North Dakota is staunchly conservative, having voted Republican in every presidential election since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. So how is it that the state boasts the only state-owned bank in the nation? Has it secretly gone socialist?
No. The Bank of North Dakota (BND) operates on the same principles as any capitalist bank, except that its profits and benefits serve the North Dakota public rather than private investors and executives. The BND provides a unique, innovative model, in which public ownership is leveraged to enhance the workings of the private sector. It invests in and supports private enterprise — local businesses, agriculture, and economic development – the core activities of a capitalist system where private property and enterprise are central. Across the country, small businesses are now failing at increasingly high rates, but that’s not true in North Dakota, which was rated by Forbes Magazine the best state in which to start a business in 2024.
The BND was founded in 1919, when North Dakota farmers rose up against the powerful out-of-state banking-railroad-granary cartel that was unfairly foreclosing on their farms. They formed the Non-Partisan League, won an election, and founded the state’s own bank and granary, both of which are still active today.
This is a different model of banking that does not include New York in the scheme of things. In fact, the bank was designed to specifically dodge the schemes that the New York banks were imposing upon states, farmers and businesses by foreclosing and snaffling up those properties for themselves. It sort of looks like what they are going to try to do with their Great Reset. You know, ”You’ll own nothing and be happy” line of bullisht. Do you think this bank system would work elsewhere? If so, when and under which conditions do you think states would implement it?