Dear Editor,
Martha Keoster (see her email and link to the State Bank article below) is another progressive friend of mine who keeps up on important political issues. She’s worked tirelessly for single payer health care. Another issue we’ve been talking about lately is this State Bank idea now being tossed about in the WA state legislature (among others). I first heard of it when I heard Bill Bradley, running for Governor of Oregon, discuss the idea with Thom Hartman on the radio several weeks ago.

I think its certainly worth seriously exploring and quite possibly doing. Heck, things can’t get much worse (let’s hope!) with the way the banking system is being run now by Wall Street and the tight fisted bankers not lending the money they’ve been given by the Feds. A publically owned state bank would have the self-interest of the state in mind in all the ways described in this article. I think the fact that North Dakota’s State Bank has been operating for 90 years and that their budget is the only one in the country that is in great shape, speaks for itself. This is one of the relatively few rays of “sunshine” I have seen lately on the horizon for our economy – and it seems to be appealing to both sides of the political isle!! (North Dakota is a republican state and the former state bank president (now the governor) is a republican).

(A special note to my friend Senator Joe McDermott: Go for it! Get it done. And thanks – Libby)
To all others: Let Senator Joe and others in the Washington State Legislature know what you think about this idea.

Elisabeth {Libby} Carr
libby@carrbiz.com
206-938-8721; www.carrbiz.com

From: Martha Koester

http://www.truthout.org/the-growing-movement-publicly-owned-banks57812

The State Bank of Washington

A similar bill, HB 3162, was introduced to the Washington State Legislature on February 1. The bill has generated so much interest that Steve Kirby, chair of the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, has scheduled a special work session on it. According to John Nichols in The Nation, the State Bank of Washington was formally proposed by House Finance Committee Vice Chair Bob Hasegawa, a Seattle Democrat. Nichols quotes Hasegawa:

Imagine financing student aid, infrastructure, industry and community development. Imagine providing access to capital for small businesses, or otherwise leveraging our resources instead of having to do it with tax incentives. Imagine keeping our resources local instead of exporting them as profits, never to be seen again - that's what this bank could do.

Leveraging rather than taxing is how private banks have been creating "credit" for centuries. States could do the same thing, cutting the middlemen out of the equation, saving significant sums in interest and fees and generating revenue for the state.

A nonpartisan analysis of the Washington bill prepared for the state legislature noted that the bank would be the depository for all state funds and the funds of state institutions, and that these deposits would be guaranteed by the state. The bank would be run by a board of 11 members

Martha Koester