April 29, 2023 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…
Bank of North Dakota, the only public bank in the US, didn’t sit on its #COVID19 relief funds. Working with local community banks, it has distributed more funds per capita to workers through Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) than in any other state. This is in sharp contrast to Arizona, which has distributed a fraction of…
In June, we had the honor of being in Princeton, New Jersey on the night Phil Murphy won the Democratic Party Primary for governor. Tea-Party-Tax-Cut-King Governor Chris Christie is termed out, so this is an open seat. Many Legislators across the country– including Tucson’s LD9 Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley– have campaigned and won on a…
Jimmy Tobias of The Nation offers a comprehensive look at city-based public banking efforts in Oakland, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico. He also provides background on the only public bank in the US—the Bank of North Dakota—and offers solid economic reasons why cities and states should consider establishing a public bank. From Seattle to…
The state of Arizona has been cutting taxes every year for more than 25 years in an attempt to spur economic development. So far trickle down economics hasn’t worked well. Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley introduced HB2532 to establish a feasibility study to collect baseline data regarding the benefits of establishing an Arizona state bank. Powers…
During the third week of June, hundreds of southwestern Quakers met for their annual gathering at Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico. The theme was “About Money: a call to Integrity, Community and Stewardship”. While there, I spoke about Quakers’ history with public banking, and about the explosion in public banking efforts happening across our…
Futurists tell us that there won’t be enough work in the future because technology will replace workers who now do repetitious or low-skilled work. This has prompted Libertarians (who want smaller government) and Progressives (who want to guarantee a social safety net for workers) to look at the idea of basic income. Would it be…
In the name of economic development, Rio Nuevo and Pima County are poised to dole out $70 million in corporate welfare to two big corporations– $50 million to Caterpillar and $20 million to World View. Ironically, one day before the Rio Nuevo Board announced the multi-million-dollar Caterpillar package for Tucson, I posted this article on…
During this political season, we have heard a lot about too-big-to-fail banks, corporate greed, politicians on the take, bad trade deals, inequality and … starting a revolution to save the middle class. Just over 100 years ago, at the dawn of the first American Progressive Era, the same conditions sparked a revolution which spread…
For the second year in a row, Southern Arizona Senator Andrea Dalessandro’s task force bill to study creation of a state-owned passed the Arizona Senate’s Financial Institutions Committee. This year’s bipartisan vote was 6-1 with only Senator Gail Griffin, also from Southern Arizona, voting no. In the highly polarized Legislature where many bills sponsored by…
Arizonans for a New Economy 