MARCH 19
1860 – BIRTH OF WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN, SENATOR, SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (DEMOCRAT/POPULIST)
Bryan had originally supported the 1913 Federal Reserve Act as Secretary of State under the Wilson administration. His position was crucial in gaining the support of many Congressional Democrats and Progressives. He later regretted his decision. "In my long career, the only thing I genuinely regret is my part in getting the banking and currency legislation enacted into law.”
MARCH 21 -
1821 – GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY
Solon was an Athenian statesman and lawmaker (presumable the city in Cuyahoga County is named after him). He became the first effective advocate for democracy in roughly 594 BC when he decentralized power politically in the judiciary and, most importantly, in the Athenian money system. Many in Greece today are advocating exiting the Eurozone, claiming that returning to the Drachma (their original currency) and democratizing its issuance and circulation by the government as opposed to private Greek banks is the path to economic prosperity and political sovereignty. In the name of “austerity,” Greeks are being asked by international bankers, among other things, to privatize national assets and treasures, including Greek islands. Massive popular resistance has followed. Seeing what’s happening in Greece, many in Europe are now calling for the creation of “sovereign money” systems at the nation-state level, compared to the current top-down system where monetary matters are determined by the European Central Bank controlled by the largest and wealthiest banks on the continent.
1975 – DEATH OF RALPH HAWTREY, BRITISH ECONOMIST, FRIEND OF JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES
“Banks lend by creating credit. They create the means of payment out of nothing.”
MARCH 22
1832 – DEATH OF JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE, GERMAN WRITER
“None are more enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
MARCH 25
1894 – COXEY’S ARMY BEGINS MARCH
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.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
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, March 19, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Citizens United, Corporate Personhood, and Democracy
Greg Coleridge | "Citizens United, Corporate Personhood, and Democracy" | February 8, 2012 | University of Toledo Law Center
http://www.knowledgestream.org/kstream/index.asp?item_id=11107
Monday, March 12, 2012
100th Anniversary of William Jennings Bryan Ohio Speech -- on Corporations, etc.
This is what three-time Presidential candidate and populist William Jennings Bryan said about corporations exactly a century ago. This is what Presidential candidates should be saying today...
"The first thing to understand is the difference between the natural person and the fictitious person called a corporation. They differ in the purpose for which they are created, in the strength which they possess, and in the restraints under which they act. Man is the handiwork of God and was placed upon earth to carry out a Divine purpose; the corporation is the handiwork of man and created to carry out a money-making policy. There is comparatively little difference in the strength of men; a corporation may be one hundred, one thousand, or even one million times stronger than the average man. Man acts under the restraints of conscience, and is influenced also by a belief in a future life. A corporation has no soul and cares nothing about the hereafter."
--William Jennings Bryan, "People's Law" speech, Ohio Constitutional Convention, March 12, 1912, Columbus, Ohio
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/LegalResources/LawLibrary/resources/1912Convention.asp
"The first thing to understand is the difference between the natural person and the fictitious person called a corporation. They differ in the purpose for which they are created, in the strength which they possess, and in the restraints under which they act. Man is the handiwork of God and was placed upon earth to carry out a Divine purpose; the corporation is the handiwork of man and created to carry out a money-making policy. There is comparatively little difference in the strength of men; a corporation may be one hundred, one thousand, or even one million times stronger than the average man. Man acts under the restraints of conscience, and is influenced also by a belief in a future life. A corporation has no soul and cares nothing about the hereafter."
--William Jennings Bryan, "People's Law" speech, Ohio Constitutional Convention, March 12, 1912, Columbus, Ohio
http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/LegalResources/LawLibrary/resources/1912Convention.asp
Sunday, March 11, 2012
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR -- March 12-18
MARCH 14
1782 - BIRTH OF THOMAS BENTON, US SENATOR, 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
1900 – US GOLD STANDARD ACT APPROVED
It established gold as the only metal standard for redeeming paper money. Populists had campaigned for several years before, culminating in the 1896 Presidential election, to include silver as a standard for redeeming paper money. Banks controlled most of the gold and thus the basis for issuing paper money. Populists wanted to expand the money supply to meet the needs of an expanding economy and country. Banks wanted to maintain control of the money supply. President William McKinley (from Canton, Ohio), strongly backed by the nation’s major corporations, signed the Act. Whether gold and/or silver, banking money with metal moved the nation further away from the Greenbacks, the debt- and interest-free currency issued as credit, of the Lincoln administration.
MARCH 15
1767 – BIRTH OF ANDREW JACKSON, SEVENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
“I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the Bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the Bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I havedetermined to rout you out and, by the Eternal, I will rout you out.” 1834
Jackson successfully opposed re-chartering the private “Second Bank of the United States.” He vetoed a bill in 1832 renewing the bank’s charter (license).
MARCH 16
1751 – BIRTH OF JAMES MADISON, FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance."
1938 – HOUSE RESOLUTION (HR) 7230 INTRODUCED
John William Wright Patman, Democratic Congressman 1938-1978 and Chairman Committee on Banking & Currency, introduces a bill to nationalize the Federal Reserve System.
"The Federal Reserve is a total moneymaking machine. It can issue money or checks, and it never has a problem of making its checks good because it can obtain the $5 or $10 bills necessary to cover its check simply by asking the Treasury Dept's Bureau of Engraving to print them.” 1964
MARCH 18
1993 – DEATH OF KENNETH BOULDING, ECONOMIST, PROFESSOR, PEACE ACTIVIST, QUAKER
"Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist." [editor: the same goes for debt]
___________________________________________________________________________________________
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
1782 - BIRTH OF THOMAS BENTON, US SENATOR, 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
1900 – US GOLD STANDARD ACT APPROVED
It established gold as the only metal standard for redeeming paper money. Populists had campaigned for several years before, culminating in the 1896 Presidential election, to include silver as a standard for redeeming paper money. Banks controlled most of the gold and thus the basis for issuing paper money. Populists wanted to expand the money supply to meet the needs of an expanding economy and country. Banks wanted to maintain control of the money supply. President William McKinley (from Canton, Ohio), strongly backed by the nation’s major corporations, signed the Act. Whether gold and/or silver, banking money with metal moved the nation further away from the Greenbacks, the debt- and interest-free currency issued as credit, of the Lincoln administration.
MARCH 15
1767 – BIRTH OF ANDREW JACKSON, SEVENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
“I too have been a close observer of the doings of the Bank of the United States. I have had men watching you for a long time, and am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the Bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the Bank and annul its charter I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I havedetermined to rout you out and, by the Eternal, I will rout you out.” 1834
Jackson successfully opposed re-chartering the private “Second Bank of the United States.” He vetoed a bill in 1832 renewing the bank’s charter (license).
MARCH 16
1751 – BIRTH OF JAMES MADISON, FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance."
1938 – HOUSE RESOLUTION (HR) 7230 INTRODUCED
John William Wright Patman, Democratic Congressman 1938-1978 and Chairman Committee on Banking & Currency, introduces a bill to nationalize the Federal Reserve System.
"The Federal Reserve is a total moneymaking machine. It can issue money or checks, and it never has a problem of making its checks good because it can obtain the $5 or $10 bills necessary to cover its check simply by asking the Treasury Dept's Bureau of Engraving to print them.” 1964
MARCH 18
1993 – DEATH OF KENNETH BOULDING, ECONOMIST, PROFESSOR, PEACE ACTIVIST, QUAKER
"Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist." [editor: the same goes for debt]
___________________________________________________________________________________________
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
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Conspiracy Theories as Modern Mythology
The term "conspiracy theory" is used by the media to suppress critical thought. The fact is, where you have coercive power, you will automatically have conspiracies – by those with power to maintain and increase it, by those without power to gain it. These are "conspiracy facts" not conspiracy theories. But there are also conspiracy theories in the pejorative sense of the term, wild-eyed stories about Illuminati and reptile people from outer space. It is this sense of conspiracy theory that I wish to examine.
Conspiracy theories are like the great myths. They are attempts to explain and give meaning to the complex, ofttimes frightening and contradictory world humans find themselves in. Like mythology, these theories, if taken literally, appear ludicrous. They are essentially coded narratives. Encoded within the story told, whether it is the "Fall of Man" or David Ickes' lizard people, is a message that is not without value.
The message or rational core that underlies even the wackiest conspiracy theory includes:
* The powerlessness and subsequent alienation of the people
* our domination by a small, violent and exploitative group
* that these dominators lack empathy and regard the rest of us as prey.
* media manipulation and manufactured consent
* habitual lying on the part of government and the authorities
* cover-ups and persecution of whistle blowers
* governments and corporations conspiring against the people.
Conspiracy theories are the new mythology of the contemporary world. They are rooted in a section of the population that still mentally resides in the pre-modern, pre-Enlightenment world. A population that does not think systemically and for whom emotions play a vastly more important role than logical argumentation. That a large portion of the population does not accept a scientific, rational world view, is in no small measure, a result of the ruling class need to maintain its power. They must promote scape goats, irrational fears, superstitions and prejudices to keep the population controlled. If the entire population had a scientific outlook, they would not be susceptible to this manipulation.
There is more to it than ruling class manipulation. Contemporary society, based ultimately on technics and science, is a terrifying place. Thanks to capitalism and the state, the Enlightenment did not fulfill its promise of a peaceful, humane world ruled by Reason. No wonder some people take refuge in the mythic. There is also the fact that to be human is to be a myth maker. Events and individuals soon become "larger than life", become part of a meaning - full narrative told around camp fires and tavern tables. Think only of the labour movement, Joe Hill and Ginger Goodwin, now virtual archetypal figures of the Murdered Hero. This from the most rational and systemically-thinking section of the populous.
The problem then is not myth making in and of itself. It is rather the type of myth. Atavistic responses such as racism and anti-Semitism woven into contemporary myth are the danger, not the myth making. The idea that all-powerful groups like the "International Bankers" or the Illuminati control everything and the rest of us are mere victims, only aids our subjugation - a response to our powerlessness that only abets our powerlessness. Blaming groups or individuals keeps us in a trap, preventing us from thinking in systemic terms and therefore getting a clearer understanding of how the system works. We are chasing a scary puppet and not confronting the real causes which lie in capitalism and the state.
Like the in field of history, myth is an area of contestation, of a struggle for hegemony. There are myths that keep people in subjugation and there are those that point to liberation. It is the latter we need to develop, not the former.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Making Change
Today is primary election day.
Tomorrow, some new faces and some old faces will be celebrating their victories.
But two things will stay the same: corporations will still be people and money will still be speech.
Changing faces through elections and changing laws through legislatures and citizen initiatives, while important, are only partial steps to bringing real change. We have changed plenty of faces and plenty of laws over plenty of decades but corporations and the wealthy few keep acquiring more and more and more power and rights...at our expense. That hasn’t changed.
It’s time to change the ground rules to allow for authentic self-governance. Changing the US Constitution is changing the ground rules. Amending the Constitution to end corporate personhood and money is speech both widen and deepen the ability of human beings who aren’t super wealthy to govern themselves.
That’s why Move to Amend (www.movetoamend.org) is so important.
Tomorrow, some new faces and some old faces will be celebrating their victories.
But two things will stay the same: corporations will still be people and money will still be speech.
Changing faces through elections and changing laws through legislatures and citizen initiatives, while important, are only partial steps to bringing real change. We have changed plenty of faces and plenty of laws over plenty of decades but corporations and the wealthy few keep acquiring more and more and more power and rights...at our expense. That hasn’t changed.
It’s time to change the ground rules to allow for authentic self-governance. Changing the US Constitution is changing the ground rules. Amending the Constitution to end corporate personhood and money is speech both widen and deepen the ability of human beings who aren’t super wealthy to govern themselves.
That’s why Move to Amend (www.movetoamend.org) is so important.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR March 5 – 11
MARCH 5
1933 -- FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT ISSUES EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATION 2039 DECLARING A BANK “HOLIDAY”
The “holiday” meant that all banks would be closed from March 6-9 to prevent further runs by depositors. Bank failures were a result in earlier speculative investments and banks loaning out more money than they actually possessed (called “fractional reserve banking”). When too many people came to a bank at the same time wanting their deposits, the banks collapsed since they lacked sufficient assets. The bank “holiday” was meant to restore confidence in the banking system.
MARCH 6
1926 – BIRTH OF ALAN GREENSPAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE US FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
"I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said." In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, 1988
“Do you feel that your ideology pushed you to make decisions that you wish you had not made?”
Mr. Greenspan conceded: “Yes, I’ve found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I’ve been very distressed by that fact.” “Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief,” he told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. NYT, 10/23/2008
1933 – CONGRESS PASSES EMERGENCY BANKING ACT
Among its provisions, the Act gave the President the ability to declare a national emergency and have absolute control over the national finances and foreign exchange of the United States. It authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to order any individual or organization in the United States to deliver any gold that they possess or have custody of to the Treasury in return for paper currency. It also allowed for closing insolvent banks.
MARCH 7
322 BC – DEATH OF ARISTOTLE
“Money exists not by nature but by law”(Ethics, 1133)
Aristotle understood that no natural substance qualifies as money. Rather, it’s governments that determine the definition of money.
1976 – DEATH OF WRIGHT PATMAN, DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN FROM TEXAS, CHAIRMAN OF US HOUSE COMMITTEE ON BANKING & CURRENCY (1965-75)
“When our Federal Government, that has the exclusive power to create money, creates that money and then goes into the open market and borrows it and pays interest for the use of its own money, it occurs to me that that is going too far. I have never yet had anyone who could, through the use of logic and reason, justify the Federal Government borrowing the use of its own money... I am saying to you in all sincerity, and with all the earnestness that I possess, it is absolutely wrong for the Government to issue interest-bearing obligations. It is not only wrong: it is extravagant. It is not only extravagant, it is wasteful. It is absolutely unnecessary.
“Now, I believe the system should be changed. The Constitution of the United States does not give the banks the power to create money. The Constitution says that Congress shall have the power to create money, but now, under our system, we will sell bonds to commercial banks and obtain credit from those banks.
“I believe the time will come when people will demand that this be changed. I believe the time will come in this country when they will actually blame you and me and everyone else connected with this Congress for sitting idly by and permitting such an idiotic system to continue. I make that statement after years of study.
“We have what is known as the Federal Reserve Bank System. That system is not owned by the Government. Many people think that it is, because it says `Federal Reserve'. It belongs to the private banks, private corporations. So we have farmed out to the Federal Reserve Banking System that is owned exclusively, wholly, 100 percent by the private banks — we have farmed out to them the privilege of issuing the Government's money. If we were to take this privilege back from them, we could save the amount of money that I have indicated in enormous interest charges.”
- Congressional Record, 1941
______________________________________________________________________________________________
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
1933 -- FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT ISSUES EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATION 2039 DECLARING A BANK “HOLIDAY”
The “holiday” meant that all banks would be closed from March 6-9 to prevent further runs by depositors. Bank failures were a result in earlier speculative investments and banks loaning out more money than they actually possessed (called “fractional reserve banking”). When too many people came to a bank at the same time wanting their deposits, the banks collapsed since they lacked sufficient assets. The bank “holiday” was meant to restore confidence in the banking system.
MARCH 6
1926 – BIRTH OF ALAN GREENSPAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE US FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
"I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said." In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, 1988
“Do you feel that your ideology pushed you to make decisions that you wish you had not made?”
Mr. Greenspan conceded: “Yes, I’ve found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I’ve been very distressed by that fact.” “Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders’ equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief,” he told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. NYT, 10/23/2008
1933 – CONGRESS PASSES EMERGENCY BANKING ACT
Among its provisions, the Act gave the President the ability to declare a national emergency and have absolute control over the national finances and foreign exchange of the United States. It authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to order any individual or organization in the United States to deliver any gold that they possess or have custody of to the Treasury in return for paper currency. It also allowed for closing insolvent banks.
MARCH 7
322 BC – DEATH OF ARISTOTLE
“Money exists not by nature but by law”(Ethics, 1133)
Aristotle understood that no natural substance qualifies as money. Rather, it’s governments that determine the definition of money.
1976 – DEATH OF WRIGHT PATMAN, DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN FROM TEXAS, CHAIRMAN OF US HOUSE COMMITTEE ON BANKING & CURRENCY (1965-75)
“When our Federal Government, that has the exclusive power to create money, creates that money and then goes into the open market and borrows it and pays interest for the use of its own money, it occurs to me that that is going too far. I have never yet had anyone who could, through the use of logic and reason, justify the Federal Government borrowing the use of its own money... I am saying to you in all sincerity, and with all the earnestness that I possess, it is absolutely wrong for the Government to issue interest-bearing obligations. It is not only wrong: it is extravagant. It is not only extravagant, it is wasteful. It is absolutely unnecessary.
“Now, I believe the system should be changed. The Constitution of the United States does not give the banks the power to create money. The Constitution says that Congress shall have the power to create money, but now, under our system, we will sell bonds to commercial banks and obtain credit from those banks.
“I believe the time will come when people will demand that this be changed. I believe the time will come in this country when they will actually blame you and me and everyone else connected with this Congress for sitting idly by and permitting such an idiotic system to continue. I make that statement after years of study.
“We have what is known as the Federal Reserve Bank System. That system is not owned by the Government. Many people think that it is, because it says `Federal Reserve'. It belongs to the private banks, private corporations. So we have farmed out to the Federal Reserve Banking System that is owned exclusively, wholly, 100 percent by the private banks — we have farmed out to them the privilege of issuing the Government's money. If we were to take this privilege back from them, we could save the amount of money that I have indicated in enormous interest charges.”
- Congressional Record, 1941
______________________________________________________________________________________________
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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