North Dakota state-owned bank

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Submitted by jpinpb on November 12, 2009 - 11:13am

I found this to be an interesting article/interview How the Nation’s Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall Street

The Bank of North Dakota is the only state-owned bank in America—what Republicans might call an idiosyncratic bastion of socialism. It also earned a record profit last year even as its private-sector corollaries lost billions. To be sure, it owes some of its unusual success to North Dakota’s well-insulated economy, which is heavy on agricultural staples and light on housing speculation.

Could opening state-owned banks across America get us out of the financial crisis? It certainly might help, says Ellen Brown, author of the book, Web of Debt, who writes that the Bank of North Dakota, with its $4 billion under management, has avoided the credit freeze by “creating its own credit, leading the nation in establishing state economic sovereignty.”

How was the bank formed?

It was created 90 years ago, in 1919, as a populist movement swept the northern plains. Basically it was a very angry movement by a large group of the agrarian sector that was upset by decisions that were being made in the eastern markets, the money markets maybe in Minneapolis, New York, deciding who got credit and how to market their goods

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"It all gets down the
Submitted by jpinpb on November 12, 2009 - 11:18am.

"It all gets down the management and management philosophy. We’re a fairly conservative lot up here in the upper Midwest and we didn’t do any subprime lending and we have the ability to get into the derivatives markets and put on swaps and callers and caps and credit default swaps and just chose not to do it, really chose a Warren Buffett mentality—if we don’t understand it, we’re not going to jump into it. And so we’ve avoided all those pitfalls. That’s not to say that we’re completely immune to everything, certainly we’ve bought some mortgage-backed securities and we’re working through some of those issues, but nothing that would cause us to be concerned."

Of course, it comes down to management, too. Something that I think many businesses and cities and states have basically just failed to attend that portion of class when they were going to school.

For example, the State of New Jersey is having fiscal problems. A State that charges people to drive on highways and has the highest property taxes in the country, I think.

The more money you give them, the magicians make it disappear.

Then you have a state like ND who is doing it right. I guess it can be done if you have the right people handling it.

"The State of North Dakota
Submitted by jpinpb on November 12, 2009 - 11:19am.

"The State of North Dakota does not have any funding issues at all. We in fact are dealing with the largest surplus we’ve ever had. So our concern is how do we spend it wisely and make sure we save it for the future."

I have to say, I am impressed. Sad that other state are not as competent.

jpinpb wrote:"The State of
Submitted by Allan from Fallbrook on November 12, 2009 - 12:41pm.

jpinpb wrote:
"The State of North Dakota does not have any funding issues at all. We in fact are dealing with the largest surplus we’ve ever had. So our concern is how do we spend it wisely and make sure we save it for the future."

I have to say, I am impressed. Sad that other state are not as competent.

Jp: I do feel I should point something out to you: It's North Dakota.

I mean, yes, they deserve kudos, especially for such levelheaded thinking amongst all the stupidity, but: It's North Dakota.

If you were going to pick a really desolate place with almost no people and NOTHING to do, you'd pick North Dakota. Or, maybe, South Dakota.

Oh, I'm not saying let's move
Submitted by jpinpb on November 12, 2009 - 1:32pm.

Oh, I'm not saying let's move to ND. I'm saying that if ND can do it, why can't we.