UPDATE: In front of a packed hearing room, the City of Philadelphia’s City Council voted unanimously to begin public hearings on creation of a local pubic bank. Public banking proposals are popping up all over the country. The Cities of Santa Fe and Philadelphia have had recent breakthroughs. In Tucson, Mayor Johnathan Rothschild’s recent newsletter…
[UPDATE: The US Conference of Mayors did pass the “Mayors Resolution on Strengthening Municipal Finances.” Mayor Rothschild did not attend the conference.] At their upcoming meeting on June 19-22, the US Conference of Mayors will be considering hundreds of resolutions on everything from gun safety to tax incentives to jobs and education. Tucked into that…
The US Congress could consider allowing fast track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in the near future. Read this timely piece in Counter Punch by Ellen Brown, prolific author, public banking guru and founder of the Public Banking Institute. “The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of…
We are much obliged to Mr. Robert G. Brown, a public banking advocate for scheduling a meeting for us with Pima County District 1 Supervisor Ally Miller. We met with her in her in her office today for about an hour. We presented “Top 10 Reasons for Public Banking” power point. She was especially interested to…
Life was hard in the West at the turn of the 20th Century. Many farms had no electricity or running water. The western spirit was– and still is– fiercely independent, self-reliant, and skeptical of Easterners. Farmers were particularly leery of Wall Street bankers and railroad barons because they believed they were being treated unfairly. Wall…
Austerity is a lie. We have plenty of money. The problem is that it is being gambled on Wall Street, instead of being invested on Main Street. That is the message of public banking. The State of Arizona– and 48 other states– allow billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to be invested for the benefit…
As we travel around Arizona and present our public banking dog and pony show, we have been gathering data and supporter names for our website and for our email list. What have we learned from our supporters? People understand the need for low-cost loans, they want to build our public education system, and they don’t…
Interesting articles on public banking, Wall Street, and cooperative action… How Nebraska Took Its Energy Out of Corporate Hands and Made It Affordable for Everyone Electric power by and for the people: check out this story about electric cooperatives and other publicly owned utilities providing power to $1.8 million people in Nebraska. This harkens back…
For the past year, Arizonans for a New Economy Co-Directors Jim Hannley and Pamela Powers-Hannley have been giving presentations and promoting public banking throughout Southern Arizona. And the work continues into 2015. Most recently, we spoke to Sustainable Tucson in December and to the Mountain Vista Unitarian Universalist Church in January. Check out the video presentations…
We remain convinced, judging by the evidence and the experience with long standing public banking in North Dakota that public banking immensely benefits community banks. We have lamented our lack to date of engaging a community bank to partner with us so we do not have to continue to represent their interests on their behalf. We…
Arizonans for a New Economy 