Residents in over 150 cities had the opportunity to vote on measures calling for an end to the doctrines of corporate constitutional rights and money as free speech, and in every single town the vote was supportive, often by an overwhelming margin. This encouraging development was in response to activist Federal Courts, which had created the concept of corporations as persons, imbuing them with constitutional rights, the same as human beings. Corporations were not bestowed this distinction by any act of Congress. The people have never voted to grant such rights. Corporate personhood is solely a construct of the Courts, who have, in so doing, violated their Constitutional authority and jurisdiction.
As we witness citizens pushing back on the idea that corporations have constitutional rights, it’s important to recognize that concentration of power — and money — has had a hand in the establishment of corporate personhood. Wall Street banks certainly have bought tremendous influence in Congress. In a recent op-ed published in the Washington Post, Craig Shirley, the president of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, an Alexandria-based lobbying and communications firm, writes:
…If we rightly fear all concentrations of power, then the first order of business must be to break up the five big banks. The rationale is simple: Since the banks used illicit means via lobbyists and government to acquire such power, then government can be used to undo their ill-gotten authority.
Wall Street is too fearsome and corrupt for anyone’s good. We should find a way to create 50 Wall Streets so that money can stay in the states, and corruption can be kept to a minimum and law enforcement to a maximum. In the era of the Internet — which empowers the individual — can there be any doubt that scrutiny of local Wall Streets would keep bankers and brokers on their toes?
There is no better way to do this than to create 50 state-owned banks and scores of county and municipal-owned banks throughout the country, effectively moving the center of gravity from Wall Street to Main Street. By putting the issuance and control of hundreds of billions of dollars of credit in the hands of public servants, we effectively neuter Wall Street, at least when it comes to control of public money. Public scrutiny, called for by Craig Shirley, will undoubtedly be a natural element of the oversight and governance of a public bank. After all, public banks are public institutions managed by professional bankers, who are public servants. And let’s be very clear: public banks simply need to create loan programs, not be involved in making lending decisions. Loan origination decisions can be made locally by community bankers, an important control point that the Bank of North Dakota so effectively models.
This approach would serve our communities as we seek to reverse the artificial economic scarcity imposed on us by the existing private banking system. Affordable loans to fund the new economy, a simple idea with its roots being local, not centralized on Wall Street or in Congress. The Public Banking Institute envisions public banks as the organizing entity for the development of this market. Public banks can be the provider of debt capital to businesses and, by issuing corporate bonds, serve as the investment vehicle for people who wish to take a portion of their retirement funds to invest locally.
Local investing happens to be the dominant theme in our upcoming annual conference, which we’ll soon be announcing. This year’s conference will be co-hosted with the Dominican University MBA Program in San Rafael, California. Its theme “Think Global, Invest Local” will serve as the context for exploring how public banking can be used to solve the mortgage fraud crisis in association with the use of Eminent Domain, build sustainable and local food systems, provide for local investment opportunities, and address how a U.S. postal savings bank can better serve the large unbanked population we have in both rural and urban areas of the USA. It promises to be a significant conference that will provide opportunites to explore alternative models for creating the investments we make in our communities.
Meanwhile, we keep building the Public Banking Coalition and forming chapters throughout the USA. You can help by either making a donation or by emailing and volunteering your assistance in other ways. Please get involved — we’re doing important work and need your help.
Marc Armstrong
Executive Director
Public Banking Institute
