Arizonans for a New Economy

World View

Sustainable Econ Dev: $70 Mil for 2 Corps or $1 Mil Each for 70 Local Businesses? (video)

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World View
Contractors have begun blading the desert at the World View site.

In the name of economic development, Rio Nuevo and Pima County are poised to dole out $70 million in corporate welfare to two big corporations– $50 million to Caterpillar and $20 million to World View.

Ironically, one day before the Rio Nuevo Board announced the multi-million-dollar Caterpillar package for Tucson, I posted this article on saying “no” to Wall Street debt and corporate welfare and “yes” to helping local small businesses and entrepreneurs thrive with low-cost loans.

Let’s think about this a moment. These two governmental entities are have voted to invest $70 million worth of taxpayer funds in two companies– one company is being lured away from other states to move here and the other is a Tucson company with big ideas and little cash. Is borrowing millions of dollars to give it away sustainable economic development?

According to data from the University of Arizona Eller College, Tucson has one of the highest per capita rates of new patents in the US. We also have new start-up tech companies being nurtured at the UA Tech Park. We have smart scientists + new ideas. Why aren’t we helping entrepreneurs and growing our own local businesses with low-cost loans via a public bank?

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Bernie Sanders on Austerity: From Greece to Puerto Rico to Arizona? (video)

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On Democracy Now today, Amy Goodman reported on an economic panel assembled by Vermont Senator and Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders. Goodman excerpted a section of Sanders’ speech on the failure of austerity policies in Greece and around the world. He said that although his comments focused primarily on Greece (and Puerto Rico), “Governments around … Read more

Arizonans for a New Economy

Arizona Legislature Considers Multiple Public Banking Bills (video)

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Arizonans for a New Economy
Arizonans for a New Economy has been working on public banking initiatives in Arizona since 2011.

Austerity is a lie.

We have plenty of money.

The problem is that it is being gambled on Wall Street, instead of being invested on Main Street.

That is the message of public banking.

The State of Arizona– and 48 other states– allow billions of  dollars in taxpayer funds to be invested for the benefit of Bank of America, JP Morgan CHASE, Wells Fargo, and other Wall Street banks who our hold rainy day funds. Shareholders in those “too-big-to-fail” banks make money on OUR money, while we are told to “tighten our belts”. The only state whose economy didn’t crash in 2008-09 was North Dakota because the State of North Dakota created a public bank in 1919 and invests its money at home, rather than allowing Wall Street to invest ND funds for the benefit of Wall Street shareholders. Forty percent of the world’s banks are public banks, but there is only one in the US because our country and our government are controlled by Wall Street.

Public banking advocates across the country are working on state and municipal public banking initiatives. Public banking initiatives have been proposed by both Republicans and Democrats in multiple sessions of the Arizona Legislature. This year, there are multiple bills addressing public banking and/or the health of community banks in Arizona.

The most promising bill is SB1395, proposed by Southern Arizona Senator Andrea Dalessandro, a long-term public banking advocate which would establish a task force to study the feasibility of establishing a state bank of Arizona. SB1395 will be heard by the Senate’s Financial Institutions Committee on Wednesday, February 18, 2015.

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