[Occupymendocino] Fwd: Public Banking Institute's new director, Gwendolyn Hallsmith -- on KZYX, Friday, April 4 at 9 a.m.

[agnes at mcn.org]

Occupiers,
      Please read the complete message. Vermont's progress on a state
Public Bank.
Agnes

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Fwd: Public Banking Institute's new director, Gwendolyn Hallsmith
-- on KZYX, Friday, April 4 at 9 a.m.
From:    "Val Muchowski" <vjmuchowski at gmail.com>
Date:    Thu, April 3, 2014 11:29 am
To:      "Robin Sunbeam" <robinsunbeam at sbcglobal.net>
         agnes at mcn.org
         "Jessie Lee VanSant" <vjessielee at gmail.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <sako4 at comcast.net>
Date: Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 11:17 AM
Subject: Public Banking Institute's new director, Gwendolyn Hallsmith -- on
KZYX, Friday, April 4 at 9 a.m.
To: John and Shannon <sako4 at comcast.net>


*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***

"All About Money", with host, John Sakowicz, returns to KZYX on Friday,
April 4, at 9 a.m., Pacific Time, with a special edition show with the
Public Banking Institute's new executive director, Gwendolyn Hallsmith. She
will discuss Vermont's initiative to make a public banking a reality in
Vermont.

Senate Bill 204 would grant the Vermont Economic Development Authority
(VEDA)  a banking license and would further direct 10 percent of the
Treasurer's bank deposits to VEDA for investment in Vermont.

We hope to be also joined by Vermont State Senator Anthony Pollina who
introduced S. 204.


BACKGROUND

Earlier this month, AP reported in "Over a Dozen Towns Support Public Bank
Idea" that "The majority of communities asked to support the creation of a
public bank in Vermont have approved the measure at town meetings.

"Supporters argue that instead of keeping its money in large global banking
institutions, the state could save money, create jobs and eventually
generate revenue by creating a state bank.

"The proposal would turn the Vermont Economic Development Authority, a
nonprofit agency that makes loans, into a bank. A bill pending in the
Legislature would put 10 percent of the state's funds into it."

John Nichols in *The Nation* reports in "Vermont Votes for Public
Banking<http://www.thenation.com/blog/178759/vermont-votes-public-banking>"
that "the votes were overwhelming. Vermont is not the only state where
public banking proposals are in play. But the town meeting endorsements are
likely to provide a boost for a legislative proposal to provide the VEDA
with the powers of a bank."

Robb Mandelbaum, in the *New York
Times*<http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/what-north-dakotas-public-bank-does-for-small-businesses/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0>
writes
that "public banking advocates point most hopefully to efforts in Vermont"
to emulate the model of the Bank of North Dakota, which "funnel[s] deposits
from state agencies back into the state's economy through a variety of loan
and other development programs."

GWENDOLYN HALLSMITH

Co-founder of Vermonters for a New Economy <http://vtneweconomy.org/>, and
the new executive director of the Public Banking
Institute<http://publicbankinginstitute.org/>,
Hallsmith said today: "It is clear that the bank lobby has a lot more
traction in the State House than the cities, towns, and the citizens. It
has been our contention that the state-chartered banks stand to gain by the
legislation, and that their interests and the interests of the large
out-of-state banks diverge on this issue."

According to Vermonters for a New Economy, the bill is encountering fierce
opposition, not from ordinary Vermonters, but mostly from lobbyists for big
private banks. The group says that when Senate Finance Committee hearings
began on March 18, the Finance Committee only invited representatives of
big
banks<http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=3ac43b75213f93987ef72b91e&id=c0c4950917&e=41a83dcec7>
to
testify concerning the proposal. This led a local paper, the *Barre
Montpelier Times Argus
<http://www.timesargus.com/article/20140319/NEWS03/703199931>*, to call the
bill "politically unpopular" even though a large majority of towns
supported it in the town meeting campaign.

A study <http://vtneweconomy.org/node/62> by Vermonters for a New Economy,
the Gund Institute at the University of Vermont, and the Political and
Economic Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts states that
a public bank would create "over 2,500 jobs" and add hundreds of millions
in additional gross state product in the state.

According to the Public Banking Institute, public banks are
countercyclical, meaning they are "capable of reducing the negative impact
of recessions, because they can make money available for local governments
and businesses precisely when private banks decrease lending."

ANTHONY POLLINA.

State Senator in Vermont, Pollina introduced S. 204, the bill that would
grant the Vermont Economic Development Authority a banking license and
direct 10 percent of the Treasurer's bank deposits to VEDA for investment
in Vermont.

KZYX

KZYX is an NPR affiliate station. Our broadcasts are heard at 88.1, 907.
and 91.5 FM in the Counties of Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, and Sonoma in
northern California. We also stream live from the web at www.kzyx.org

Shows may be archived.

Listener call-in number during the show is: (707) 895-2448
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