[Occupymendocino] Come to City Council FB tonight Monday 10 Dec. 6 pm

[Jessie Lee VanSant]

Hi Folks,

Agnes asked me to send this out and invite all who can to come to Fort
Bragg City Council meeting tonight as she plans to read this letter and
present it to City Council.

Hope you can make it.

JL


********************************************************************


Good evening Fort Bragg City Council Members,


Thank you for this opportunity to talk about what I've learned regarding

public banking.

          I believe if you are interested in taking direct control of Fort
Bragg's foreclosure problem, it can be resolved by using existing banking
laws along with eminent domain. The City or county applies to its state
banking regulatory body for a state bank charter. All states define the
requirements for charters and oversee the compliance according to an
article I read at www.nationalcommonwealthclubgroup.net.  Much of the
following applies to county as well as city public banks:See the website
for the City of San Francisco at the end of this letter for a CA precedent.


     Once a charter is granted, a bank can commence with normal banking
activities that conform to internationally accepted processes and

procedures. The above group advocates that a local public bank not

offer retail banking services to the general public. The fundamental

banking activity is the ability to create credit(money). As explained on
the Federal Reserve Banks, Bank of Dallas under a section called "How Banks
Create Money". Banks actually create money when they lend it.


     When a bank creates credit for a borrower, it does not reach into a

pool of existing funds, but rather creates that credit simply with

an accounting entry. (For example When it gives you a car loan of $30,000.
it does so by entering a liability on the bank's balance sheet to give you
$30,000 and is offset by an entry on the asset side of its balance sheet
represented by the loan document you signed. (The bank doesn't have to get
the money from depositors or anyone else, but creates it out of thin air.)


 The only constraint on how much credit money banks can create is based on
the long standing convention that limits the amount available to a multiple
of the bank's assets.  That varies by jurisdiction (i.e. conditions set by
local regulators) and the prevailing economic climate, but averages about
10 times, ie. for every $1 in assets owned by the bank, it is allowed to
create $10 in loans....


So if, for example, the county or city owned $100 million in net assets,

that county bank would have the credit generating capacity of up to $1

billion, that is, it can create up to $1 billion out of thin air, just

like any other bank, money that it can make available to its own citizens

because the bank and the citizens own those assets.


 How can the county use this credit creating ability to solve its

foreclosure problem?  It takes just two steps according to the Commonwealth
Group:


  1. The County issues a moratorium on all foreclosures, requiring that all
mortgage holders deal with the county bank instead of instituting

foreclosure procedures against property owners.....and

 2. The county bank buys distressed real estate loans from existing
lenders, just as the Federal Reserve did by buying toxic assets from the
Wall Street Banks. The county bank acquires those loans by creating a
credit account for the current mortgage holder in the amount of the fair
market purchase price for each loan/property. This now puts the distressed
mortgage in the hands of the county.  This benefits every one: the county
or the city, the home owner and the mortgage holder-especially if it is a
local bank.


    Also note p.5 and 6 of the above website to see how Congress can help
regarding reasons for separating county banks from FDIC and forming a
separate corporation, such as a holding company.  This information can be
crosschecked at www.publicbankinginstitute.org, contact Mark Armstrong
there.  Occupy Mendocino hopes to host either Mark Armstrong and/or Susan
Harmon from the Public Banking Institute to speak to our community and to
you about the opportunities of creating a Public Bank.


As a precedent, read the City of San Francisco explores a revolutionary new
model.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/municipal-bank-sanfrancisco-n-1074600.html


MCTV  will air the first of a 3 part series on the Foreclosure Town Hall
Meeting (sponsored by Occupy Mendocino) on Wednesday Dec.

12, 2012.

Thank you for your attention,

Agnes Woolsey


-- 
OCCUPY MENDOCINO (the Mendocino Coast) and the Global OCCUPY Movement want
government of the *people*, by the *people*, and for the *people* - *not** *of
the *corporations*, by the *lobbyists*, and for the *richest 1%*.
We *stand* with those who have lost their homes, their jobs, their savings,
retirements, pensions, and health insurance.
We *stand* with those who struggle to put food on the table and who now
work MORE for MUCH LESS.
We *stand* with the elderly, vulnerable, veterans, laborers, working
people, students, teachers, unions, children and our planet.
                            *PLEASE JOIN US*
www.OccupyMendocino.net
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