Here are a few tools for approaching congresspeople and giving presentations.
1. A power point presentation on the state bank option is attached here. It can be adapted to suit, but the cartoons and charts are drawn from the Internet and could be copyrighted, so use for educational purposes only please.
2. A tri-fold flyer that could be useful for seeding the ideas raised in this website and blog can be downloaded here. Front and back can be printed on a single sheet of paper. Fold between the three columns, so that the top flap says “WE CAN SOLVE THE DEBT CRISIS WHILE CUTTING TAXES!” If you’ve got Microsoft Office it too could be adapted to suit. I plan to redo it for public banking purposes, time permitting.
3. For an excellent tutorial with live charts on how banking really works, including capital and reserve requirements and fractional reserve lending, see Khan Academy, “Banking and Money,” here.
4. A sample letter to Congressmen for forming a state bank, drafted by Charlie Fleetham, is below. It can also be modified to suit —
Dear Elected Official,
I would like to take this opportunity to present an idea for your consideration – creating a state bank in _________. This proposal has been fleshed out in an article by Ellen Brown, noted author and expert on banking and the causes of our nation’s financial collapse, available here –
“Cash-starved States Need to Play the Banking Game: North Dakota Leads the Way”
http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/state_bank_option.php
The reason for a state owned bank is simple – we have lost control of our finances. Our municipalities are burdened with legacy debt and aging infrastructure and the only way to fix the infrastructure is to bond through Wall Street. We can’t take any more taxes, but indebting us to Wall Street has cost us dearly and the costs will only increase as the national credit crunch continues to squeeze us at home and in our neighborhoods.
Our businesses are also suffering from the credit crunch. National banks are canceling lines of credit for businesses with excellent credit ratings. Shopping centers are emptying out, and it seems like another friend loses his or her job every week. As for the future – it’s bleak. Credit is all but drying up as scare resources get diverted to bail out Wall Street.
A state bank, capitalized by our own taxpayers, would allow us to fund commercial development, mortgages, municipal debt, mortgages and student loans. Fortunately, we have a model. North Dakota has had a state bank since 1919 and this year the state has a $1 billion plus surplus!
I urge you to support legislation to create a state bank today.
Sincerely,
Federal taxes should still be levied, but only on those who’re part are making over $250,000 per year before tax income. The problem we’ve had regarding the wiping out of the working and middle class is the fact we’ve been carrying the federal tax burden. Tax cuts for the wealthy have caused loss of much revenue for the nation. Progressive income tax system has worked fine in this country when fairly implemented. Tax cuts for the wealthy during the 1920s under three consecutive Republican presidents obviously didn’t help the nation’s coffers any and I surmise, contributed to the Great Depression. So Obama needs to be firm on promise to raise taxes on the well-to-do. After all, many of the US corporations have avoided paying taxes to by having off-shore and overseas tax havens. We’re getting ripped off continually by the wealthy class. This isn’t new, its happened in our history before. Slowly, but surely, the regulatory instruments placed in effect under FDR’s New Deal have been eaten away thanks to a pathetic lot of political leaders -both Democrat and Republican-most of whom kowtow to corporate interests in order to get campaign funding. Solution is to rid lobby and corporate campaign financing. Read about Theodore Roosevelt handled this buying off of politicians back in his terms as president. Our answers for dealing with finanical swindling and political corruption are found by seriously studying American history. Start with Howard Zinn’s A Peoples’ History of the United States.