CT and NH investigate public banking

[eridani]

Manchester aldermanic committee looks at establishing a 'public bank'

http://www.unionleader.com/Manchester-aldermanic-committee-looks-at-establishing-public-bank

In March, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted to create the Special Committee on Establishing a Manchester Public Bank, based on a suggestion by Ward 4 Alderman Chris Herbert. The committee, consisting of aldermen Kevin Cavanaugh, Ron Ludwig, Dan O’Neil, Bill Barry and Herbert as chairman, held its first meeting on Tuesday.

According to information provided by the Public Banking Institute, “Public banking is banking operated in the public interest, through institutions owned by the people through their representative governments.

Public banks can exist at all levels, from local to state to national or even international. Any governmental body which can meet local banking requirements may, theoretically, create such a financial institution.”

“My motivation is I want to stop bonding through third parties our infrastructure investments,” said Herbert. “I want to start a bank that brings back that money. I am tired of constantly paying out $10 million, $15 million in interest to someone who lives in New York.”


Connecticut: Public banking can help solve budget crises

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20160506/OPINION/160509755

Connecticut’s Green Party and its endorsed candidate Ed Heflin (36th Senatorial District) have a better idea, however. In addition to closing loopholes for taxing the rich and corporations, and imposing a 0.5 percent transaction fee on Wall Street trades, it’s high time we adopted public banking in Connecticut to fund our major improvement projects and reduce our taxes at the same time.

Public banking was a Founding Fathers ideal, and Andrew Jackson was one of several U.S. presidents to combat private central reserve banks in the 19th century. A public bank is owned by the city, county or state that founded it, so the money it makes via loans comes back to taxpayers instead of going to private banks and investors.

The biggest reason North Dakota uniquely operates in the black is public banking. The Bank of North Dakota has contributed to statewide solvency since 1919, highly effective and free of influence from the state legislature and other self-serving offices. Neither does it compete with local banks for deposits from individuals, organizations or businesses. It operates like a credit union accepting only deposits from state, regional and municipal governments.

States and towns send billions of dollars a year to banks and investors either as tax deposits or to pay interest on bonds issued for infrastructure projects, most of which run over budget. Just as with mortgages and car loans, private interest rates push costs far beyond initial projections. By controlling interest, public banks easily save taxpayers 40 to 50 percent on long-term projects.

Consider as well that Connecticut receives 0.14 percent interest on its revenue deposits while private banks invest them as derivatives and other speculative ventures to make unconscionable profits. Absent transaction fees, Connecticut and the federal government see nary a nickel of that unearned windfall.

[eridani]

1. And Arizona

Arizona Public Banking Bill Advances

http://www.publicbankinginstitute.org/arizona_public_banking_bill_advances

Last week, Arizona became the latest state to advance a public banking bill out of committee in its state legislature. Like most initial public banking bills, this legislation mandates a task force with the aim of recommendations and feasibility pronouncements. It won't get us a North Dakota-style public bank tomorrow, but it's a strong start, particularly given the strength of the 6-1 committee vote.

Arizona.jpgIn Arizona, S.B. 1301, which "creates a task force" "to examine the feasibility of establishing a state-owned bank in Arizona", passed the Senate Financial Institutions Committee on Wednesday, February 17, on a 6-1 vote. This means it will be debated by the State Senate.

Sources tell me that the Arizona legislature has an online "Request to Speak" platform, and the only "thumbs down" came from the Arizona Bankers Association, a group that, unlike community bankers in North Dakota, has been led to believe (undoubtedly through the lobbying of big banks like Wells Fargo) that a state-owned bank would compete with, and not help, small banks in the state.

In fact, North Dakota has more community banks per capita than any other state--precisely because of the support of the BND.

[Baobab]

2. Good idea- but they will run into GATS and TiSA, which I think conflicts with public banking

Last edited Wed May 18, 2016, 05:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Check this out!

Money creation in the modern economy

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/quarterlybulletin/2014/qb14q1prereleasemoneycreation.pdf

• This article explains how the majority of money in the modern economy is created by commercial
banks making loans.
• Money creation in practice differs from some popular misconceptions — banks do not act simply
as intermediaries, lending out deposits that savers place with them, and nor do they ‘multiply up’
central bank money to create new loans and deposits.
• The amount of money created in the economy ultimately depends on the monetary policy of the
central bank. In normal times, this is carried out by setting interest rates. The central bank can
also affect the amount of money directly through purchasing assets or ‘quantitative easing’

------
They let the cat out of the bag- But US trade policy is blocking public everything, just about, and i suspect public banking is one of the good things they really don't want- so they have written gotchas into FTAs that block them in a sneaky manner-

This is an example of what i mean- the explanation (Standstill is part of it) only trickles out in vague generalities - if that. More likely the real explanation doesnt trickle out.


This approach causes big problems-

These are about the current FTAs and financial deregulation- in the context of 2008-

Basically we're pushing the opposite of public banking-

we're pushing disinvestment from public services- privatization.

Our government is pushing globally for privatization of virtually everything public- and deregulation, so it cant be fixed later-



http://www.citizen.org/documents/That%27sAllTheyGot.pdf

https://www.citizen.org/documents/Memo%20-%20Unanswered%20questions%20memo%20for%20Geneva.pdf

https://www.citizen.org/documents/memo-gats-conflict-with-bank-size-limits-may-10-2011.pdf

https://www.citizen.org/documents/FinanceReregulationFactSheetFINAL.pdf