Seattle City Councilmembers push for Public Bank study
Municipal banks continue to take strong strides forward in major cities in the wake of successes made by the divest movement. In Seattle earlier this year, indigenous activists successfully pushed the city to end its relationship with Wells Fargo due to the bank’s financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline and its long list of scandals. Now Councilmember Kshama Sawant is calling for $200,000 budget allocation to fund a Public Bank feasibility study. Sawant’s proposal says studying a municipal bank is “especially timely” because of the Wells Fargo divestment.
How you can help Seattle pass this proposal… [read more]
International News: The Guardian: British banks can’t be trusted let’s nationalise them
Owen Jones in The Guardian publishes a blistering attack on the British private banking system that pulls out all the pillars propping up any rationale that private banking is a good thing. Decisive examples build the case there is no reasonable alternative to public ownership, now supported by half the British electorate.
The Guardian: “Our finance system is rigged in favour of a crisis-ridden City to reap profits for individuals. It’s time these institutions worked for the good of communities. Britain’s privately run banks have proved a disaster for everyone except their shareholders. The only good alternative is public stakeholder banks, run by workers, consumers and local authorities, with an obligation to defend the best interests of our communities. Privately owned banks have proved a catastrophic failure – for our economy, our social cohesion and our politics. There is surely no alternative to public ownership.” [read more]
PBI Twitter relaunched: follow @PublicBanksNow
Continuing with our media expansion efforts, PBI has relaunched our Twitter account. Expect to see breaking news, useful resources, and retweets from allies around the world. Please follow us @PublicBanksNow, retweet and share.
Sign petition to support LA City Public Bank
Public Bank LA has launched a petition on Change.org in support of Los Angeles City Council interest in creating a Public Bank of Los Angeles. You can show your support for the efforts in Los Angeles by signing the petition.
It’s Our Money podcast: Paying for Catastrophe
In the latest “It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown” podcast, Ellen talks with law professor Tim Canova. Whether a flood, fire, hurricanes or a failed financial system, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury have the means to address big financial challenges in a variety of ways – if they want to. Recent devastations challenge our understanding of how to pay for recovery, but when we look back to our not-so-distant past, answers emerge in a clear and encouraging way. Ellen’s guest, Law Professor Tim Canova, is an expert on banking, finance and the Federal Reserve, and candidate for the Congressional seat of Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida. [listen]
Want to get involved? Register to join our monthly Coalition conference calls.
Once a month, PBI hosts an hour-long Public Banking Coalition conference call when we introduce the concept of Public Banks, discuss current issues and give updates on the advances being made for Public Banks all across the country. Calls take place at 12:00pm ET / 9:00am PT on 2nd Fridays of each month.
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