The San Francisco Reinvestment Working Group (RWG), an advisory committee tasked with exploring the creation of a municipality-owned bank, voted May 16 to advance what the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition calls an “actionable, sustainable, and practical plan” for the first municipal public bank in the country. According to the plan, the RWG proposal would first set up …
Over the past few weeks, Jain Family Institute (JFI) and Berggruen Institute have released parts 1 – 3 of their joint report series for a Municipal Bank of LA. Part 1 speaks to the public bank’s capacity to increase affordable housing. Part 2 pioneers strategies for democratic governance of financial institutions. Part 3 explores how the public bank could build community wealth in part by helping employees …
A new paper published by Save the Post Office, Take On Wall Street, and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund takes a hard look at the real world challenges of the unbanked and how the Post Office could restart its successful historical services and provide accessible low-cost basic banking services. The report describes how the current pilot …
A new national effort to reclaim the importance and power of public institutions got underway at a symposium held last week at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Entitled “Unleash the Power of Public Options”, leaders from a broad cross-section of public campaigns and organizations gathered to identify and discuss how critical public interest concerns have been …
As the banking crisis lingers on, PBI Chair Ellen Brown examines the role inherently fraudulent short selling played in recent bank failures. Ellen writes: Many banks have major unrealized losses on their balance sheets, yet they have not been subjected to runs by depositors. The runs on First Republic and Silicon Valley Bank were evidently …
Public Banking As Mayor, Brandon Johnson Should Establish a Public Bank in Chicago | Saqib Bhatti, In These Times Can Public Banking Save the Financial System and Prevent Consolidation and a Credit Crunch? | Robert Stark, The Unz Review Current Bank Crashes Demonstrate Why We Need Public Banking | Trinity Tran, LA Progressive Letter to the editor: Change needed to end cycle …
PBI Chair Ellen Brown joins a roundtable on May 2, 12:00 – 1:30pm ET, entitled “Should New York State Establish Public Banks” hosted by Senator James Sanders, Jr., Chair of the Senate Banks Committee. Additional speakers include Andy Morrison, Associate Director, New Economy Project; Stephen Cohen, Executive VP, Pursuit Lending Finance; and Anders Tomson, President & CEO Chemung …
A new memo by Earl Staelin, attorney and Chair of the Rocky Mountain Public Banking Institute, argues that FDIC membership and the holding of 100% collateral generally required for a bank charter are “completely unnecessary for public banks that follow the Bank of North Dakota (BND) model and would substantially undermine their profitability and effectiveness.” As the FDIC …
PBI Chair Ellen Brown latest article in ScheerPost exposes the behind-the-scenes coordinated attack on crypto banks that brought about the latest banking crisis. The apparent political execution of these solvent banks has implications for public bank initiatives. Ellen writes: Cryptocurrency experts Caitlin Long and Nic Carter take the opposite view [from SEC Chair Gary Gensler]. They acknowledge the …
On April 20, Jain Family Institute (JFI) and Berggruen Institute released an introductory working paper, the first in a joint report series that is aimed at providing the city with a template for the programs and administrative structure of a municipal public bank that can best serve the public interest. These reports were initiated by Los Angeles City Council’s unanimous …
PBI Advisory Board member Thomas Marois and Public Services International has just published a policy brief entitled “The potential of public banks to fund local quality public services: A policy brief for workers and trade unions” In this introductory video, Thomas explains that the motivation for this paper was to address the huge gap in awareness and …
