesses in your area to do the same. Anyone who writes a check can see which bank the business deposited it in, when it clears the account.