http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/11/take-power-to-create-credit-away-from.html
Take the Power to Create Credit Away from the Giant Banks and Give It Back to the People from Washington's Blog by George Washington Many people - including former analyst for the U.S. Treasury Richard Cook - argue that credit is too important a function to be left to the private banks. Indeed, even after taxpayers have given trillions in bailouts, backstops, guarantees, and other gifts, the giant banks are still not lending out much credit to individuals or small businesses. The talking heads say that real reform of this nature is not "politically feasible". But not politically feasible doesn't actually mean anything except that the powers-that-be don't want it. We have been throwing ourselves against a brick wall trying to force the giant banks into doing the right thing, but as Buckminster Fuller said: You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. A Better Model So what is a better model? Gold advocates argue for a return to a gold-backed standard. This would, in fact, be a vast improvement over the fiat currency system we have now, as it would reign in the funding of unnecessary wars and other imperial mischief from the printing of new fiat dollars. But Ellen Brown argues that a gold standard restricts credit for the little guy, not just Uncle Sam. If Brown is right - and given that the too big to fails are refusing to lend to most little guys - public banking might be the only way to restore a health economy and ease the pain for the average American. (Brown also argues that it was actually the bankers - and not the populists - who forced the adoption of a gold standard in the 1890s, and that the true meaning of the "Cross of Gold" speech has been forgotten). National Public Bank Congressman Dennis Kucinich has expressed openness to public banking and monetary reform. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka told Congress last week: If the Federal Reserve were made a fully public body, it would be an acceptable alternative. Bloomberg News columnist Matthew Lynn writes: The U.K. government needs to start thinking about what it will do with all the banks it now owns. The answer is simple: Hand them to the people... Instead of selling the stakes it acquired in the financial system to other banks, or listing the shares on the stock market, it could create mutually owned societies. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc could be a people's bank, owned by everyone.That would ensure more diversity, competition and stability, all goals just as worthy as getting back the money Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government spent on bank rescues... Sovereign nations such as the U.S. and England have the power to create credit and money (and see this and this). Taking the credit-creation power away from the banks and giving it back to the nation would ensure that credit is freed up for people's use, and the stranglehold over the economy is taken away from the too big to fails. State Public Banks Many people argue that - given its actions - people don't trust the federal government to create money. Fair enough. Why not let the states do it? Michael Moore recommends that the American people demand: Each of the 50 states must create a state-owned public bank like they have in North Dakota. Then congress MUST reinstate all the strict pre-Reagan regulations on all commercial banks, investment firms, insurance companies -- and all the other industries that have been savaged by deregulation: Airlines, the food industry, pharmaceutical companies -- you name it. If a company's primary motive to exist is to make a profit, then it needs a set of stringent rules to live by -- and the first rule is "Do no harm." The second rule: The question must always be asked -- "Is this for the common good?" (Click here for some info about the state-owned Bank of North Dakota.) PhD economist and candidate for Florida governor Farid Khavari wants to create a Bank of the State of Florida, to create credit without burdening the state and its citizens with high interest charges by private banks. As Moore notes, the state of North Dakota already has such a bank, and - because of that - North Dakota is just about the only state which is not running a huge deficit. See this for details. Local Public Banks An alternative to federal or state public banking is local public banks, as proposed by Edward Kellogg and others. As summarized by Adrian Kuzminski: During this time of financial and economic crisis, it is worth recalling that credible alternatives to our current financial system exist, if largely unrecognized, and deserve serious consideration... The now-neglected 19th-century American proto-populist, Edward Kellogg ... was a kind of godfather to the later populist movement on monetary issues. Perhaps the most profound of American writers on monetary issues, Kellogg advocated a decentralized but nationally regulated monetary system based on non-usurious, low-interest public loans to individuals. His vision inspired 19th-century century mutualists, greenbackers, populists, and others who sought to restructure the monetary system to redistribute wealth. In our own day, when usurious credit in the form of private finance capital remains the dominant force in economic life, and is largely taken for granted even by educated people, the alternative Kellogg offers is more important than ever. Indeed, I suggest that Kellogg's theory of money is the best monetary alternative we have to the baleful system under which we suffer... Edward Kellogg (1790-1858) was a New York City businessman whose losses in the crash of 1837 led him to examine the business cycle, monetary policy, and debt. In a series of writings, Kellogg developed the idea of ... having the government provide very-low-interest loans to the general public. These loans would have a uniform, fixed interest rate, established by law. They would be issued locally through a system of public credit banks he called the Safety Fund. Once issued, these low-interest loan notes would circulate as currency, replacing the privately issued banking notes of his day (which today take the form of Federal Reserve Notes)... In his day Kellogg seems to have influenced even Abraham Lincoln who, according to historian Mark A. Lause, " . . . had his own copy of Kellogg's book, Labor and Capital [sic] advocating the government issuance of paper currency as a just means of redistributing wealth, and he corresponded with the author's son-in-law." Kellogg's public currency was intended to end the monopoly over the discretionary issuance of money at interest, which was held then (and now) by the private banking and investment system... Kellogg proposed to establish local public credit banks, and we might imagine one in each community. These local public credit banks would be part of the Safety Fund. Instead of money being issued (as it is now) through a privatized and centralized money-management system on a top-down basis, primarily as loans at increasing rates of interest from a central bank to major commercial banks, and then to regional and local banks, and then to the public, money in his system would be issued by local federal banks as loans directly to citizens at nominal interest on the basis of their economic prospects. Once lent out, Kellogg's public credit notes would flow into circulation, providing the basis for a new currency backed by the assets of individual borrowers... A centralized national currency would be replaced, in Kellogg's system, by a locally issued currency. But that currency would everywhere be subject to common national standards, ensuring that each local public credit bank reliably issued equivalent units of currency. A dollar issued by one local public credit bank of the Safety Fund, Kellogg intended, would be worth the same as, and be freely interchangeable with, one issued by any other. The independence of local branches would be guaranteed by the discretionary power reserved to them as a local monopoly actually to loan money; the compatibility of their monies would be ensured under federal law by fixing the value of the dollar by law at 1.1 percent/year - that is, by lending money everywhere to citizens at that rate... The goal is to establish and preserve economic decentralization. Amounts of money lent in Kellogg's system would vary considerably from place to place, with some areas needing and creating more currency than others. The solvency of local federal public credit banks would be guaranteed by collateral put up by borrowers, and the money supply would be stabilized by repayment of loans as they came due. The interchangeability of public credit bank notes would ensure a wide circulation for the new money... To achieve a stable currency, Kellogg insisted that this rate be fixed by law; perhaps today it would take a constitutional amendment. What's the Best Option? People of good faith debate whether the gold standard, or national, state or local public banking is the best solution. But they agree that the current fiat currency system where the creation of credit is controlled by the private banks has pushed us into an economic crisis and a credit crunch, with little hope of stability for the future. Changing to a public banking system would clearly be a large change. But remember - as Buckminster Fuller pointed out - building a new model is often easier than fighting the existing one. The time is right for a new model. ######### Cut Wall Street Out! Ellen Hodgson Brownn: Cut Wall Street Out! How States Can Finance Their Own Economic Recovery http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/cut-wall-street-out-how-states-can-finance-their-own-recovery/ http://www.truthout.org/1031091 Inside Goldman Sachs' $57 Billion Subprime Scam http://ampedstatus.com/inside-goldman-sachs-57-billion-subprime-scam It's time to confront the financial coup http://ampedstatus.com/declare-yourself-its-time-to-confront-the-financial-coup Remove Tim Geithner, Economic Death Squad Leader Must Be Removed from Treasury http://ampedstatus.com/remove-tim-geithner-economic-death-squad-leader-must-be-removed-from-treasury You should be insulted and outraged by this disgraceful charade of a healthcare "debate." It seems that everyone is missing the elephant in the room. We could have easily insured every American with the highest quality of healthcare in the world, if our government used just a small fraction of the money that Wall Street stole from the public. It is OBSCENE! Declare Yourself, It's Time to Confront the Financial Coup http://stanvanhoucke.blogspot.com/2009/11/het-neoliberale-geloof-479.html The End of Money and the Future of Civilization By: Richard C. Cook http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14163 Take America Back From the Banks By Dean Baker Reining in the financial industry's power and greed will be a long, hard-fought war. But it is one that must be fought. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23717.htm Goldman Sachs-Robbing and Thieving The American Sucker-AGAIN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtllmgvoT_g&feature=player_embedded bank run, kill bank of america http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJtTtY2svTI The Bubble Economy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyyB9vvElwU The Warning - By PBS - video http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/ Michael Kirk unearths the hidden history of the nation's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. At the center of it all he finds Brooksley Born, who speaks for the first time on television about her failed campaign to regulate the secretive, multitrillion-dollar derivatives market whose crash helped trigger the financial collapse in the fall of 2008. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23787.htm "Fat and Happy" How Did America Fall So Fast? By Washington Blog The best possible time to pillage is when your victim is at the peak of wealth. With America in a huge bubble phase of wealth and power, the Wall Street looters sucked out vast sums through fraudulent subprime loans, derivatives and securitization schemes. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23788.htm The Movement Against the Banks By Ruth Conniff http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23794.htm Michael Moore's Action Plan 15 Things Every American Can Do Right Now By Michael Moore http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23792.htm The people vs Wall Street: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-people-vs-wall-street-1802807.html The Rich Have Stolen The Economy By Paul Craig Roberts http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23739.htm Barney Frank and the Planet of the Banks By Ralph Nader http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23738.htm Oligarchic Senate Still 'Treasonous' After All These Years By Robert S. Becker http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23741.htm US pays $400 per gallon for gas in Afghanistan: http://rawstory.com/2009/10/us-pays-400-per-gallon-for-gas-in-afghanistan/ Goldman Sachs posts massive profits: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/10/20091015164452667523.html Goldman Sachs: Your tax dollars, their big bonuses: http://snipurl.com/sk360 Bank of America reports losses: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/10/2009101616453921206.html Recession Will Be 'Full-Blown Depression': Strategist: http://www.cnbc.com/id/33341496 Dollar May Drop 20% More, Harvard's Ferguson Says: http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZYblKZy9jTs Britain is in danger of going bust, warns EU: http://snipurl.com/sk36y The pocket spy: Will your smartphone rat you out?: http://snipurl.com/sk377 One Person in the Mainstream Media Who Gets It: "The Greatest Theft in History!" (Videos) http://ampedstatus.com/one-person-in-the-mainstream-media-who-gets-it-the-greatest-theft-in-history-videos George Carlin's Message from Beyond: Wall Street Criminals Own the Fuckin' Place (Video) http://ampedstatus.com/george-carlins-message-from-beyond-wall-street-criminals-own-the-fuckin-place-video The time has come for North American monetary union Konrad Yakabuski, The Globe and Mail October 24, 2009 http://statismwatch.ca/2009/10/24/the-time-has-come-for-north-american-monetary-union/ Celente The Dollar is Finished http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWw6oowo3wA China Has Already Walked Away from Derivatives Contracts http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2009/10/china-has-already-walked-away-from.html UN Calls For New Reserve Currency http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23655.htm The Demise of the Dollar By Robert Fisk In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23648.htm Ditching the Dollar An Interview With Robert Fisk http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23649.htm Dollar Hysteria Yes, the dollar will fall, (eventually) but not for the reasons that most people think. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23647.htm There Is No Recovery Video Interview With Peter Schiff http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23650.htm Marx and Lenin Revisited If Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin were alive today, they would be leading contenders for the Nobel Prize in economics. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23643.htm PowerHouse: Republican Lobbyist Edwina Rogers Wraps Gifts in Money http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXj-oQm-NbE Federal Reserve Policy Audit Legislation 'Gutted,' Paul Says http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=atc2o1ijLRno Death of 'Soul of Capitalism': Bogle, Faber, Moore 20 reasons America has lost its soul and collapse is inevitable http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23866.htm Be Prepared for the Worst The large-scale government intervention in the economy is going to end badly. A false recovery is under way. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23867.htm Osama bin Laden Responsible for 9/11 Attacks? http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23862.htm Life & Debt Video Documentary http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23860.htm How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/v-print/story/77791.html Goldman takes on new role: taking away people's homes: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/77841.html How States Can Finance Their Own Recovery: http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/cut-wallstreet.php Moyers, Johnson & Kaptur, lament financial coup. I feel alot better now. ;-) video: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10092009/watch.html Simon Johnson and Rep. Marcy Kaptur http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10092009/profile.html http://www.banksterusa.org/ ----- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ShadowGovernment" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/shadowgovernment -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
