The ContributorBy a more than three-to-one margin on Tuesday, communities voting on whether to support the creation of a public bank in Vermont approved the idea, calling for the state legislature to establish such a bank and urging passage of legislation designed to begin its implementation.
In a show of direct democracy that also exposed the citizenry’s desire for a more localized and responsible banking system, fifteen of nineteen towns passed the resolution during ‘Town Meeting Day’— an annual event in which voters choose local officials, approve municipal budgets, and make their voices heard on a number of measures put before local residents for approval.
The specific proposal under consideration, Senate Bill 204, would turn an existing agency, the Vermont Economic Development Authority, into a public bank that would accept deposits and issue loans for in-state projects. Currently, the only state in the U.S. to maintain a public state bank is North Dakota. However, since the financial downturn of 2008, other states have looked into replicating the North Dakota model as a way to buck Wall Street while taking more control of state and local finances.
Voicing his support of the measure ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Gary Murphy, a resident of South Ryegate, one of the towns that subsequently approved the measure, explained the thinking behind the plan this way in a letter to the local Times-Argus:
Senate bill 204 would expand the Vermont Economic Development Authority to become a state bank and would start out by depositing 10 percent of Vermont’s unrestricted money into the state bank. The bank would be able to leverage this money by means available only to banks to bolster the economy of the state and cut down on the interest payments and fees that are presently paid to out-of-state financial institutions and other entities. The bank would not engage in retail banking and would not compete with community banks; it would work with community banks to maintain their viability and expand their ability to help create better economic outcomes for Vermonters by partnering with them in projects they would not be able to engage in on their own.
Presently, large public projects are, to a large extent, funded by bonding and other private investment which requires the state to pay interest and fees that often do not get recycled into the local economy. Bond sales are managed by Wall Street firms, which seem to rig everything they can to further enrich themselves. In addition to the fees that they charge for this service, it is possible that they are rigging the process to divert funds that would otherwise be available to the state into their own pockets. While the cost of bonding is relatively cheap now, it will likely increase in the next few years if not sooner and the bond market could dry up. Creating a state bank now and growing it could put us in a position where we can substantially lessen the need to float bonds to fund large public projects.
According to Vermont Public Radio, unofficial results on Wednesday showed the following towns had approved the resolution: Bakersfield, Craftsbury, Enosburg, Marshfield, Montgomery, Montpelier Plainfield, Putney, Randolph, Rochester, Royalton, Ryegate, Tunbridge, Warren, and Waitsfield. The four towns that voted down the measure were: Marlboro, Barnet and Fayston and Greensboro.
– See more at: http://thecontributor.com/15-towns-vote-start-public-bank-works-people-vermont-not-wall-street#sthash.uHMWrVji.dpuf
Are they going to end usury ?
-flek
Watch how fast this shit gets shut down! lol…Like a criminal cabal is just going to let someone start working their side of the street?
.
There is no use in doing this, they still have to get their money from the money masters. They are still a slave to the money masters. So what is the point?
Hahaha, BofA will hire insurgents to organize a coup up in Montpelier. But seriously, if North Dakota can have a bank, why not Vermont? I don’t see usury disappearing any time soon, though the interest could by law go back to the state bank, as happens in ND. Interest rates are kept relatively low, too. ND is the only state in the black, I’ve heard. Probably have a low unemployment rate, too. Perhaps that’s why. Maybe they don’t use that phoney CAFR system, either, which makes it look like the local gov’t is always on the verge of bankruptcy when they are wallowing in dough.
To dot — North Dakota also sits on the USA’s largest domestic oil reserves, which means that 80% of ND’s commerce/money is based on oil. This State will go through the same growth/crash that Houston, Texas did in 1978. OPEC’s embargo of oil to the USA in 1973 led to higher prices at the pump and rationing; then in 1978, OPEC created a glut by flooding the market with cheap oil, which placed Houston into a localized depression. The same situation will happen with ND.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703795004575087623756596514
There is no peak oil because the Earth replenishes all the crude that is pumped out of the ground. I predict that the same bust will happen with the value of gold, because nobody really knows how much gold the Rothschild trillionaires have in their hold.
I did not know any of that – thanks, Inretrospect.
Dot
I was a little off-topic, Dot. But I do agree with your reasoning regarding: “…if North Dakota can have a bank, why not Vermont?”
However, Forgetit nailed the issue on the head: “There is no use in doing this, they still have to get their money from the money masters. They are still a slave to the money masters. So what is the point?”
The key to solid, independent banking would be for Vermont to start circulating it’s own State currency, which can only be spent in Vermont. I’m sure that I am overlooking several Federal Laws which would prohibit the existence of this type of monetary system though. Confederate money?
gosh, i would like to start my own bank. what a great business!
they say give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. give a man a bank, and he can rob the world!
dot
I hate to say it .dot . Perhaps I am getting the wrong message ya know, but why would anyone want to be a thief and rob the world.
That is like joining forces that are a big factor in creating all this poverty and suffering wars and homelessness – ya know, much of the worlds problems that we see today. If ya know what I am sayin.
Real people only need so much untill they let that money and possessions go to their head ya know .dot .
Your statement sayin` “give a man a gun and he can rob a bank, give a man a bank and he can rob the world” . Why would anybody even seriously think that way unless they were mean spirited and gready.
Like I said .dot, I probobly took that statement you said the wrong way, but there are many that do seriously think that way and actually do think that way.
I guess that I am usually too damn serious ya know.
I`ll just keep quiet on this because I am sure you didn`t mean that as I took it .dot 😉