6 Things You Need To Know About Postal Banking [View all]

[eridani]

http://www.occupy.com/article/postal-banks-are-people%E2%80%99s-banks-6-things-you-need-know-about-postal-banking

It’s being called “Bernie’s Brilliant Idea,”, and Bernie Sanders’s embrace of postal banking is indeed brilliant, both in timing and substance. But while his insurgent presidential campaign may give a credible boost to USPS financial services, Sanders’s endorsement is far from sufficient. To make postal banking happen requires a broad, mass coalition willing to keep pushing the issue regardless of the outcome of the 2016 elections. If you want to be part of that movement, or already are, keep these six things in mind:

1. Postal banking has a long, strong history.

Nations all over the world have postal savings banks, and the United States had a successful postal bank from 1911 to 1967. At one time, as many as 10% of Americans used postal banks; unsurprisingly, it was lobbying from big banks that shut the program down by urging Congress to stop allowing postal banks to offer competitive interest rates. The emergence of postal banking as a 2016 electoral issue stems from a campaign that began early last year with a short, persuasive piece written by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who cited a report by the Postal Inspector General recommending that the USPS offer financial services – from check cashing and small loans to financial counseling and bill paying – as both a public service and business opportunity for the U.S. Post Office. Soon after, a large coalition of unions and economic justice groups – including the organization I co-founded, Commonomics USA – coalesced around the demand for postal banking. We strategized, pushed the message, hosted conference calls, forums and Q&As on postal banking, and waited.

One of the people we strategized with was Mehrsa Baradaran, a law professor at the University of Georgia who, in the process of releasing her book ["How the Other Half Banks: Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threat to Democracy"](http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674286061], spoke at a forum we held in March. Baradaran’s argument is simple and forceful. “The basic idea of modern postal banking,” she writes, “is a public bank offering a wide range of transaction services, including financial transactions, remittance, savings accounts, and small lending. These institutions would remain affordable because of economies of scale and because of the existing postal infrastructure in the U.S. Plus, in the absence of shareholders, they would not be driven to seek profits and could sell services at cost.”

Baradaran’s book and accompanying articles coincided with Sanders's sudden, somewhat media-driven embrace of postal banking earlier this month. Although Sanders has been a longtime supporter of public and postal banking, the concepts were not raised in his presidential campaign until after the first Democratic debate.