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PAGE 22 Community Advisor NOVEMBER 2011(Continued from page 21)government over the country’s “inflexible” public bankingsector.The IMF, too, had long demanded that any competingpublic monopolies in the German banking market bebroken up, citing their “inefficiencies.” When the Germanpublic Sparkassen and Landesbanken were reluctantto turn to investment banking with its skyrocketingprofits, they were branded as bureaucratic and “unsexy.”When they were pressured to increase their returns fortheir government owners, the German Landesbankendid get sucked to some extent into derivatives and CDOs(fraudulently rated triple A). But while they “lost billionsin the Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and LehmanBrothers Ponzi scheme,” Niemeyer says the extentto which they became involved in highly speculativetransactions was “laughable in comparison with thedamage done by private banks, for whom taxpayers arenow providing guarantees.”It was the public banks and Sparkassen that suppliedthe real economy with liquidity, and that steppedin for the private banks when they withdrew to bet inthe financial casino; but it was on the failings of theLandesbanken and Sparkassen that the media focusedtheir attention. The real motive, says Niemeyer, was thatthe large private banks wanted the public banks’ marketshare themselves:"In order to win back this important market share, ithas become a prerogative to destroy public banking inGermany completely. This unpopular move could nevercome from the German government itself, so that’s whythe [European] Commission is being employed for thisdirty job."The Price of SuccessThe German public banks were brought down byknocking their public legs out from under them. Previously,they had enjoyed state guarantees that allowedthem to acquire and lend funds at substantially betterrates than private banks were able to do. But in 2001, thesSeltecComputers778-4501 #6 3702 37 Ave.• Computer Sales & Service• PC & Notebook Repair• On-site Servicing• Network Consulting• Domain Hosting• Wireless High Speed InternetOur Shop is A+ Certified!European Commission ruled to strip the Landesbanksof their explicit state credit guarantees, forcing them tocompete on the same terms as private banks. And todaythe European Banking Authority is refusing to count thebanks’ implicit state guarantees in their “stress tests” forbanking solvency.The upshot is that the German public banks are beingstripped of what has made them stable, secure, andable to lend at low interest rates: they have had the fullfaith and credit of the government and the public behindthem. By eliminating the profit motive, focusing on thepublic interest, and relying on government guarantees,the German public banks were able to turn bank creditinto the sort of public utility described by Prof. Hudson.The example of Germany shows that even successis no guarantee in the face of a relentless onslaught ofpropaganda by large privately-owned banks interestedonly in making money for their CEOs, wealthiest clientsand shareholders. But peering behind the propaganda,the public banking model that helped underwrite Germany’seconomic success might be the fast track to aU.S. banking system that serves Main Street rather thanWall Street.Ellen Brown is an attorney and president of the PublicBanking Institute, http://PublicBankingInstitute.org.In Web of Debt, her latest of eleven books, she showshow a private cartel has usurped the power to createmoney from the people themselves, and how we the peoplecan get it back. Her websites are http://webofdebt.com and http://ellenbrown.com."Step number one for doing yourbit to make a better world is falling inlove with it as it already is.~ Mike DooleyTRUCK REPAIRS - MACHINE SHOP - WELDINGFIELD MECHANICS - FORESTRY & OILFIELD24 HR. SERVICE - APPROVED INSPECTION STATION(780) 778-3184 or 1-800-665-0864