(Matt Stannard) When Lansing, Michigan Mayor Virg Bernero introduces two resolutions in support of expansion of United States Postal Service services at the 2014 U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Dallas in two weeks, he’ll have the support of co-sponsors Mayor Paul Soglin of Madison, Wis., and Mayor Jean Quan of Oakland, Calif.
Bernero, who chairs the USCM’s Advanced Manufacturing Task Force, submitted the resolutions several weeks ago. They represent cutting edge ideas advanced by some of America’s most forward-thinking policymakers and analysts. Elizabeth Warren proposed non-banking financial services at the beginning of the year (based on the recommendations of the U.S.P.S. Inspector General), while public banking activists and postal experts have long suggested a postal infrastructure bank that could re-build America’s infrastructure at a fraction of the interest costs levied by private financiers.
“Our nation’s mayors are acutely aware of the impact of predatory lending, ‘banking deserts,’ and the potential loss of postal services in American cities and towns,” said Marc Armstrong, president of BankACT, a nonpartisan group campaigning for postal banking legislation at the federal level and public banks at the state and local level.
Many Americans are asking ‘what if we had a banking system that is not based on profits?’ Credit unions are small step in this direction – postal banking helps to complete the picture.”
According to the U.S.P.S. Inspector General’s report, using postal financial services rather than payday lenders could save working people as much as $80 billion per year. The report proposes that America’s 30,000 post offices provide basic, low-cost financial services primarily to low-income workers and retirees. For instance, a five-month $375 loan typically costing $520 in interest and fees could be profitably provided by the post office for $48.
