A progressive political agenda calls for public banking and finance institutions (PBFIs) to be widespread and large enough to meet the challenges of catastrophic climate change, economic exploitation, racial exclusion, and sustainable economic development. To fully succeed, we need the federal government and the Federal Reserve to underwrite PBFIs to the same extent they have supported private finance over the last several decades. Drawing on recent activist efforts and proposals, this article by PERI’s Gerald Epstein and Esra Nur Ugurlu, and published in Catalyst journal, describes models developed abroad and in the U.S. that transform the financial system into useful institutions that move us toward these goals.