To the Editor:

Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, is sponsoring LD 1452, a bill to create a state bank in Maine.

It seems like a very good idea to move our money to a bank that keeps our money in Maine. Right now, about half a billion dollars in Maine assets held by out-of-state banks could be moved into a state bank. Partnerships could be made with community banks to expand small-business lending, a very important plus for small-business owners who find it hard to get affordable credit.

According to a Maine Small Business Coalition survey, nearly three-quarters of Maine’s small businesses would support creation of a Maine state bank, similar to the one in North Dakota.

I’d expect the big out-ofstate banks to show us all sorts of reasons why this isn’t a good idea, but I think it’s time for us to support inventive strategies that help our communities thrive.

We’ve seen the big corporations take our jobs out of state and out of the country. We haven’t thought so much about the big banks taking our money out of state, but we’re learning that they’re too big to fail, too big to jail and too big to care about Maine.

Rosalie Paul
Georgetown