“Ethical Markets is a proud supporter of the Public Banking Institute and we congratulate founder and Chair Ellen Brown, J.D. author of the Public Bank Solution, to which I was honored to write the Foreword, for the great victory in New Jersey!
~Hazel Henderson, Editor “
Sante Fe Task Force reports no insurmountable issues, heard public input at Public Bank forum
The City of Santa Fe’s nine-member Public Bank Task Force, appointed by Mayor Gonzales and the Santa Fe City Council, held a Public Forum this week and invited input from the general public.
Public Banking Institute Board Member Nichoe Lichen was among those presenting and gives this report:
On Nov 20th, the City of Santa Fe’s Public Bank Task Force hosted a 2 1/2 hour public meeting to share their findings at the mid-point of a very intense, six-month process, and to listen to the public’s vision for what a Public Bank could do for Santa Fe. The public was also asked to respond to the idea of an Altruistic Bank, where the public could deposit their private funds (the German Sparkasse model).
Chair, David Buchholtz opened by summarizing the Legal questions identified in the thorough legal memorandum prepared for the City, and reported that while some legal issues like the anti-donation clause may need further investigation, none appeared to be insurmountable. [read more]
CA Lt Gov candidate Gayle McLaughlin declares CA needs a Public Bank
Another high-profile politician running for office in a powerful state takes a strong stand for creating a Public Bank. Gayle McLaughlin, former mayor of Richmond and no stranger to standing up to Wall Street, declared last week that California needs a Public Bank. “Our Money, Our Power!”
McLaughlin writes:
“A Public Bank of California would be a great way for us to use our money to invest in our communities, financing a plethora of public projects and kickstarting local businesses. And we’ll loosen Wall Street’s stranglehold on our neighbors. No more Wells Fargo selling us phony products! [read more]
What Wall St Costs America: New subprime boom, same old scam. Now people have stopped paying their auto loans
After the subprime mortgage fraud scam exploded, Wall Street was left scrambling for new securities machines that would generate the same guaranteed record profit. They looked for and found other corners of the loan industry to infect. One of these chosen dark corners was the auto industry.
As Bloomberg calls it, the scam is “classic subprime: hasty loans, rapid defaults, and at times outright fraud.”
Dealers partnered with financing engines, such as the partnership Fiat Chrysler made with Banco Santander, to create powerful subprime machines.
Predictably, Wall Street rewarded loans given without verifying incomes or jobs. [read more]
What Wall St Costs America: Paradise Papers show your retirement cash is in the Caymans making money for hedge fund managers
Offshore tax havens aren’t just for the global elite, it turns out. Local government officials have sent hundreds of billions of dollars of public sector workers’ retirement savings to the same white shored beaches used by the rich and famous. If local governments instead held public funds in Public Banks, they’d avoid steep hedge fund manager fees, avoid “shenanigans” risk, and be able to extend credit to make money for the public good instead of for billionaires.
David Sirota and Lydia O’Neal posted in the International Business Times their recent investigation into the tidal wave of cash that has flowed from public pension systems into private equity, hedge funds, venture capital firms and real estate — more than a third of which flows through vehicles housed in the Caymans.
IBT:
“With so many of the investments now running through a maze of shell companies … the outflow creates the conditions for rampant fee abuse and financial shenanigans — and prevents pension officials and law enforcement officials from even knowing exactly where billions of dollars of public money is being held. [read more]
Black money projects are killing the economy: interview with Ellen Brown
Sarah Westhall, host of the national radio show “Business Game Changers,” recently interviewed PBI Chair Ellen Brown to discuss the shape of our economy.
Ellen Brown:
“Every 20 or 30 years we have changed the monetary system. We can and we will change it again. That’s what the Federal Reserve did in 2008 … they started just lending free money to the banks, which they hadn’t done before, and called it Quantitative Easing. …
If [the Chinese] have some bad loans, they just write them off. Because nobody’s hurt — nobody actually put up the money. The money was just created as an accounting entry, so you can write off those accounting entries if you need to, to save your economy. You don’t need to force austerity on people who didn’t do it, who weren’t liable for it, who weren’t at fault. We pretend like money is actually owed to someone, but it’s not. It was created as credit on the books — it can be written off. [read more]