Common good banks are designed to save the world from corporate domination and give control back to the people. Here's how (follow links for details):

1. Why local democratic economics?

   The world is beautiful. Life is good. Millions of people are working passionately for an even better world, in countless creative ways. Individuals and organizations -- both nonprofit and for-profit -- are actively addressing local and global challenges in human relations, the environment, health, education, housing, food, energy, technology, and every other field imaginable.

   So what's the problem? Why do we need democratic economics? Two reasons: economics and government.

   

   1. Economics. The very structure of society undermines all our good work. For-profit investments are rapidly destroying the planet and the well-being of everyone: degrading the environment, fostering wars, creating social and economic injustice, hunger, poverty and disease.

      Why? Investors expect a percentage return on their investments. Any steady percentage growth (exponential growth) becomes harder and harder to sustain. Corporations, required by their charters to maximize return on investment, must become increasingly ruthless to maintain a constant return to investors.

   2. Big Government is a problem too. Representative democracy with simple majority vote is a miserably weak form of democracy, easily subverted by moneyed special interests. Corporations routinely "buy" elections and favorable legislation. Minorities are left voiceless. Voters typically vote for who they think can win rather than who they want, and that's the only decision they have a say in!
   

   Participatory Democracy as a Solution. Since our current economic system and governments are the fundamental problem, one straightforward solution is to create a new democratic economic system. Common good banks are designed to be just such a system -- sensible, compassionate, decentralized -- a fast-growing seed for the world of our dreams, shifting our priorities from profits to peace and prosperity for all.

   The common good bank™ democracy involves members in every step of the decision process and guarantees that the decisions made are what nearly everyone most wants. Even small minorities can have an impact on policies and spending. Since anyone can vote directly on any issue, there are no election campaigns and no venue for corporate lobbies, leaving little chance for political corruption.


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2. Compete Effectively

   We begin by aligning the profit motive with the greater good. This allows everyone to expand the scope of their giving as a community while benefiting personally as well. Balanced benefits and innovative features make common good banks an unbeatable choice for depositors and borrowers -- individuals, businesses and communities:

   • Dedication to the common good, empowering those most in need, near and far
   • Better rates on deposits and loans
   • Rebates on purchases from local merchants
   • Supports "buy local"
   • Local debit/credit card with no fees and immediate deposit to the merchant's account
   • Transparency (You know what your money is doing)
   • Large contributions to the wider community

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3. Multiply

   1. 

      Growth. With a community-based model and such large, clear benefits to individuals, communities, businesses and the world, we can expect the common good bank™ model to spread rapidly, by example. In fact, three communities, in Massachusetts, California and Illinois, are already actively working to start local savings banks following the common good bank™ model.

      The closest predictor we can find for how fast we might grow is the record of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, which grew to 1,000 branches in its first 16 years. That level of growth would allow us to invest tens of billions of dollars and give away hundreds of millions a year to serve our communities and the greater good.

   2. Corporation Reform. With support from common good banks, new and existing sustainable, cooperatively-owned businesses will provide powerful competition to traditional corporations, forcing policy reforms. Together, common good banks will be able to buy a controlling interest in key corporations, restructuring them for sustainability, cooperative ownership and dedication to the common good.
   3. Cooperative Healthcare. Many banks partner with insurance companies, to offer their customers insurance products. The common good bank can facilitate a new lower-cost cooperative healthcare system that could evolve into guaranteed basic healthcare for everyone. This would provide the common good bank with an enormous additional source of funds to invest in our communities.
   4. Secondary effects. The success of the common good bank™ model in fostering broad participation in hands-on democratic process, to the enormous financial benefit of our communities, will likely influence democratic process in the wider society. We expect to see broader participation strengthen our existing democracies, while features of the common good bank™ democratic system become incorporated into town and city governments, as well as corporations and informal organizations. Ultimately this will lead to improvements in our regional and national democracies and a progressive shift in authority from centralized rule to more local government.


4. Results

   With effective participatory decision-making on both economics and social issues, harnessing the "wisdom of the crowd", dedicated with compassion to the greater good of everyone, we can together address our growing challenges of population control and sustainability. The world will turn sharply toward sanity and long-term health. Since that's what most everyone wants, in their heart of hearts, so it will come to be. Let's do it!

   You can help make it happen with a no-obligation 10-second signup.

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