We Need Public Banking
The basic functions of investment are too important to be left in the hands of private banks only interested in accruing profits. We need public banks — something the Public Banking Act, introduced by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, would provide.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the Public Banking Act with Rep. Rashida Tlaib. (nrkbeta/Flickr)
While only a few dozen people across the country might tune in to a Wednesday morning subcommittee hearing under the House Financial Services Committee on solutions to increase access to our nation’s banking system, millions have now seen the viral clip of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez taking her colleagues to task for failing to read the legislation on which they were commenting. And if you’d read the bill before hearing their comments, it’d be clear as day.
The Public Banking Act, introduced in October 2020 by Representatives Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib, mirrors legislation that has been introduced in several states and passed in California, establishing a federal regulatory framework to oversee and service publicly owned banks at the municipal and state levels that place communities’ needs over corporate greed. After all, if private banks have FDIC insurance, access to the Federal Reserve and Treasury, and are (insufficiently) regulated by governments, then why wouldn’t public banks?
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