HURRICANE SANDY & THE GREAT RED RIVER FLOOD: How the Public Bank of North Dakota saved Grand Forks

Jim Morrow & Ira Dember • http://www.skyvalleychronicle.com • November 3, 2012

(GRAND FORKS, N.D.) — As the nation watches the aftermath of the destructive Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey, it may be instructive to compare another cleanup 15 years ago in North Dakota after another natural disaster – the massive flooding of the Red River and the fire in downtown Grand Forks.

Folks in Grand Forks, North Dakota will never forget April 1997, when record flooding of the Red River and major fires devastated the city.

They also won’t forget that it was Bank of North Dakota — the nation’s only bank owned by a state — that put people above profits.

The BND rushed to the rescue with financial flexibility and generosity of spirit in the public interest that no privately owned bank could match…

Read the complete article here.

PBI News Alert: Public Banking Rescues — WA Treasurer Resists

PBI News Alert • PublicBankingInstitute.org • Nov 3, 2012

As we watch developments in New York and New Jersey on the heels of Hurricane Sandy, it is instructive to compare another cleanup 15 years ago in North Dakota after another natural disaster, the flooding of the Red River and the fire in downtown Grand Forks. Meanwhile in Washington State, the Treasurer resists a public bank because of the “risk” involved, as if the Wall Street banks are trustworthy partners! “Funding is different for BND from that of other commercial banks,” says Standard & Poors (see below). Because it is different, it’s past time to put public money into public banks — for the public good, as the Bank of North Dakota so clearly demonstrates during times of prosperity — and times of natural disasters.

Read the entire PBI News Alert here.