public bank la

The People's Bank

public bank la

The People's Bank

public bank la

The People's Bank

Banking for the 99%

It's time for our banking system to evolve into publicly-owned financial institutions prioritizing people and planet over profit.

problem

The City of Los Angeles paid over $109 million in fees and interests to commercial banks in 2016.

solution

With a city-owned bank, our revenues stays within our city. By cutting out Wall Street as the middle man, banking profit gets reinvested back into our communities.

vision

Imagine a City Public Bank revolution where every major city has its own public bank with a social and environmental charter, explicitly designed to serve the needs of the local community.

Sign our Petition

Support the movement and sign our Change.org petition to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council. We call on our elected officials to create a task force for the creation of a chartered Public Bank of Los Angeles. We want our City to use our public funds to benefit our local communities and the environment, not private Wall Street banks.

Public Bank LA Petition

public bank revolution

Economic power in the hands of the people

Private interests run the economy for the benefit of the very few and the financial elites designed it that way. The economic and political spheres are separated, making the flow of private capital immune to public scrutiny as it now stands. The economy is where the real power lies; so without the power to guide the economy in the name of people and planet, our political leaders have been unable to provide meaningful solutions to the problems we now face.

Divesting from one extractive Wall Street behemoth only to reinvest into another is an illusion of progress. The time has come to not only look at the symptoms of a pernicious financial system; the time has come to radically transform the system itself.

Reinvest profit back into the community

You’ve watched the videos and read the articles on the extractive nature of our private banking system. You’ve learned about the hubris, the greed, the foreclosures, the war profiteering and the pipelines. You might have hoped the bankers responsible for the crash be brought to justice or have a general sense of discontent and that a new system is overdue that acts in the name of the 100%.

The time has come to create a public bank in the name of the People. Instead of slapping Wall Street on the wrist, ditch Wall Street altogether. Provide funding for all the things we need like green energy and affordable housing. Reinvest profits back into the community (instead of banker bonuses).

For the People, not the plutocrats

The People, not the plutocrats, should benefit from economic activity. The People’s Bank will ensure that this is always the case- it will be built into its very makeup- constructed with a value system that all investments and financial dealings align within a strict code of ethics, guided by the tenets of social justice, community development, and environmental sustainability.

Imagine it. Instead of private shareholders, we the people are the shareholders. Instead of bankers as profiteering speculators, they would be public servants appointed by and accountable to the people, who would be rewarded for improving the community or fired for serving themselves.