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Like most progressive issues in the US these days, this issue has taken a lot of inspiration from Europe, notably in Germany where public banks have been around
by dluan 7y ago
Like most progressive issues in the US these days, this issue has taken a lot of inspiration from Europe, notably in Germany where public banks have been around for a while. The public banks there help to fund infrastructure investments and renewable energy projects.
The recent effort in LA probably successfully pushed the issue the furthest, despite not passing the vote. It got the issue to resurface after the initial interest from the VC-funded weed startups.
Bob Hasegawa, a Washington state senator, has also spent a lot of time advocating for a public bank in Washington and Seattle.
- dluan 7y agoAlso, if you're interested in the nitty gritty of the recent LA vote - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra4sgDlalgA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra4sgDlalgA is a great discussion with some of the organizers behind the effort.
- hollerith 7y agoThe US federal government and the 50 US state governments have been deeply involved in banking for many decades -- as regulators. What would be new is for the government of a US city to become involved in banking. Which leads me to ask you, Do any of the Kreise (roughly analogous to the county governments of the US) or the Gemeinden (municipal governments) of Germany operate a bank?
- dluan 7y agoThe Bank of North Dakota is a state owned enterprise. It operates ~$8B in assets. In 2017, it recorded record profits for the 14th year in a row. It survived the 2008 financial crisis and is serving its citizens just fine.
- hollerith 7y agoOK, but operating a bank is not particularly different IMHO from regulating the hell out of the banks with branches in your territory, which again all 50 US states have been doing for decades. (Very small US state governments with no particular opinions on how to regulate banks will probably have copied the regulations of a larger state government.) My question was whether any European city operates (or regulates) a bank. (I'm almost certain that at least some of the larger European and US cities run their own pension funds, but I want to know if the government of some European city offers bank-like services to people other than its employees.)
- dluan 7y agoSure. In Scotland for example, municipal banks are everywhere. North Lanarkshire, West Lothian, North Ayrshire, Clydebank, and East Dunbartonshire Municipal Bank all take deposits and lend to borrowers. They do everything you'd expect a commercial bank would do.
- germanier 7y ago> Do any of the Kreise (roughly analogous to the county governments of the US) or the Gemeinden (municipal governments) of Germany operate a bank Yes. In every place[1] either one or the other owns a public bank (although through mergers nowadays often two or three share one through a Zweckverband). See this list: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Sparkassen_in_Deutschland https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Sparkassen_in_Deutsc... [1]: Except Bremen, Hamburg, and some places in Schleswig-Holstein in which another kind of public bank exists.
- dredmorbius 7y agoThere is a history of postal banking (1911-1967) and state-owned / territorial banks (North Dakota, Puerto Rico) in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Savings_S... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_North_Dakota https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_North_Dakota https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico_Government_Development_Bank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico_Government_Develop...