Public Banking

It is impossible to operate as an individual, business, or government without access to common financial services including holding and moving money, investment, and payment processing. For most people, these services come exclusively from for-profit banks which since the repeal of Glass Stegall have increasingly consolidated personal banking, commercial banking, and investment banking. The result is that normal people, honest businesses, and public institutions are all subject to the booms and busts imposed on us by the United States' financial sector and investor class. 

In my lifetime alone we have seen the irresponsible management and collapse of two major Washington banks - Washington Mutual and Silicon Valley Bank. While credit unions like the beloved BECU offer a member-owned alternative for ordinary people, these institutions have been unable to scale to meet larger financial needs like those of cities, state governments, and large businesses.

Public banks provide the means for these financial services at any scale without skimming profits off the top and sending them to Wall Street Banks in the form of interest. As a democratically controlled public service, public banks can provide non-predatory loans and make investments in projects that are not solely considered through the lens of profit, but instead through the lens of community development.

For instance, a social housing project may not offer the same financial returns as a luxury condo building and therefore be unlikely to receive a loan from a commercial bank. Alternatively, a community in need of social housing could work with a state public bank and receive a low-interest loan making the project overall cheaper, and keeping the funding within Washington state. A public bank could provide the means for cities to finance and invest in social and cooperative housing projects that do not offer the same return on investment required for a commercial loan. 

A public bank would also increase Washington's fiscal and economic sovereignty, giving our state the ability issue loans, make investments, and participate in economic development without being subject to the same limitations that exist at the federal level. As an example, though there would be legal challenges, a public bank could provide financial services to Washington's cannabis industry which currently is stuck operating as a cash-based industry as federally-backed financial institutions refuse to provide card-based payment services in accordance to the federal prohibition on cannabis.