The Importance of County-owned Banks

[eridani]

http://publicbankinginstitute.org/county-banks.htm

This issue of PBI’s monthly newsletter is meant to showcase what some of us are working on at the county level. Public banking is not a difficult concept – it’s just regular depository banking, but with the owner being the people, as represented by city, county and state governments. There are numerous implications, however, which primarily involve governance. And, yes, local governance may be messy, but it is far superior to the existing corporate-controlled governance coming out of D.C., which, instead of issuing debt-free money, has handed to banks the monopolistic power over money creation. At least citizens, using a public bank, have the power to make affordable loans for the benefit of their own city, county, or state.

And a few of us, from Berks County in Pennsylvania to Alameda County, California, are doing just that.

In Sonoma County, a small team of us are putting into place the relationships needed to create a county-owned bank. In addition to leverage local tax dollars to support the local economy and infrastructure, county banks hold the promise of being a B2B mutual credit exchange, plus being able to issue local currency, much like Citibank's frequent flier miles -- only to aid local businesses in the circulation of goods and services. But there's hard work to do: First, get a champion; second, get the local university to commit resources; third, get business associations and a few banks on board; fourth, expand the coaltion; fifth, go for a vote with the county supervisors. In Sonoma County, we’ll get to a vote sometime late winter or spring.

Meanwhile, PBI has added a county bank section to its website. Be sure to check it regularly or, better yet, make the effort yourself to build consensus around your own county bank. If you are interested in developing your own county bank, be sure to join us every Thursday, from now through November 15th.