Talk: Public Banking: Democratizing Finance [] Center for Global Justice

So much of our economic life is controlled by banks — private banks. When we need money we go to them for loans. And they charge us high interest. When our local governments collect taxes, they deposit the money in private banks, who then use it for loans or even speculate with it for their profit. But what if we the people controlled the money instead? That’s what the State of North Dakota did a century ago when they established what is the country’s only publicly owned bank. Still today it is one of our healthiest banks and it has contributed to the health of the state’s economy, giving low interest loans to farmers and local businesses and students as well as local governments for infrastructure projects. The interest they pay goes back into the State treasury, helping to keep taxes low. Without a public bank state revenue might have been deposited in Citibank and left the state for Wall Street. The public bank keeps it in state where it can create shared prosperity.