Public banking pitched as alternative financing

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Exchange, Bank of the West, Chase and Citi: These are the giants of banking in California, where our savings are held and our checking managed, and their shareholders stand to profit from the banks’ activities. But is there another way that might provide more social responsibility, and less profit motivation?

Ellen Brown is the author of “Web of Debt,” “The Public Banking Solution” and her latest, “Banking on the People: Democratizing Money in the Digital Age.” She is also the founder of the Public Banking Institute, which helped educate many people about the advantages of creating public banks.

She will be the guest Friday, Jan. 8, in a Zoom session for Praxis Peace Institute, a Sonoma-based nonprofit which hosts regular talks and discussions with authors and experts on cultural, social and political topics.

Discussion of public banking is making headway in California, where the California State Legislature passed AB 857 in 2019, which allows for public banks to be created in California communities. Now Brown’s Public Banking Alliance is focused on AB 310, which will expand the lending capacity of the state’s Infrastructure Bank (IBank) and convert the IBank into a depository bank able to leverage its capital and direct its lending ”toward a just and equitable economic recovery,” according to the event announcement.

Georgia Kelly of Praxis said that Brown’s Public Banking Institute “was born from a meeting that took place at the 2009 Praxis Conference in Sonoma,” and Brown has been a “longtime friend of Praxis.” who has often spoken at their events and conferences.

Kelly said a public bank is a “depository bank” for city, county and state taxes - not a bank for individual depositors.

“If it’s a state public bank, which is on course to happen in California, it would use our taxes to make loans, or guarantee loans to local banks, for renewal energy projects, infrastructure repairs, sending money to financially-strapped people during COVID, etc.,” said Kelly.

According to the event announcement, Brown’s expertise is on finance, money and banking, and after her presentation she will answer questions from meeting attendees.

The topic, “Democratizing Money in a Digital Age,” will be explored at the Jan. 8 lecture, beginning at 4 p.m, on Zoom; a link is sent upon registration. Tickets are $20 general, $15 for Praxis mmbers. More information and registration at praxispeace.org/events