More States May Create Public Banks

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:



More States May Create Public Banks

by Ellen Brown
posted May 13, 2010


By 2011, only one state will have escaped the credit crunch that is pushing other states toward insolvency: North Dakota. North Dakota is also the only state that owns its own bank. The state has its own credit machine, making it independent of the Wall Street banking crisis that has infected the rest of the country.

Now, several states are either studying the prospects of a state-owned bank or are considering legislation to make one possible.

Five states have bills pending—Massachusetts, Washington, Illinois, Michigan, and Virginia. In April, documentary filmmaker and Virginia resident Bill Still showed his new award-winning documentary on the topic, The Secret of Oz, to the Missouri House of Representatives. Rep. Allen Icet, a candidate for state auditor, proposed using the Virginia proposal as part of a study on a state bank in Missouri and said he would hold committee hearings this summer.

Also in mid-April, the Hawai‘i House approved a resolution asking the state to study the possibility of establishing a state-run bank there. State Rep. Marcus Oshiro, a Democrat who chairs the finance committee, called a state-run bank a “reasonable public option” to spur development and hold state funds.

Other state legislatures entertaining proposals for forming state-owned banks include New Mexico and Vermont. Candidates in eight states are running on a state-owned bank platform: three Democrats, two Greens, two Republicans, and one Independent.


http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/water-solutions/more-states-may-create-public-banks

[drm604]

1. Why isn't my state looking into this?

They've been looking at single payer health care, they should also be looking at this. Come on Harrisburg, get on the ball!

[TK421]

3. yeah, I've never heard anything about it here

[geckosfeet]

2. I think credit unions are better.

ND has a population of LESS than 1 million. Contrast to New York City whose population is OVER 8 million people.

Anyway, point is that state owned banks may work in ND, but my guess is that they would be flameout in epic fashion in a place like NYC or any concentrated population center.

[Selatius]

5. It might actually be a gigantic credit union.

If a bank is chartered and operated by a state legislature, and the legislature is voted upon by the people themselves, one could argue it is a bank owned by its constituent depositors, much like a traditional credit union.

[BR_Parkway]

6. It's not a traditional retail bank, more like a bank to banks - so the state

deposits it's taxes and other revenues there and provides loans and guarantees to other banks to make loans to ND people and small businesses to sustain economic development.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

4. I want to know how Pukes square this with their small government BS.

ND is a deep red state. In any case this is good news.