All Banks Are Not Created Equal
How the people can use public banks to supplant Wall
Street greed 

by Ellen Brown

Monday, April 9,2012 by Common Dreams 

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/09-5

It is well known that Philadelphia was the birthplace
of the U.S. Constitution and American democracy.  Less
well known is that it was also the birthplace of public
banking in America.  The Philadelphia Quakers
originated a banking model involving government-issued
money lent to farmers.  The profits returned to the
government and the people in a sustainable feedback
loop that nourished and supported the local economy.

Both landmark events will be commemorated in upcoming
gatherings in Philadelphia.  On April 7th, during
Occupy Philly’s celebration of its six month
anniversary on the mall in front of Independence Hall,
the Occupy Philly General Assembly reached consensus in
support of the National Gathering Working Group
proposal to hold an Occupy National Gathering at the
same location from June 30 to July 4, 2012.  The
endorsement included a commitment by Occupy Philly to
provide the resources necessary to make the first
Occupy national gathering in history a resounding
success.  The stage was thus set for what could be a
revolutionary event located at the historic birthplace
of the First American Revolution.

Resonating with that theme, on April 27th-28th the
Public Banking in America Conference will be held at
the Quaker Friends Center in Philadelphia, hosted by
the Public Banking Institute (PBI).  PBI’s vision is to
establish a network of public banks across the country
to generate affordable credit according to the
priorities of real people, not corporate persons or
banks.  These priorities include student loans,
sustainable agriculture, worker-owned coops, renewable
energy, and so on.  The  Bank of North Dakota,
currently the only publicly-owned depository bank in
the USA, has over two dozen loan programs reflecting
the priorities of the people of North Dakota.

Freeing the American people from the economic
injustices perpetuated by Wall Street is what Occupy
Wall Street is all about.  We have become slaves to the
economic power of Wall Street and their political
lackeys.  We now pay obscene amounts of interest to
private bankers in exchange for the necessities of
life.  The American public thought it was chasing the
two pillars of the American Dream:  getting an
education and buying a house.  Now both of these
pillars have been used against us to further the
interests of Wall Street.  Student and mortgage debt
are used to club us into servitude.

Samuel Adams said of those whose allegiance was to
money:  “If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the
tranquility of servitude greater than the animating
contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek
not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick
the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly
upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen."

After over six months of OWS protests over economic
injustice, the Occupy National Gathering and Public
Banking in America Conference will look at solutions,
inspired by the revolutionary efforts of those who came
before us in the birthplace of American freedom,
Philadelphia.

===

Ellen Brown developed her research skills as an
attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In
Web of Debt, her latest of eleven books, she turns
those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and
“the money trust.” She shows how this private cartel
has usurped the power to create money from the people
themselves, and how we the people can get it back. She
is president of the Public Banking Institute,
http://PublicBankingInstitute.org, and has websites at
http://WebofDebt.com and http://EllenBrown.com. 

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