Press Room & Media
In the News
Why Shouldn’t the People Own the Banks?
By Michelle Chen, The Nation – Even as the pandemic devastated New York City, megabanks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America continued to do a roaring trade. And now those financial behemoths are set to manage the funds that New York City and other municipalities will be deploying for the recovery. But financial justice advocates want to see the City move its money from the Wall Street titans to a public bank, owned and operated by the people.
In rural New Mexico, water systems need funding and support
By Hannah Grover, NM Political Report – Most of New Mexico’s small, mutual domestic water systems are struggling. They face challenges like aging infrastructure and some have maxed out their ability to take out new loans and they have systems in need of repair. The impacts of climate change on water supplies aren’t hard to notice as reservoir levels decline and rivers run low, and funding is a big issue for these small communities.
Off the Chain
By Riley Gardner, Santa Fe Reporter – Small farms have been declining for decades with the monopolistic growth of Big Ag. Additional challenges like climate change’s impact on small farmers and the demand for fast-produced food leave many family farms unable to compete—and makes us far more dependent on fragile systems. Our bank accounts aren’t the only things at stake when prices rise and the public panics. It’s often the most needy who suffer.
What Western Society Can Learn From Indigenous Communities
By Rachel Cernansky, New York Times – Like many Indigenous peoples around the world, the Māori have developed their understanding of their environment through close observation of the landscape and its behaviors over the course of many generations. Now the New Zealand Environmental Protection Agency regularly looks for ways to integrate traditional Māori knowledge, or mātauranga, into its decision-making.
Drought-hit New Mexico town eyes economic liftoff from Virgin Galactic space launch
By Nathan Frandino, Reuters – As the first passenger rocket plane gears up for takeoff, a sleepy desert town near Spaceport America in New Mexico is hoping for a liftoff from tourism. In Truth or Consequences, 30 miles from the launchpad, tourism has evaporated with the drought, which brought its reservoir water level toward record lows. Residents of Truth or Consequences are now looking skyward for relief.
US agency offers $307 million for rural water projects
By Cedar Attanasio, Associated Press – The U.S. Department of Agriculture will issue up to $307 million in grants and low-interest loans in an effort to modernize rural water infrastructure, officials announced Wednesday. Officials made the announcement at a wastewater treatment center in the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, north of Santa Fe, where employees have worked to keep the aging plant running for its thousands of residents along the Rio Grande.
Going public
By Elaine McArdle, Harvard Law Today – One of the biggest challenges for the 2,000 Black-owned businesses that BECMA represents is getting access to capital in order to grow. For that reason, one of the nonprofit’s top priorities is the establishment of a public bank in Massachusetts, a state-owned bank that would offer low-cost loans to entities traditionally overlooked or rejected by regular commercial banks.
NM lawsuit accuses financial firms of market manipulation
By Mike Gallagher, Albuquerque Journal – The state of New Mexico filed a class action lawsuit against some of the largest financial institutions in the country alleging a 15-year pattern of manipulating the market for complex financial instruments called credit default swaps. The lawsuit claims that the SIC suffered losses from trading at artificial prices caused by a conspiracy to manipulate the auction price of the complex financial instruments in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Small Business Administration Cancels Grants After Discrimination Lawsuit
By Solcyre Burga, Next City – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has rescinded thousands of grants to minority and women-owned restaurants after a series of lawsuits by white business owners in Tennessee and Texas, the New York Times reports. Grant cancelation letters are still going out after the initial nearly 3,000 applicants had their payments halted on June 14.
Rhode Island Senate Adopts Memorial to US Congress Concerning the National Infrastructure Bank
By Coalition for the National Infrastructure Bank – The Senate of Rhode Island passed a resolution “Respectfully requesting the United States Congress to endorse the National Infrastructure Act.” Senate Resolution 0029 specifically calls for the adoption of HR3339, which was introduced into the 117th Congress.
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California’s New Public Banking Option Opens Door for Real Community Investment
FAIR / Truthout.org
Economy & Labor
Oct 22, 2019
Janine Jackson interviews Public Bank LA’s Trinity Tran about public banking for the October 11, 2019, episode of “CounterSpin.”
Ellen Brown’s
2019 Book
Today most of our money is created, not by governments, but by banks when they make loans. This book takes the reader step by step through the sausage factory of modern money creation, explores improvements made possible by advances in digital technology, and proposes upgrades that could transform our outmoded nineteenth century system into one that is democratic, sustainable, and serves the needs of the twenty-first century.
“I had the good fortune to work on this initiative before Bernie kidnapped all my time. This is one of those no-brainer initiatives that only the 1% could oppose. It has the potential to save the state millions of dollars by vastly reducing the cost of its bonds to improve infrastructure funding. in a public bank, our state funds can be used to build our local economy and our local infrastructure.”
– Paul Gibson
Retake Our Democracy