We will build a city-owned bank — not to serve shareholders, but to serve you. A bank that invests in housing, in transit, in climate resilience. A bank that puts our money to work for our people.”
— Zohran Mamdani, Victory Speech, Nov. 4, 2025
New York City has elected a mayor who dares to challenge the status quo. Zohran Mamdani swept into office on a platform of affordability, municipal ownership and economic justice. But Mamdani’s plan to fund his reforms through $9 billion in new taxes on corporations and high earners is already bumping up against political and fiscal realities.
Income taxes are the province of the state, not the city, and NY State Governor Kathy Hochul is standing firm in her resistance to raising them. Pres. Trump has vowed to “cut off the lifeline” to the city, pledging to reduce federal aid to the legal minimum. And Mamdani’s proposals are said to be triggering capital flight. Wall Street is mobilizing. The city’s budget is strained. So where will the money come from?
Continue readingFiled under: Ellen Brown Articles/Commentary | Tagged: economy, politics, public banking | 3 Comments »
WEB OF DEBT BLOG 
Regime Change at the Fed: From Big Bank Bailouts to Local Productivity
Image by ScheerPost.
On January 30, when former Federal Reserve board member Kevin Warsh was nominated by President Trump as the central bank’s next chair, markets sold off and gold and silver plunged. Investors were positioned for a “dove,” someone inclined to cut rates aggressively and keep money loose; and Warsh has a long-standing reputation as a “hawk.”
So wrote Michael Nicoletos in an article titled “Everyone Is Focusing on the Wrong Thing.” But Nicoletos and some other commentators are seeing something else on the horizon – a rebalancing of the banking system through an overhaul of the Federal Reserve itself. In recent months, noted Nicoletos, Warsh has argued that the central bank’s “bloated balance sheet” has made borrowing “too easy” for Wall Street, while leaving “credit on Main Street too tight.” That contrast — abundant liquidity for the largest financial institutions, scarcity for the communities that actually generate economic activity — is a structural flaw that has unbalanced the American economy.
Continue reading →Filed under: Ellen Brown Articles/Commentary | Tagged: Bank of North Dakota, community banks, economics, economy, Federal Reserve, FINANCE, Financial Regulation, Kevin Warsh, money, NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE BANK, politics, Public Banking, quantitative easing, Scott Bessent | 3 Comments »