March 26 – April 1

MARCH 26

1892 – BIRTH OF PAUL DOUGLAS, ECONOMIST, US SENATOR, QUAKER

Douglas was a prominent University of Chicago economist who helped develop “A Program for Monetary Reform” in 1939 — sent to President Roosevelt as a means to end the Great Depression. More than 230 economists from 150 universities approved it without reservations while an additional 40 supported it with some reservations.

In assessing the problem of the day, the PMR states, “If the purpose of money and credit were to discourage the exchange of goods and services, to destroy periodically the wealth produced, to frustrate and trip those who work and save, our present monetary system would seem a most effective instrument to that end.” It also stated monetary systems based on a gold standard “has had…disastrous results all over the world.”

The PMR called for government creation and maintenance in the quantity of money. “Our own monetary policy should…be directed toward avoiding inflation as well as deflation, and in attaining and maintaining as nearly as possible, full production and employment.” The plan also called for eliminating fractional reserve lending – the process of banks loaning multiple times the amount of money in their possession. Back in the 1930’s the reserved requirement was 5:1. Today it’s 9:1. Some of the major banks involved in the economic collapse of 2007 had ignored this law and were loaning out 50 times their reserves. The PMR called for a 100% reserve requirement – banks could only lend the amount of money they possessed.

The document goes on, “In early times the creation of money was the sole privilege of the kings or other sovereigns – namely the sovereign people, acting through their Government. This principle is firmly anchored in our Constitution and it is a perversion to transfer the privilege to private parties to use in their own real or presumed interest. The founders of the Republic did not expect the banks to create the money they lend. “

Their plan to reduce the national debt was simply to have the government purchase government bonds with new US debt-free money.

2021 – “SUBSIDIES ARE BUILT INTO THE EXISTING BANK SYSTEM” POSTED COLUMN

“Most of the money in circulation is created by private banks, and those banks create  money  when they grant loans…

“This, despite the reality that  private banks have nowhere near enough central bank cash to convert ALL the “promises to pay” into cash..

“But that system has collapsed regular as clockwork ever since banks in their present form first started centuries ago. That is, private banks have repeatedly gone bust. Thus to ensure that this chronic system soldiers on, governments stand behind, i.e. subsidize private banks.

“The subsidy comes in different guises, of which three are as follows

“First, there is taxpayer backed deposit insurance…

“Second…banks enjoy preferential treatment – effectively a subsidy – relative to other lenders…

“Third, if a bank fails despite the latter two subsidies, then as a last resort there are multi billion dollar bail outs available for banks in trouble.

“The basic problem here is letting private banks issue or “print” their own home made money (those “promises to pay”) while also letting them grant loans…

“But there is an easy solution to that problem, which dozens of economists have advocated for about a hundred years now, which is to outlaw those promises, which at best are flawed if not actually fraudulent. That ipso facto means a big cut in the supply of money, but that’s easily made good by creating and spending CENTRAL BANK money straight into the private sector or into the economy generally. Incidentally, the Nobel economist Maurice Allais said the latter creation of “promises to pay” by commercial banks was essentially counterfeiting.

“The process of “creating and spending central bank money” straight into the economy mentioned just above is not technically difficult: it can be done in the way suggested by Congressman Dennis Kucinich in his NEED Act (HR2990 2012).”

Subsidies are Built Into the Existing Bank System

[Note: A particularly relevant piece given the current banking crisis and bailout of depositors]

MARCH 27

1933 – BIRTH OF HAZEL HENDERSON, FUTURIST AND ECONOMIST

“All of the intellectual models of the new economy are about cooperation, sharing and abundance.”

2009 –  BARACK OBAMA ASSURES BANKERS HE WILL PROTECT THEM

President Barack Obama’s as expressed privately to the CEOs of Wall Street assembled together in the White House: “And I want to help. But you need to show that you get that this is a crisis and that everyone has to make some sacrifices…I’m not out there to go after you. I’m protecting you. But if I’m going to shield you from public and congressional anger, you have to give me something to work with on these issues of compensation.”

2019 – POSTING OF ARTICLE, “MODERN MONEY THEORY REVISITED — STILL THE SAME FALSE PROMISES,” BY JOSEPH HUBER

“[I]in the beginning of MMT, the writings of Mosler and Wray did not include a systematic element of monetary and financial crisis theory and they did not, and still do not, see any need for monetary and banking reform. They portrayed the present bankmoney regime as a marvelous credit-and-debt machine run as a sovereign currency system. A credit-and-debt machine it certainly is, although it is neither marvelous nor a sovereign currency system. In spite of MMT’s self-image to represent new chartalism, MMT is in fact apologetic about fractional reserve banking, belittling the system-dominating role of the banking sector, and thereby defending – as a matter fact – the banks’ neo-feudal privilege of money creation by way of extending credit.” https://www.monetaryalliance.org/modern-money-theory-revisited-still-the-same-false-promise/

MARCH 28

2007 – QUOTE BY BEN BERNANKE, CHAIR OF THE US FEDERAL RESERVE

“At this juncture, however, the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained. In particular, mortgages to prime borrowers and fixed-rate mortgages to all classes of borrowers continue to perform well, with low rates of delinquency.”

[Note: So much for believing that the head of the Fed should be thought of as a monetary guru.]

2022 – “CONGRESS IS DISCUSSING A DIGITAL DOLLAR PILOT. IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK” posted article

“At least not the bill Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-MA) is floating. Rep. Lynch, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee’s Fintech Task Force, introduced today the Electronic Currency and Secure Hardware (ECASH) Act, which would establish a digital dollar that is neither tied to a distributed ledger nor issued by the Federal Reserve—but instead “printed” by the Treasury. The timing of the bill coincides with a committee hearing Tuesday on CBDCs.

“The act, if passed, would create a Treasury-led pilot program to test the digital dollar’s safety, functionality, and interoperability with other payment systems and financial institutions. According to a press release, the bill mandates that the e-cash include features “generally associated with the use of physical currency—including anonymity, privacy, and minimal generation of data from transactions.”

https://decrypt.co/96220/congress-discussing-digital-dollar-pilot-not-what-you-think

2022 – “MICHAEL HUDSON: US DOLLAR HEGEMONY ENDED ABRUPTLY LAST WEDNESDAY” interview

“On Wednesday, March 23, 2022, the United States announced that it would freeze Russia’s access to its gold. Russia has the fifth highest amount of gold in the world. Economist Michael Hudson explains that this action, which follows the US seizing Venezuela and Afghanistan’s gold and assets, has effectively ended dollar hegemony, which has been in decline in recent years, and the free ride that the US has enjoyed abroad.”

https://popularresistance.org/michael-hudson-us-dollar-hegemony-ended-abruptly-last-wednesday

MARCH 29

2010 – REUTERS ARTICLE, UK LAWMAKERS SEEK RADICAL, NOT RUSHED BANK REFORM

“Radical and carefully thought reform is needed to shield British taxpayers from having to bail out troubled banks again, a UK parliamentary report said on Monday.

   If a bank is too complex to adopt practical and speedy wind-up plan or living will, regulators should be ready to break it up, the Treasury Committee report on banks said.”

MARCH 30

2006 – LECTURE BY PROFESSOR FARLEY GRUBB, “BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND THE BIRTH OF A PAPER MONEY ECONOMY,” AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK IN PHILADELPHIA — ONE OF MANY EVENTS IN THE CITY MARKING THE 300TH BIRTHDAY OF FRANKLIN

“No other American was involved over as long a period of time with so many different facets of colonial paper money as was Benjamin Franklin — certainly no other American with such a preeminent stature in science, statesman- ship, and letters…

“The outcome of this discussion prompts him to write an anonymous pamphlet, one of the first to be published by his press: ‘A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency”…

“But what gives paper money its value? Here Franklin is clear throughout his career: It is not legal tender laws or fixed exchange rates between paper money and gold and silver coins but the quantity of paper money relative to the volume of internal trade within the colony that governs the value of paper money. An excess of paper money relative to the volume of internal trade causes it to lose value (depreciate). The early paper monies of New England and South Carolina had depreciated because the quantities were not properly controlled.“

https://www.philadelphiafed.org/-/media/publications/economic-education/ben-franklin-and-paper-money-economy.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2g4MSmk3aPJrqH3oAqNYOyF798mwx7ezrLIRDEfcyJDbcpqss3Zuu_2Gc

2021 –  PUBLIC BANKING ON THE PBI MODEL: WHY NOT?” published column by Joe Bongiovanni and Howard Switzer

“[T]he March 8th Alliance For Just Money’s Monetary Reform Coffee House…discussion confirmed that PBI’s model of Public Banking includes ‘joining the Fed’ to gain the private commercial banking system’s power to create deposits – using fractional reserve banking…

“[T]here is no historical success for Public Banking doing fractional reserve banking…

“Instead of public banking, we ask ‘please’ imagine a new nation where every U.S. state has a myriad of public financing authorities, all funded by the ‘money powers’ of our inter-governmental sovereign authorities – that of monetary creation, issuance and ‘gain’ by the Public.”

Public Banking on the PBI Model: Why not?

1948 – BIRTH OF MERVYN KING, FORMER GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND

“Of all the many ways of organizing banking, the worst is the one we have today.” Possible remedies included not just breaking up banks, but also “eliminating fractional reserve banking.”

http://www.economist.com/node/17363435

MARCH 31

1913 – DEATH OF J. PIERPONT MORGAN, BANKER

J.P Morgan founded one of the world’s most powerful banks and had extraordinary political influence in the U.S. The National Citizens League, funded by millions of dollars from Morgan and a few other major bankers, financed respected university professors to endorse the concept of creating a private/corporate central bank, which became the Federal Reserve Bank, created by the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. Morgan’s men were among the small number of architects of the private/corporate Federal Reserve.

1999 – “THE MATRIX” FILM RELEASE DATE

“Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?”  — Morpheus to Neo

APRIL 1

2011 – PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN BLOOMBERG: “FOREIGN BANKS TAPPED FED’S SECRET LIFELINE MOST AT CRISIS PEAK”

“Dexia SA (DEXB), based in Brussels and Paris, borrowed as much as $33.5 billion through its New York branch from the Fed’s “discount window” lending program, according to Fed documents released yesterday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request… The biggest borrowers from the 97-year-old discount window as the program reached its crisis-era peak were foreign banks, accounting for at least 70 percent of the $110.7 billion borrowed during the week in October 2008 when use of the program surged to a record.”

[Note: The Fed worked very hard to keep this information secret. The amount in secret loans to US banks and corporations and foreign banks following a partial audit of the Fed in 2012 revealed a total of $16 trillion. The GDP of the United States is only $14 trillion by comparison.

March 19 – 25

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.”

2003 – LAUNCH OF U.S.-LED WAR AGAINST IRAQ (2023 is 20^th Anniversary)

Saddam Hussein announced in November 2000 that Iraq would no longer accept dollars, only euros, as payment for Iraqi oil. The inherent strength of the US dollar for decades has been passed on the “petrodollar” – the policy that only dollars could be used to purchase oil from any nation. An end or even serious threat to the petrodollar system would reduce the dollar’s value – causing severe economic decline in the US. Many believe this announcement was a major reason (along with control of Iraqi oil reserves for the attack — not anything to do directly with the 9/11 attacks in the US or possession or imminent use of “weapons of mass destruction” – all of which proved to be lies.

2011– LIBYAN REBELS FORM CENTRAL BANK

In what may have been a first in history, the Libyan revolutionary rebels created a central bank while still fighting an established state power. The rebels designated the Central Bank of Benghazi as the new monetary authority. It would indicate how influential central bankers were over the rebels. “I have never before heard of a central bank being created in just a matter of weeks out of a popular uprising,” said Robert Wenzel of the Economic Policy Journal.

2019 – “’NEW’ WORLD ORDER CRIMINAL BANKERS CAUSED THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION” VIDEO POSTED

 “A brief introduction to 19th century monetary historian Alexander Del Mar, an outstanding member of that bare-knuckled school of writers founded by Catullus:…

“Del Mar explains in no uncertain language exactly who is responsible for the depression that set off the American Revolution: greedy, self-centered, incompetent bankers–a “new order of men” that had taken root in England one hundred years earlier.

“Very little has changed in the intervening 350 years, as it turns out, at least when it comes to the gambit used by psychopath bankers to tilt the playing field to a 45-degree angle in their favor: they take over the monetary systems of nations.

“Unlike the sniveling mass of modern banking apologists found on both sides of the political aisle today, the American colonists understood that this ludicrous monetary order was causing them great harm, and threw it where it’s belonged from the beginning: off.”

MARCH 20

2014 – BANK OF ENGLAND ADMITS LOANS COME FIRST AND DEPOSITS FOLLOW

The Bank of England released two articles explaining the money creation process – “Money in the modern economy: An Introduction” and “Money creation in the Modern Economy” – in their flagship Quarterly Bulletin of March 2014.

“In the modern economy, most money takes the form of bank deposits. But how those bank deposits are created is often misunderstood: the principal way is through commercial banks making loans. Whenever a bank makes a loan, it simultaneously creates a matching deposit in the borrower’s bank account, thereby creating new money. The reality of how money is created today differs from the description found in some economics textbooks…”

2020 – “GREENBACKS NOT BAILOUTS CURE FOR NATIONAL EMERGENCY,” ARTICLE BY JOHN HOWELL POSTED

“Congress long ago gave up its Constitutional responsibility for the creation of money, and handed it over to a private banking cartel. When the big banks refused to help the nation fight against its possible division in the Civil War, Greenbacks came to the rescue. Greenbacks are debt-free government money created as an asset, not a debt, and today offer the safest alternative to getting the nation and the world out of debt and through this and other crises. The hegemony of the global financial industry and its private for-profit money system must now be replaced with a public money system in order to fund an effective response world-wide.”

Greenbacks Not Bailouts Cure for National Emergency

2022 – “CANCELLING RUSSIAN RESERVES BOOMERANGS TO A NEW INTERNATIONAL MONETARY SYSTEM” POSTED ARTICLE

“The message now is plain enough – if even a prominent G20 state can have its reserves cancelled at a flick of the switch, then, for those who still hold ‘reserves’ in New York, take them elsewhere whilst the going is good!…

“The geo-political consequence, however, has been nuclear. The petro-dollar based trading system that flowed from it, has allowed America to ‘nuke’ the world with sanctions and secondary sanctions (through claiming jurisdiction over any, and all, trade denominated in dollars, or which in any way passed through a dollar clearing process)…

“And on 26 February, that system began its’ decease, when the Russo-phobic Washington ‘hawks’ stupidly picked a fight with the one country, Russia, that has the commodities needed to run the world, and to trigger the shift to a different monetary system — one that is anchored in something other than fiat money.”

https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/canceling-russian-reserves-boomerangs-to-a-new-international

MARCH 21

1821 – GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY

There is an ever-declining degree of political and economic independence in Greece today. External economic institutions (i.e. International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Union) have forced the nation to reduce public services and privatize/corporatize public assets – selling them off to transnational corporations to reduce costs and raise funds to pay off many loans that were known from the beginning would be unpayable. The Greek people and their Parliament are losing more of their national sovereignty as more decisions are made by undemocratic entities outside their borders.

Debt has become the more preferred weapon (rather than tanks, planes and armies) to colonize other peoples and plunder national assets and treasures – all of which profits foreign corporations, including banks.  Economic austerity, social disintegration and loss of political power results.  It’s a growing phenomenon among many emerging market nations – and has its domestic equivalent in the U.S. Rising and unpayable debts are increasingly used to justify severe budget cuts, privatization/corporations of municipal or state assets and reduce the power and authority of democratically elected councils, mayors, legislatures and governors – and by extension by We the People.

1923 – BIRTH OF ALBERT BARTLETT, PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER

“The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” Bartlett was a leader on sustainability and this quote is from his lecture, ” Arithmetic, Population, and Energy” he first delivered on September 19, 1969.

“Exponential growth requires exponential resources – which are finite. If we have no energy, we have no economy. The economy must grow but nonrenewal energy can’t grow since the environment is fixed.”

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.”

2013 – “HOW THE MONEY SYSTEM IS DAMAGING BUSINESSES, SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT” VIDEO

Fran Boait, PhD, the Campaign and Operations Manager of Positive Money, presented about how the way money is created today damages our businesses, society and the environment at the Positive Money conference ‘Modernising Money’ (8 minutes)

MARCH 23

2009 – PUBLICATION OF PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA GOVERNOR ZHOU XIAOCHUAN’S PROPOSAL FOR REFORMING THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY SYSTEM

“’In the interest of international financial stability,’ Zhou proposed the creation of a new international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations, issued in accordance with agreed rules and stable in value. For this purpose he proposed to modify the IMF’s Special Drawing Right (SDR), a synthetic reserve asset and unit of account created by international agreement in 1969 to supplement official reserves of member countries and to support the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system.”

MARCH 24

2008 – NEW YORK FEDERAL RESERVE BANK ANNOUNCEMENT IT WILL GIVE CASH TO J.P. MORGAN TO ACQUIRE BEAR STEARNS

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that it would provide financing to facilitate JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s acquisition of The Bear Stearns Corporation. J.P Morgan Corporation received $29 billion from the Fed. However, the Fed never provided financing of this amount during this time to help small businesses or homeowners who were victimized by the speculative financial ventures of Bear Stearns Corporation, which led to its implosion, triggering the Great Recession.

2014 – QUOTE BY RICHARD FISHER, PRESIDENT OF THE DALLAS FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

 “I don’t think there is any doubt that quantitative easing enabled the rich and the quick. It was a massive gift.”

[Note: Quantitative Easing was the Fed’s program on injecting several trillion dollars into the economy – most of which ending up going to banks and to corporations to buy back stock.]

2021 – “TLAIB UNVEILS BILL TO PROVIDE MONTHLY PAYMENTS TO EVERYONE IN US – FUNDED BY MINTING TRILLION-DOLLAR COINS” PUBLISHED ARTICLE

“The Automatic BOOST to Communities (ABC) Act proposes financing the payments with an unconventional plan that would direct the Treasury Department to use its legal authority to mint as many $1 trillion platinum coins as necessary to fund the legislation, which would continue until a year after the public health emergency ends or the unemployment rate stabilizes at a low level.

“The idea of using the U.S. Mint to cover government costs rose to prominence in 2011 during a fight over the debt ceiling and briefly emerged once again in 2013. As Matthew O’Brien explained in The Atlantic at the time, federal law ‘lets the Treasury create coins in whatever value it wants, even $1 trillion.'”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/24/tlaib-unveils-bill-provide-monthly-payments-everyone-us-funded-minting-trillion

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.

2018 – POSTED ARTICLE, “WHAT HAS SOVEREIGN MONEY GOT TO DO WITH AN UNCONDITIONAL BASIC INCOME”

“As you are no doubt aware, we will be voting on 10 June 2018 on the Sovereign Money Initiative ‘Money safe from finance crises: Only the Swiss National Bank can create money’ (known as the ‘Vollgeld Initiative’ in German and ‘l’Initiative Monnaie Pleine’ in French). Here we present this initiative and how it links to the UBI.

“Whether or not you campaigned for an Unconditional Basic Income (UBI), you’ve probably heard this question repeatedly: how do you pay for the UBI? There are no shortages of solutions! Here we explore how a Sovereign Money system could contribute achieve this. Before that, we explain how the current monetary system works and how a sovereign money system differs​.”

http://bien.ch/en/story/news/what-has-sovereign-money-got-do-unconditional-basic-income?fbclid=IwAR2Rz48_4fmzDtdQBwJFX6tvJAJdxg_HwP5-L7JgmtyODtuE4L2HxFQHJ_U

2020 – STIMULUS BILL ALLOWS FEDERAL RESERVE TO CONDUCT MEETINGS IN SECRET; GIVES FED $454 BILLION SUSH FUND FOR WALL STREET BAILOUTS

“The text of the final bill was breathtaking in the breadth of new powers it bestowed on the Federal Reserve, including the Fed’s ability to conduct secret meetings with no minutes provided to the American people…

“Why does the Federal Reserve need $454 billion from the U.S. taxpayer to bail out Wall Street when it has the power to create money out of thin air and has already dumped more than $9 trillion cumulatively in revolving loans to prop up Wall Street’s trading houses since September 17, 2019 – long before there was any diagnosis of coronavirus anywhere in the world.”

Stimulus Bill Allows Federal Reserve to Conduct Meetings in Secret; Gives Fed $454 Billion Slush Fund for Wall Street Bailouts

March 12 – 18

MARCH 12

1685 – BIRTH OF GEORGE BERKELEY, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CLOYNE IRELAND, PHILOSOPHER

Berkeley wrote The Querest in 1735. It was written as questions, which suggested their own answers. On whether money has inherent value, he asked/wrote: “Whether money is to be considered as having an intrinsic value, or as being a commodity, a standard, a measure, or a pledge as is variously suggested by writers?” On the evolution of exchange and money, “Whether in the rude original society the first step was not the exchanging of commodities, the next a substitution of metals by weight as the common medium of circulation, after this the making use of coin, lastly a further refinement by the use of paper with proper marks and signatures? And whether as it is the last so it be not the greatest improvement?  And whether money be not in truth tickets or tokens for conveying and recording such power, and whether it be of great consequence what materials the tickets are made of.”

2013 – “QUESTION FOR LIZ WARREN: HOW MANY SUBSIDIES DOES A ZOMBIE BANK NEED” PUBLISHED ARTICLE

“[T]he Fed is currently subsidizing the cost of funds for the US banking industry to the tune of about $90 billion per quarter or $360 billion annually.”  http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-03-12/question-liz-warren-how-many-subsidies-does-zombie-bank-need

2014 – “MONEY CREATION IN THE MODERN ECONOMY”  – VIDEO POSTING

Oxley, James. 2014. “Money creation in the modern economy – Quarterly Bulletin Article”

In the modern economy, most money takes the form of bank deposits. But how those bank deposits are created is often misunderstood: the principle way is through commercial banks making loans. Whenever a bank makes a loan, it simultaneously creates a matching deposit in the borrower’s bank account, thereby creating new money.

2022 – HOW TO SPEND A TRILLION DOLLARS: OUR MONETARY HARDWIRING, WHY IT MATTERS, AND WHAT WE SHOULD DO ABOUT IT” – Harvard Public Law Working Paper

“A particular kind of hardwiring characterizes capitalism. That system amounts to the governing (constitutive) determination that the public medium of the economy – money – should be created by banks, predominantly banks operating for private profit. The determination is strange, indeed sui generis [unique], because governments can make money without any financial intermediary or involvement. Despite its anomalous nature, the banked design for creating the money supply has gone viral in the last three centuries. During that time, it has determined the way both private and public spending happens.”           

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4056241

MARCH 13

1943 – DEATH OF J.P MORGAN, JR, BANKER

JP (Jack) Morgan was the son and grandson of bankers who headed J.P. Morgan & Co., one of the most powerful banks in the nation. He struck a deal with the British and French governments to be the sole munitions and supplies purchaser during World War I, which earned the bank $30 million. The bank was so heavily tied to the British and French governments that it was charged Morgan politically pressured the US government to enter the war against Germany in order to rescue its loans.

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 it 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.”

1881 – INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT JAMES GARFIELD

“The chief duty of the National Government in connection with the currency of the country is to coin money and declare its value.”

[Note: “coin” is a verb here, not a noun. Garfield was a Republican].

1900 – US GOLD STANDARD ACT APPROVED

The law established gold as the only metal standard for redeeming paper money. 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, backing money with metal moved the nation further away from the Greenbacks, the debt- and interest-free currency issued as credit, by 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 a true, gentleman, 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 have determined 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).

1985 – OHIO GOVERNOR DICK CELESTE DECLARES S&L “HOLIDAY”

Cincinnati, Ohio based Home State Savings Bank, a Savings & Loan, was about to collapse in March 1985 over its shady operations. As depositors lined up to withdraw their savings in a classic “run” on the bank’s branches, Celeste declared a bank “holiday.” He ordered all Savings & Loans closed in an attempt to stem the panic. Only those that were able to qualify for membership in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation were allowed to reopen. Claims by Ohio S&L depositors drained the state’s deposit insurance funds.

2003 – QUOTE BY CHRISTOPHER MARK, AUTHOR OF THE GRAND DECEPTION: THE THEFT OF AMERICA AND THE WORLD, PART III

“Welcome to the world of the International Banker, who like the famous film, The Wizard of Oz, stands behind the curtain of orchestrated national and international policymakers and so-called elected leaders.”

MARCH 16

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 Department’s Bureau of Engraving to print them.” 1964

2008 – BEAR STEARNS FINANCIAL CORPORATION ACQUIRED BY JP MORGAN FINANCIAL CORPORATION

Bear Stearns financial corporation is acquired for $2 a share by JPMorgan Chase Corporation in a fire sale avoiding bankruptcy. The deal was backed by the Federal Reserve, which provided up to $30 billion to cover possible bank losses. Bear Stearns was a global institution that invested heavily in subprime loans. Its failure was one piece of the financial crisis and Great Recession.

[Note: The Fed is at it again. This week, it injected $1.5 trillion into the financial system – offering dirt-cheap overnight lending loans to banking corporations to keep it supposedly from blowing up. The problem is the whole financial system is a ponzi scheme based on creating money as debt forever and ever]

2013 – YOUTUBE UPLOAD OF TALK BY BEPPE GRILLO ON MONEY AND DEMOCRACY

Grillo is head of the “5 Star Movement” in Italy — a left-wing populist movement seeking political power. This guy understands money and how to democratize its creation and distribution. “Whom does the money belong to? Who does its ownership belong to? To the State, fine, so to us, we are the State… “You know that the State doesn’t exist, it is only a legal entity. We are the state, the money is ours… “Then tell me one thing: if the money belongs to us, why do they lend it to us?”

2013 – “MONEY, DEMOCRACY AND THE CONSTITUTION: REVOLUTIONARY EXPERIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES” video posting

“This seminar explores the relationship between money and the legal formation of the modern liberal capitalist state, with a particular emphasis on the pre-Revolutionary and early United States. In contrast to conventional economic narratives that cast money as lubrication for existing forms of exchange, this event highlights the legal and political origins of our modern monetary system, and traces the influence of those forces on the shape of the modern economy. “Questions to be addressed include:

“How are monetary systems shaped by constitutional processes?

“How was the United States monetary system affected by the revolution and drafting of the U.S. Constitution?

“What impact does the legal structure of money have on the character of an economy?

“What insights do historical revolutionary debates about money provide on current economic problems?”

2016 – DUTCH PARLIAMENT ADOPTS MOTIONS TO INVESTIGATE MONEY CREATION

“On March 16th, the Dutch Parliament’s plenary assembly discussed the possibility of transitioning towards a sovereign monetary system and adopted two motions committing the government to carry out further research.

“About one year ago, more than 100,000 Dutch people signed a citizens’ initiative to make state issued digital cash into the political agenda of the Dutch Parliament. This success was the result of a fruitful cooperation between our sister organisation Ons Geld (translated ‘Our Money’) and a theatre group called ‘The Seducers (De Verleiders) which showed a play called “Taken by the bank“ which explains money creation…

“[T]he initiative was debated at the House during a three hours plenary session on March 16th.

The financial crisis has shown that leaving the creation of money to commercial financial institutions from lending leads to an unstable financial system. ‘The financial system is like a house of cards about to collapse,’ said spokesman for Our Money George van Houts.”

http://positivemoney.org/2016/03/dutch-parliament-adopts-motion-to-investigate-money-creation/

MARCH 17

1947 – JOHN MCCLOY BECOMES PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD BANK

The World Bank would do more to expand US banking globally than any other treaty, agreement, or entity that came before it. McCloy was the World Bank’s second President. He had previously been Assistant Secretary of War during WWII.

2023 – ST. PATRICK’S DAY

“Nobody can borrow themselves out of debt no more than you can drink yourself sober.”  

– Byron Dale, monetary reformer and rancher.

[Note: Seemed a somewhat appropriate quote on this day…]

MARCH 18

1869 – PASSAGE OF US LAW THAT ALL US MONETARY NOTES WOULD BE EVENTUALLY CONVERTED TO SPECIE

Specie means money in the form of coins rather than paper notes. Bankers hated Lincoln’s Greenbacks, which were debt-free and inflation-free US money created to avert financial crisis during the Civil War. Following Lincoln’s death, bankers pressured Congress to eliminate Greenbacks, base money creation on precious metals (preferably gold) and, if additional funds were needed by the government to borrow it from banks at interest. Basing the money supply on gold or silver meant that the money supply could only increase when the supply of gold or silver increased – regardless of the growing population or an expanding economy. A pure metal-based money system has historically resulted in depressions – not enough money to meet the economic needs. 

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. [Note: the same goes for debt.]

2019 – TURNS OUT THAT TRILLION-DOLLAR BAILOUT WAS, IN FACT, REAL

“As I’ve written before, trying to compute the bailout is a fool’s errand, because it was so all-encompassing. The government’s massive treasure dump into the balance sheets of the top banks was a kind of merger, one that obligated us to keep our investments viable going forward though a range of complementary actions.

“Those included regulatory relief, inflated asset purchases, market intervention, tax breaks and other actions. God knows how much all of that was worth, but the cash portion of it alone was certainly north of a trillion dollars, when you figure in both TARP and the Fed lending.

“Apart from mortgage issuers like Countrywide, the institutions most responsible for the crash were the Too Big To Fail big banks that financed, pooled and re-sold toxic mortgage-backed securities, often fraudulently. Those banks were rewarded with bailouts and state-aided mergers that allowed executives to quickly return to previous compensation levels, and left them more dominant than ever.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/2008-financial-bailout-809731/?fbclid=IwAR0kDBdQQMotlgrAZEA9Kvj4VyegnZ1GNEPzz6-ztwif5qOBwnHYRkZEkRs%20/%20https://www.monetaryalliance.org/dutch-report-on-money-and-debt-and-its-reception-by-ons-geld/?fbclid=IwAR3RjvYEN0aKqgIvfaPKVFmU1f01vnINUCRavd2T-aLrlZoIMmx1Dusxj_E

2021 – “MAKING MONEY: THE PHILOSOPHY OF CRISIS CAPITALISM BY OLE BJERG – A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION” POSTED ARTICLE

 “Making Money is a good book to read for anyone involved in the monetary reform movement who wants to embed their existing ideas within a philosophical framework, or who wants to think about money differently—possibly, as they never have before.

“Bjerg makes the case that our disputes over money are not only technical, ideological, or jurisdictional; many disagreements we have over money are ontological or epistemological. We disagree over the very nature of money.

“If you want to get down to the core of this disagreement, Bjerg’s book is for you. Making Money will make you more proficient in philosophy and will make you a more understanding and enlightened monetary reformer.

“As is characteristic of philosophy when it is at its best, Making Money can light a spark in readers’ minds, leading readers to ask questions: to be critical of human life as it is, and to imagine how it could and whether it ought to work differently.

Making Money: The Philosophy of Crisis Capitalism by Ole Bjerg—A Review and Recommendation

March 5 – 11

MARCH 5

1997 – SPEECH BY EARL OF CAITHNESS IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS, UK

“[I]t is also a good time to stand back, to reassess whether our economy is soundly based. I would contest that it is not, not for the reason to which the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, alluded, which is that it is the Government’s fault, but our whole monetary system is utterly dishonest, as it is debt-based. ‘Dishonest’ is a strong word, but a system which by its very actions causes the value of money to decrease is dishonest and has within it its own seeds of destruction…Governments…have abdicated their responsibility for producing new money and controlling the money supply so that now they are marginalized…The next government must grasp the nettle, accept their responsibility for controlling the money supply and change from our debt-based monetary system. My Lords, will they? If they do not, our monetary system will break us and the sorry legacy we are already leaving our children will be a disaster.”

2019 – POSTED ARTICLE, “MMT FOR DUMMIES”

“In the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing a lot of buzz about Modern Monetary Theory aka MMT. And most of what I’m seeing is reductionist to the point of absurdity. When I see critics of MMT talking about it, they’re mostly using MMT as a shorthand for saying ‘unbridled fiscal expansion without any concern for deficits’…

“I think this has been a very poor and uninformed debate. My guess is that it’s been sparked by the public policy views of people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, given the objections people have to her as a political figure. I could be wrong. But, as someone who’s been following this evolving conversation for several years, I thought I’d tell you how I see it.”

http://econintersect.com/pages/opinion/opinion.php?post=201903050116&fbclid=IwAR1rjmuZ9CP43cOOdHgTZS9lm7aLyieqM_SM9d6epRmC-fdlKGDvRXpEWng

MARCH 6

1933 — FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT ISSUED EXECUTIVE PROCLAMATION 2039 DECLARING A BANK “HOLIDAY”

The “holiday” meant that all banks would be closed from March 6-10 to prevent further runs by depositors. Bank failures were a result of 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.

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.”

“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.

2013 – TESTIMONY OF US ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER BEFORE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ON PROSECUTING LARGE BANKS

“I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy.” This from the chief law enforcement officer of a justice system that has practically abolished the constitutional right to trial for poorer defendants charged with certain crimes. It is not too much to say that Wall Street has virtually, if not actually, captured the federal government.

2013 — Video, “WHY DON’T ECONOMISTS UNDERSTAND MONEY?”

“Prof Victoria Chick, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University College London, addressed the question: “Why Don’t Academics Understand Money?” at the Positive Money conference in January 2013. She said there has been a regression in the way economics has been taught. This 18 mins video gives some very interesting insights.”

2020 — “PASSED RESOLUTION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE MONETARY SYSTEM OF THE United States OF AMERICA” POSTING

“This RESOLUTION of the Alliance For Just Money, Inc., (Alliance or AFJM) is proposed and adopted to call upon the U.S. Congress, First, to establish a National Commission of Inquiry into the national money system of the United States of America; Second, to see that such a National Monetary Commission (NMC) is established with adequate enabling powers and authorities, including full funding, to inquire into and consider alternative systems, structures, and institutions to those of the present private Federal Reserve Banking System (FRBS); Third, to ensure that a monetary system of one-hundred percent public ownership, issuance, administration, and regulation of our national money, such as proposed in the 2011 NEED Act (H.R. 2990), is among the alternatives inquired upon, and, we hope, ultimately recommended; and, Fourth, to reinforce that all improvements to our national money system proposed by the NMC further the U.S. Constitution’s purpose, as set forth in its Preamble: “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”

AFJM RESOLUTION for a National Monetary Commission (NMC)

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.

1830 – BIRTH OF ERNEST SEYD – WORKED TO DE-MONETIZE SILVER

Seyd was a German-born British author, banker, and economist, particularly known for his expertise in coinage and foreign exchange

“I went to America in the winter of 1872 – 1873, authorized to secure, if I could, the passage of a bill de-monetizing silver.  It was in the interests of those I represented, the governors of the Bank Of England, to have it done.  By 1873, gold coins were the only form of coin money.”

[Note: Passage of the “Coinage Act” of 1873 ended the ability of those with silver bullion to have in coined into silver dollars. This meant only gold holders were able to convert their bullion into money. Silver was becoming more plentiful due to western mining at that time. By preventing silver from being converted into money, a “gold standard” was created by default. Owners of gold – now the only source of commodity-based form of money – became even more powerful, both economically and politically – which are always interrelated.]

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.”

MARCH 8

1702 – DEATH OF WILLIAM III, KING OF ENGLAND

During his reign, a new corporation, the Bank of England, was chartered by the Parliament. Bank of England bank notes could now be loaned at interest and be accepted by the government for fees.

MARCH 9

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 also allowed for closing insolvent banks. The Act empowered the President during time of war or other emergency to regulate or prohibit the exporting, hoarding, melting or earmarking of gold and silver coin and bullion. All US residents were compelled to pay or deliver all gold (be it coins, bullion or certificates) to the Secretary of the Treasury. They were paid the market value for their gold in dollars. Shortly afterwards, the government significantly raised the price of gold, which in effect, reduced the value of the dollar.

2020 – MONETARY REFORM BRINGS TOGETHER ACTIVISTS FROM SEPARATE SILOS

“Last Monday March 9, three directors of the Alliance For Just Money (AFJM) presented some of the basics of monetary reform on The Access Hour, the weekly free-form radio space at WORT fm. WORT Back Porch Radio has been South Central Wisconsin’s strong and beloved listener-sponsored station since 1975.

“The goal of the show was to communicate two important points to progressive activists:

“First, that our flawed, privately owned monetary system underlies and impedes all their efforts, and second, that replacing that system with a public, Just Money system can make the impossible possible. AFJM’s three participating directors themselves each came to monetary reform from a different backgrounds.”

Monetary Reform Brings Together Activists from Separate Silos: AFJM’s First Amateur Radio Offering

MARCH 10

1933 – LAST DAY OF “BANK HOLIDAY” DECLARED BY PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT

The “holiday” meant that all banks would be closed from March 6-10 to prevent further runs by depositors. Bank failures were a result of 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. At the conclusion of the “holiday,” 5% of all banks were unfit to continue business, many others only were permitted to accept deposits, while others permitted only a certain percentage of deposits to be withdrawn. Slightly more than 50% of all banks reopened with no withdraw restrictions.

MARCH 11

2000 – DOTCOM BUBBLE CRASH

The combined value of stocks on the NASDAQ was at $6.71 trillion on March 10. The market began crashing the next day. By March 30, the NASDAQ was valued at $6.02 trillion. It dropped to $5.78 trillion by April 6. Nearly a trillion dollars worth of stock value had evaporated in less than a month. What goes boom eventually goes bust in an economy with private control of the money system.