Legislators consider creating state bank (Washington State)

KOMOnews.com ^ | Jan 16, 2012 | JORDAN SCHRADER

[Baynative]

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - State government stores money at Bank of America, buys goods with U.S. Bank cards, and distributes welfare aid through JP Morgan Chase ATMs.

Supporters of cutting such ties to big banks say the first step is creating the state's own bank.

The idea of a state bank - a favorite of the Occupy movement that sees it as an alternative to Wall Street - has strong support among the Democrats who control the state House. Speaker Frank Chopp called it a top priority last week in a speech opening this year's session of the Legislature.

[piytar]

To which all I can say is Washington (state)’s government is a far cry from North Dakota’s...

[piytar]

“Better many corruptions than a few!”

GREAT point!!!

[NVDave]

Well, I was going to say something incendiary, but decided against it.

Buuuuut... seeing as how you brought it up, allow me to observe the following:

1. ND spends less per pupil in it’s schools and achieves a higher educational outcome than states that spend almost twice per pupil what ND does. Washington DC would be an excellent example of a school system that wishes they could achieve what ND’s schools do... even if they held spending constant.

2. I fully believe that you could hand the BND to states which are run by minority agitation groups (eg, California, NY, NJ, et al) and the bank would be belly up in less than three years.

The hard truth of the matter is this: In money, as in things such as the rights enumerated by the Bill of Rights, the capacity required for the proper exercise and restraint utterly escapes many minority groups for the majority of their members. They “don’t get it” and they likely never will “get it.”

All I’m saying is this: A state bank isn’t a wholly goofy idea. There is one, it came about as a result of problems rather similar to what we see today, and their track record during the Depression shows that such a bank can serve as a very important counter-balance to private sector banks run by rather silly people.

[dfwgator]

Socialists always love to point out Israeli Kibbutzes as an effective example of socialism in action........yes, socialism has the possibility of working in a homogenous group, as long as everyone is on the same page. That is an impossibility in a country like ours.....ND is about as homogenous as it gets in this country.

[NVDave]

It isn’t just the homogeneity that allows ND to function as it does. It also goes to the climate.

ND has some of the hardest winters in the lower 48. My observation is that the states with “real winters” tend to have a lot fewer deadbeats and layabouts than the warm weather states.

[dfwgator]

In other words, it is a unique situation, with all of the losers in Seattle, this idea is doomed to failure.

[NVDave]

Well, I don’t know how many losers there are in Seattle. I know WA’s finances aren’t great, but they’re nowhere near as bad as CA, IL, NY, NJ, RI, et al.

Of course, they’re nowhere near as good as ND, SD, WY, MT, AK, et al. I don’t think ND’s situation is unique. They’re one of several well-run states. They’re the only state which has a state bank, but they’re not the only well-run state in the US.

In my purchases of muni debt, there are three groups of states:

1. States in which I prefer buying issues when they come out.
2. States where I carefully examine individual issues that might come out - usually on a county-by-county level.
3. States which I won’t touch with a barge pole. CA, IL, NY, et al.

WA is in group 2 for me.

ND is in group 1.

[Baynative]

WA Ping

,p> "This from a State that turned a $3-billion pre-election surplus into a $9-billion post-election deficit, in about 6 weeks...f’n morons.Time to separate the Puget Sound nut farm from the remainder of the State!"

The democrat party and it's media are a conglomeration of incredible propaganda, corruption and incompetence. The governor says anything that sounds good at the moment and the media will give it as much air and print as it takes to make it true.

The point you made about the huge surplus she crowed about in the closing weeks of her last campaign is a good example.
A separate Puget Sound region would be a great idea to give the rest of the state a chance at civil liberty.

[Pride in the USA]

ping

[TornadoAlley3]

*

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Once again, the leftist Seassholes think they are smarter than everyone else.

Do they know this was tried many times throughout the 19th century and ended dismally each and every time?

Do they not know that the Federal Reserve absolutely will not allow a banking system such as this to exist?

Fools. Bloody fools. And they deserve the hell they create.

I don’t deserve the hell they create, that’s why I got out of the city of Seassholes.

[Smokin' Joe]

FWIW, North Dakota has a State Bank. We also have a budget surplus.

[Smokin' Joe]

My observation is that the states with “real winters” tend to have a lot fewer deadbeats and layabouts than the warm weather states.

We have a saying here, "Winter keeps the riff-raff out."

When you can't expect to be able to sleep under an overpass and not wake up dead in the morning, you will likely head for a more temperate climate. It has been fairly mild this year (which we attribute to the ferverent prayers of all the folks living in campers this year who came here for jobs in the oil patch, but couldn't find more substantial housing), but I expect some folks will leave after the current spell of -20 weather.