MAY 1
1871 -- KNOX V LEE US SUPREME COURT DECISION
One of several popularly known “Legal Tender Cases” during this period (the others were Hepburn v. Griswold and Julliard v Greenman). The Supreme Court reversed their earlier decision in Hepburn v. Griswold (1870). The decision upheld the Legal Tender Act declaring that making paper money legal tender did not conflict with US Constitution (Article 1, Section 8). The decision allowed debtors to repay debts in Greenbacks rather than gold or silver.
MAY 3
1939 – TESTIMONY OF GRAHAM TOWERS, GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF CANADA (1934-54) BEFORE CANADIAN SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND COMMERCE
Question: "But there is no question about it, that banks create that medium of exchange?" [i.e., bank deposits]
Towers: "That is right. That is what they are for."
Question: "And they issue that medium of exchange when they purchase securities or make loans?"
Towers: "That is the banking business, just in the way that a steel plant makes steel." (p. 287)
Towers testified that just as steel corporations create steel, banking corporations create money. The difference is that steel corporations start with iron ore and apply labor and technology. Banks, by contrast, create money out of thin air…as debt.
MAY 5
1821 – DEATH OF NAPOLEAN BONAPARTE
“Money has no motherland, financiers are without patriotism or decency; their sole object is gain”
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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 Previous calendar entries are posted at http://afsc.net/monetaryhistorycalendar.html
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR April 23 – 29
APRIL 23
384 BC – BIRTH OF ARISTOTLE
"The most hated sort of wealth getting is usury which makes again out of money itself and not from the natural object of it. For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. And this term interest, which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money...of all modes of getting wealth this is the most unnatural."
"Money exists not by nature but by law." This is one of the most insightful comments on money of all time.
871 - REIGN OF KING ALFRED OF ENGLAND BEGINS
King Alfred (Alfred the Great) implemented a law that moneylenders who took usury would forfeit all their possessions to the King.
APRIL 27
2009 – COMMENTS BY DICK DURBIN, US SENATOR, ILLINOIS
“And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”
APRIL 29
1947 – DEATH OF IRVING FISHER, PROFESSOR AND ECONOMIST
"Thus our national circulating medium is now at the mercy of loan transactions of banks, which lend, not money, but promises to supply money they do not possess. "
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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 Previous calendar entries are posted at http://afsc.net/monetaryhistorycalendar.html
Saturday, April 21, 2012
US Supreme Court: Organizations aren’t individuals but corporations are persons
The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously this week in Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority that organizations are not individuals. To determine the meaning of the the word “individual,” the court looked in a several common dictionaries. Seems reasonable.
This is the same Supreme Court that two years ago in Citizens United v FEC that corporations are “persons.” My common pocket dictionary defines a “person” as a human being or individual.
Therefore, if...
(a) a human being or individual is a person, and
(b) an individual is not a organization and
(c) a corporation is one type of organization
Then how in the heck can the court decide a corporation is a person??
This is the same Supreme Court that two years ago in Citizens United v FEC that corporations are “persons.” My common pocket dictionary defines a “person” as a human being or individual.
Therefore, if...
(a) a human being or individual is a person, and
(b) an individual is not a organization and
(c) a corporation is one type of organization
Then how in the heck can the court decide a corporation is a person??
Monday, April 16, 2012
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR April 16 - 22
APRIL 16
1854 – BIRTH OF JACOB COXEY’S, OHIO BUSINESSMAN
Jacob Coxey, a businessman from Massillon, Ohio organized a 500-strong “Coxey’s Army” march from Massillon (beginning on March 25, 1894) to Washington, D.C. (ending April 30) to promote federal intervention for job creation. The primary demand of this "petition in boots" was unique -- the direct printing and issuance of $500 million by the Federal Treasury to employ 4 million people. Coxey's Army proposed two bills. The first, a "Good Roads Bill," would help farmers through $500 million issued by the federal government in legal tender notes, or greenbacks, to construct rural roads. The second, a noninterest-bearing bonds bill, would empower state and local governments to issue noninterest-bearing bonds to be used to borrow legal tender notes from the federal treasury. This money would be used to build urban libraries, schools, utility plants and marketplaces. Millions of jobs would have been created -- debt-free.
1915 – DEATH OF NELSON ALDRICH, LEADER OF REPUBLICAN PARTY IN THE US SENATE
Aldrich was a key proponent of the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, a bill creating a National Monetary Commission in 1908, which studied the problem of monetary instability following the financial Panic of 1907. The Commission played a pivotal role in calling for “reform” of the US monetary system. The Act also established the “Aldrich-Vreeland system” which through the Comptroller of the Currency authorized some banks to issue new money. This helped the US deal with the financial crisis associated with WWI. The expanded money power of the government, however, was meant to be short-lived. The final volume of the Commission’s report called for a privately owned central bank, the “National Reserve Association,” in which “[c]ontrol was to be exercised completely by private bankers.” Passage of this Act was a stepping-stone to passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913.
APRIL 17
1790 – DEATH OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
"Experience, more prevalent than all the logic in the world, has fully convinced us all, that paper money has been, and is now of the greatest advantage to the country"
"The inability of the colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George III and the international bankers was the prime reason for the revolutionary war. "
"A legitimate government can both spend and lend money, while banks can only lend significant amounts of their promissory bank notes. Thus when bankers place money in circulation there is always a debt principal to be returned and usury to be paid."
1837- BIRTH OF JP MORGAN, US FINANCIER AND BANKER
John Pierpont Morgan dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. His empire consisted of banks but also hundreds of other corporations via interlocking corporate directors and financial investments. The “House of Morgan” was also one of the key players in organizing politically and backing financially the campaign to pass the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, creating the largely private Federal Reserve system.
APRIL 20
1868 – BIRTH OF JOHN HYLAN, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY, 1918-1925
“The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation. Like the octopus of real life, it operates under cover of a self created screen....At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as international bankers. The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both political parties.”
What may have been practically in Mayor Hylan’s time is actually today.
APRIL 21
1910 – DEATH OF MARK TWAIN, AUTHOR
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
APRIL 22
EARTH DAY – CREE INDIAN PROVERB
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” Seems an appropriate quote on this day.
------------------------------
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
1854 – BIRTH OF JACOB COXEY’S, OHIO BUSINESSMAN
Jacob Coxey, a businessman from Massillon, Ohio organized a 500-strong “Coxey’s Army” march from Massillon (beginning on March 25, 1894) to Washington, D.C. (ending April 30) to promote federal intervention for job creation. The primary demand of this "petition in boots" was unique -- the direct printing and issuance of $500 million by the Federal Treasury to employ 4 million people. Coxey's Army proposed two bills. The first, a "Good Roads Bill," would help farmers through $500 million issued by the federal government in legal tender notes, or greenbacks, to construct rural roads. The second, a noninterest-bearing bonds bill, would empower state and local governments to issue noninterest-bearing bonds to be used to borrow legal tender notes from the federal treasury. This money would be used to build urban libraries, schools, utility plants and marketplaces. Millions of jobs would have been created -- debt-free.
1915 – DEATH OF NELSON ALDRICH, LEADER OF REPUBLICAN PARTY IN THE US SENATE
Aldrich was a key proponent of the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, a bill creating a National Monetary Commission in 1908, which studied the problem of monetary instability following the financial Panic of 1907. The Commission played a pivotal role in calling for “reform” of the US monetary system. The Act also established the “Aldrich-Vreeland system” which through the Comptroller of the Currency authorized some banks to issue new money. This helped the US deal with the financial crisis associated with WWI. The expanded money power of the government, however, was meant to be short-lived. The final volume of the Commission’s report called for a privately owned central bank, the “National Reserve Association,” in which “[c]ontrol was to be exercised completely by private bankers.” Passage of this Act was a stepping-stone to passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913.
APRIL 17
1790 – DEATH OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
"Experience, more prevalent than all the logic in the world, has fully convinced us all, that paper money has been, and is now of the greatest advantage to the country"
"The inability of the colonists to get power to issue their own money permanently out of the hands of George III and the international bankers was the prime reason for the revolutionary war. "
"A legitimate government can both spend and lend money, while banks can only lend significant amounts of their promissory bank notes. Thus when bankers place money in circulation there is always a debt principal to be returned and usury to be paid."
1837- BIRTH OF JP MORGAN, US FINANCIER AND BANKER
John Pierpont Morgan dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. His empire consisted of banks but also hundreds of other corporations via interlocking corporate directors and financial investments. The “House of Morgan” was also one of the key players in organizing politically and backing financially the campaign to pass the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, creating the largely private Federal Reserve system.
APRIL 20
1868 – BIRTH OF JOHN HYLAN, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY, 1918-1925
“The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation. Like the octopus of real life, it operates under cover of a self created screen....At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as international bankers. The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both political parties.”
What may have been practically in Mayor Hylan’s time is actually today.
APRIL 21
1910 – DEATH OF MARK TWAIN, AUTHOR
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
APRIL 22
EARTH DAY – CREE INDIAN PROVERB
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” Seems an appropriate quote on this day.
------------------------------
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
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Oil and gas industry: System is decidedly rigged to favor corporate interests over the people
Published: Sunday, April 15, 2012
http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2012/04/oil_and_gas_laws_system_is_dec.html
http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2012/04/oil_and_gas_laws_system_is_dec.html
In response to "Oil and gas lobbyists flood Ohio" (Plain Dealer, April 8):
No charge is more objectionable to any politician than that his or her decisions are influenced by money. Acknowledging political influence from political donations and high-priced lobbyists further weakens the myth that we live in an authentic representative democracy.
Big-time lobbying and campaign investments from the oil and gas industry are so blatant that even Gov. John Kasich has decried the industry as a "special interest" and has questioned the role of oil and gas industry lobbying in blocking a tax increase on drillers.
While oil and gas corporations considered Kasich's comments offensive and off-base, to the public they are increasingly obvious. Our government is broken because the system is fixed -- as in, rigged to benefit the wealthy few and corporations.
The solution to horizontal fracking is not less fracking. It's more democracy. Changing political faces who accept campaign investments from corporate drillers isn't enough. We must also change fundamental rules that end the constitutional doctrines that corporations are people and money equals speech.
These are the aims of the Move to Amend campaign (movetoamend.org). They are essential to ensure that the voices of the 99 percent without a lot of money or who don't own a major corporation are authentically heard, their neighborhoods helped and their communities served.
Greg Coleridge Cleveland Heights
Coleridge is director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Al Rosa , Parties and Poetry - Vancouver in the Early 1980s
Living at Al Rosa
This is from a rough draft of a longer work - if you appear here and I have made any factual errors, please let me know and I will correct them)
Juils Comeault and some of his friends bought a place near 17th and Main and formed a communal house called "Al Rosa". The name signified the combination of Alexander from Alexander Berkman and Rosa of Rosa Luxemburg - a synthesis of anarchism and libertarian Marxism. He had been wanting me to live there for a long time, and early in 1982 there was a vacant room and I moved in. This was one of the best moves I ever made.
There were four other people living there besides Juils. Mark and Teresa had an impish sense of humour and were great fun to talk to. Regina, usually called Reg, was gentle and kind to a fault. A musician, artist and country girl from Ft. St John, she had her feet solidly on the ground and didn't have much time for our intellectual goings-on. Her country musician boy friend, Rick, who spent a lot of time at the house, was quiet, droll, and totally practical, he could fix anything. Billy Little (aka Zonko) poet, zinester and collage artist was a fount of inspiration, eager and quick to help in any endeavor. Wild and zany, Billy could also be cantankerous at times, which sometimes upset the women. Juils, charismatic and full of life, kept it all together. Al Rosa was a house of laughter and music.
I wouldn't be exaggerating too much to say that our house was where the political, artistic, literary and musical sub-cultures met, partied and exchanged ideas. Sculptor and holographer Jerry Pethick, poets George Stanley and Peter Culley, all friends of Billy's, often stayed with us. Frequent vistors included writer and curator Scott Watson, poet Gerry Gilbert, curator Annette Hurtig, writer Dora Fitzgerald, artist Brownie Brown, Chris Haddock, (then a bass player, not a TV producer) vocalist Mike Jacobs, saxophonist Gordie Bertram, (all three in the Questionnaires), poets Kate Van Dusen and Dorothy Trujillo. On occasion, you might also find George Bowering, David McFadden or Stan Persky sitting at our kitchen table.
We also used to attend readings at the Western Front and Octopus Books East on Commercial Drive. Our friends would read, but also there would be a "headliner." This way I got to hear Micheal McLure, Victor Coleman, George Faludy, Susan Musgrave, Daphne Marlatt and Phyllis Webb. Allen Ginsburg visited Vancouver twice, filling a hall in Kitsilano. The readings were intense and Billy would sometimes heckle. This was long before poetry slams, but to me the readings often had the excitement of a punk gig.
Our parties were famous. Every room in the house would be full of people as well as out on the lawn. Juils and Billy took care of the music and an endless stream of R and B (mostly R and B!) new wave, African, blues and trad rock 'n roll would be blasting and most everyone dancing like crazy. Sometimes the party would start in the morning and end at six AM the following day. I remember one of these which began with Billy's champagne brunch ending with the police telling us to shut it down just as day light was appearing. In our mid-late thirties we were still young enough to party hard, but old enough not to act stupid.
There were always people sitting at our big round table in the kitchen passing joints and drinking brandy at these parties. Sometimes this was the party. There would be wide-ranging discussions and poets would read from their works or favorite authors. This was the way I had always imagined Bohemia to be. I would have given anything to have life in Al Rosa go on forever. But it couldn't, and didn't, much to my sorrow at the time those wonderful days ended.
There was also an Al Rosa "look", at least among the men and many of our visitors. The hippie-look had been long gone by then, thanks to New Wave and punk. Suits and ties were "in", but from the thrift store and had to be early 1960s or older. I dug out my old suit from high school days and wore it until the bum was shiny and the elbows coming out in the sleeves. One time Juils, Bob Mercer, John Shaver and myself were walking down the street together and we must have looked like the Blues Brothers passing by.
The Tuesday Night Group (Juils and I had a three year long study group that happened every Tuesday night) was not the only reading group. Billy organized a weekly reading around the kitchen table. Everyone took turns reading aloud. We started with several of Shakespeare's plays, then went on to Doblin's "Berlin Alexanderplatz" and Carlos Fuente's monumental "Terra Nostra", which we never completed.
We went to all the important demonstrations for peace and Latin American solidarity. Sometimes we went as a group. Juils encouraged me to volunteer at the Spartacus Book Coop, and I remained a member until leaving Vancouver in 1986. This was also the time of the Solidarnosc revolt in Poland. The rank and file workers predominated at this point and the movement had many affinities with syndicalism, demanding a worker-managed socialism. A support group was forming, so Juils and I got involved. I remained with the group until it dissolved some three years later. We published the Solidarnosc Newsletter that went out to the BC Fed trade unions and did other educational work. After Juils got too sick to participate, the group consisted of five people – two anarchists and three Trotskyists. We never had the slightest problem working together because we focused on the project and not divisive points of ideology.
Juils, Billy and I formed our own tiny group called "Workers Anonymous." This started off as a joke, but it made a good cover for the stream of leaflets, Situationist-type comics, buttons and stickers we churned out. The idea was to be an anonymous voice of the rank and file, in opposition to the party-building favoured by most of the left. I also got into zine making, zine making again, if you include my 1969 IWW efforts. Stories were always appearing in the main stream newspapers that inadvertently exposed just how insane the system was. But they would appear once in a while, usually buried in the back pages. My idea was to collect these news items and publish them in a zine devoted to doing just that. So was born "Muckfunnel – Fanzine of the Irrational" which lasted for seven issues – produced until I left Vancouver. Billy helped out with artwork and clippings. Soon friends were sending me crazy stuff to print. I discovered a capitive audience – people waiting for their washing in laundromats. I went around to all the laundromats on Broadway and the West End leaving copies of Muckfunnel to shake their faith in the authorities.
In the 1990s, the media claimed the KGB was responsible for spreading the rumour the CIA had created and spread the AIDS virus. I was a bit miffed, because it wasn't the KGB who first came out with this story, but myself, early in 1983 in the Muckfunnell. Of course, I don't think the CIA created AIDS, but there are people in the ruling class depraved enough to commit a crime of this magnitude, and this was the point I was trying to make with my satirical article. (Keep reading!)
I should say something about life generally at this time. No one had a house key, so the front door was locked, but the back door was always open. You might leave the house for an hour, come back and find someone's friend sitting in the living room. Al Rosa was never robbed. This was before the CIA let in all that cocaine and started the crack epidemic. Sure there were junkies, there had been junkies in Vancouver since the city was founded in 1886, but they were never that many of them, nothing like the hoardes of crack heads those Gringo assholes unleashed upon us. Hastings and Carrol was a place people still visited. Coop Radio was there, as well as a fine old fish restaurant from 1912 with pressed tin plate on the ceiling. There was Army and Navy, China Arts and Crafts and a couple of movie theatres. (I saw "The Harder They Come" at one of these in 1974) At night you went to the Smilin' Buddha for punk gigs. Nobody was scared of the winos tottering by.
In retrospect, you can see trouble coming. The BC government in its infinite wisdom and cost-cutting mania closed the insane asylums and put the inmates out on the street. One of these deluded wretches decided that Juils was his personal enemy. He used to harangue Juils in Octopus Books and later put hateful posters up about him. There wasn't much that could be done about the problem. No one wanted to go to the police. I think Juils died before the problem was resolved.
I don't recall any homeless, other than end-of-their rope alkies. Rents were going up, but the sociopathic level of greed which through speculation would destroy thousands of inexpensive dwellings and push real estate prices to astronomical heights, was still years away. Friends of mine bought a two story house with a basement suite near Cambie in 1982. They paid $100,000 and I was shocked at how expensive it was! No masses of druggies and homeless, no sky-high rents, Vancouver was an easy, laid-back place for poor folks like us in the 1970s and early 80s.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR April 9 - 15
APRIL 10
1816 – CHARTER APPROVED FOR INCORPORATING THE SECOND NATIONAL BANK OF THE UNITED STATES
As with the earlier Bank of the United States, the Second National Bank of the United States was a privately owned and run bank with many of the largest investors foreigners and those representing great wealth. Congress chartered (licensed) the bank for 20 years. It’s worth remembering that corporate charters are democratic tools once used by sovereign people (that would be We the People) to control and define corporate actions. As a result of bank practices geared to serving the interests of banks/bankers, (including limiting the issuance of money into the economy – which triggered economic stagnation) President Jackson pledged that the bank would not be issued a new charter after its 20-year charter ended. Without a charter – which provides those forming corporations certain legal protections (then and now) – corporations cannot exist.
1858 – DEATH OF THOMAS BENTON, US SENATOR FROM MISSOURI“I object to the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States, because I look upon the bank as an institution too great and powerful to be tolerated in a government of free and equal laws. Its power is that of the purse; a power more potent than that of the sword; and this power it possesses to a degree and extent that will enable this bank to draw to itself too much of the political power of this Union; and too much of the individual property of the citizens of these States. The money power of the bank is both direct and indirect." http://yamaguchy.com/library/benton/benton_187.html
APRIL 11
1932 – PECORA COMMISSION HEARINGS BEGIN – INVESTIGATE CAUSE OF US DEPRESSIONThe investigation was launched by a majority-Republican Senate, under the Banking Committee's chairman, Senator Peter Norbeck. Hearings began on April 11, 1932, but were criticized by Democratic Party members and their supporters as being little more than an attempt by the Republicans to appease the growing demands of an angry American public suffering through the Great Depression. Two chief counsels were fired for ineffectiveness, and a third resigned after the committee refused to give him broad subpoena power. In January 1933, Ferdinand Pecora, an assistant district attorney for New York County was hired to write the final report. Discovering that the investigation was incomplete, Pecora requested permission to hold an additional month of hearings. His exposé of the National City Bank (now Citibank) made banner headlines and caused the bank's president to resign. Democrats had won the majority in the Senate, and the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, urged the new Democratic chairman of the Banking Committee, Senator Duncan U. Fletcher, to let Pecora continue the probe. So actively did Pecora pursue the investigation that his name became publicly identified with it, rather than the committee's chairman. Pecora not only documented a litany of abuses, but also paved the way for remedial legislation. The Securities Act of 1933, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 — all addressed abuses exposed by Pecora. It was only poetic justice when Roosevelt tapped him as a commissioner of the newborn Securities and Exchange Commission. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecora_Commission
APRIL 12
1866 – CONGRESS PASSES THE CONTRACTION ACTThe Act authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to begin retiring Greenbacks (public debt-free money first issued by the Lincoln Administration) in circulation and to contract the money supply. By 1876, two-thirds of the nation's money had been called in by the bankers. A contraction of the money supply when demand is high causes depressions, which is what happened from 1873-79.
1910 – DEATH OF WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER, PROFESSOR, YALE UNIVERSITY, MONETARY THRORIST"For as the currency question is of first importance and we cannot solve it or escape it by ignoring it. We have got to face it and the best way to begin is not by wrangling about speculative opinions as to untried schemes but to go back to history and try to get hold of some firmly established principles."
1945 – DEATH OF PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT"The real truth is…that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson."
APRIL 13
1743 – BIRTH OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES"This institution (the Bank of England) is one of the most deadly hostility against the principles of our Constitution…suppose an emergency should occur…an institution like this…in a critical moment might overthrow the government."
"And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
“Bank-paper must be suppressed, and the circulating medium must be restored to the nation to whom it belongs.”
APRIL 15
1865 – ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN“The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy.”
It was President Lincoln who advocated for and oversaw the creation and circulation of our nation’s last debt-free money, the Greenbacks. This was money not borrowed from banks, but created (as authorized in the US Constitution, Article 1, Sec 8) by the government to meet the nation’s needs.
--------------------
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
1816 – CHARTER APPROVED FOR INCORPORATING THE SECOND NATIONAL BANK OF THE UNITED STATES
As with the earlier Bank of the United States, the Second National Bank of the United States was a privately owned and run bank with many of the largest investors foreigners and those representing great wealth. Congress chartered (licensed) the bank for 20 years. It’s worth remembering that corporate charters are democratic tools once used by sovereign people (that would be We the People) to control and define corporate actions. As a result of bank practices geared to serving the interests of banks/bankers, (including limiting the issuance of money into the economy – which triggered economic stagnation) President Jackson pledged that the bank would not be issued a new charter after its 20-year charter ended. Without a charter – which provides those forming corporations certain legal protections (then and now) – corporations cannot exist.
1858 – DEATH OF THOMAS BENTON, US SENATOR FROM MISSOURI“I object to the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States, because I look upon the bank as an institution too great and powerful to be tolerated in a government of free and equal laws. Its power is that of the purse; a power more potent than that of the sword; and this power it possesses to a degree and extent that will enable this bank to draw to itself too much of the political power of this Union; and too much of the individual property of the citizens of these States. The money power of the bank is both direct and indirect." http://yamaguchy.com/library/benton/benton_187.html
APRIL 11
1932 – PECORA COMMISSION HEARINGS BEGIN – INVESTIGATE CAUSE OF US DEPRESSIONThe investigation was launched by a majority-Republican Senate, under the Banking Committee's chairman, Senator Peter Norbeck. Hearings began on April 11, 1932, but were criticized by Democratic Party members and their supporters as being little more than an attempt by the Republicans to appease the growing demands of an angry American public suffering through the Great Depression. Two chief counsels were fired for ineffectiveness, and a third resigned after the committee refused to give him broad subpoena power. In January 1933, Ferdinand Pecora, an assistant district attorney for New York County was hired to write the final report. Discovering that the investigation was incomplete, Pecora requested permission to hold an additional month of hearings. His exposé of the National City Bank (now Citibank) made banner headlines and caused the bank's president to resign. Democrats had won the majority in the Senate, and the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, urged the new Democratic chairman of the Banking Committee, Senator Duncan U. Fletcher, to let Pecora continue the probe. So actively did Pecora pursue the investigation that his name became publicly identified with it, rather than the committee's chairman. Pecora not only documented a litany of abuses, but also paved the way for remedial legislation. The Securities Act of 1933, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 — all addressed abuses exposed by Pecora. It was only poetic justice when Roosevelt tapped him as a commissioner of the newborn Securities and Exchange Commission. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecora_Commission
APRIL 12
1866 – CONGRESS PASSES THE CONTRACTION ACTThe Act authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to begin retiring Greenbacks (public debt-free money first issued by the Lincoln Administration) in circulation and to contract the money supply. By 1876, two-thirds of the nation's money had been called in by the bankers. A contraction of the money supply when demand is high causes depressions, which is what happened from 1873-79.
1910 – DEATH OF WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER, PROFESSOR, YALE UNIVERSITY, MONETARY THRORIST"For as the currency question is of first importance and we cannot solve it or escape it by ignoring it. We have got to face it and the best way to begin is not by wrangling about speculative opinions as to untried schemes but to go back to history and try to get hold of some firmly established principles."
1945 – DEATH OF PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT"The real truth is…that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson."
APRIL 13
1743 – BIRTH OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES"This institution (the Bank of England) is one of the most deadly hostility against the principles of our Constitution…suppose an emergency should occur…an institution like this…in a critical moment might overthrow the government."
"And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
“Bank-paper must be suppressed, and the circulating medium must be restored to the nation to whom it belongs.”
APRIL 15
1865 – ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN“The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy.”
It was President Lincoln who advocated for and oversaw the creation and circulation of our nation’s last debt-free money, the Greenbacks. This was money not borrowed from banks, but created (as authorized in the US Constitution, Article 1, Sec 8) by the government to meet the nation’s needs.
--------------------
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
Monday, April 2, 2012
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR April 2-8
APRIL 3
1729 – PUBLICATION OF “A MODEST ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND NECCESITY OF A PAPER CURRENCY” BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
The “father of paper money” and a printer, Franklin’s publication circulated throughout the colonies. He was a strong advocate of colonies printing their own money. The publication helped him earn contracts to print paper money for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
"A legitimate government can both spend and lend money, while banks can only lend significant amounts of their promissory bank notes. Thus when bankers place money in circulation there is always a debt principal to be returned and usury to be paid."
APRIL 4
1834 – US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES AGAINST RECHARTERING THE SECOND BANK OF THE UNITED STATES
The US House voted 134-82 against rechartering (re-licensing) the nation’s central bank – a private bank not ultimately accountable to the public but to its shareholders. Charters were originally considered democratic instruments of public control to keep corporations accountable – as opposed to today where charters are issued automatically as long as minimal conditions are met and a fee is paid. The bank had established loan policies that were detrimental to the nation’s economy but very profitable for its owners. The bank’s President, Nicholas Biddle, had threatened to harm the US economy by restricting the nation’s money supply if the charter was not renewed. The bank shrank the money supply. A financial panic and deep depression followed. President Andrew Jackson was convinced all the more than the private bank should not be in charge of issuing and circulating the nation’s money supply.
1883 – DEATH OF PETER COOPER, US INDUSTRIALIST, PHILANTHROPIST (FOUNDED COOPER UNION) AND GREENBACK CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
"The substitution of greenbacks for National bank notes will make a uniform currency of money A greenback legal tender is to the full as much real money as a gold legal tender the only difference being that as many nations make gold a legal tender there is more demand for it than for paper legal tenders which have the sovereign stamp of only one Government. The substitution of greenbacks for National bank notes would have the bounty now paid to banks which being invested as a sinking fund would in less than thirty years pay off the whole debt of the country."
APRIL 5
1764 – BRITISH PARLIAMENT PASSES CURRENCY ACT PROHIBITING COLONIES FROM PRINTING THEIR OWN MONEY
As early as 1723, the colony of Pennsylvania showed that it was possible for money to be issued by the government in the place of taxes without causing inflation. Money was printed and circulated there and elsewhere. No taxes needed to be collected in PA from 1723 to the 1750’s as a result. The Bank of England pressured the British Parliament to pass the Currency Act. Benjamin Franklin believed that passage of the Act caused poverty and triggered the Revolutionary War.
1933 – PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER CONFISCATING GOLD
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102 ordering all citizens to turn in their private gold. The Order prohibited the “hoarding” of almost all privately held gold coins, bullion and certificates “to provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking” (i.e. the Great Depression) that was caused by the monetary policies of the mostly privately operated Federal Reserve system.
2008 - DEATH OF CHARLTON HESTON (WHO PLAYED MOSES IN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS}
[I know this is a stretch, but nevertheless, a means to share the following…]
From the Old Testament in the Bible, Deuteronomy 23:19
“Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.”
______________________________________________________________________________________
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
1729 – PUBLICATION OF “A MODEST ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND NECCESITY OF A PAPER CURRENCY” BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
The “father of paper money” and a printer, Franklin’s publication circulated throughout the colonies. He was a strong advocate of colonies printing their own money. The publication helped him earn contracts to print paper money for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
"A legitimate government can both spend and lend money, while banks can only lend significant amounts of their promissory bank notes. Thus when bankers place money in circulation there is always a debt principal to be returned and usury to be paid."
APRIL 4
1834 – US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES AGAINST RECHARTERING THE SECOND BANK OF THE UNITED STATES
The US House voted 134-82 against rechartering (re-licensing) the nation’s central bank – a private bank not ultimately accountable to the public but to its shareholders. Charters were originally considered democratic instruments of public control to keep corporations accountable – as opposed to today where charters are issued automatically as long as minimal conditions are met and a fee is paid. The bank had established loan policies that were detrimental to the nation’s economy but very profitable for its owners. The bank’s President, Nicholas Biddle, had threatened to harm the US economy by restricting the nation’s money supply if the charter was not renewed. The bank shrank the money supply. A financial panic and deep depression followed. President Andrew Jackson was convinced all the more than the private bank should not be in charge of issuing and circulating the nation’s money supply.
1883 – DEATH OF PETER COOPER, US INDUSTRIALIST, PHILANTHROPIST (FOUNDED COOPER UNION) AND GREENBACK CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
"The substitution of greenbacks for National bank notes will make a uniform currency of money A greenback legal tender is to the full as much real money as a gold legal tender the only difference being that as many nations make gold a legal tender there is more demand for it than for paper legal tenders which have the sovereign stamp of only one Government. The substitution of greenbacks for National bank notes would have the bounty now paid to banks which being invested as a sinking fund would in less than thirty years pay off the whole debt of the country."
APRIL 5
1764 – BRITISH PARLIAMENT PASSES CURRENCY ACT PROHIBITING COLONIES FROM PRINTING THEIR OWN MONEY
As early as 1723, the colony of Pennsylvania showed that it was possible for money to be issued by the government in the place of taxes without causing inflation. Money was printed and circulated there and elsewhere. No taxes needed to be collected in PA from 1723 to the 1750’s as a result. The Bank of England pressured the British Parliament to pass the Currency Act. Benjamin Franklin believed that passage of the Act caused poverty and triggered the Revolutionary War.
1933 – PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER CONFISCATING GOLD
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102 ordering all citizens to turn in their private gold. The Order prohibited the “hoarding” of almost all privately held gold coins, bullion and certificates “to provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking” (i.e. the Great Depression) that was caused by the monetary policies of the mostly privately operated Federal Reserve system.
2008 - DEATH OF CHARLTON HESTON (WHO PLAYED MOSES IN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS}
[I know this is a stretch, but nevertheless, a means to share the following…]
From the Old Testament in the Bible, Deuteronomy 23:19
“Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.”
______________________________________________________________________________________
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
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