American Revolution was a revolution against tyranny and for self-governance...at least in principle. Colonists faced not only the tyranny and oppression of the King of England, George III, but the King’s two “arms.” The one was the British military that used its police power to maintain social “order” in the colonies and later waged war to maintain the King’s supremacy. The other arm was the British “crown” corporations (i.e. Massachusetts Bay Company, Carolina Company, Maryland Company, etc.) which received their authority through charters from the sovereign (the King) to politically and economically rule on behalf of George III and their own corporate interests.
The American Revolution, the anniversary we’ll celebrate this weekend, was a declaration of independence not simply against George III, but also against his military and corporate arms. People demanded that they become “sovereign,” independent or democratic -- able to rule themselves free from military intimidation and corporate authority.
The tyranny that is corporate rule and inability of citizens to govern themselves has seen a reincarnation in the form of many laws passed by those currently in charge of Ohio government — the Governor and General Assembly. Laws which are anti-democratic. Laws which are injurious to people and communities. Laws which usurp the authority of people and communities to decide for themselves.
As stated in the Declaration of Independence, “[t]o prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world”:
- They have allowed for 20 charter schools (most run by business corporations) to apply directly to the Ohio Department of Education for operation without having a nonprofit sponsor. The pace and race to corporatize public education continues.
- They have refused to eliminate $7 billion in tax loopholes, most benefiting corporations — which all by itself would have solved the state’s budget deficit. In fact, they have added to the state budget an “Invest Ohio” tax credit to corporations up to an additional $100 million.
- They have slashed funding to the state’s Local Government Fund by $455 million. They have also abolished the estate tax which provides another $250 million to local governments. These funding cuts will financially squeeze many municipalities and increase the drive to sell, lease or transfer public assets to business corporations, thereby, reducing public control.
- They have prohibited communities from governing themselves by outlawing local laws seeking to increase food quality (thereby protecting the interests of fast food corporations). This continues a state trend in recent years of state preemption of local control, including prohibiting communities from banning risky horizontal hydraulic drilling for natural gas (fracking).
- They have permitted 6 state prisons to be turned over (sold) to business corporations. The record of privatization/corporatization of public assets is one of reduced services, jobs and control and increased rates and fees.
- They have abolished collective bargaining for public employees. Senate Bill 5 is actually about reducing the rights and powers of people at their workplace to defend themselves against their employers. Provisions of the bill include a restriction on public workers contributing to a political action committee through a payroll deduction, a ban on requiring “fair share” fees – union dues paid by union workers who decide not to join their union, and a provision to make it easier to decertify a union.
- They have supported the lease of the profitable state liquor operations to one or more business corporations and use the money to fund JobsOhio, a quasi corporation also created by the state to replace the Ohio Department of Development. JobsOhio is being challenged in the courts on constitutional grounds.
- They have approved the exploration of corporatizing the profitable state Turnpike.
- They have ruled that oil and gas drilling can begin in Ohio’s state parks.
- They have suppressed the ability of citizens to vote by reducing the number of days people can vote absentee and have prohibited mass-mailing of absentee ballots to registered voters by county boards of elections.
- They have defending corporate agents not simply lobbying public officials but actually working with the Ohio Legislative Service Commission to write laws for public officials.
- They have capped the penalty for destruction of government documents at $10,000 in total, whether 1, 1000 or 1 million documents are destroyed. The old cap was $1000 per document. This removes the deterrent to destroy documents that citizens may request, essential to maintaining public oversight of their government. Having the right to know is essential to acquiring the right to decide.
- They have continued, if not expanded, the anti-democratic practice of bringing in brand new proposals into the final budget reconciliation process. These proposals have not been seen by the public or the media. The budget reconciliation process if meant to settle or reconcile differences between already-passed House of Senate versions of bills. It is not a place for a brand new proposal that the public has not had an opportunity to comment on.
There were other examples of Ohio Government tyranny proposed by either the Governor, the Ohio House or Ohio Senate, but not enacted, either due to public opposition, shame by the media and/or disagreement between the different government branches. These include:
- Requiring voters supply a photo ID at the polls
- Corporatizing the Ohio Lottery -- In an blatantly and galling undemocratic move, the Senate budget bill called for turning over the state lottery to the GTECH corporation, which hoped to manage the state’s $2.5 billion daily operation. The language in the bill was drafted by the GTECH corporation, which once ran a portion of the state’s lottery system. The Senate language was virtually unchanged from the GTECH corporation draft. There was no public hearing. The proposal simply was inserted into the Senate bill.
- Prohibiting the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel from taking positions, "contrary to the development of competitive markets in Ohio, including state policies pertaining to natural gas." Also not enacted was a provision barring consumers’ counsel contact information from customer bills and notices.
These modern day forms of tyranny need to be replaced with modern day forms of self-governance, self-rule, democracy. What are its elements?
- A system where We the People have a legitimate opportunity to shape implement and evaluate decisions affecting our lives.
- The voice of every person counts. All votes are equal.
- All people have adequate time and information to make decisions.
- Whether the issues are local regional national or global; political social or economic decisions made without our direct or indirect legitimate input are illegitimate.
- The more directly we're involved in decisions which directly affect us the more democracy or self-governance exists.
- Only human beings possess “inalienable human rights.” Corporations are not people and should not possess Bill of Rights and other constitutional rights.
- Money is property, not speech. Money must be regulated in elections. If money is speech, then those who possess the most money possess the most speech. Such a system is plutocratic, not democratic.
A few things to keep in mind as you participate this Independence Day weekend in hot dog eating contests, watch parades or sit in the sun.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
The Hegemony of Authoritarian Ideology and the Vancouver Hockey Riot
The immediate response of both the authorities and most of the public was to find a subject to blame for the riot and demand swift vengeance. The riot was the work of “anarchists”, or “thugs” and at the most analytical level, dragged out the old and dog-eared, “society is too permissive” bromide.
We expect the authorities – as group forever mired in a LaBrea Tar Pit state of denial, to do this. But for all the ordinary people who engaged in this blame fest, it only goes to show the hegemony of authoritarian ideology. Such hegemony means that most people are incapable of a structural or systemic analysis of an event. All they can do is conjure up demons, scapegoats and conspiracy theories. Thus, the causes of an unpleasant event, like the hockey riot, are shoved onto individuals or despised minorities.
The inability to think in structural terms is an immense help to the dominator class, by taking the heat off the system of domination, which in this era is corporate capitalism. Furthermore, analyzing an event systemically or structurally leads one to seek rectification of the problem in structural and systemic changes, ie, social change not vigilantism. Of course, it is easier to yell for revenge than get up off your lazy butt and eliminate the root causes of a problem. That requires action and thought, not to mention it automatically leads one to a critical evaluation of the status quo.
Socialists and anarchists have struggled for almost two centuries to acquaint the masses with systemic thinking. That we still have to do this shows the immense strength that authoritarian ideology has. Blaming, vengeance and punishment all have their roots in religion. Authoritarian religions claim that humans are innately evil and that when they do bad things it is because they chose to do so – the doctrine of free will - being too weak or vicious to restrain themselves. People need to be terrorized into obedience and punished severely if they fall by the way side. But terror is not enough to maintain a system, it is much better when the masses sincerely believe this clap trap and engage in a virtual knee jerk reaction, applying it to all situations. Truly a wonderful tool for protecting the system of domination.
It comes as no surprise that such doctrines have their origins in a slave-based society. Hunting and gathering and pre-dominator class agricultural societies sought harmony among their members not punishment, nor did they believe in humanity's supposedly innate evil nature.
That a supposed progressive mayor would seek to scape goat anarchists only goes to show how deeply ingrained this ideology is. Part of the problem lies with social democracy which ceased its educational role back in the 1950's when they adopted the foolish belief that class struggle was over. The only “education” most people get is from the schools and the mass media which naturally indoctrinate them in dominator ideology.
Monday, June 27, 2011
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR -- June 27-July 3
JUNE 30
1812 – FIRST US TREASURY NOTES AUTHORIZED BY THE UNITED STATES
Treasury notes are promise to pay notes to borrowers to raise revenue. The US needed funds to fund the War of 1812. Rather than print US money (such as “Continentals” – an interest- and debt-free money issued by the Continental Congress to pay for the Revolutionary War), the US government followed a different course – to issue notes to borrowers with promises to pay the principal with interest at a later date. The original interest rate was 5.4%. Wars cause indebtedness. Bankers tend to like wars since they tend to create financial dependency of nations to bankers. Thomas Edison would later say about Treasury bonds, “If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good...”
JULY 1
1818 – SECOND NATIONAL BANK OF US TRIGGERS RECESSION/DEPRESSION
The Second National Bank of the United States (a private financial institution) on this day reversed its financial course from monetary expansion to contraction. They called in loans and cut future loans. They required payments from state banks in gold alone. This caused deflation, leading to a two-year recession/depression – called the “Panic of 1819.” This is what happened time and again when private financial corporations control a nation’s money system instead of We the People through their government.
1944 – BRETTON WOODS CONFERENCE BEGINS
The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, known as the Bretton Woods Conference was a meeting of 44 Allied nations in New Hampshire, where the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank were created. Participant nations agreed to fix their currencies to a set value of gold. Debtor nations were to be helped with payments. The actual program was the use of loans (to be paid back with interest) to create political and economic dependence to loaning countries and their bankers. Agreements to receive further loans were often conditioned on “Structural Adjustment Programs” which called for privatization/corporatization of public services, wage cuts, and perversion of economies to service debt payments.
1967 – US POSTAL SAVING SYSTEM ENDS
Because of opposition from the commercial banks the postal savings system does not develop in a substantial way. The United States Postal Savings System was a postal savings system operated by the United States Postal Service from January 1, 1911 until July 1, 1967
JULY 2
1787 – LETTER TO JAMES MADISON FROM GOUVENEUR MORRIS, ONE OF THE PRIMARY ARCHITECTS OF THE US CONSTITUTION
In describing the motives of the owners of the new Bank of North America, Morris stated,
“The rich will strive to establish their dominion and enslave the rest. They always did. They always will…They will have the same effect here as elsewhere, if we do not, by [the power of] government, keep them in their proper spheres.”
1881 – PRESIDENT JAMES A. GARFIELD SHOT. HE DIED 10 WEEKS LATER
"Whosoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce, and when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate.”
1890 – SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT BECOMES LAW
The Sherman Act was an attempt to prevent unlawful restraint of trade and commerce and prevent monopolies – including banking monopolies. The Act was more aggressively enforced under President Teddy Roosevelt, including against the corporate practices of JP Morgan, the most powerful banker, if not corporate titan, of the day. In response to this increased enforcement of the Sherman Act and the Hepburn Act, Morgan created a financial panic by having his banks and those he controlled call in loans and refusing to grant new ones. The economic crash of 1907 followed. The “Panic of 1907” was a direct cause for the creation of the Federal Reserve System several years later.
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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Transparency in Government
Due to our campaign of developing and advocating for political campaign contribution limits and other reforms in the new Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) charter, I was asked by the leader of the upcoming TAP Summit on Transparency in Cleveland in July to offer reflections on the general topic.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Supreme Court blocks massive sex-discrimination suit against Wal-Mart
With the decision, the Supremes are saying corpses are not only too big to fail, but too big to sue...
Supreme Court blocks massive sex-discrimination suit against Wal-Mart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-blocks-massive-sex-discrimination-suit-against-wal-mart/2011/06/20/AGCQ81cH_story.html
Supreme Court blocks massive sex-discrimination suit against Wal-Mart
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-blocks-massive-sex-discrimination-suit-against-wal-mart/2011/06/20/AGCQ81cH_story.html
Monday, June 20, 2011
Jobs Disaster in the US
By the Numbers
Percentage increase per year of jobs in private/corporate sector from late 1980’s to late 1990’s: 2
Percentage increase per year of jobs in private/corporate sector since: declining
Percentage increase per year of jobs in private/corporate sector in 2009: 0
Employment by private companies in March 2010: less than 110 million
Average annual percent growth of economy (GDP) during last ten years: 1.9
Average annual percent growth of economy (GDP) during Great Depression: 1.3
Annual percent growth of economy (GDP) needed to add large numbers of jobs in private/corporate sector: 3 to 4 or more
At the start of 2011, number of unemployed persons per job opening: more than 4
As of March, 2011, percentage of 16-19 year olds unemployed: nearly 25
As of March, 2011, percentage rate of unemployment among blacks: 15.5
As of March, 2011, percentage rate of unemployment among those with less than a high school education: 13.7
Number of people who had reached the maximum 99 weeks of receiving unemployment as of March, 2011: 2 million
As of March, 2011, officially defined as unemployed: 13.5 million
As of March, 2011, persons not in the labor force but a wanting a job: 6.5 million
As of March, 2011, persons working part time but desiring full-time work: 8.4 million
Total: 28.4 million
Figures from The Jobs Disaster in the United States, Fred Magdoff, Monthly Review, June 2011
Percentage increase per year of jobs in private/corporate sector from late 1980’s to late 1990’s: 2
Percentage increase per year of jobs in private/corporate sector since: declining
Percentage increase per year of jobs in private/corporate sector in 2009: 0
Employment by private companies in March 2010: less than 110 million
Average annual percent growth of economy (GDP) during last ten years: 1.9
Average annual percent growth of economy (GDP) during Great Depression: 1.3
Annual percent growth of economy (GDP) needed to add large numbers of jobs in private/corporate sector: 3 to 4 or more
At the start of 2011, number of unemployed persons per job opening: more than 4
As of March, 2011, percentage of 16-19 year olds unemployed: nearly 25
As of March, 2011, percentage rate of unemployment among blacks: 15.5
As of March, 2011, percentage rate of unemployment among those with less than a high school education: 13.7
Number of people who had reached the maximum 99 weeks of receiving unemployment as of March, 2011: 2 million
As of March, 2011, officially defined as unemployed: 13.5 million
As of March, 2011, persons not in the labor force but a wanting a job: 6.5 million
As of March, 2011, persons working part time but desiring full-time work: 8.4 million
Total: 28.4 million
Figures from The Jobs Disaster in the United States, Fred Magdoff, Monthly Review, June 2011
Ohio To Become “Publicopoly” if Kasich and Co Have Their Way
Governor Kasich and his corporatization cohorts in the State House and Senate are currently engaged in “Publicopoly” -- a term coined by the pro-corpoate think tank, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
Plans to corporatize turnpikes, prisons, education, alcohol sales and the lottery in the state budget are right from the ALEC playbook.
See http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=publicopoly
Click on any “Game Square.” There’s several choices: Government Operations, Education, Transportation & Infrastructure, Public Safety, Environment, Health, and Telecommunications. What public service/asset not yet proposed for sale, rent, or lease will probably soon be...unless we resist.
Plans to corporatize turnpikes, prisons, education, alcohol sales and the lottery in the state budget are right from the ALEC playbook.
See http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=publicopoly
Click on any “Game Square.” There’s several choices: Government Operations, Education, Transportation & Infrastructure, Public Safety, Environment, Health, and Telecommunications. What public service/asset not yet proposed for sale, rent, or lease will probably soon be...unless we resist.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR - June 20-26
JUNE 21
1940 -- DEATH OF SMEDLEY BUTLER, MARINE CORP MAJOR GENERAL (MOST DECORATED MARINE IN US HISTORY AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH)
I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things that we should fight for. One is the defense of out homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket…. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912.
JUNE 24
1996 – LEWIS V UNITED STATES (AMENDED DECISION OF THE US COURT OF APPEALS, NINTH CIRCUIT)
Federal reserve banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of a Federal Tort Claims Act, but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations in light of fact that direct supervision and control of each bank is exercised by board of directors, federal reserve banks…are locally controlled by their member banks, banks are listed neither as "wholly owned" government corporations nor as "mixed ownership" corporations; federal reserve banks receive no appropriated funds from Congress and the banks are empowered to sue and be sued in their own names. . . .
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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Testimony before Ohio Senate Government and Oversight Committee on Election Reform
Here's testimony presented today on HB 194 concerning election reform. A separate bill on voter ID, HB 159, is also under consideration by the General Assembly. Both would increase barriers to voting. Both are billed as adding "integrity" and "continuity" and reducing voter "fraud" to elections in Ohio.
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TESTIMONY BEFORE OHIO SENATE GOVERNMENT
AND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ON ELECTION REFORM
June 16, 2011
My name is Greg Coleridge. I’m the Director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee.
I applaud the Ohio General Assembly for taking an interest in election fraud. This is an incredibly important and urgent issue requiring urgent and sweeping action.
Election fraud is rampant in Ohio. The integrity of our election system and, in fact, republican democracy, is in jeopardy if nothing is done.
Your focus, however, is misdirected. It’s not senior citizens, students, poor people or people of color who are engaged in election deceit. Instead, it’s business corporations.
The widespread, demonstrated, repeated and blatant fraud in our elections and entire political system is born from the absurd legal decision that corporations are persons possessing First Amendment Free Speech rights to lobby and engage in electioneering.
Business corporations have perverted our US and Ohio constitutions, claiming never-intended Bill of Rights protections. They perverted the 14th amendment, intended solely to free slaves, by charging in 1886 that the due process and equal protection clauses applied to artificial legal creations of the state.
The fraud that is corporate personhood has resulted in corporate lobbyists gaining access to public officials and aides that most citizens can never hope to equal.
The fraud that is corporate personhood has resulted in millions of dollars being diverted from corporate treasuries to political advertising – so-called “free speech” that drowns out the voices of real human persons with real needs.
The fraud that is corporate personhood has resulted in corporate employees writing laws under consideration by elected officials – including to corporatize schools by White Hat Management corporate employees and corporatizing the state lottery system by GTECH corporation employees.
The energy and spirit currently contained in HB 194 to document that senior citizens, students, low income persons or person of color are actually citizens and voters should be shifted. Let business corporations document they are real persons, real humans, and real beings with hearts and consciences before We the People permit these piles of legal documents to be involved in the body politic and in our elections.
This is where the real fraud in elections and politics in Ohio lies. This isn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, but a democracy issue. I hope and trust your primary energies in this arena will be directed to end corporate personhood and corporate rule.
Thank you.
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TESTIMONY BEFORE OHIO SENATE GOVERNMENT
AND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ON ELECTION REFORM
June 16, 2011
My name is Greg Coleridge. I’m the Director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee.
I applaud the Ohio General Assembly for taking an interest in election fraud. This is an incredibly important and urgent issue requiring urgent and sweeping action.
Election fraud is rampant in Ohio. The integrity of our election system and, in fact, republican democracy, is in jeopardy if nothing is done.
Your focus, however, is misdirected. It’s not senior citizens, students, poor people or people of color who are engaged in election deceit. Instead, it’s business corporations.
The widespread, demonstrated, repeated and blatant fraud in our elections and entire political system is born from the absurd legal decision that corporations are persons possessing First Amendment Free Speech rights to lobby and engage in electioneering.
Business corporations have perverted our US and Ohio constitutions, claiming never-intended Bill of Rights protections. They perverted the 14th amendment, intended solely to free slaves, by charging in 1886 that the due process and equal protection clauses applied to artificial legal creations of the state.
The fraud that is corporate personhood has resulted in corporate lobbyists gaining access to public officials and aides that most citizens can never hope to equal.
The fraud that is corporate personhood has resulted in millions of dollars being diverted from corporate treasuries to political advertising – so-called “free speech” that drowns out the voices of real human persons with real needs.
The fraud that is corporate personhood has resulted in corporate employees writing laws under consideration by elected officials – including to corporatize schools by White Hat Management corporate employees and corporatizing the state lottery system by GTECH corporation employees.
The energy and spirit currently contained in HB 194 to document that senior citizens, students, low income persons or person of color are actually citizens and voters should be shifted. Let business corporations document they are real persons, real humans, and real beings with hearts and consciences before We the People permit these piles of legal documents to be involved in the body politic and in our elections.
This is where the real fraud in elections and politics in Ohio lies. This isn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, but a democracy issue. I hope and trust your primary energies in this arena will be directed to end corporate personhood and corporate rule.
Thank you.
The Vancouver Hockey Riot of 2011
The riot pointed out, one more time, the incompetence and stupidity of both our leaders and the media. Oh, such moaning! “The riot was totally unexpected.” What dolts, you put a hundred thousand adrenaline charged, boozed up people in one spot and at least some of them will think it funny to flip over a car or toss a bottle through a window. And that's how it starts. The riot was virtually inevitable, and the civic leaders don't want to take responsibility for it.
The CBC hit a new low. They tried to smear the Black Bloc as somehow initiating the riot, since a number of the rioters wisely hid their faces from the cameras. But blockers smash windows to make a political statement and not for the thrill of doing so. Videos show rioters as ordinary suburban working class youth and not counter culturals or the “goons and thugs” so beloved of the media as rationalizations. (I am pleased that a number of commentators in the CBC comments section noted how mildly the cops treated the rioters compared with the G20 brutality against non-violent demonstrators.)
Nor did the rioters seem a “tiny minority”. Though the active smashers may well have been, they were surrounded by a crowd of laughing, smiling youth egging them on, posing for pictures against the flames, sharing looted goods, more of a carnival atmosphere than a war zone.
The riot was not in the least political in terms of the consciousness of the participants. None of them had a political idea in their heads. Yet in one sense it was political. These youth have no future and somehow know that. Future means working in Walmart. Future means never being able to afford a dwelling in the Vancouver area even if they scored a half-way decent job. .Even if they go to university, they end up $50,000 in debt and the right to work part-time at Starbucks. Those with the slightest grain of consciousness know we are about to be royally screwed by climate change and the corporatist policies of the government.
These kids come from the suburbs, that ultimate anti-community. They belong to no community and have nothing to defend, so they feel detached enough to smash up what does exist.
They hate the police. This is understandable as youth are targeted by them, due to the fact that the majority of crimes are committed by males under age 30 and the police are used to enforce a morality that youth constantly challenge. Part of being young is loud music, beer and pot all of which brings the heat.
Now as they go about smashing and looting, they are not thinking these thoughts, seeing themselves as just having some wild fun. But their alienation lies beneath the surface as a hidden impetus. People who are happy with their lot in life do not smash things up.
One point cannot be stressed enough. Don't be surprised that given an opportunity to riot, youth will take it. What ought to surprise you is they don't riot all the time.
This riot should be a lesson for the criminals who rule over us. Working class youth have done vastly more damage than conscious militant activists. If the inchoate anger of the masses becomes conscious and politicized the bosses are in deep trouble.
Monday, June 13, 2011
10 Corporate/Anti-democratic Proposals and Laws of Ohio Public Officials
It’s been nearly a half-year since the Governor and Ohio General Assembly have been in office. Many bills have been proposed and introduced. Some have already been enacted. Others, like the 2-year budget bill, must be passed by the end of June.
There are many ways to evaluate and rate our state elected officials’ six month long record. One that must be included is how they’ve done creating or expanding democracy. Specifically, have proposals or enacted laws advanced or retarded the ability of citizens to govern ourselves? Keep elected officials in check? Control the power and authority of business corporations (which were never intended by our state’s and nations’ founders to possess political rights).
The record of Governor Kasich and the Republican controlled Ohio House and Senate isn’t pretty seen through this prism. The list of assaults on self-governance is long. The proposals to expand corporate power and authority are exhaustive.
For the sake of brevity (and to provide a nice round number), here are 10 anti-democratic/pro-corporate proposals (two are already law) promoted by the Governor, passed by the Ohio House or proposed by the Ohio Senate.
1. JobsOhio
This is more than a proposal but a law passed in February to “privatize” (a more accurate term is “corporatize”) the job creation functions of the Ohio Department of Development. The private organization, composed of corporate heads appointed by the Governor, who is also on the Board, would receive state support yet is exempt from public-records and open-meeting laws. So much for the public knowing the job creation strategy of their state funded, in part, by their tax dollars. Progress Ohio is challenging the constitutionality of this law.
For a background on constitutional questions, see http://createrealdemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/02/testimony-on-ohio-house-bill-1.html
In general, privatizing/corporatizing a public asset, service or function results in greater costs, poorer service, fewer jobs, and/or greater loss of public control as decisions are shifted to private corporate leaders.
2. Corporatize Ohio liquor operations
A major state moneymaker, the Ohio Senate in their proposed budget calls for leasing the state’s liquor operations to JobsOhio. Profits would be used to fund the new private/corporate agency.
3. Corporatize Ohio turnpikes
Governor Kasich has called for leasing the Ohio turnpike, netting an estimated $2.5 billion. Many, including the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, oppose the proposal. Fears about a loss of public control will result in sharp toll increases and/or diminished upkeep is based on the record in other locals, i.e. Indiana, Chicago.
4. Corporatize Ohio prisons
Governor Kasich had originally called for corporatizing five Ohio prisons. One more was added in the House bill. The estimated take by the state is $200 million. Prisons are very profitable businesses across the country. The history of corporate prisons is a history of corners cut (i.e. reduction of staff and services) to increase profits. A former Kasich congressional chief of staff and longtime advisor, Don Thibaut, is now a lobbyist. A new client is Corrections Corporations of America (CCA), one of the major corporate operators of prisons in the nation. CCA operates one federal prison in Ohio, the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown. That facility has had a host of safety issues over the years, including murders and stabbings. The proposed Senate budget removes House budget provisions that would exempt prison corporations from state and local income, sales and use taxes and the commercial activity tax.
5. Corporatize Ohio lottery
In an blatantly and galling undemocratic move, the proposed Senate budget bill calls for turning over the state lottery to the GTECH corporation, which hopes to manage the state’s $2.5 billion daily operation. The language in the bill was drafted by the GTECH corporation, which once ran a portion of the state’s lottery system. The Senate language was virtually unchanged from the GTECH corporation draft. There was no public hearing. The proposal simply was inserted into the Senate bill.
6. Corporatize schools
The recent disclosure by the Associated Press that lobbyists for David Brennan on behalf of his White Hat Management corporation not only lobbied Ohio House speaker William Batchelder on charter schools but actually prepared legislative wording favorable to his corporation is nothing new and, more disturbing, legal. The $217,000 in political campaign “contributions” by the Brennans over the last two years to Ohio Republicans was a pretty good investment. Nine out of 11 items on Brennan’s/White Hat corporation’s “wish list” allowing for-profit corporations to operate schools without oversight from nonprofit sponsors ended up to some degree in the final House budget bill. The proposed Senate budget bill eliminates several House budget provisions, including allowing charters to launch and operate without a school sponsor and prohibiting school employees from collective bargaining.
7. Abolishing collective bargaining for public employees
Senate bill 5 was promoted originally by the Governor as saving money. It’s actually about reducing the rights and powers of people at their workplace to defend themselves against their employers. Other provisions of the bill include a restriction on public workers contributing to a political action committee through a payroll deduction, a ban on requiring “fair share” fees – union dues paid by union workers who decide not to join their union, and a provision to make it easier to decertify a union. No wonder hundreds of thousands of signatures have been gathered on referendum petitions to overturn the law.
8. Preemption of local laws
Hidden in the proposed Senate bill is one of many provisions having nothing at all to do with spending – banning local governments from barring the use of restaurants from using transfats in their food. Never mind that such laws are within the local municipalities right to protect the “health, safety and welfare” of their residents. Preemption of local laws by the state is a well-used strategy by corporations to evade local control. The state has been lobbied in recent years by the gun industry, gas drilling corporations, payday lenders and others to usurp the authority of local elected officials.
9. Restricting voting
The House passed in March what many claim was the nation’s most restrictive voter identification law. The legislation mandates prospective voters to show at the polls government-issued photo ID -- Ohio driver's license, state ID, military ID or passport. It excluded student IDs issued by state colleges. The bill was passed without any examples of voter fraud under current laws. The result is likely to be a disenfranchisement of people of color, students, seniors and the low income – all of whom national studies have shown possess lower rates of state-issued IDs. The first hearing of the Senate version of this bill, HB 194, is before the Senate Government Oversight and Reform committee this Thursday.
10. Removing consumer protection information from the public
The House budget bill calls for eliminating from customer bills and notices contact information for the Ohio Consumer’s Counsel. Consumers gouged by utility corporations or having other complaints about any actions by any corporation may not know about the existence of the Counsel without included information. Interestingly, the House bill also included a gag order on the agency taking positions “contrary to the development of competitive markets in Ohio, including state policies pertaining to natural gas." So much for government checks and balances.
-----
Not all these proposals are yet law. Some, in fact, that passed the Ohio House have been removed in the proposed Ohio Senate budget bill. This doesn’t mean, however, the anti-democratic provisions won’t end up in the final bill – only that they will be reconciled when representatives of both chambers sit down and negotiate a final budget bill.
A final Senate vote is scheduled for this Wednesday. Contact your State Senator and weigh in with your views (go to http://www.ohiosenate.gov/ for a list). Corporate agents and lobbyists certainly have.
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR June 13-19
JUNE 15
1836 – CHARTER (LICENSE) FOR SECOND NATIONAL BANK OF THE UNITED STATES REPEALED
This was the third quasi national bank of the US — following the Bank of North America (1781-1785) and Bank of the United States (1791-1811). While called a “national” bank, it was not public but actually a commercial/corporate bank with the power to issue money directly (just like its two predecessors). Early on, it issued a huge amount of money (more than 20 times its reserves) as loans that led to financial speculation and large corporate profits. A year later, it stopped providing loans, resulting in a severe contraction of the money supply — which led to massive bankruptcies and the Panic of 1819. When President Andrew Jackson threatened to repeal its charter, the Bank’s leaders used its power to restrict money circulation to cause another depression. Bank President Nicolas Biddle wrote, “Nothing but widespread suffering will produce any effect on Congress…Our only safety is in pursuing a steady course of firm restriction – and I have no doubt that such a course will ultimately lead to restoration of the currency and the recharter of the Bank.”
President Andrew Jackson said this about the bank, “The immense capital and peculiar privileges bestowed upon it enabled it to exercise despotic sway over the other banks in every part of the country. From its superior strength it could seriously injure, if not destroy, the business of any one of them which might incur its resentment; and it openly claimed for itself the power of regulating the currency throughout the United States. In other words, it asserted (and it undoubtedly possessed) the power to make money plenty or scarce at its pleasure, at any time and in any quarter of the Union, by controlling the issues of other banks and permitting an expansion or compelling a general contraction of the circulating medium, according to its own will.”
JUNE 16
1929 – DEATH OF VERNON PARRINGTON, HISTORIAN
The only safe and rational currency is a national currency based on the national credit sponsored by the state, flexible and controlled in the interests of the people as a whole.
1933 – PASSAGE OF GLASS-STEAGALL ACT
Actual title was Banking Act of 1933. Considered one of the most important post Depression laws, the legislation created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which protected bank deposits. It also instituted several bank reforms to curb speculation that caused the Depression. One important provision was to create a firewall between Main Street depository banks and Wall Street investment banks. The Act was repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999
JUNE 19
1843 – DEATH OF LORD ACTON, ENGLISH HISTORIAN, POLITICIAN, AND WRITER
The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later, is the people versus the banks.
------------
Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html
1836 – CHARTER (LICENSE) FOR SECOND NATIONAL BANK OF THE UNITED STATES REPEALED
This was the third quasi national bank of the US — following the Bank of North America (1781-1785) and Bank of the United States (1791-1811). While called a “national” bank, it was not public but actually a commercial/corporate bank with the power to issue money directly (just like its two predecessors). Early on, it issued a huge amount of money (more than 20 times its reserves) as loans that led to financial speculation and large corporate profits. A year later, it stopped providing loans, resulting in a severe contraction of the money supply — which led to massive bankruptcies and the Panic of 1819. When President Andrew Jackson threatened to repeal its charter, the Bank’s leaders used its power to restrict money circulation to cause another depression. Bank President Nicolas Biddle wrote, “Nothing but widespread suffering will produce any effect on Congress…Our only safety is in pursuing a steady course of firm restriction – and I have no doubt that such a course will ultimately lead to restoration of the currency and the recharter of the Bank.”
President Andrew Jackson said this about the bank, “The immense capital and peculiar privileges bestowed upon it enabled it to exercise despotic sway over the other banks in every part of the country. From its superior strength it could seriously injure, if not destroy, the business of any one of them which might incur its resentment; and it openly claimed for itself the power of regulating the currency throughout the United States. In other words, it asserted (and it undoubtedly possessed) the power to make money plenty or scarce at its pleasure, at any time and in any quarter of the Union, by controlling the issues of other banks and permitting an expansion or compelling a general contraction of the circulating medium, according to its own will.”
JUNE 16
1929 – DEATH OF VERNON PARRINGTON, HISTORIAN
The only safe and rational currency is a national currency based on the national credit sponsored by the state, flexible and controlled in the interests of the people as a whole.
1933 – PASSAGE OF GLASS-STEAGALL ACT
Actual title was Banking Act of 1933. Considered one of the most important post Depression laws, the legislation created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which protected bank deposits. It also instituted several bank reforms to curb speculation that caused the Depression. One important provision was to create a firewall between Main Street depository banks and Wall Street investment banks. The Act was repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999
JUNE 19
1843 – DEATH OF LORD ACTON, ENGLISH HISTORIAN, POLITICIAN, AND WRITER
The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later, is the people versus the banks.
------------
Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Reason # 387,000 to abolish corporate personhood and end money = speech constitutional doctrine
The recent disclosure by the Associated Press that lobbyists for David Brennan on behalf of his White Hat Management corporation not only lobbied Ohio House speaker William Batchelder on charter schools but actually prepared legislative wording favorable to his corporation is, sadly, nothing new and, more disturbing, legal. The $217,000 in political campaign “contributions” by the Brennans over the last two years to Ohio Republicans was a pretty good investment. Nine out of 11 items on Brennan’s/White Hat corporation’s “wish list” allowing for-profit corporations to operate schools without oversight from nonprofit sponsors ended up to some degree in the final House budget bill.
Is this the route to a healthy and sustainable democracy? It’s no wonder a recent Harris poll shows large majorities feeling that big companies, PACs, banks, financial institutions and lobbyists have too much power and influence in Washington.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/790/Default.aspx
The same can be said in Columbus.
The real solution goes way beyond stripping the self-serving White Hat corporation “wish list” provisions from the House bill as the problem transcends issues, political parties and state government. We must end the constitutional doctrines that money equals speech and that corporations possess first amendment free speech rights.
It’s time we declare our independence from corporate rule and big money in elections by joining 111,000 Americans in the national Move to Amend (www.movetoamend.org) campaign.
---------------------
House cozy with charter school lobby
Magnate's agents had frequent input in state budget, wrote some provisions
SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2011 03:12 AM
BY JIM SIEGEL AND DARREL ROWLAND
http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/06/05/house-cozy-with-charter-schoollobby.html?adsec=politics&sid=101
Is this the route to a healthy and sustainable democracy? It’s no wonder a recent Harris poll shows large majorities feeling that big companies, PACs, banks, financial institutions and lobbyists have too much power and influence in Washington.
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/790/Default.aspx
The same can be said in Columbus.
The real solution goes way beyond stripping the self-serving White Hat corporation “wish list” provisions from the House bill as the problem transcends issues, political parties and state government. We must end the constitutional doctrines that money equals speech and that corporations possess first amendment free speech rights.
It’s time we declare our independence from corporate rule and big money in elections by joining 111,000 Americans in the national Move to Amend (www.movetoamend.org) campaign.
---------------------
House cozy with charter school lobby
Magnate's agents had frequent input in state budget, wrote some provisions
SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2011 03:12 AM
BY JIM SIEGEL AND DARREL ROWLAND
http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/06/05/house-cozy-with-charter-schoollobby.html?adsec=politics&sid=101
Monday, June 6, 2011
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR June 6-12
JUNE 6
1934 – CHICAGO PLAN INTRODUCED IN THE US CONGRESS
The “Chicago Plan” was a proposal developed by several prominent economists directed at President Roosevelt to end the Great Depression. The Plan was signed by 157 academic economists, another 40 approved it with reservations. Main features: 1. Only the government would create money. 2. The Plain separated the loan-making function, which can belong in private banks, from the money-creation function, which belongs in government. 3. The proposal recognized the distinction between money and credit. The Plan was introduced in Congress (S. 3744) by Senator Bronson Cutting (R, NM). In several respects, the Chicago Plan was the precussor to the National Emergency Employment Act (H 6550) introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich in 2010.
JUNE 8
1042 – REIGN OF KING EDWARD OF ENGLAND BEGINS
Taking any interest on loaned money was considered a sin in early England. Under King Edward’s reign, those who charged interest (usurers) were declared outlaws and banished from the country.
1809 – DEATH OF THOMAS PAINE, COLONIAL REVOLUTIONARY
Commenting on the value of colonial-issued money, the “Continental”...
"Every stone in the Bridge, that has carried us over seems to have a claim upon our esteem. But this was a corner stone, and its usefulness cannot be forgotten."
1845 – DEATH OF ANDREW JACKSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government ... are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it."
"If Congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to be used by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations."
JUNE 10
1932 – QUOTE OF LOUIS MCFADDEN (R- PA), CHAIRMAN OF THE US HOUSE BANKING AND CURRENCY COMMITTEE
"We have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks. Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are U.S. government institutions. They are private credit monopolies; domestic swindlers, rich and predatory money lenders which prey upon the poeple the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers. The Federal Reserve banks are the agents of the foreign central banks. The truth is the Federal Reserve Board has usurped the Government of the United States by the arrogant credit monopoly which operates the Federal Reserve Board."
--------------------------
Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com
1934 – CHICAGO PLAN INTRODUCED IN THE US CONGRESS
The “Chicago Plan” was a proposal developed by several prominent economists directed at President Roosevelt to end the Great Depression. The Plan was signed by 157 academic economists, another 40 approved it with reservations. Main features: 1. Only the government would create money. 2. The Plain separated the loan-making function, which can belong in private banks, from the money-creation function, which belongs in government. 3. The proposal recognized the distinction between money and credit. The Plan was introduced in Congress (S. 3744) by Senator Bronson Cutting (R, NM). In several respects, the Chicago Plan was the precussor to the National Emergency Employment Act (H 6550) introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich in 2010.
JUNE 8
1042 – REIGN OF KING EDWARD OF ENGLAND BEGINS
Taking any interest on loaned money was considered a sin in early England. Under King Edward’s reign, those who charged interest (usurers) were declared outlaws and banished from the country.
1809 – DEATH OF THOMAS PAINE, COLONIAL REVOLUTIONARY
Commenting on the value of colonial-issued money, the “Continental”...
"Every stone in the Bridge, that has carried us over seems to have a claim upon our esteem. But this was a corner stone, and its usefulness cannot be forgotten."
1845 – DEATH OF ANDREW JACKSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government ... are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it."
"If Congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to be used by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations."
JUNE 10
1932 – QUOTE OF LOUIS MCFADDEN (R- PA), CHAIRMAN OF THE US HOUSE BANKING AND CURRENCY COMMITTEE
"We have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks. Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are U.S. government institutions. They are private credit monopolies; domestic swindlers, rich and predatory money lenders which prey upon the poeple the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers. The Federal Reserve banks are the agents of the foreign central banks. The truth is the Federal Reserve Board has usurped the Government of the United States by the arrogant credit monopoly which operates the Federal Reserve Board."
--------------------------
Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Canadian Labour Martyrs Booklet
Hot off the press! THEY DIED FOR YOU – A Brief History of Canadian Labour Martyrs, by D.J. Alperovitz and Larry Gambone. When we started this project we thought we would have maybe 8 or 9 martyrs and a 10 page pamphlet. Doing research we found twenty-five of them. Read their stories in this 37 page booklet. Full of illustrations. Available from iwwvi@telus.net for $4.00 per copy plus postage.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Seriously Dealing with the National Debt
It’s way past time to get serious – and prophetic -- about the $14 trillion-plus national debt. The two major political parties, for different reasons, have been neither.
Republicans in general rail against deficits and debts until it comes time to spend trillions on wars and occupations, Pentagon weapons, bank bailouts, and tax breaks to corporations and the super rich. Debts and deficits are often simply pretexts to slashing social and economic programs benefiting people and communities without having to debate their merits. They point correctly, however, to the current explosion in the debt as economically unsustainable.
Democrats, in general, look at deficits and debts as necessary evils to hire people and prime the nation’s economic pump – especially in times of recessions and depressions. Their claims that the debt isn’t serious, though, by comparing it to the GDP are misleading. The two have little to do with each other. More accurate would be to compare the debt with the US annual income of $2.4 trillion. On a personal level, this would be akin to a person with $50,000 in annual income burdened with nearly $300,000 (and growing) in debt. That’s serious.
The forced vote this week in the US House of Representatives to raise the debt limit without additional spending cuts was pure grandstanding. Calls by Republicans for spending cuts at least equal to the amount Congress would raise the country’s debt ceiling is opposed by many, if not most, Democrats. This isn’t serious.
There is a serious and prophetic path for both parties to confidently strive down together that will eliminate the debt and establish fiscal and political accountability. That path is to affirm the Constitutional authority (Article 1, Section 8) of the government to issue and circulate its own money.
Congress should pass legislation authorizing the government to fund any outstanding expenditure with US money (i.e. electronic and paper notes) – rather than borrowing from banks.
Banks create money currently out of literally nothing as debt when they provide loans to people or the government – the later when they acquire US Treasury bonds. We the People are on the hook not only for the principle but also the hundreds of billions of dollars annually in interest to bankers. This is a loss of fiscal and political independence.
Here’s how it would work. When US Treasury bonds come due, they aren’t renewed or rolled over but rather paid off with US issued debt-free money. This gradually “monetizes” the debt – removing one Treasury bond at a time from the debt anvil off our backs. If additional funds are needed that Congress doesn’t want to pay for via taxes, additional US money is simply spent into circulation.
Thomas Edison clearly understood this solution.
“If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good... If the Government issues bonds, the brokers will sell them. The bonds will be negotiable…Why? Because the government is behind them, but who is behind the Government? The people. Therefore it is the people who constitute the basis of Government credit. Why then cannot the people have the benefit of their own gilt-edged credit by receiving non-interest bearing currency… instead of the bankers receiving the benefit of the people’s credit in interest-bearing bonds?”
What would prevent Congress from flooding the economy with US money? We the People through direct vigilance as well as a checks and balance system established to ensure that US money creation causes neither inflation nor deflation. President Lincoln created debt-free US money during the Civil War – called Greenbacks. The time has come to once again issue US money.
US Representative Dennis Kucinich proposed last year an excellent bill calling for:
1. Moving the private Federal Reserve System under the US Department of the Treasury,
2. Eliminating the ability of banks to create money out of nothing, and
3. Authorizing the US government to issue US debt free money to fund $3 trillion in infrastructure.
Republicans and Democrats need to stop pointing fingers at each other and jointly focus their aim at the root problem of our economic system – private/corporate issuance of money by banks.
Claiming democratic control of our money system is a profound and prophetic means to eliminating our national debt and creating real political independence.
Republicans in general rail against deficits and debts until it comes time to spend trillions on wars and occupations, Pentagon weapons, bank bailouts, and tax breaks to corporations and the super rich. Debts and deficits are often simply pretexts to slashing social and economic programs benefiting people and communities without having to debate their merits. They point correctly, however, to the current explosion in the debt as economically unsustainable.
Democrats, in general, look at deficits and debts as necessary evils to hire people and prime the nation’s economic pump – especially in times of recessions and depressions. Their claims that the debt isn’t serious, though, by comparing it to the GDP are misleading. The two have little to do with each other. More accurate would be to compare the debt with the US annual income of $2.4 trillion. On a personal level, this would be akin to a person with $50,000 in annual income burdened with nearly $300,000 (and growing) in debt. That’s serious.
The forced vote this week in the US House of Representatives to raise the debt limit without additional spending cuts was pure grandstanding. Calls by Republicans for spending cuts at least equal to the amount Congress would raise the country’s debt ceiling is opposed by many, if not most, Democrats. This isn’t serious.
There is a serious and prophetic path for both parties to confidently strive down together that will eliminate the debt and establish fiscal and political accountability. That path is to affirm the Constitutional authority (Article 1, Section 8) of the government to issue and circulate its own money.
Congress should pass legislation authorizing the government to fund any outstanding expenditure with US money (i.e. electronic and paper notes) – rather than borrowing from banks.
Banks create money currently out of literally nothing as debt when they provide loans to people or the government – the later when they acquire US Treasury bonds. We the People are on the hook not only for the principle but also the hundreds of billions of dollars annually in interest to bankers. This is a loss of fiscal and political independence.
Here’s how it would work. When US Treasury bonds come due, they aren’t renewed or rolled over but rather paid off with US issued debt-free money. This gradually “monetizes” the debt – removing one Treasury bond at a time from the debt anvil off our backs. If additional funds are needed that Congress doesn’t want to pay for via taxes, additional US money is simply spent into circulation.
Thomas Edison clearly understood this solution.
“If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good... If the Government issues bonds, the brokers will sell them. The bonds will be negotiable…Why? Because the government is behind them, but who is behind the Government? The people. Therefore it is the people who constitute the basis of Government credit. Why then cannot the people have the benefit of their own gilt-edged credit by receiving non-interest bearing currency… instead of the bankers receiving the benefit of the people’s credit in interest-bearing bonds?”
What would prevent Congress from flooding the economy with US money? We the People through direct vigilance as well as a checks and balance system established to ensure that US money creation causes neither inflation nor deflation. President Lincoln created debt-free US money during the Civil War – called Greenbacks. The time has come to once again issue US money.
US Representative Dennis Kucinich proposed last year an excellent bill calling for:
1. Moving the private Federal Reserve System under the US Department of the Treasury,
2. Eliminating the ability of banks to create money out of nothing, and
3. Authorizing the US government to issue US debt free money to fund $3 trillion in infrastructure.
Republicans and Democrats need to stop pointing fingers at each other and jointly focus their aim at the root problem of our economic system – private/corporate issuance of money by banks.
Claiming democratic control of our money system is a profound and prophetic means to eliminating our national debt and creating real political independence.
Multiple Corporatization Assaults in Ohio
It’s bloody hard, in fact darn near impossible, to keep up with the multiple efforts to privatize/corporatize Ohio’s assets and services promoted by the Kasich administration. While the issues are different, they all share the same general features connected with converting something from the public to the private/corporate realm:
Reduction of service
Increase in cost
Reduction in public transparency and control
Here goes...
Overall (OK, not only about Ohio but the whole nation)...
How Our Government Has Merged With Corporations
The government of the United States is largely rented to corporations
http://www.alternet.org/economy/151101/how_our_government_has_merged_with_corporations/
Privatization/corporatization of the state lottery
Ohio Senate gets proposals on privatizing state lottery
http://www.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2011/05/ohio_senate_gets_proposals_on.html
Privatization/corporatization of the state liquor operation (to fund the new privatized/corporatized JobsOhio outfit)
Is $1.2 billion too low for the state's liquor operation? GOP lawmaker and public policy group both think so
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/06/is_12_billion_too_low_for_the.html
Privatization/corporatization of education
UNWARRANTED FAVOR \
WILL STATE SENATORS ALSO DO THE BIDDING OF DAVID BRENNAN?
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=1379D702AC1DD6A8&p_docnum=2
SENATE BUDGET PLAN WOULD EASE CUTS \
THIS VERSION DROPS MERIT PAY SYSTEM FOR OHIO TEACHERS, TRIMS LANGUAGE GIVING POWER TO CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATORS
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=1379D702F4E031A0&p_docnum=1
Privatization/corporatization of drilling in state parks
State House passes parks-drilling bill
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/05/25/house-passes-parks-drilling-bill.html
-------------------------------------------------
Ohio Move to Amend Monthly Statewide Conference Call
Saturday, June 4, 9:00 AM
Call in #: 1-218-862-7200
Access Code: 744213
No matter the problem associated with increasing privatization/corporatization and corporate power, the solution is more real democracy — which can only be achieved if corporate constitutional rights is abolished. That’s what Move to Amend seeks to accomplish. Help us. Join us on the call this Saturday!
Reduction of service
Increase in cost
Reduction in public transparency and control
Here goes...
Overall (OK, not only about Ohio but the whole nation)...
How Our Government Has Merged With Corporations
The government of the United States is largely rented to corporations
http://www.alternet.org/economy/151101/how_our_government_has_merged_with_corporations/
Privatization/corporatization of the state lottery
Ohio Senate gets proposals on privatizing state lottery
http://www.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2011/05/ohio_senate_gets_proposals_on.html
Privatization/corporatization of the state liquor operation (to fund the new privatized/corporatized JobsOhio outfit)
Is $1.2 billion too low for the state's liquor operation? GOP lawmaker and public policy group both think so
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2011/06/is_12_billion_too_low_for_the.html
Privatization/corporatization of education
UNWARRANTED FAVOR \
WILL STATE SENATORS ALSO DO THE BIDDING OF DAVID BRENNAN?
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=1379D702AC1DD6A8&p_docnum=2
SENATE BUDGET PLAN WOULD EASE CUTS \
THIS VERSION DROPS MERIT PAY SYSTEM FOR OHIO TEACHERS, TRIMS LANGUAGE GIVING POWER TO CHARTER SCHOOL OPERATORS
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=1379D702F4E031A0&p_docnum=1
Privatization/corporatization of drilling in state parks
State House passes parks-drilling bill
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/05/25/house-passes-parks-drilling-bill.html
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Ohio Move to Amend Monthly Statewide Conference Call
Saturday, June 4, 9:00 AM
Call in #: 1-218-862-7200
Access Code: 744213
No matter the problem associated with increasing privatization/corporatization and corporate power, the solution is more real democracy — which can only be achieved if corporate constitutional rights is abolished. That’s what Move to Amend seeks to accomplish. Help us. Join us on the call this Saturday!
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