Buttigieg ready to take on Mourdock (Kokomo Perspective)
Buttigieg ready to take on Mourdock
Democratic candidate is a Rhodes Scholar, Harvard grad
by Tim Turner
So get to know Pete in his own words:
Why he is running
I am running because I think we need to have an economy-first attitude in the Treasurer’s Office. It is not an office that most people think about when they get up in the morning. To me it is very exciting and has the potential to have a huge impact on the economy in Indiana.
A lot of the things I think we could be doing is making the most of the states financial position. We have about $7 billion that are managed by the treasurer across about 74 different trusts, everything from education trust fund, pensions funds, to the General Fund of the state. We need to make sure we are putting that money to work for Indiana. We need to make sure that we are using that money to make credit available in our communities.
One thing I think we need to do from the outset is making sure we are investing to the extent possible in bonds that are issued by Indiana companies, as long as they are safe. Another thing I think we need to do is on the banking side. One of the things I hear as I go around the state is there are a lot of small business that would like to put people to work tomorrow. They want to grow, but they can’t get a loan.
Put state money in community banks to improve lending
Then you read about community banks out there that would love to be lending more money, but they don’t have enough cash to meet my reserve requirement. I think there is also an opportunity to see where our state’s money is deposited and see if it can’t be working harder to unlock the flow of credit capital in our communities.
Make better investments with state money
I think we need to look at the risk level in our portfolio. We have invested a lot in junk bonds. About $300 million, as far as I can tell, in the major moves construction fund has gone into junk bonds. Really riskier than you ought to have a public state fund invested in.
Use state funds as leverage to stop unfair banking practices
Then I think there is an opportunity to make life better for anyone who deals with a bank using the bargaining power the state has as a customer. The general fund is more than $2 billion in average daily balance. I think people have an image of the treasury as big buildings with gold ingots in the basement, but we use banks just like anybody else. We parcel it out among different banks, which are also retail banks. It is the kind of bank you or I would get a credit card or savings account with. I don’t see why we can’t say to any bank that wants to be getting our business as a state that we have expectations of them in terms of how they treat their customers. If you want to be on that list you shouldn’t be the kind of bank that has deceptive practices, hidden overdraft fees, secret charges, or exploding interest rates. These are things that a lot of people now have to put up with from the less reputable banks.
Without writing any regulation, the treasurer doesn’t regulate anything, but using the old-fashioned carrot and stick you have an opportunity to make life better for anybody who deals with the financial sector.
I see all these opportunities for improvement. I see all these opportunities where that office can really be a friend to working people, whether it is by stimulating the economy with the states money or whether it is by using our purchasing power to improve corporate citizenship in the financial sector.