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How to find a bank that shares your commitment to the environment
By Sarah Kiley Wilson, Popular Science – One effective way to make actual change in your life is by putting your money where your mouth is. Whether that’s buying your clothing second-hand or shopping for food locally to bring down the carbon footprint of your groceries, there’s a lot that you can do if you’re trying to make the world a little greener with your own green. So why not invest your money in a bank that shares some of those same principles?
‘Watershed moment’ as NM gears for clean energy transition
By Kevin Johnson-Avila, Albuquerque Journal – New Mexico’s economic foundations are rumbling with change as the state and nation embark on an accelerated path to a non-carbon economy, inspiring local leaders to seize the moment in collaborative efforts to embrace the forthcoming transformation. “It’s a watershed moment in history, and we can’t afford to miss the opportunity. It’s too important not to pay attention and do something. We need to put things in place with the objectives, strategies and means to embrace it.”
How America Went From Mom-and-Pop Capitalism to Techno-Feudalism
By Ellen Brown, Scheerpost – Global lockdowns have eliminated competition from small and medium-sized businesses, allowing monopolies and oligopolies to grow. By May 2020, about one in four Americans had filed for unemployment, with over 40 million Americans filing jobless claims; and 200,000 more businesses closed in 2020 than the historical annual average. Meanwhile, US billionaires collectively increased their total net worth by $1.1 trillion during the last 10 months of 2020; and 46 people joined the billionaire class.
Black Economic Council of Mass. makes forming a public bank a top legislative priority
By Jon Chesto, Boston Globe – The Black Economic Council of Massachusetts is throwing its newfound political muscle behind an unusual cause this year on Beacon Hill: persuading lawmakers to start a public bank. Worried that Black-owned businesses will be left behind in the recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, the council is pushing for the formation of a state-backed lending institution that would help provide low-cost financing and close some of the longstanding inequities in the economy.
How to Start (and Run) a Bank That Puts People and Planet Over Profits
By Oscar Perry Abello, Next City – More banks know now there’s plenty of profits to be made from environmentally responsible lending — and they know younger generations of consumers want to see it. It’s a good moment to take a look back at how New Resource Bank, despite never being a very large bank, contributed to that global shift. And it starts with: “Where does your money spend the night?”
Postal Banking in the U.S.? It’s Not as Unlikely as It Sounds
By Editorial Board, Bloomberg – Should U.S. post offices also be banks? Lately, a group of legislators including Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been championing the idea as a way to address economic inequality. It might seem far-fetched, given how the postal service has been struggling recently to even deliver the mail. But the idea shouldn’t be dismissed.
How Rural Electric Cooperatives Can Support a Green New Deal
By Wan R. Smith and Philip Fracica, Nonprofit Quarterly – Today, as President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure bill is debated in Congress, it’s worth recalling that this isn’t the first time the US has faced an infrastructure deficit. “By the 1930s nearly 90 percent of US urban dwellers had electricity, but 90 percent of rural homes were without power. Investor-owned utilities often denied service to rural areas, citing high development costs and low profit margins,” recalls one account.
Rural Distress and the Concentration of Financial and Economic Power
By Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance – Rural America is in crisis, and the gap between struggling rural towns and coastal supercities is growing ever wider. Much of this distress stems from the concentration of corporate and financial power, which is centralizing wealth in the hands of the few while wiping out the independent businesses and well-paying jobs that are the foundation of rural economies.
Sen. James Sanders’ public banking bill: How it could work in New York
By Susan Arbetter, City of Albany – Under Sen. Sanders’ “New York Public Banking Act” (S1762A/A5782), a bank would be controlled by a government body rather than by private investors. Additionally, the public bank would be an institutional lender — in other words, a bank that other banks turn to for loans, not one at which individuals would open checking accounts.
Take On Wall Street With Local Banking
By Ben Frogel, The American Conservative – Local banks and credit unions foster a sense of community and place, are far removed from the culture wars in Washington, and enable local businesses to stay afloat against the tide of homogenization. Conservatives should readily take up the mantle of public banking, which helps locally owned businesses, frees municipal budgets from Wall Street, and promotes the decentralization of banking power. Conservatives can look to North Dakota’s state bank as an example of how and why.
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Episode: Everyone deserves a public bank
“I had the good fortune to work on this initiative before Bernie kidnapped all my time. This is one of those no-brainer initiatives that only the 1% could oppose. It has the potential to save the state millions of dollars by vastly reducing the cost of its bonds to improve infrastructure funding. in a public bank, our state funds can be used to build our local economy and our local infrastructure.”
– Paul Gibson
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