FT 7-06: Bank of Fremont Act (Passed)

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Sponsor: Speaker Scott

72 hours of debate, 24 hours for the sponsor to explain and advocate.

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Nearly one hundred years ago, a small rural state called North Dakota became the first – and to this day, the only – state in the union of the Republic to adopt its own state-run bank.  It was formed because of the belief that the state’s farmers were being exploited with high interest rates.  Today, the Bank provides an indispensable service to all the state’s financial institutions and state agencies, as well as and especially, the private sector.

As the Senate considers legislation to eliminate federal banking programs, which help countless people involved in agriculture, small business, energy, housing, telecommunications, waste disposal, and transportation, it is important that we adopt this measure to to sustain economic growth in Fremont.  With that, it must be said said the Bank of Fremont can only be successful if it partners with the Commonwealth’s financial institutions, not competitors.

The Bank’s primary service must be to aid Fremont’s state institutions and agencies, and in the situations in which it deals directly with Fremont residents, it is to fill a need that is underserved and for which the private sector has required our involvement.  And, like all government institutions, Parliament must ensure strict oversight of this Bank, lest we fail financially or lose out to corruption and misconduct.

In the future, should our experiment in public banking be successful, the next step should logically be towards expanding opportunities for education and strengthening our infrastructure.  However, almost all of the text of this bill was taken and modified from the original 1919 North Dakota law.  The cost for this bank is a mere fraction of our budget surplus, even after being measured for inflation.  And though I encourage Members to read the law for themselves, it has been peer-reviewed for legal soundness by Mr. Reactionary, whom as you might expect, is not a fan of this “socialist bank bill.”  But I digress.

Put simply, the mission of Bank of Fremont will be to promote agriculture, commerce, and industry in the Commonwealth.  I urge the honorable members to support commerce, support renewable energy, support our farmers and innovators, and support local business, by voting for this legislation.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I'll be honest, part of has a knee-jerk reaction against a large scale government project like this.

Having said that though, this looks like it might not actually be a bad idea. As long as this is well managed, it seems like it could only help with economic growth and prosperity. I would be curious to hear what the argument against this would be, since I don't have one.

I figured if a little bit of socialism works in North Dakota, it can pretty much work anywhere.

Vague and hard to answer question but how confident should we be that the bank won't collapse?

Given that the bank would be state-run, I'm not sure if it could 'collapse' in the same way traditional banks do.  The best prototype we have for this would be the BND, which survived both the Depression and the Great Recession.  In fact, most of North Dakota was in good economic standing during the Great Recession as it continued to create jobs while every other state was losing jobs.  (And I wouldn't put all the credit for that on the boom-and-bust oil industry, as states which rely more on oil were hit harder by the financial collapse.)

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Any more questions/comments?

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Sure.

Amending to insert a new Section 8 and renumber accordingly:

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Members have 24 hours to object.

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Hearing no objection, the amendment is adopted.

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I have concerns with this. With government owned banks decisions are driven by politics instead of economics. In the 1800's there were many state owned banks and they all failed miserably at the expense of the taxpayer. Studies have found that state run banks lower economic growth.

I would request evidence of that, but if all your examples are from the 1800s then I think they would be rather outdated.  We have one state-run bank in the Republic of Atlasia and it works for everyone.

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We've passed the 72-hour mark... any more arguments or comments?

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Calling the Bank of North Dakota a massive subsidy to the fossil fuel industry is a little unfair when fossil fuels are a staple of the state's economy.  The bill as written would give energy-heavy boom-and-bust states in the Commonwealth the chance to diversify their economies and expand entrepreneurship, as it lessens the loan risks of private banks and helps them finance larger projects.  This bank, like the BND, would not pay any taxes to the government.  Fremont also have a hefty surplus in case of any losses, so taxpayers would not be left on the hook.

Arguably, there is less risk in establishing this bank in the region now than at any other time, when our economy is thriving and growing in multiple sectors - especially in technology.  We would bear even less risk than North Dakota did at the time their bank was first established.  No one is accusing North Dakota of having lower productivity or economic growth.

As for "lack of transparency," I feel as though our last amendment addressed this problem.  All activities of the bank will be public record and posted on a weekly basis, with a mandatory annual audit from Parliament.  The people's money will remain the people's money.

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Also, would you shorten your url, please?

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We've surpassed the 72-hour period, so I'll open a vote on this tomorrow if nobody objects.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

As for "lack of transparency," I feel as though our last amendment addressed this problem.  All activities of the bank will be public record and posted on a weekly basis, with a mandatory annual audit from Parliament.  The people's money will remain the people's money.

Where is that in the bill. I'm not seeing that.

It's this amendment based on VPH's suggestion.

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Hearing no objection, a final vote is now open.

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Aye.

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With seven votes in favor (not counting VPH's late vote) and one against, the bill passes.

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Fremont House of Commons
Passed 7-1 in the Fremont Parliament assembled

Be it resolved, X Speaker of Parliament[/quote]