Tuesday, February 18, 2014

America Needs A Postal Banking System

A Familiar Sight In Every Village In Frnace
La Banque Postale
Here in France, anyone can easily open a bank account with the Postal Service. Many nations have banking systems connected with the Post Offices. Great Britain has had postal banking since 1861. America had a postal banking system until 1967. Postal banks offer basic banking services to customers, like low-interest savings accounts, debit cards and even some simple types of loans.An estimated 68 million people live in “bank deserts,” areas without access to financial services. The big banks don’t want to serve these people because they’re mostly poor, leaving them to be gouged by check-cashing shops and payday lenders. Postal banking could save low-income families who rely on these services thousands of dollars a year. But Post Offices maintain offices that service people in bank deserts already.
What’s more, postal banking could provide a new revenue stream for the Post Office. This is a win-win-win: Cuts down on predatory businesses, saves low-income families money, and helps shore up the Post Office’s finances and the hundreds of thousands of jobs and pensions it supports. Here is a petition to ask President Obama to sign an executive order to create a postal banking system in America. It's one way he can prove the sincerity of his words in his State Of The Union Address about income inequality being a top priority for his administration.

Here is the text of the petition: 

We applaud your work to affect income inequality through executive action. Please use this power to bring back postal banking.

Here is an active link to The Daily Kos Petition page where you can find the Postal Bank Petition. Below is an active link to the petition at MoveOn.org. Please sign and share this petition: Give everyone the option to bank at the Post Office. 

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