Public banks in North Dakota, Germany and Switzerland have been shown to outperform their private counterparts. International private competitors have responded by pushing for regulations limiting the advantages of the public banking model, but public banking advocates are pushing back.
It has no exorbitantly-paid executives; pays no bonuses, fees, or commissions; has no private shareholders; and has low borrowing costs. It does not need to advertise for depositors (it has a captive deposit base in the state itself) or for borrowers (it is a wholesome wholesale bank that partners with local banks that have located borrowers). The BND also has no losses from derivative trades gone wrong. It engages in old-fashioned conservative banking and does not speculate in derivatives.
One item that was left out of this list: they do not have to bribe thousands of politicians to maintain their profitability and cover their losses.
This is a good article. The last part about the trade agreements is especially informative.
mcp
ADDED: A question occurred to me just as I was saving this post. Brown usually publishes at HuffPo. I wonder why this article does not appear there.
