Victoria Grant – Public Banking 2013: Funding the New Economy, June 3, 2013

Public Banking TV • www.youtube.com/user/publicbankingtv • June 9, 2013

 

Watch the video here.

Public Banking– A Major Answer to the Progressive Question of What to Do in the Face of Corporatization of America

Rob Kall • www.opednews.com • June 6, 2013

I’m at the second annual conference on public banking. Last night over 600 attendees listened to Matt Taiibi, Ellen Brown, Birgitta Jonsdotter and Gar Alperovitz talk about funding the new economy.

The “new economy” means an economy that gets out from under corporatization of America, out from under corporate domination of the economy…

…Bottom line, Public banking works and is responsible for the health of some of the fastest growing nations and the only state, North Dakota, that survived the recent economic crises. Advocating for it is a progressive, bottom up approach that can produce serious democratizing effects, while at the same time taking away power and wealth from the big banks.

Read the entire article here.

Saving Our Economy With Public Banking

Carl Gibson • www.huffingtonpost.com • May 20, 2013

Imagine if your only choice for food came from genetically-modified crops. You might suffer regular health problems, be at a higher risk for numerous crippling diseases, and have no choice but to accept that as a fact of life. But what if, one day, you came across a farmer’s market where you could buy locally-produced, organically-grown, healthy fruits and vegetables at a fraction of the cost of GMO food. Wouldn’t you switch immediately and never go back? Your body would heal and you’d feel great.

Similarly, most U.S. states, with the exception of North Dakota (we’ll get there in a minute) have no choice but to depend on big Wall Street banks for the money necessary to build critical infrastructure, most of which comes with obscene interest rates and get-rich-quick schemes like capital appreciation loans. These are concocted by predatory bankers intending to bleed municipalities and counties dry, from Jefferson County, Ala. to Napa Valley, Calif. But public banking can be the antidote that will free us from our dependency on Wall Street and put monetary power in the people’s hands. In short, our economy would heal and we’d all feel great.

Read the entire article here.

Michael Hudson Interview: Public Banking Needed to Stop “Cannibalization” of the Economy

www.therealnews.com • March 29, 2013

Watch Michael Hudson’s interview with Paul Jay of The Real News Network.

Michael Hudson: As long as finance is left in private hands, you’re going to have austerity and America ending up looking like Greece and Ireland.

Read the transcript here.
Watch the video here.

Wales needs to consider following the successful public banking model of North Dakota

Dr Ian Jenkins • www.walesonline.co.uk • May 16, 2013

Plaid Cymru is proposing a Public Bank for Wales but what is public banking and is it the answer to the challenges facing the Welsh economy? Dr Ian Jenkins explores.

It is fair to say that North Dakota is not the highest-profile of the States of the Union: lying on the Canadian border between Minnesota and Montana it does not have the globally impressive multi-billion GDP of a California, a New York or a Texas and in fact has the lowest per capita GDP of any US state.

Yet North Dakota has two things that none of its more heavyweight fellow states can boast – a budget surplus for every year since the economic crisis began in 2008 and an unemployment rate of 3.3%, the lowest in the US: so they must be doing something right in the Peace Garden State.

So what makes North Dakota different from other US states, allowing it to navigate the stormy seas of recession without recourse to brutal austerity measures or suffering crippling unemployment?

Read the article here.

Join us! June 2-4, San Rafael, CA! Two evening events plus the PBI 2013 Public Banking Conference!

Public Banking Institute • PublicBankingInstitute.org

How DO we improve the economic livelihoods of millions of people? Reclaim the “money power” with publicly-owned banks. A network of publicly-owned banks across the United States holds the promise of local abundance, sustainable productivity, and the democratization of our economy.

Join the world’s pioneering policy thinkers, interested and informed citizens, civic leaders, banking entrepreneurs, and innovators for three events:

1. CONVERSATION. Featuring Matt Taibbi, Ellen Brown, Birgitta Jonsdotter and Gar Alperovitz. Sunday, June 2, 7-9:15pm. $35.
2. TPP Forum. Featuring David Brodwin, Margaret Flowers, Kevin Zeese, and Georgia Kelly. Monday, June 3, 7pm. Free.
3. PBI’s Public Banking Conference 2013: Funding the New Economy in San Rafael, CA, June 2-4. $265.

All three events will be held at Dominican University, Angelico Hall, in San Rafael, CA.

Register here.

Bail-out Is Out, Bail-in Is In: Time for Some Publicly-Owned Banks

Ellen Brown • www.opednews.com • April 30, 2013

“[W]ith Cyprus . . . the game itself changed. By raiding the depositors’ accounts, a major central bank has gone where they would not previously have dared. The Rubicon has been crossed.”
–Eric Sprott, Shree Kargutkar, “Caveat Depositor”

The crossing of the Rubicon into the confiscation of depositor funds was not a one-off emergency measure limited to Cyprus. Similar “bail-in” policies are now appearing in multiple countries. (See my earlier articles here.) What triggered the new rules may have been a series of game-changing events including the refusal of Iceland to bail out its banks and their depositors; Bank of America’s commingling of its ominously risky derivatives arm with its depository arm over the objections of the FDIC; and the fact that most EU banks are now insolvent. A crisis in a major nation such as Spain or Italy could lead to a chain of defaults beyond anyone’s control, and beyond the ability of federal deposit insurance schemes to reimburse depositors.

The new rules for keeping the too-big-to-fail banks alive: use creditor funds, including uninsured deposits, to recapitalize failing banks.

Read the article here.