Hi All,

Yesterday, I had a great discussion with Gwen Hallsmith about public banking and how our current banking system is built to benefit the wealthy. Gwen is the founder and Executive Director of Global Community Initiatives, a non-profit organization established in 2002 with the intention of working with communities to implement the Earth Charter, which is the first international document in human history to recognize the connections between respect and care for the whole community of life, ecological integrity, social and economic justice, democracy, non-violence, and peace. Gwendolyn’s lifelong commitment to environmental, social, and economic justice has led her to question many of our current core economic systems and assumptions, one of which is our banking system. In a public bank, the profits go back into the local economy to help offset taxes, infrastructure, and projects that improve society. There are public banks throughout the world, but only one public bank in our country, and that is the Bank of North Dakota. Vermont came close to starting a public bank, but the banking lobbyists were just too powerful to get it passed.

We discussed how it is going to take a whole paradigm shift, to turn our current banking system around, and like in all things, it starts with educating people about where we are, and where we could go. Unfortunately, it will probably take a few more financial crisis’s to get there, and another Occupy Wall Street uprising, but change needs to happen!

If you missed our interview, you can listen to it below;