by Anthony Colombo | Jan 21, 2017 | Local Economies, National, News, Public Bank, Public Banking
On Nov. 4, Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant proposed legislation to allow credit unions and community banks to manage the deposits of the city, deposits that are currently managed by Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has been caught defrauding customers while giving...
by Anthony Colombo | Jan 18, 2017 | Commercial Banking, National, News, Public Bank, Public Banking, Santa Fe
Come the fall, the city government could sever ties with a bank that’s helping to fund the Dakota Access Pipeline. Santa Fe in 2013 approved a four-year contract with Wells Fargo, agreeing to pay the bank about $449,000 over the period for fiscal agent services. But...
by Anthony Colombo | Jan 16, 2017 | Local Economies, National, News, Public Bank, Public Banking
PUBLIC banks have an excellent track record in helping states and cities finance infrastructure, among other public services. In his Jan. 1 guest column, Michael Waite overlooks this fact, failing to mention that North Dakota has used a state-owned bank for nearly 100...
by Anthony Colombo | Dec 16, 2016 | Local Economies, National, News, Print Media, Public Bank, Public Banking, Santa Fe
Photo: The First Bank of the United States in Philadelphia. (Teemu008 / CC BY-SA 2.0) Mayor Javier Gonzales of Santa Fe, N.M., was defiant when he spoke with National Public Radio’s Kelly McEversin November. Donald Trump had just won the election after running...
by Anthony Colombo | Dec 15, 2016 | Environment, National, News, Public Bank, Public Banking
Photo by Adam Johansson In 1918 in Bismarck, North Dakota, populist socialism won big: The Nonpartisan League, a political party founded by poor farmers and former labor organizers, captured both houses of the North Dakota Legislature. Farmers had been badly hurt by...
by Anthony Colombo | Dec 11, 2016 | Local Economies, National, News, Print Media, Public Bank, Santa Fe
It was the windswept dust bowl in one of the most rural states in the country that forged America’s one and only public bank. The North Dakota public bank was launched in 1919 after farmers and ranchers, burdened with credit and harsh weather, saw land repossessed by...