permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Permaculture Credit Union
Santa Fe, New Mexico

[I have been unable to access their website. Have they moved to a new
location?]


<>

Senator's bill to study state-run bank considered long shot | Economy |
NewsObserver.com
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/19/2761303/senators-bill-to-create-state.html
 By Deon Roberts — deroberts@charlotteobserver.com

In a state that’s a hub for banking, an N.C. senator is sponsoring a bill
that even she admits has little chance of passage.
Her measure calls for a study of a potential state-owned bank.
Eleanor Kinnaird, a Chapel Hill Democrat who says she has “very little love
for this industry,” is the primary – and so far only – sponsor for Senate
Bill 150, which calls for the creation of a commission to study the impact
of a state-owned bank that would receive deposits of state funds.
If Kinnaird is successful, North Carolina would become the second state to
have a state-owned bank. The only state with one is North Dakota.
Kinnaird’s bill doesn’t call for the creation of a state-run bank – only a
study on the issue – but if such a bank were created, public dollars that
state agencies now deposit in privately run banks would be deposited into
the state-run bank.
Kinnaird, who’s 81 and serving her ninth Senate term, sees a state-run bank
as a buffer from “bad banks” that contributed to the collapse of the
economy.
A state-run bank, she said, would be set up “not to make bad loans.”
“A lot of people say, ‘Why should we be captive to the banks who are not
acting in the best interest of our people?’ ” she said. “I think the
banking industry has not served the common good.”
The North Carolina Investment Trust, as the bill says the bank would be
called, could be a competitor to financial institutions that are already
being used to deposit state money. The bill says one of the commission’s
tasks would be to study the “extent to which the trust should be allowed to
compete with retail-banking establishments operating in North Carolina.”
Motivated by what she calls “very bad behavior” of those in the banking
industry who “brought down the economy,” Kinnaird said her wish is that, if
nothing else, the bill will start a statewide discussion about the
possibility of a state-run bank.
But Kinnaird, who introduced similar legislation last year, has already
acknowledged the long odds. She said a state-run bank is simply “not a
possibility here” in North Carolina.
Likewise, some in the industry don’t expect the bill to gain much traction.
“I can’t imagine it ever becoming law,” said Harry Davis, economist for the
North Carolina Bankers Association, headquartered in Raleigh.
“I can’t imagine the state needs another bank that the private sector
couldn’t provide us with.”
But that doesn’t mean North Carolina’s banking industry isn’t paying
attention to the bill.
Nathan Batts, senior vice president and counsel for the bankers
association, said a state-run bank would compete against privately run
banks. A state-run bank would also create “an expansion of state government
when we are trying to create efficiencies in North Carolina,” he said.
Kinnaird, who represents Senate District 23, which is composed of Chatham
and Orange counties, said she wants to emulate the success of Bank of North
Dakota. That bank, she said, has stabilized that state’s economy “and led
to a flourishing, thriving citizenry.”
The North Dakota legislature created the Bank of North Dakota in 1919 to
help the state’s agriculture industry as farmers faced rising interest
rates, according to the bank’s website.
Rick Clayburgh, president and CEO of the North Dakota Bankers Association,
said the Bank of North Dakota “has a great reputation, and it’s well
respected by the private-sector banks in North Dakota.”
State agencies must deposit their funds with the bank, he said, adding that
the bank also provides services to privately run banks and offers checking
and savings accounts to North Dakotans. But, he said, there are no branches
across the state – just the one headquarters building in the state capital,
Bismarck – and no online banking service.
“It might not work in another state,” he said. “If we did not have a
state-owned bank today … I don’t know if our legislature would do it. It
just happened to come along at the right time.”
The N.C. bill has been referred to the Senate’s Committee on Rules and
Operations, awaiting assignment to a committee to start to consider the
legislation. Observers say study bills are sometimes rolled up in larger
study bills toward the end of the legislative session.
With banks wielding a lot of influence in North Carolina, Kinnaird isn’t
expecting much.
“I’m David and they’re Goliath,” she said.
Roberts: 704-358-5248; Twitter: @DeonERoberts
Read more here:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/19/2761303/senators-bill-to-create-state.html#storylink=cpy
>From Steve Peterson:
Friends,

Senator Ellie Kinnaird has submitted a bill to study public banking for
North Carolina and it was written up in the News and Observer and in the
Charlotte Observer. Please see the link below.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/19/2761303/
senators-bill-to-create-state.html

It is critical for this bill to be heard in the NC Legislature. Surely the
chance of saving large amounts of tax money is worth the cost of the study.
I would encourage you to write letters to the editor, share this idea with
your friends, and contact your state legislator to support it.

Public banks can support financing for public works projects at a lower
cost than going to the bond market. Public banks can also support local
businesses,
a critical part of our local economy that national banks avoid because
small businesses are not big enough for them. North Dakota has had a public
bank
for 90 years and it has been very effective at supporting local businesses;
we could learn a lot from them. You can get more information
about public banks at the website for the Public Banking Institute

<>

Public Banking Institute
<http://publicbankinginstitute.org/> http://publicbankinginstitute.org/ Public
Banking -- it already works in the United States and is catching on! 20
States are considering some form of state banking legislation.Public Banks
are ...
• Viable solutions to the present economic crises in US states.
• Counter-cyclical, meaning they are capable of reducing the negative
impact of recessions, because they can make money available for local
governments and businesses precisely when private banks decrease lending.
• Potentially available to any-sized government or community
able to meet the requirements for setting up a bank.
• Owned by the people of a state or community.
• Economically sustainable, because they operate transparently according to
applicable banking regulations
• Able to offset pressures for tax increases with returned credit income to
the community.
• Ready sources of affordable credit for local governments, eliminating the
need for large “rainy day” funds.
• Required to promote the public interest, as defined in their
charters.
• Constitutional, as ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court

... and are not
 • Operated by politicians; rather, they are run by professional
bankers.
• Boondoggles for bank executives; rather, their employees are
salaried public servants (paid by the state, with a transparent pay
structure) who would likely not earn bonuses, commissions or fees for
generating loans.
• Speculative ventures that maximize profits in the short term,
without regard to the long-term interests of the public.

Common Misperceptions of Public Banking
 In every venue in which PBI has presented the case for public banking, we
have heard very similar counter arguments against it. Read them
here<http://publicbankinginstitute.org/misperceptions>.

http://publicbankinginstitute.org/misperceptions
Read what Thomas
Edison<http://publicbankinginstitute.org/thomas-edison-article>had to
say about the government issuing money rather than bonds.
http://publicbankinginstitute.org/thomas-edison-article

Why Public Banking?
 Public banking frees the credit potential of public revenues and then
harnesses this public wealth to create sustainable, abundant and affordable
credit.
This credit -- our credit -- supports our economy and citizens if it is
then used to build economic capacity (think renewable energy, sustainable
agriculture, etc. -- things that private banks do not fund).
PBI is committed to public banking becoming a mainstay of support for the
new economy.

Did You Know ...?
 Public banking was first introduced to the middle colonies in America by
the Quakers in the original colony of Pennsylvania.
Read about it on page 442 of Ben Franklin's
memoirs<http://books.google.com/books?id=SrIEAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA441&ots=QI9ZbqxABJ&dq=franklin%201764%20%22board%20of%20trade%22%20%22paper%20money%22&pg=PA442#v=onepage&q&f=false>.
Other colonial governments also established publicly-owned banks.
The concept was later embraced by the State of North Dakota, the only state
to currently operate its own bank.

As of the spring of 2010, North Dakota was also the only state sporting a
major budget surplus;
it had the lowest unemployment and default rates in the
country<http://publicbankinginstitute.org/bnd-numbers>;
and it had the most community
banks per capita, suggesting that the presence of a state-owned bank has
helped, not hurt, the local banks. More ..