January 28 – February 3

JANUARY 28

2013 – THE CHICAGO PLAN REVISITED, LIVE WEBCAST OF A THE DEBATE INVOLVING MICHAEL KUMHOF OF THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

“At the height of the Great Depression a number of leading U.S. economists advanced a proposal for monetary reform that became known as the Chicago Plan. It envisaged the separation of the monetary and credit functions of the banking system, by requiring 100% reserve backing for deposits. Irving Fisher (1936) claimed the following advantages for this plan: (1) Much better control of a major source of business cycle fluctuations, sudden increases and contractions of bank credit and of the supply of bank-created money. (2) Complete elimination of bank runs. (3) Dramatic reduction of the (net) public debt. (4) Dramatic reduction of private debt, as money creation no longer requires simultaneous debt creation. We study these claims by embedding a comprehensive and carefully calibrated model of the banking system in a DSGE model of the U.S. economy. We find support for all four of Fisher’s claims. Furthermore, output gains approach 10 percent, and steady state inflation can drop to zero without posing problems for the conduct of monetary policy.” – “The Chicago Plan Revisited,” IMF Working Paper Research Department, Prepared by Jaromir Benes and Michael Kumhof

2021 – NEW YORK YOUNG REPUBLICANS TO “RE-OCCUPY” WALL STREET IN RESPONSE TO GAMESTOP CONTROVERSY

“The NYYRC intends to ‘re-occupy’ Wall Street because members are ‘sick of Wall Street bailouts on the taxpayer dime, while the little guy gets stomped.’ Gavin Wax, the organizer of the protest, spoke with Rebel News to explain the group’s intent.

“‘First the government drives millions of Americans into destitution and unemployment by shutting down the economy and their businesses. Then when the average Joe Schmo wants to make a few bucks trading on the market, he is shut down because Wall Street ended up losing to anons from Reddit. Where are the regulators? Nowhere,’ said Wax.”

https://www.rebelnews.com/new_york_young_republicans_to_reoccupy_wall_street_in_response_to_gamestop_controversy?fbclid=IwAR2r8-iDT-PGcCaFpWQAXoNHWrYGRsxzbcOXOhMj5EUpTsawn2ttCvW8g5U

JANUARY 29

1737 – BIRTH OF TOM PAINE, US REVOLUTIONARY

Commenting on the value of colonial-issued money, the “Continental”…

“Every stone in the Bridge that has carried us over seems to have a claim upon our esteem. But this was a corner stone, and its usefulness cannot be forgotten.”

1956 — DEATH OF H.L. MENCKEN, US JOURNALIST

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace in a continual state of alarm (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing them with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

JANUARY 30

1835 — ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT AGAINST US PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON

In 1832, Jackson called on Congress not to renew the charter of the Second National Bank of the United States. He vetoed a bill to renew the bank’s charter, saying the bank was guilty of fraud, corruption and controlling the money supply (expanding and contracting the supply of money to economically and politically benefit the bank). He stated, “beyond question…this great and powerful institution had been actively engaged in attempting to influence the elections of the public officers by means of its money.” Jackson ordered the US government to move its money out of the Second Bank. In response, the bank called in all its loans and ceased issuing new loans. An economic panic followed. In 1835, Richard Lawrence fired two guns at Jackson but both misfired. He claimed his assassination attempt was because, in part, “money would be more plenty.”

1882 — BIRTH OF PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Roosevelt missed a chance to fundamentally improve our economy, if not democracy, during the Great Depression when he chose to go into debt to pay for his many “New Deal” programs. A group of prominent economists from across the nation had urged him in what was known as “The Chicago Plan” to pay for his programs by issuing debt-free money, based on the previously issued Greenbacks during the Lincoln Administration. Instead, FDR added to the government debt, which enriched bankers and all others who purchased U.S. Treasuries.

1948 – ASSASSINATION OF MOHANDAS GANDHI

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” One of his “7 Deadly Sins” was “wealth without work.” He also said “[a] small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”

JANUARY 31

1609 – FIRST CENTRAL BANK IN WORLD ESTABLISHED

The first central bank in history, which was publicly owned, was established in Amsterdam.

2013 – PUBLICATION OF “MODERNIZING MONEY” BY ANDREW JACKSON AND BEN DYSON OF POSITIVE MONEY IN THE UK

“When a bank makes loans it increases both the quantity of money in the economy as well as the quantity of debt.”

“The overriding principle when we are deciding who should have the authority to create money is whether or not the ‘creator’ can benefit personally from creating money…this requires the separation of the decision on how much new money is to be created from how that newly created money is to be used.”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17451737-modernising-money

2022 – “GLOBAL STUDY ON MONETARY LITERACY FINDS MASSIVE ILLITERACY & DISAPPROVAL” posted study

“A survey of 23,000 people in 20 of the world’s largest economies showed that 80% of people have an incorrect understanding of how money comes into existence.’

https://monetarygoodness.substack.com/p/summary-global-study-on-monetary

FEBRUARY 1

1913 – NATIONAL CITIZENS LEAGUE FOR THE PROMOTION OF A SOUND BANKING SYSTEM SENDS LETTER TO MEMBERS

Backed by bankers and other businesspersons, the League was established to promote a national private central bank. Their letter to their members on this date stated:

“Congress is wavering over the question of banking reform. The Democratic leaders are undecided whether to bring in a currency bill at the special session in the Spring or defer action until the regular session next December …

President-elect Wilson has been quoted as holding the view that public sentiment as to banking reform has not yet crystallized.

Write to Mr. Wilson if you know him. If you don’t know him, it is a good way to get acquainted.

The National Citizens’ League has 10,000 members and a million friends. If every member of the League and every friend of banking reform does his duty, Congress will have substantive evidence that the business world is not indifferent…”

FEBRUARY 2

Every year – GROUNDHOG DAY

The 1993 film, Groundhog Day, tells the story of a TV weatherman who is caught in a time loop — repeating the same day over and over. This is similar to how most nation’s respond to being in debt: by borrowing more money and going into more debt — over and over.  It’s an economically destructive loop that forces nations to impose austerity on the majority of its citizens while enriching the elite. Only when the weatherman in the film acts with compassion is the loop broken. And only when nations understand that money can be created not as debt but as assets interest- and inflation-free to meet the physical and human needs of people will the debt loop be broken.

1884 – DEATH OF WENDELL PHILLIPS, AMERICAN ABOLITIONIST, ON DEBT

“Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people.”

Phillips an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney.

2021 – “THE RE-OCCUPY WALL STREET PROTEST” posted video

Monetary reformer Harrison Schultz is interviewed in this short video

2023 – “CHARLIE MUNGER’S OPED IN THE WSJ IS SPOT ON ABOUT BANNING CRYPTO: BUT CALLING IT “GAMBLING” FAILS TO CAPTURE ITS DANGERS” posted article

 “’Such wretched excess has gone on because there is a gap in regulation. A cryptocurrency is not a currency, not a commodity, and not a security. Instead, it’s a gambling contract with a nearly 100% edge for the house, entered into in a country where gambling contracts are traditionally regulated only by states that compete in laxity. Obviously, the U.S. should now enact a new federal law that prevents this from happening…

“Economist Nouriel Roubini also addressed the horse and buggy aspect of cryptocurrencies in an interview with Bloomberg TV in 2019, stating:

“’Crypto currencies are not even currencies. They’re a joke…It is not a means of payment, nobody, not even this blockchain conference, accepts Bitcoin for paying for conference fees cause you can do only five transactions per second with Bitcoin. With the Visa system you can do 25,000 transactions per second…Crypto’s nonsense. It’s a failure. Nobody’s using it for any transactions. It’s trading one sh*tcoin for another sh*tcoin. That’s the entire trading or currency in the space where’s there’s price manipulation, spoofing, wash trading, pump and dumping, frontrunning. It’s just a big criminal scam and nothing else.’”

Charlie Munger’s OpEd in the WSJ Is Spot On About Banning Crypto; But Calling It “Gambling” Fails to Capture Its Dangers

FEBRUARY 3

1690 – FIRST PAPER CURRENCY IN BRITISH COLONIES ISSUED

Massachusetts becomes the first British colony to issue paper money. The money was used to facilitate economic transactions in the absence of British money.

1913 – RATIFICATION OF THE 16TH AMENDMENT, ESTABLISHMENT OF THE US FEDERAL INCOME TAX

The income tax provides a guaranteed and consistent source of income for the payment of any federal government function, including payment of interest on national debt. It was ratified earlier in the same year as passage of the Federal Reserve Act, which turned over the nation’s money power to a private central bank. Many economists believe the dollar holds its value better than the Euro in times of economic crisis since US interest payments from debt can be covered by US income taxes. There is no equivalent European income tax to cover Euro debts. This provides investors greater confidence in the dollar over the Euro.

1924 – DEATH OF WOODROW WILSON, 28^TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

“A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men who, even if their action be honest and intended for the public interest, are necessarily concentrated upon the great undertakings in which their own money is involved and who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom.”

2018 – POSTED ARTICLE, “POPE FRANCIS: ‘USURY HUMILIATES AND KILLS”

“Speaking to members of an Italian National Anti-Usury Group, Pope Francis condemned financial exploitation and called for education to confront usury and corruption.

“’Usury humiliates and kills,” the Pope said. “Usury is a grave sin. It kills life, stomps on human dignity, promotes corruption, and sets up obstacles to the common good.’

“He said this type of financial exploitation – which involves lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest – is an ancient evil that must be prevented through education.”

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-02/pope-francis-usury-financial-exploitation.html?fbclid=IwAR3D2R5cvsqMmrlhn1EMT1Mng_pFVoXKl44BQHLcj6sHuNigcQbzRRWGouE

2019 – “CENTRAL BANKS AND THE FOLK TALES OF MONEY” website posting

As quantitative easing has stoked public fears of price instability, monetary authorities including the Bank of England have sought to clarify who really produces money. In this sense, taking steps to inform the public on the real source of money – bank loans – is a worthwhile step, as it provides constraints on what a central bank can be reasonably expected to do,

Central Banks and the Folk Tales of Money

January 21 – 27

JANUARY 21

1950 – DEATH OF GEORGE ORWELL, ENGLISH NOVELIST, ESSAYIST, JOURNALIST AND CRITIC

“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”

[Note: The success of the power elite/Money Power to assert that the ONLY way in the present to create money is by private and quasi-private entities (banks and the Federal Reserve) through loans (causing debt) has shaped the perception that this has always been true. Ignoring or burying the history of successful examples of public creation of money (by governments as debt-free money) makes it easier to assert there are no alternatives in the future for addressing our profound economic, ecological and human crises.]

JANUARY 22

1561 – BIRTH OF SIR FRANCIS BACON, PHILOSOPHER, BRITISH LORD CHANCELLOR

“If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master.  The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him.”

1719 – DEATH OF WILLIAM PATTERSON, CO-FOUNDER OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND

Patterson was an early Director of the bank, which was created in 1694. “The bank hath benefit of interest on all moneys which it creates out of nothing.”

2021 – “MONETARY FINANCING OF HELICOPTER MONEY AND OTHER GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE BY WAY OF QUANTITATIVE EASING” posted article

“”A core doctrine of neoliberalism, which became ultraliberalism since around 1980, can be described as follows: Restrict or prohibit money creation by the government as well as money creation by the central bank for the government. Money shall primarily be created by the private banking sector. The role of the central banks is to refinance the banks, not financing government expenditure which must be funded by taxes and sovereign debt. This was the road map for establishing the privileged and now all-dominant bankmoney regime. Today, bankmoney counts for 90–95% of the general money supply and its pro-active creation by the banks determines the entire money system. The central banks just re-act to the facts the banks have created beforehand, even more markedly in crisis mode than in normal operation…

“To some readers the things discussed here are likely to be too far out of the box. But things do not have to happen all at once. More importantly: there is a perspective. For one thing, the suggested measures would make monetary financing of helicopter money an ordinary integral part of the money system. In addition, this opens up the perspective of how the present crisis-ridden bankmoney regime will eventually make way for central-bank sovereign money, whereby the central banks are no longer only ‘bank of the banks’, but also become ‘bank of the state’ again”

Monetary Financing of Helicopter Money and other Government Expenditure by way of Quantitative Easing

JANUARY 23

2013  – PUBLISHED ARTICLE, “WHAT WOULD A TRILLION-DOLLAR COIN MEAN?” BY STEPHEN ZARLENGA, DIRECTOR OF AMERICAN MONETARY INSTITUTE ON HUFFINGTON POST

“The emergence of the trillion-dollar coin idea is encouraging in that it recognizes that the federal government has the sovereign power to create its own money…U.S. Constitution Art. I, Sec. 8, Clause 5, “The Congress shall have Power… To coin Money and regulate the Value thereof…”

“The advantages of this sovereign power are several. The federal government could go far beyond merely avoiding a debt limit and could operate without deficit. It could pay off all existing debt, thus eliminating hundreds of billions of dollars of interest payments each year. This would free up revenue to provide desired and necessary services, creating millions of useful economy stimulating jobs — all debt free. This would include repair of degraded infrastructure, universal medical care, and universal education. The federal government could bail out states, many of which are deeply in trouble; and help resolve their pension problems. Again, all of this could be accomplished debt free…

“A trillion-dollar coin could avoid raising the debt limit, but it does not solve most of the problems facing our monetary and banking system. It leaves the same corrupt financial power structure in place. Bank issued debt used for money in our system remains in place — that is the source of current economic stress. It does nothing to reduce the interest burden of the existing federal and state debt. It does nothing about private debt such as housing, consumer, and student debt. It does nothing to get 47 million people off food stamps. It would not repair infrastructure or provide employment.

“The real solution to those problems was introduced into the 112th Congress by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, HR 2990. This bill puts the private Federal Reserve System under the U.S. Treasury, so that money creation in the U.S. becomes a function of government. The accounting privilege banks presently have to create money in the form of debt is ended by ending what is known as the fractional reserve system. New money is introduced into the economy by approved congressional government spending for infrastructure, health care and education.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zarlenga/trillion-dollar-coin_1_b_2522214.html

2023 – “MONEY AS A ‘COMMON’ FOR THE PEOPLE,” VIDEO PROGRAM BY THE ALLIANCE FOR JUST MONEY

Guest speaker: Edward Twohig

“In most, if not all, countries, the creation of money and credit is controlled by the Law, as determined “by the people, for the people.” Sovereign money is unique because its exchange value is guaranteed by the Government. Thus the Government should recover the value for the use of money, and for its provision as a common of the people. All of the systems in any society depend on the money system. As the most crucial common of the people, it should assure that all money is created equally for all citizens. Money can be used for the benefit of both the individual and the society.”

Review Edward’s work, Money as a Common. Money as a Common.    Youtube Recording

JANUARY 24

1786 – EXCERPT OF A RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS POSED TO THOMAS JEFFERSON BY MONSIEUR DE MEUSNIER IN PREPARATION FOR DE MEUSNIER’S ENCYCLOPEDIA ON MONEY

“Those who talk of the bankruptcy of the U. S. are of two descriptions. 1. Strangers who do not understand the nature & history of our paper money. 2. Holders of that paper-money who do not wish that the world should understand it.”

1932 – DEATH OF PAUL WARBURG, US BANKER

Warburg guided the operations of the National Citizens League, an organization formed in 1911 with $5 million in contributions from the big New York banks (including those owned by Rockefeller and J.P Morgan) to establish an “educational fund.”  The fund financed respected university professors to endorse the concept of creating a private central bank, what became the Federal Reserve Bank, created by the 1913 Federal Reserve Act.

1939 – STATEMENT MADE BY ROBERT H. HEMPHILL, CREDIT MANAGER OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA
 “We are completely dependent on the commercial banks.  Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit.  If the banks create ample synthetic money, we are prosperous; if not, we starve.  We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible; but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it becomes widely understood and the defects remedied…”

2023 – “THE U.S. CONGRESS TWIDDLED ITS THUMBS ON CRYPTO WHILE 10 COUNTRIES BANNED IT AND 42 OTHERS PLACED HEAVY RESTRICTIONS” POSTED ARTICLE

“…the growing list of countries ‘that wholly banned cryptocurrencies includes China, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Oman, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Bangladesh and (as of this month) Kosovo. Forty-two others have passed restrictions to this effect, prohibiting crypto exchanges or limiting the ability of banks to engage with crypto.'”

“Compare that to the United States, which increasingly looks like a financial backwater, with questionable crypto deposits blowing up federally-insured banks; collapsing publicly-listed crypto mining stocks whose business model is to pump more fossil fuels into the atmosphere in order to solve complex mathematical problems that have no productive purpose; $8 billion in customer funds going missing at the FTX crypto exchange which was promoted by media darlings on television…”

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/01/the-u-s-congress-twiddled-its-thumbs-on-crypto-while-10-countries-banned-it-and-42-others-placed-heavy-restrictions/

JANUARY 25

1898 – SECOND INDIANAPOLIS MONETARY CONVENTION BEGINS

Billed as a grassroots effort for monetary reform, the second convention brought together nearly 500 representatives from 31 states. It was a follow-up gathering of major corporate leaders (including many bankers and economists representing leading corporations) to the first convention held a year earlier. Participants advocated for a privately run national central bank. Just as the proposed national central bank was misleading (to be privately controlled), the first and second Indianapolis Monetary Conventions were equally misleading. They were hardly “grassroots”, yet the image was useful when lobbying Congress and communicating with the public.

2014 – POSTED MUSIC VIDEO OF MONETARY REFORMER JOE BONGIOVANNI ON “WHY SHOULD GUV BORROW? WHO CONTROLS THE MONEY?”

“Public debt is the government borrowing money. The government of this country has the power to create all the money. And if you had the power to create the money and you said to me: ‘Here, you create the money, I’ll borrow it from you,’ people would think that you were insane. That’s basically the situation we have right now. The government that has the power to create the money, is giving that power to the private banks and the private banks now lend money to the government and pays interest on it and collects that from the taxpayers. That is unfair to the taxpayers. Because right now we have a totally corrupt government. Our government is totally corrupt, and it’s controlled by the bankers and the money powers.”

JANUARY 26

2007 – DEATH OF H.L. BIRUM, FINANCIAL COMMENTATOR

“The Federal Reserve Bank is nothing but a banking fraud and an unlawful crime against civilization. Why? Because they “create” the money made out of nothing, and our Uncle Sap Government issues their “Federal Reserve Notes” and stamps our Government approval with NO obligation whatever from these Federal Reserve Banks, Individual Banks or National Banks, etc.”

JANUARY 27

1738 – BIRTH OF ROBERT YATES, POLITICIAN AND JUDGE

“I can scarcely contemplate a greater calamity that could befall this country, than be loaded with a debt exceeding their ability ever to discharge. If this be a just remark, it is unwise and improvident to vest in the general government a power to borrow at discretion, without any limitation or restriction.”   — Brutus pseudonym, probably Robert Yates (1738-1801)

2009 – WILLIAM DUDLEY BECOMES 10TH PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE NEW YORK FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

“We don’t understand fully how large-scale asset purchase programs work to ease financial market conditions.”

That’s comforting Mr. Dudley. The head of THE most powerful of the regional reserve banks in the USA admits he doesn’t know the full financial impact of injecting trillions of dollars created by the Fed into the economy. Well, the evidence is in. Wall Street banks made out like bandits, while main street businesses and side street homeowners suffered.

2010 — DEATH OF HOWARD ZINN, HISTORIAN
“The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces: money, political power, and the major media. On our side are the people of the world and a power greater than money or weapons: the truth. Truth has a power of its own. Art has a power of its own. That age-old lesson – that everything we do matters – is the meaning of the people’s struggle here in the United States and everywhere. A poem can inspire a movement. A pamphlet can spark a revolution. Civil disobedience can arouse people and provoke us to think. When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress. We live in a beautiful country. But people who have no respect for human life, freedom or justice have taken it over. It is now up to all of us to take it back.”

2016 – “SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH MONETARY REFORM” VIDEO POSTED

Presentation by Nick Egnatz at the 11th Annual AMI Monetary Reform Conference in Chicago, September 2015

Nick is a Vietnam vet, and small businessman. His life as an activist began opposing the imminent invasion of Iraq in 2003. This opposition soon grew to include all U.S. wars, militarism, empire and the war on the poor and working class facilitated by a monetary system designed to send everything straight to the top. The National Association of Social Workers named Nick 2006 Northwest Indiana Citizen of the Year for his anti war activism.

January 14 – 20

JANUARY 14

1753 – DEATH 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 it is the last so it is 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.”

1875 – U.S. CONGRESS PASSES SPECIE RESUMPTION ACT

Wall Street bankers hated federal Greenbacks (U.S. created debt-free money issued by the administration of Republican President Abraham Lincoln.). They preferred “hard money” or “specie” money (paper money backed by gold), since the major banks controlled most of the nation’s gold. Ohio Senator John Sherman (so close was he to the First National Bank of New York that the bank was dubbed “Fort Sherman”) was the major advocate of the Specie Resumption Act, passed during the lame-duck controlled Congress (where have we heard that before). The Act legislated the U.S. Treasury to resume the issuance of legal tender notes backed only by gold (Greenbacks were only backed by the faith and credit of the US). The Act also took steps to reduce the amount of Greenbacks in circulation — a step toward the creation of bank issued debt-money that the government would borrow from them at interest vs using government money without having to pay interest. Farmers and small manufactures opposed the Act, fearful that a contraction of the money supply would lead to a recession or depression. The Act took effect on January 1, 1879. It was a major step toward the re-consolidation of the nation’s money supply and economy toward the Money Trust.

2009 – DEATH OF CHARLES WALTERS, FOUNDER OF ACRES MAGAZINE, A VOICE FOR ECO-AGRICULTURE

“Once upon a time the nobles of Europe believed they had accomplished the physical impossibility of perpetual interest simply by owning all the land and raking in tribute from the peasantry, and when death finally pulled down an economic maggot, then there was always the heir. The historical showdown arrived, of course, and the ‘new nobles’ were forced to invent a more subtle form of tribute taking. It came on as debt, interest, compound interest, and all the institutional arrangements required to make the producing community share its income with the creditor. For centuries the details have stacked up, but economists [by and large] have failed to draw the appropriate conclusions.”

2023 – “THE PLANET IS LITERALLY BURNING” – KATE RAWORTH ON ‘DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS'” ARTICLE

“I was so struck by the rise of the Rethinking Economics movement. When I was a student, there was no internet so we had no ways of communicating and if we were dissatisfied with Economics, many of us just thought maybe there’s something wrong with me. I think what happened after the financial crash is that many students found themselves embarrassed in the local pub because their friends were saying “Come on, you study economics, you should know what’s going on.” But the economic models they were being taught didn’t reflect the true roles of banking and money. This was the beginning of a lot of the student movement.

“I [also] have to say, given the ecological crisis of today, I cannot see how economists can justify continuing to use macroeconomic models that give such invisibility to energy, which I believe is the currency of the world. It’s not money. Energy is the fundamental currency. [We need] more visibility to energy and to material flows and to planetary boundaries and to recognizing the economy is within a biosphere.”

“The Planet is Literally Burning” – Kate Raworth on ‘Doughnut Economics’

JANUARY 15

2014 – SPEECH BY INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) MANAGING DIRECTOR CHRISTINE LAGARDE AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON, DC

“Even for the advanced economies, however, the outlook [in 2014) is still subject to significant risks. With inflation running below many central banks’ targets, we see rising risks of deflation, which could prove disastrous for the recovery. If inflation is the genie, then deflation is the ogre that must be fought decisively.”

The sword used by private central banks to slay the deflation “ogre” was out-of-thin-air money printing. While the Federal Reserve gradually wound down their Quantitative Easing (QE) program, other nations (Japan, China, and Russia) ramped theirs up.

2024 – NATIONAL HOLIDAY HONORING LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

King was born on January 15, 1929 but his birthday is always celebrated as a national holiday on the third Monday of the month. A few King quotes:               

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

“The question is not whether we will be extremists but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?”

[Note: Ignorance and stupidity of how money is created by banking corporations and private central banks must end. Now is not the time to be silent, but to be “extremists for love” in educating, advocating and organizing for a democratic monetary system, or what others call “sovereign” or “just” money.]

JANUARY 16

1911 – ISSUANCE OF PAMPHLET SUGGESTING PLAN FOR NATIONAL PRIVATE CENTRAL BANK
US Senator Nelson Aldrich introduced a plan for creation of a national private central bank based on the conclusions developed by bankers who met secretly on Jekyll Island. GA. The Citizens League, later the National Citizens League, was formed to promote the plan. The establishment of the Federal Reserve System was the event result of the plan.

2009 – US GOVERNMENT AND FEDERAL RESERVE BAILS OUT BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION

The U.S. Treasury and the FDIC provides $118 billion of loans, securities, and other assets in exchange for preferred shares.  The U.S. Treasury invested an additional $20 billion in the bank from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in exchange for preferred stock.

2014 – POSTED VIDEO,”COULD THESE 3 SIMPLE CHANGES TO BANKING FIX THE ECONOMY”

Short, clear 4-minute video produced by the British group, Positive Money. The same principles and changes are needed in the U.S.

2018 – TALK, “HOW MONEY IS CREATED BY THE CENTRAL BANK AND THE BANKING SYSTEM,”, THOMAS JORDAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE GOVERNING BOARD, SWISS NATIONAL BANK

‘In our present-day financial system, the creation of deposits by banks is closely linked to the granting of loans. When a bank provides a loan, it credits the amount in question to the borrower in the form of a deposit to his or her account. This leads to an increase in credits on the assets side and in customer deposits on the liabilities side of the bank’s balance sheet … While the total volume of central bank money remains unchanged, lending by an individual bank increases deposits in the banking system and hence also the overall money supply’

https://www.snb.ch/en/mmr/speeches/id/ref_20180116_tjn

JANUARY 17

1706 – BIRTH OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
“The colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from the colonies their money, which created unemployment and dissatisfaction…This effect of paper currency is not understood in England. And indeed the whole is a mystery to the politicians how we have been able to continue a war for four years without money and how we could pay with paper that had no previously fixed fund appropriated specifically to redeem it. This currency…is a wonderful machine.”

2002 – PUBLICATION OF “FUTURE OF MONEY” BY BERNARD LIETAER, BELGIAN AUTHOR, ECONOMISTS, PROFESSOR AND CIVIL ENGINEER

“Your money’s value is determined by a global casino of unprecedented proportions: $2 trillion are traded per day in foreign exchange markets, 100 times more than the trading volume of all the stock markets of the world combined. Only 2% of these foreign exchange transactions relate to the “real” economy reflecting movements of real goods and services in the world, and 98% are purely speculative. This global casino is triggering the foreign exchange crises, which shook Mexico in 1994-5, Asia in 1997 and Russia in 1998. These emergencies are the dislocation symptoms of the old Industrial Age money system.”

2019 – DUTCH REPORT ISSUED ON MONETARY SYSTEM AND HOW MONEY IS CREATED – STEPPING STONE TO PUBLIC CREATION OF MONEY

“The Dutch Scientific Council for government policy (WRR) presented its report on the monetary system on the 17th of January 2019. The report is called “Money and Debt, the public role of banks”.

“The main objective of the report is to describe in depth the role that banks play in the current monetary system and how money is created. It has to advise the government on this system and to consider pros and cons of alternative systems and the amount of profit on money creation.

“The order to write this advice was given after a debate in parliament in March 2016, initiated by the citizens initiative ‘Ons Geld’ (meaning Our Money, and sister organization of Positive Money in the UK, and member of IMMR).  Ons Geld proposed to give the power to create money solely to a public entity, a monetary authority, instead of letting banks create money as credit, as is the case in the current system.

“After this debate it was clear that in order to form a balanced opinion on this topic, parliament and the public needed more expert advice. It was observed that there is a need for a banking system that serves the public and causes less risk for savers and taxpayers.”

Dutch WRR Report on Money and Debt is out

2019 – JAMAICA’S CENTRAL BANK IS USING REGGAE-INSPIRED MUSIC TO TEACH PEOPLE ABOUT MONETARY POLICY

“Low and stable inflation is to the economy what the bass line is to reggae music.”

“Inflation’s not the enemy if we control it. If it’s too high, the people will cry.”

“Those are some of the lyrics from videos the Bank of Jamaica has released on Twitter in recent weeks to promote awareness around inflation, monetary policy, and the economy.”

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/interestrates/jamaica-reggae-inspired-monetary-policy-videos-central-bank-2019-1-1027877704?fbclid=iwar1nhufai6bcjdgwaxabgujts4l61g_jvkmmx07voxbusmm05urvzz184xs

2021 – “BANKING POLITICS & THE MONEY QUESTION” posted online

“Recent resources for democracy activists

“There is a slight slant towards food-and-farm activists, but the resources are relevant — maybe even essential — to any U.S. voter who wants to (a) understand U.S. history as an experiment on money, and (b) get up-to-speed on 21st century monetary democracy and banking politics.

“Here’s 3 recent entry points on U.S. history — two “windows” and a “doorway” — plus an additional, more generic “doorway” into money as a public policy issue.

BANKING POLITICS & THE MONEY QUESTION: Recent resources for democracy activists

JANUARY 18

1910 – BIRTH 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.”

2008 – QUOTES BY BEN BERNANKE, FORMER CHAIR OF THE US FEDERAL RESERVE (THE PRIVATE CENTRAL BANK OF THE US), ON THE US ECONOMY

(January 10, 2008) “The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession.”

(January 18, 2008) “[The U.S. economy] has a strong labor force, excellent productivity and technology, and a deep and liquid financial market that is in the process of repairing itself.”

The Great Recession was dated as beginning in December 2007. An estimated 8.7 million jobs were lost from February 2008 – February 2010, according to the US Labor Department. GDP contracted by 5.1% during the same period, making the Great Recession the worst since the Great Depression. Unemployment rose from 4.7% in November 2007 to peak at 10% in October of 2009.

JANUARY 19

2011 – FEDERAL RESERVE SPOKESMAN EXPLAINS HOW IT SHOVELS MONEY TO WALL STREET BY CREATING MONEY OUT OF THIN AIR

The Fed released a video to quell uproar over its unaccountable money creation operations during the middle of its second round of quantitative easing (QE2).

The spokesman stated (beginning at the 3:42 mark)

“You may wonder how the Fed pays for the bonds and other securities it buys. The Fed does not pay with paper money. Instead, the Fed pays the sellers’ bank using newly created electronic funds, and the bank adds those funds to the sellers’ account. The seller can spend the funds or can simply leave them in the bank. If the funds stay in the bank, then the bank can increase its lending, purchase more assets, or build up the reserves it holds on deposit at the Fed. More broadly, the Fed’s securities purchases increase the total amount of reserves that the banking system keeps at the Fed.

“Whether the Fed’s purchases lead to an increase in the amount of money circulating in the economy depends on what banks do with the new reserves and on what sellers do with the funds they receive.”

2023 – “SCHUMACHER CONVERSATIONS | REIMAGINING ECONOMICS FOR A THRIVING WORLD” VIDEO

Schumacher Conversations | Reimagining Economics for a Thriving World

““Schumacher Conversations: Envisioning the Next 50 Years” brings together change-makers whose work today is actively shaping a ‘small is beautiful’ future, organized around 12 key themes and fields of activism. Our panelists for this Conversation are: John Fullerton, founder and president of Capital Institute, author of “Finance for A Regenerative World” (2019). Ruth Potts, Head of Regenerative Economics at Schumacher College (U.K.), artist and activist. Stewart Wallis, Chair of WEAll, the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, former E. D. of New Economics Foundation (U.K.)

“This event was the first in a series, part of the 2023 series Schumacher Conversations: Envisioning the Next 50 Years. As the 50th anniversary of E.F. Schumacher’s groundbreaking book Small is Beautiful, 2023 is an opportunity to advance solutions to today’s social, economic, and environmental challenges that build on Schumacher’s original vision.

2023 – IN 16 YEARS, THE FED HAS APPROVED 4,506 BANK MERGERS AND DENIED ONE” POSTED ARTICLE

“According to the Fed’s own data, since January 1, 2006, it has approved 4,506 bank mergers, while denying one application…

“At the end of 1999, the year that President Bill Clinton’s Wall Street-friendly administration repealed the 66-year old Glass-Steagall Act – ushering in an era where Wall Street’s trading casinos could buy federally-insured banks – the number of federally-insured banks and savings institutions has collapsed from a total of 10,220 to 4,746 as of September 30, 2022…That’s a startling decline of 54 percent in banking competition…

“…just four banking behemoths: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup’s Citibank…own $9.1 trillion in assets, or 39 percent of the total $23.6 trillion in assets owned by all 4,746 federally-insured banks and savings associations in the country…

“In short, the Fed has effectively seized control of the nation’s economic future, transferring wealth from the farms, small businesses and factory floors of America to the trading floors on Wall Street – which, not ironically, include two trading floors operated by the New York Fed.”

In 16 Years, the Fed Has Approved 4,506 Bank Mergers and Denied One

JANUARY 20

1859 – BIRTH OF CHARLES LINDBURGH, SR., REPUBLICAN US REPRESENTATIVE AND FATHER OF THE FAMOUS AVIATOR
“Ever since the Civil War Congress has allowed the bankers to control financial legislation. The membership of the Finance Committee in the Senate (now the Banking and Currency Committee) and the Committee on Banking and Currency in the House have been made up chiefly of bankers, their agents and their attorneys. These committees have controlled the nature of bills to be reported, the extent of them, and debates that were to be held on them when they were being considered in the Senate and the House.”

“This [Federal Reserve] Act establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the president signs this bill, the invisible government by the monetary power will be legalized. The people may not know it immediately but the day of reckoning is only a few years removed, the worst legislative crime of the ages perpetrated by this bank bill.”

January 7 – 13

JANUARY 7

1782 – BANK OF NORTH AMERICA OPENS

This was the first private commercial bank of the United States. At that time, the nation’s constitution was the Articles of Confederation. Article 9 of the Articles gave Congress the power to “emit bills of credit” — to create debt-free money. By a single vote, Congress voted to transfer their authority to issue money to the Bank of North America when it approved its charter. Thus, the Bank served as a quasi central bank (which created money as loans, called “debt money”). Why did Congress willingly give up their money power? The public argument was that the business of finance could not be competently conducted by a public body (Congress) — only by a small number of private financiers. The first head of the Bank was Robert Morris, the richest merchant in America.

1868 – SPEECH OF CONGRESSMAN SAMUEL FENTON CARY (INDEPENDENT REPUBLICAN) OF OHIO ON FLOOR OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

“Our Constitution gives to Congress the exclusive power to coin money and regulate the value thereof… These are attributes of sovereignty and belong exclusively to the representatives of the whole people…The value of money has no relation to or dependence upon the material of which it is made.  If it has the properties or powers of representing, measuring, and exchanging value, it is money; and these properties or powers are not inherent in any substance, but are conferred upon any chosen material by the sovereign power…. The Greenback, as it has been denominated, was an invaluable expedient, backing our boys in blue and covering their backs at the same time.  It served our purpose well and will serve us still if permitted.  It helped us through one danger and will bear us triumphantly through another unless the cupidity of bankers, bondholders and shoddy contractors shall triumph over the industrial and tax-paying classes of our people…The first step in the right direction will be to pass a law to call in and cancel the entire bank circulation and simultaneously issue an equal quantity of Treasury certificates or legal tenders.”

http://www.yamaguchy.com/library/uregina/cary68.html

JANUARY 8

1786 – BIRTH OF NICHOLAS BIDDLE, PRESIDENT OF SECOND NATIONAL BANK

Biddle threatened to cause a depression if President Andrew Jackson did not re-charter the bank. The privately owned Second Bank was chartered in 1816. President Jackson did not sign the bill to renew the charter. “This worthy President thinks that … he is to have his way with the Bank. He is mistaken…[opposition] can only be broken by the actual conviction of exiting distress in the community… Our only safety is in pursuing a steady course of firm restriction [of the money supply] – and I have no doubt that such a course will ultimately lead to restoration of the currency and the re-charter of the Bank.” The result of the contraction of the money supply was a financial panic followed by a deep depression in 1837. (Edward Kaplan, The Bank of the United States and the American Economy)

1835 – PRESIDENT JACKSON PAYS OFF THE LAST INSTALLMENT OF THE NATIONAL DEBT

He was one of the only Presidents ever to do so (with Congressional support) – following his decision, which was ultimately upheld by Congress, not to renew the charter of the private Second Bank of the United States.

JANUARY 9

2009 – TREASURY DEPARTMENT CPP TRANSACTION REPORT

The U.S. Treasury Department purchases a total of $4.8 billion in preferred stock from 43 U.S. banks under the Capital Purchase Program — one of several bank bailout programs of the US government.

JANUARY 10

1843 – BIRTH OF LORD ACTON, ENGLISH HISTORIAN, POLITICIAN, AND WRITER

“The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.“

1933 – BIRTH OF ROBERT POTEAT, RESEARCHER, AMERICAN MONETARY INSTITUTE

“Legislation has been introduced to relieve the nation of the abusive bank credit/debt system. It is the National Emergency Employment Defense Act, NEED Act. This Act will end the power of banks to create credit out of nothing by making bookkeeping entries. It will restore the money power to Congress as provided by the United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8. Without the power to create credit banks will not have the power to create bubbles and recessions. Congress will create the money debt and interest free for human services and infrastructure.

“Congress will have the means to not only end the exponential growth of national debt; but, also, pay off the national debt as it comes due. Congress will have the means to fund needed human life supporting programs and infrastructure without borrowing money.”

2012 – THE RISE OF FINANCIAL EMPIRE: REVISITING AMERICAN HISTORY

A fine video series of lessons compiled together.

A basic understanding of the monetary system and the problem of exponential growth is preferable before viewing.

2012 — VIDEO, “DEBUNKING MONEY – THE WAY THE WORLD REALLY WORKS” BY DAMON VRABEL

“Damon has had two fairly different lives—one as an overachiever serving the financial empire, and another as a hopeful advocate for the victims of the empire:  local community, indigenous population, the American republic, and the individual heart.  He graduated from the United States Military Academy, served as an officer in the US Army, then graduated from Harvard Business School, took a short detour on Wall Street, and had a career in Silicon Valley in several leadership positions in technology corporations.  Since leaving empire service, he became a mountaineer, attended Mars Hill Graduate School, and now works toward redemption as a writer and post-neoclassical economic philosopher.”

JANUARY 11

1757 – BIRTH OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON, FIRST SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY OF THE UNITED STATES

Hamilton was a major proponent of First Bank of the United States. The bank’s name gave the impression that the bank was public when it was actually privately owned. The private bank created the nation’s money as government loans – at interest – and to private individuals. Eighty percent of the stock was privately held. Hamilton considered public debt “a public blessing” because it would tie the wealthy (who would own the government bonds) of the country to the government, and they would in turn provide political support for higher taxes to pay off the government bonds.

1893 – DEATH OF BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, US GENERAL, US REPRESENTATIVE (MASSACHUSETTS) AND GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS   

“The government shall issue an amount equal to its taxes…which shall be lawful money and legal tender for all debts, public and private, which by law are not made payable in coin.”

JANUARY 12

1936 – DEATH OF JOHN HYLAN, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY, 1918-1925

“The real menace of our republic is this invisible government, which, like a giant octopus, sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation. Like the octopus of real life, it operates under cover of a self-created screen…. At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as international bankers. The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both political parties.”

2006  –  “MONETARY MYOPIA” ARTICLE IN ECONOMIST MAGAZINE ON ALAN GREENSPAN ON HIS RETIREMENT AS HEAD OF THE US FEDERAL RESERVE

‘”In December Mr. Greenspan was made a Freeman of the City of London. One of the traditional perks of this honor is that he can be drunk and disorderly without fear of arrest. The snag is that his policies have also encouraged drunk and disorderly asset markets and intoxicated consumers. When the party ends, Mr. Greenspan will not be there to clean up the mess. But end it surely will.”

And it surely has.

JANUARY 13

1808 – BIRTH OF SALMON P. CHASE, US SENATOR (OHIO), GOVERNOR OF OHIO, US TREASURY SECRETARY UNDER ABRAHAM LINCOLN, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE US SUPREME COURT

“My agency in procuring the passage of the National Bank Act, was the greatest financial mistake of my life.  It has built up a monopoly that affects every interest in the country.  It should be repealed.  But before this can be accomplished, the people will be arrayed on one side and the banks on the other in a contest such as we have never seen in this country.” The National Bank Act established a system of nationally chartered banks. Before the Act, most banks were chartered by states. The Act permitted these new nationally chartered banks to turn government bonds into the US Treasury in exchange for the right to print an equal amount of debt-based Bank Money. This undermined U.S. Greenbacks, which was debt-free public money.  Chase did not regret his decision, despite his statement. It was a lie as he acted in support of banking corporations (similar to the current Treasury Secretary). It was not an accident but a planned and deliberate action.

2007 – “WHO RULES AMERICA.” ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY JAMES PETRAS, PROFESSOR (EMERITUS), BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK
“Within the financial ruling class…political leaders come from the public and private equity banks, namely Wall Street – especially Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, the Carlyle Group and others.  They organize and fund both major parties and their electoral campaigns.  They pressure, negotiate and draw up the most comprehensive and favorable legislation on global strategies and sectoral policies…They pressure the government to “bailout” bankrupt and failed speculative firms and to balance the budget by lowering social expenditures instead of raising taxes on speculative “windfall” profits…These private equity banks are involved in every sector of the economy, in every region of the world economy and increasingly speculate in the conglomerates which are acquired.  Much of the investment funds now in the hands of the US investment banks, hedge funds and other sectors of the financial ruling class originated in the profits extracted from workers in the manufacturing and service sector.”

https://www.globalresearch.ca/who-rules-america/4441

2020 – SCENARIO FOR A MODERN JUBILEE published article by Ons Geld

“Part of the transition envisioned by Ons Geld is a modern jubilee in which debts are reduced in a way that benefits both creditors and debtors. This modern jubilee is based on a gift from the State to its citizens and was, under this heading, first proposed by the economist Steve Keen. Keens proposal does not concern a jubilee in the traditional sense, in which debt is cancelled to the detriment of creditors. It concerns a reduction of private debts, by handing out newly created money to all citizens, for free, to repay debts. In a modern jubilee, creditors receive payment of outstanding debts in an accelerated way.

“Ons Geld developed a similar proposal for a modern jubilee. In the Ons Geld proposal, however, no new money is issued for the jubilee. Instead, (digital) debt repayment vouchers are granted to the citizens. These vouchers can be used to repay debts with the banks. Banks, in turn, can use these vouchers to repay their debt with the central bank. Citizens who have insufficient debts with banks to fully use their vouchers, can convert the remaining vouchers in shares in the central bank, which entitles”

Click to access 20200113_scenario_for_a_modern_jubilee.pdf