Bernie Sanders was just in Vermont, and when Gwendolyn Hallsmith with Vermonters for a New Economy asked Bernie if he supported a Vermont State Bank, a proposal roundly dissed by legislators in Montpelier this year, he said "YES!"
Bernie understands it is safer for us to keep our state revenues in Vermont instead of sending them off to Wall Street--especially under the billionaire-run administration of President Trump. Trump and his Goldman Sachs henchmen are undoing regulation by proclamation, while a US Republican-led legislative move to undo Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms is now already underway. (See our previous post.)
Vt. State Sen. Anthony Pollina (D-Washington County) and State Rep. Brian Cina (P-Burlington 6-4) introduced a public banking bill in January, which barely got a hearing and never made it out of committees. The bill only formed a commission to consider how such a bank could be organized and financed. When a similar bill was introduced three years ago, it resulted in a legislative move that enabled state treasurer Beth Pearce Hallsmith to invest some state revenue into local projects.
But that move, while better than nothing, fails to multiply credit as a bank can, and also limits public input into funding priorities. Undaunted by legislative disregard, Vermonters for a New Economy organized a People's Commission for a State Bank, but that commission and its letters and phone calls have also been ignored by Vermont's legislative committees.
Part of the problem is that women have not yet claimed public banking as their issue. With a state legislature now ranked with the greatest number of women (37 percent), Democrats and Progressive women need to step up and look more closely at this approach to banking in the public interest. If they don't, Republicans, especially the Tea-Party libertarians may step into the breach.
The nation's only state-owned bank has been operating for a hundred years in the very red state of North Dakota, although its establishment was made possible by nonpartisan grassroots organizing. By 2014 the Bank had returned over $385 million in profits to ND's general fund, reducing taxes. Conservatives in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are behind similar moves for public banking.
Unlike some banks with the word "state" in their name, North Dakota's bank has no other depositors than the state revenues. Its capitalization multiplies the state's ability to extend credit where public services are needed. North Dakota's bank supports local farming, small businesses, education, and mortgages, but the priorities are public ones, decided upon publicly. Professional bankers staff the state bank (though public officials serve on the board, along with citizens), but their salaries are tiny compared to Wall Street's. They also help back local banks and credit unions. North Dakota has more banks and credit unions per capita than any other state.
You can see a video of this striking moment here, of a woman challenging Wall Street by demanding whether a public bank is needed in Vermont from Bernie, who gives her--and all Americans--a great answer. Thanks again to Gwendolyn Hallsmith, Vermonters for a New Economy, and to Michael Taub, who videotaped the key moment!
www.facebook.com/gwendolyn.hallsmith?pnref=story
Find this boring? Want more excitement like 2008?
Who cares about Dodd-Frank legislation? Probably not you. But damn it, girlfriend, these creeps are stealing our language to get away with their robbery.
Americans for Financial Reform (boring, right?) reveal that "last year, House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX5) introduced a terrible bill that takes all the worst ideas concocted by Wall Street and predatory lenders, and combines them into one toxic package. That bill, the Financial CHOICE Act, will be discussed in a House Financial Services Committee hearing this week."
Do not allow the same rich, white guys who seek to limit women's life choices to sully the word "choice" by eliminating the powers of Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB has so far saved 25 million consumers (like you) of $11.4 billion bucks from not being cheated or fooled by banks like Bank of America for "deceptive marketing," selling things they didn't deliver, Citibank for "illegal credit card practices," and JP Morgan Chase for "unfair billing." The list of would-be scheming banks is long--and they all have lobbyists in DC.
Say the "boring" Americans for Financial Reform: "This radical bill that calls itself "Financial CHOICE" eliminates numerous elements of the Dodd-Frank protections passed in the wake of the financial crisis. It practically eliminates the powers of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to act forcefully against unfair or abusive practices in consumer lending markets. It even weakens regulatory powers that long pre-date Dodd-Frank. If this bill passed, it would make financial regulation weaker than it was even in the years leading up to the 2008 crisis.
Tell Congress: We expect you to protect consumers and the economy, not gut the rules that make our economy safer. We need you to oppose the Financial CHOICE Act and any other assaults on Dodd-Frank and the CFPB."
This legislation is crammed with deregulatory gifts to every kind of financial institution, including giant mega-banks who want to return to the excessive borrowing and risky practices that led to the financial crisis. It also provides “gimmies” to private equity funds who want to manipulate the financial system and exploit investors, mortgage lenders selling predatory subprime mortgages, and storefront payday lenders pushing products that trap consumers in a cycle of ever-increasing interest payments. This bill is an astonishingly terrible idea – and we need you to urge your Representative to oppose it."
Abort this so-called CHOICE!
Tell Congress: Attacking the CFPB, as the Financial CHOICE Act does, is the WRONG Choice for America.
When Banking Goes Public....
You and your community win! If you've ever thought banking had little to do with you, think again with Ellen Brown, one of our heroes!
She's the author of the very readable Web of Debt about the way banking creates money, and also The Public Bank Solution, about banks most of us haven't heard about, but which have successfully created financing for the public good. What a notion. You can get her books at Amazon or her website.
Banking runs everything, including government, and the way you live your life. Ellen founded the Public Banking Institute to advocate for public measures to increase funding. The US has only one public bank, in red state North Dakota. Of all our states, North Dakota was the only one to come out of the 2008 crash without bankruptcy looming. Now Ralph Nader is even talking about public banking, and quoting Ellen Brown. What if the people of your state owned a bank?
heck out his article why we need to take on banking as a public issue on Huffington Posthere: www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-savings-and-stability-of-public-banking_us_58ed5d96e4b0ea028d568de5
Some Are More Equal Than Others
Today is Equal Pay Day. Women have to work until today, April 4, to earn what the median US male did last year.
But The United State of Women points out other dates that show what equality would mean to different sisters. Asian-American women were equal by March 7, more equal than most of us. But African-American women will have to wait until July 31! Native American women aren't equal until September 25, and OMG, Latina women don't catch up until November 2!
The US of W says: "Add those [dates] to your calendar and make your voice heard about why this gap is unacceptable for all women."
Indeed! While you're at it, complain about the US median male wage going down. Ratios only show the relationship between two numbers--and when it comes to wages? The median men's wage dropped from 1973-2014 ($53,294 to $50,383) while women's went up ($30,182 to $39,621), in general because of her education. Education loans, anyone?
