California’s Public Banking Act, signed on 2 October, paves the way for cities and counties in the state to create public banks that could take deposits and allow local agencies access to low-interest loans for funding infrastructure and affordable housing. The law requires public banks to be run by independent boards and to be operated by professional bankers in order to insulate against self-dealing.

Supporters of the legislation see the bill as a way to divest from major financial institutions tied to controversial projects like the Dakota Access pipeline. And because public banks wouldn’t be under the same pressure as Wall Street banks to seek ever-higher profit, they argue, they could allow government agencies access to low-interest loans for funding infrastructure or constructing affordable housing. “I think on some level the Public Banking Act is a logical outgrowth of public opinion of where we’ve seen financial institutions go in the last decade,” Flynn said, referencing public reaction to Wall Street’s role in the 2008 financial crisis.

The Bank of North Dakota is working, fulfilling its charter to expand access to credit and promote agricultural enterprises in a way that’s allowed the state economy to move forward in its own way, he added.

The Bank of North Dakota helped buoy the state’s economy after 2008’s financial collapse, Sushil Jacob, a senior attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area who helped draft the California bill, told the Guardian earlier this month

“The state of North Dakota has six times as many financial institutions per capita as the rest of the country and it’s because they have the Bank of North Dakota. When the Great Recession hit, the Bank of North Dakota stepped in and provided loans and allowed local banks to thrive,” Jacob saidhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/14/california-public-banking-san-francisco-los-angeles

Outside of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, the WinCo store represents an unusually concentrated – and unlikely -- grouping of millionaires. The secret to their wealth is employee ownership. Since 1985, WinCo, which operates 98 stores across eight states from its headquarters in Boise BZ +0%, Idaho, has been employee owned, with an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP, as the vehicle for its workers’ main retirement savings. (WinCo also has a 401k and about 70% of workers participate.) https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryjosephs/2014/11/05/millionaire-grocery-clerks-the-amazing-winco-foods-story/#3c59cc7d5700