The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Quiet Drama in Philadelphia

Conference speaker Samuel Giles proposed that even public universities could set up their own banks, which could then leverage university monies for the university's own use, rather than giving those assets away to Wall Street to be speculated with and lent back at much higher interest rates.

 

Innovative Solutions for Pennsylvania

 

Speakers Michael Sauvante and Mike Krauss noted that efforts are underway in several Pennsylvania and Ohio municipalities to create public banks.  One possibility is for public banks to take an aggressive role in ending the foreclosure crisis by acquiring abandoned and foreclosed homes by eminent domain.  These homes could be added to the asset base of the bank, which could extend credit to restore them and then sell or rent them at reasonable rates. 

Krauss noted that Philadelphia already has a strong effort underway to create a "land bank"--a bank to acquire, rehabilitate and create productive uses for the city's more than 40,000 vacant properties--and legislation (HB 1682) has been introduced in the state legislature to enable this effort.  But the land bank proposed is not designed to function as a depository bank that leverages funds into credit.  Rather, it would simply work with appropriated funds or bond revenue. This is a positive step toward addressing a real need, but it could be enhanced by turning the land bank into a public bank--a chartered bank having the power to create money as credit on its books. 

The efforts for developing public banks in Pennsylvania are being led by the Pennsylvania Project, which was a co-sponsor of the Philadelphia conference and is supported in its work by the Public Banking Institute and the Center for State Innovation.  The Pennsylvania Project is creating partnerships with other Pennsylvania public policy organizations to introduce legislation for a state Bank of Pennsylvania in 2013, after elections are held and a strong foundation of support has been laid.

 

Revolution Without Bloodshed or War

We live under a tyranny today that is just as intolerable and unjust as that in 1776, but violent revolution is no longer an option.  Our oppressors own the military and the media, and their FEMA camps are waiting for us. 

If change is to come, it must be peaceful and legal, beginning with a revolution in the minds and hearts of the people.  The message of the Public Banking in America Conference was that we can throw off the yoke of the financial elite by making money and credit a public utility; and the most feasible place to start is at the local level, with publicly-owned banks. 

For videos of some of the speakers, see http://www.publicbankinginamerica.org/speakers.htm .  More to come.  The Victoria Grant video has gone viral, approaching half a million hits, including copies.