From the InContext program, Bridgeport, Connecticut
State public banks, an old American tradition, may provide an important tool to pull states out of the current economic slump. The concept is simple: The public bank uses state funds on deposit as bank reserves for making loans for infrastructure and other projects to improve the state’s economy and grow jobs.
Ben Franklin argued that colonial Pennsylvania’s public bank was the key to the colony’s 18th century prosperity. North Dakota, whose public bank has operated since 1919, boasts the lowest unemployment rate in the country and is the only state to have a balanced budget in each of the last three years.
For more information see: http://PublicBankingInstitute.org
Editor opinion:
There is no reason that the state banks can’t be the ones to issue the food stamp programs in their own states. It is obscene that the robber baron bank JP Morgan was given that contract.
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AntiCorruption Society 
ken and gus
David Snieckus
99 Crescent Street
Newton, MA 02466
617-964-2951
davidsnieckus@verizon.net
March 3, 2011
To: Joint Committee for Financial Services and other House Representatives
RE: THE BANK OF MASSACHUSETTS: H01192
This letter is about how to save as well as generate revenue for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Instead of paying debt service to Wall Street, which is currently $2 Billion, why not create our own bank from which to borrow money? For information on the State’s debt service, go to: http://www.massbudget.org/documentsearch/findDocument?doc_id=775. For information on the State’s debt crisis, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/government-debt-crisis_n_781417.html
The following sites explain how a state-owned bank can benefit the public. In summary, monies would be controlled by State legislators for the benefit of the Commonwealth instead of private bankers for their own benefit!
http://www.thenation.com/blog/158350/banking-people and
http://www.publicbankinginstitute.org/media-information.htm
Here is information on the Bank of North Dakota, currently the only state with a state-owned bank, resulting in a budget surplus of nearly $1 billion and low unemployment: http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/the-growing-movement-for-publicly-owned-banks
Instead of floating bonds to Wall Street and beyond, The State of Massachusetts could borrow money at low interest from “The Bank of Massachusetts.” Here is the link to my bill that proposes a Massachusetts state-owned bank.
http://www.malegislature.gov/Bills/187/House/H01192
This bill is important for everyone in Massachusetts to understand. We have public libraries that lend books to read, public schools that provide education to students, why not have public banking to eliminate expensive future debt service to outside private entities and extend credit and provide low interest rate loans to the commonwealth?
A publicly owned banking system based on the “full faith and credit” and “value” of everyone in Massachusetts could create a thriving economy with virtually no foreclosures and close to full employment.
I look forward to working with you in assessing the value of THE BANK OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Sincerely,
David Snieckus
p.s. Here’s a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiYaEIwbwbg
and the graphs by BJ MacDermottRoe
“We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.” Albert Einstein
I’m continuing to champion the establishment of the Bank of Massachusetts and will work the bill toward passage because I truly believe it would benefit everyone in our Commonwealth. As our economy continues to flounder, small businesses continue to struggle due to problems accessing credit, and workers continue to live in fear of their livelihoods, the need for a state-owned bank becomes even more crucial to the economic development and stabilization of the state. The Bank of Massachusetts is about recapturing your tax dollars in our state checking account from the” to big to fail banks”, which profits off your money, and, instead using it ourselves to promote economic recovery and independence for our Commonwealth. The public is demanding better accountability for the use of their tax dollars. With growing support from Bay Staters across the state, this is an innovative idea whose time has come.