May 19 – 25

MAY 19

1977 – QUOTE BY BIRTH OF EARL OF CAITHNESS (MALCOLM IAN SINCLAIR), MEMBER OF THE UK HOUSE OF LORDS

“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 – ONLINE POSTING OF “RICHARD WOLFF’S TRAJECTORY BEYOND MMT INTO SMR” ARTICLE BY GOVERT SCHULLER

“Recently I watched two episodes of the progressive Thom Hartmann Program in which the host discussed banking and Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) with the Marxist economist Richard Wolff [1, 2]. Following are the pertinent points I came away with, which developed into a little article, in which I will try to make the case that, when Wolff found in MMT the correct theory of banking and money, he actually went beyond MMT. He did so by discerning some of the theory’s obvious policy implications, which people promoting Sovereign Monetary Reform (SMR)–which is a competing monetary theory focused on a radical reform of the monetary system–would heartily agree with.”

Richard Wolff’s Trajectory beyond MMT into SMR

MAY 20

1851- BIRTH OF CHARLES MACUNE, HEAD OF SOUTHERN FARMERS’ ALLIANCE AND ORIGINATOR OF THE POPULIST “SUB-TREASURY PLAN”

The “Sub-Treasury Plan,” developed by the southern Populist Macune, was an ingenious proposal to circumvent banking corporations, merchants and landlords by farmers to avoid debt at high interest, which often resulted in the loss of their farms. The proposal called for farmers to store their harvest in federal warehouses when prices for their commodities were low. Farmers would leverage those commodities for loans (up to 80% of the market value in federal notes) to support themselves until prices rose. The proposal was especially useful to southern farmers with non-perishable crops (i.e. cotton). The farmer had one year to sell the crop and then pay back the note and 1% interest.

1891 — FOUNDING OF THE PEOPLE’S PARTY IN CINCINNATI, OHIO

From their platform: “The right to make and issue money is a sovereign power to be maintained by the people for the common benefit, hence we demand the abolition of National banks as banks of issue, and, as a substitute for National bank notes, we demand that legal tender treasury notes be issued in sufficient volume to transact the business of the country on a cash basis, without damage or especial advantage of any class or calling, such notes to be legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, and such notes when demanded by the people shall be loaned to them at not more than two per cent per annum upon nonperishable products as indicated in the subtreasury plan, and also upon real estate, with proper limitation upon the quantity of land and amount of money.”

MAY 21

1912 – SPEECH BY J. LAWRENCE LAUGHLIN, CHAIR OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL CITIZENS’ LEAGUE, ON MONETARY REFORM

Born in Deerfield, Ohio, Laughlin was the first chair of the economics department at the University of Chicago and chair of the Executive Committee of the National Citizens League for the Promotion of a Sound Banking System from 1911-13. The League was established and funded with $5 million in contributions from the big New York banks (including those owned by John D. Rockefeller and J.P Morgan) to establish an “educational fund.”  The fund financed respected university professors, such as Laughlin, to endorse the concept of creating a private central bank, what became the Federal Reserve Bank, created by the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. The “Citizens'” League provided a terrific cover in providing the appearance that privatizing/corporatizing money creation by a private national central bank was sound and reasonable since “objective” intelligent university professors promoted it.

2018 – “THE ‘ACCOUNTING VIEW’ OF MONEY: MONEY AS EQUITY” ENTRY ON WORLD BANK BLOG

“After long being a tenet of post-Keynesian theories of money, even mainstream economics has finally recognized that commercial banks are not simple intermediaries of already existing money; they create their own money by issuing liabilities in the form of sight deposits (McLeay, Radia, and Thomas 2014).”

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/allaboutfinance/accounting-view-money-money-equity-part-ii

MAY 22

1912 – SPEECH BY ROBERT MCCABE, VICE CHAIR OF THE OHIO CHAPTER OF THE NATIONAL CITIZENS’ LEAGUE, ON MONETARY REFORM

McCabe, an Ohio attorney, was recruited to speak on behalf of the plan supported by the nation’s biggest banks to create a private national central bank. He spoke throughout Ohio and the Midwest. He spoke on his date in Illinois. Among the points in his remarks was that the creation of what would become the Federal Reserve System would “avoid the tendency to take the money power of the nation out of the hands of the many and put it in the hands of the few.” The reality was and remains just the opposite.                            

The New York Times on the National Citizens’ League: ““A million dollars doesn’t go very far in a campaign of education such as is being carried on by the National Citizens League for the promotion of a sound banking system, yet the contribution of $1,000,000 for that purpose by individual Directors of the National banks of the country a short time ago provoked much comment and a suggestion that the electorate was the be corrupted by the use of these funds.”

MAY 23

1933 – ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT PRESENTED IN THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AGAINST THE FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD OF GOVERNORS, THE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANKS, THE US SECRETARY OF TREASURY AND OTHERS FOR THEIR COLLUSION IN CAUSING THE GREAT DEPRESSION.

US Congressman Louis McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, introduced the Articles of Impeachment. McFadden stated,

“The Great Depression was not accidental; it was a carefully contrived occurrence… bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here, so that they might emerge as rulers of us all.”

“We have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known.  I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks.  Some people think the Federal Reserve Banks are U.S. government institutions.  They are private credit monopolies; domestic swindlers, rich and predatory money lenders, which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers…The truth is, the Federal Reserve Board has usurped the Government of the United States by the arrogant credit monopoly, which operates the Federal Reserve Board.”

1937 – DEATH OF JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, OIL AND FINANCIAL CAPITALIST

“God gave me my money!”

2017 – “THE DOLLAR AS A DEMOCRATIC MEDIUM: MAKING MONEY A CURRENCY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE” VIDEO PRESENTATION BY CHRISTINE DESAN, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

Desan asks whether we can re-design money to deliver more fairness in a world where inequality is escalating.

MAY 24

1604 – ENGLISH COURT DECISION ON “MIXED MONEY” CASE

English court rules that sovereign governments possess the power to create, regulate, limit and define money.

“The Mixt Moneys case decided that Money was a Public Measure, a measure of value, and that, like other measures, it was necessary in the public welfare that its dimension of volume should be limited, defined and regulated by the State. The whole body of learning left us by the ancient and renascent world was invoked in this celebrated dictum: Aristotle, Paulus, Godin and Budelius were summoned to its support; the Roman law, the common law and the statutes all upheld it; ‘the State alone had the right to issue money and to decide of what substances its symbols should be made, whether of gold, silver, brass or paper. Whatever the State declared to be money, was money.’”

– From The History of Money in America by Alexander Del Mar

2016 — “WHERE DOES MONEY COME FROM?” BY OLE BIERG, TEDx VIDEO PRESENTATION

“Where does money come from? How is money created? Can commercial banks create money by issuing new loans? Knowing that electronic money represents 95% of the total money supply, have we privatized the creation of money in our societies?

“Ole Bjerg believes that we have handed a vital societal power — money creation — to the financial sectors, and that this leads to instability, inequalities and a concentration of power outside democratic institutions. Facing this gloomy situation, he highlights the solution: a sovereign money system.”

[NOTE: Ole Bjerg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School, and co-founder of Gode Penge, an initiative for the democratization of the monetary system.

MAY 25

1787 – US CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION BEGINS

The Congress shall have power to…coin money [and] regulate the value thereof” Article 1, Section 8, US Constitution.

May 5 – 11

MAY 5

2005 – QUOTE BY ALAN GREENSPAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE

“The use of a growing array of derivatives and the related application of more-sophisticated approaches to measuring and managing risk are key factors underpinning the greater resilience of our largest financial institutions. Derivatives have permitted the unbundling of financial risks.”

[NOTE: Three years later, the U.S. financial system imploded, causing what was called the “Great Recession,” but for many was a depression that resulted in lost homes, jobs and opportunities.] 

2015 – REALITY CHECK: COULD THE GREENS CHANGE HOW MONEY WORKS?

“Buried half-way through the Green Party’s manifesto is a pretty radical suggestion that could fundamentally change how money works…

“There are two common misconceptions about how money currently works:

• The Bank of England controls the amount of money circulating around the economy, perhaps by “printing money”
• The ability of private banks to lend is limited by how much other customers have deposited in their vaults

“Neither of these is quite true…

“The Greens want a central body to take on the job of creating money: ‘a new monetary authority, independent of day-to-day government control’…

“This would mean commercial banks would become ‘no more than the custodians of publicly created money in current accounts’…

“In other words, the amount of money in the economy would no longer depend on banks’ willingness to lend.

If the policy were to be implemented, it would mark a step-change in how money works.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2015-32592671?fbclid=IwAR2UfvaJzsPvPnif2FtPVEWeOjpUCDsowDsqL0L25A3FYvdX-2j_Psu8FtA

2021 – “WHY CBDC’S (CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES) WILL LIKELY BE ID-BASED” POSTED ARTICLE

“Central banks are realising CBDCs will have to be intimately linked to identity to deal with illicit finance and bank disintermediation risk.

“Goldman Sachs’ econ research division, headed by Jan Hatzius, has a status report out this week on central bank digital currencies, and it inadvertently homes in on two factors that are increasingly becoming understood as essential in CBDC structures worldwide…

“As the report notes:

“Central banks have been cautious to avoid two key risks that CBDCs could pose. To avoid disintermediating banks by depriving them of their deposit base, central banks have imposed caps on balances, paid no interest on CBDC, or considered imposing a penalty interest rate on holdings above some threshold. To avoid facilitating illicit activity, central banks have mostly decided against fully anonymous accounts or capped anonymous transactions, and have tasked commercial bank intermediaries with monitoring customers and transactions.”

https://www.ft.com/content/88f47c48-97fe-4df3-854e-0d404a3a5f9a?fbclid=IwAR1LQNrbEGKtws2TogB-glS2pRm30Oll_qMrZ1IPS4VJjeFmW9QofijQYGA

MAY 6

2020 – ‘FROM THE COVID ECONOMIC DISRUPTION TO A SUSTAINABLE WORLD,” ARTICLE PUBLISHED

“The immense suffering caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic brings into sharp focus the tremendous failure of our global civilization to meet the basic needs of most of humanity. But this is only a taste of things to come if we do not decisively change how we live in order to preserve the fundamental preconditions for civilization itself…

“Economic System Revitalization Plan…

    Expand the money supply through Central Bank bonds for investments in Sustainable Infrastructure, a Job Guarantee, and/or a livable Universal Basic Income (UBI)…

“Our current economic system requires relentless growth in activities that are destroying the basis for human life on Earth. But it is an artificial construct in which private banks create money through the issuance of debt that transfers money from the less well-off to wealthy elites. This is the root cause of our astronomical income and wealth disparity that is being exploited by right-wing demagogues supported by the super rich.”

From the Covid Economic Disruption to a Sustainable World

MAY 7

1873 – DEATH OF SALMON P. CHASE, US TREASURY SECRETARY/US SENATOR FROM OHIO

“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.”

[NOTE: The National Bank Acts of 1863 was known originally as the National Currency Act and was updated the following year. The Act established chartered national banks that could issue bank notes, which were backed by the United States Treasury. These notes existed side by side to public “Greenbacks” (directly issued by the government). Bankers supported the Bank Acts as a means to eventually replace Greenbacks and, thus, gain full control of the US money system.]

2021 – “CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY: FRIEND OR FOE? POSTED ARTICLE BY BEN RININGER

“The US Money described in the N.E.E.D. Act could take the form of CBDC, if the act were slightly adjusted, but the two things are not the same.

“While U.S. Money and CBDC are both debt-free money, like the cash in your wallet, U.S. Money in the N.E.E.D. Act is different from CBDC, in that private banks still act in the role of safeguarding people’s bank accounts. If people want US money on demand to be held at their private bank, they’d have to pay a bank a small yearly fee to keep it there. If people want to make interest, they’d have to set their U.S. money aside in a time deposit, to be lent out.

“In contrast, CBDC either would be (a) held in individuals’ own digital wallets (so, not at a private bank) or (b) held in individuals’ accounts at the central bank (again, bypassing private banks) or (c) held at private banks, taking a form that is different from current central bank money held at private banks (central bank reserves).”

Central Bank Digital Currency: Friend or Foe?

MAY 8

1884 – BIRTH OF HARRY TRUMAN, 33^RD PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.

‘”There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.”

[NOTE: Why the monetary arena (problems and possible democratic reforms) seems new is because we never learned its history – in school, through the media, even in our activist organizations. Many activists still don’t – believing it too complicated, unrelated to other economic concerns or associated with political ideologies unlike their own. Social change activists, thus, ignore this arena at their peril.]

2012 –  “THE KEY TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY: KUCINICH EXPLAINS MONETARY REFORM” POSTED VIDEO

“The N.E.E.D. Act would put the Federal Reserve under the Treasury as part of a larger to plan to allow Congress to invest in our economy without creating debt or inflation. It does this in three simple steps outlined here.”

MAY 9 

2014 – “WHO SHOULD HAVE THE POWER TO CREATE MONEY?” ARTICLE BY ANDREW JACKSON OF POSITIVE MONEY

“Who should have the power to create money? In Modernising Money we argue that the power to create money should be removed from the banks and transferred to a democratic, transparent, and accountable body. Martin Wolf recently backed these proposals, but Ann Pettifor describes them as ‘deeply flawed’ and ‘outlandish’.

One of Ann’s main concerns is whether a committee can correctly make decisions over how much money should be added to (or removed from) the economy.

Let’s approach this by considering the different options for who could be given the power and authority to create money:

• Banks – as per the status quo

• Banks – heavily reformed (as Ann would suggest)

• Elected politicians

• The Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England (as proposed in Modernising Money)”

Full article at http://www.positivemoney.org/2014/05/power-create-money 

MAY 10

1775 – CONTINENTAL CONGRESS ISSUES “CONTINENTALS”

The Continental Congress voted to issue $200 million in paper money, “continental currency” or “continentals”, to finance the American Revolution. The money was essential since British pounds were in short supply. The currency lost much of their value during the war due to the flooding of British counterfeit “continentals” as a means to destroy the colonial economy. Inflation was also due to continentals being used to fund war purchases rather than socially and economically useful goods and services. Nevertheless, the colonial currency served its purpose in allowing the colonies to economically and militarily resist and defeat the most powerful nation on earth. 

1837 – US FINANCIAL PANIC 

Banks limited credit and starting calling on debtors to repay. This ignited the Financial Panic of 1837.  Urban worker faced rising unemployment and food prices. A prolonged economic depression followed, including hundreds of bank failures. The economic depression that followed lasted nearly five years. This is the inevitable result of a debt-based money system – the lessons of which we never seem to learn.

1915 – BIRTH OF ROBERT HEMPHILL, CREDIT MANAGER, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ATLANTA

“If all the bank loans were paid, no one could have a bank deposit, and there would not be a dollar of coin or currency in circulation. This is a staggering thought. 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 very soon.”

2022 – “BANKS BANK ON WAR PROFITS” POSTED ONLINE BY GREG COLERIDGE

“There are many reasons why nation-states start or join wars – including the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. Controlling natural resources is certainly one of them.

“Whatever the reasons, banking corporations and other financial institutions in the U.S., among many corporate sectors, profit enormously from wars – causing massive harm to people, communities, the planet, and self-described “democratic” political systems.

“This equation may best describe the reality: Dollars = Debt + Destruction + Defense”

Banks Bank on War Profits

MAY 11

2007 – PUBLISHED ARTICLE, “MONETARY REFORM AND HOW A NATIONAL MONEY SYSTEM SHOULD WORK” BY RICHARD COOK

“[T]he solution lies with the federal government taking back its constitutionally-authorized control of the credit of the nation from the financiers and managing it as previously stated—as a public utility… It is essential to realize that the central government of a sovereign nation has the right, the ability, and the responsibility to introduce ALL new credit into existence. This is totally different from having the central bank ‘print money’ by relaxing lending policies, resulting in an infusion of cheap loans, which must still be repaid.

“Sovereign creation of credit is not based on debt. It is and should be based on direct spending of money into circulation by the government itself. Obviously the government should do this in a way that promotes the best interests of the members of society while respecting the varying degrees of contribution by those of different levels of skill and achievement. It is quite possible to enact such a program with due regard to all established conventions of private property and the private ownership and control of existing wealth.”

2018 – “WHAT IS THE REAL PURPOSE OF MONEY” GAP PSYCHOLOGY AND FAIRNESS. YOU MANY NEVER HAVE THOUGHT OF IT THIS WAY” ARTICLE PUBLISHED.

“I propose that the primary purpose of money is to mediate the conflict between Gap Psychology and Fairness.

“Gap Psychology is the common desire to narrow the income/wealth/power (IWP) Gaps above you and to widen the Gaps below you.

“You wish to follow, mingle with, and know more about the rich and famous, while you wish to distance yourself from those poorer and less powerful than you…

“The purpose of money is to deal with two conflicting desires: Your desire to gain relative to other IWP levels,  and your desire to achieve a fair distribution of IWP.”

What is the real purpose of money? Gap Psychology and fairness. You may never have thought of it this way.

2020 – THE TRAGEDY OF GROWTH – NEW POSITIVE MONEY REPORT AND WEBINAR

Webinar on May 11 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezIivuMVQX4

“As Covid-19 takes its toll on GDP figures, we must avoid a return to the kind of policymaking that chases economic growth above all else. In Positive Money’s new report we argue that by stopping our obsession with GDP, we can start designing policies that really work for people and planet, such as a universal basic income issued via a central bank digital currency, modern debt jubilees and public banks.” Report at

The Tragedy of Growth – New Positive Money Report and Webinar

5/11/2023 – “ISLAMIC FINANCE: WHAT IS ISLAMIC FINANCE” POSTED ARTICLE

“Principles of Islamic Finance

“Islamic finance strictly complies with Sharia law. Contemporary Islamic finance is based on a number of prohibitions that are not always illegal in the countries where Islamic financial institutions are operating:

1. Paying or charging an interest

Islam considers lending with interest payments as an exploitative practice that favors the lender at the expense of the borrower. According to Sharia law, interest is usury (riba), which is strictly prohibited.

2. Investing in businesses involved in prohibited activities…

3. Speculation (maisir)…

4. Uncertainty and risk (gharar)…”

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/career-map/sell-side/capital-markets/islamic-finance

April 21 – 27

APRIL 21

1910 – DEATH OF MARK TWAIN, AUTHOR

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” 

”I wasn’t worth a cent two years ago, and now I owe two million dollars.”

“A banker is a man who loans you umbrellas when the sun is shining and demands it back the moment it looks like rain.”

Classic Twain. 

1946 – DEATH OF JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES, BRITISH ECONOMIST

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”

APRIL 22

EARTH DAY – CREE INDIAN PROVERB 

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish been caught, will we realize we cannot eat money.”Seems an appropriate quote on this day. 

2018 – “THE GREEN PARTY US POSITION ON BANKING REFORM” WEBSITE POSTING 

17. Nationalize the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, reconstituting them and the Federal Reserve Systems Washington Board of Governors under a new Monetary Authority Board within the U.S. Treasury. The private creation of money or credit which substitutes for money, will cease and with it the reckless and fraudulent practices that have led to the present financial and economic crisis.

18. The Monetary Authority, with assistance from the FDIC, the SEC, the U.S. Treasury, the Congressional Budget Office, and others will redefine bank lending rules and procedures to end the privilege banks now have to create money when they extend their credit, by ending what’s known as the fractional reserve system in an elegant, non disruptive manner. Banks will be encouraged to continue as profit making companies, extending loans of real money at interest; acting as intermediaries be- tween those clients seeking a return on their savings and those clients ready and able to pay for borrowing the money; but banks will no longer be creators of what we are using for money.

19. The new money that must be regularly added to an improving system as population and commerce grow will be created and spent into circulation by the U. S. Government for infrastructure, including the “human infrastructure” of education and health care. This begins with the $2.2 trillion the American Society of Civil Engineers warns us is needed to bring existing infrastructure to safe levels over the next 5 years. Per capita guidelines will assure a fair distribution of such expenditures across the United States, creating good jobs, re-invigorating the local economies and re-funding government at all levels. As this money is paid out to various contractors, they in turn pay their suppliers and laborers who in turn pay for their living expenses and ultimately this money gets deposited into banks, which are then in a position to make loans of this money, according to the new regulations.

Source:

Green Party US. 2014. “Monetary Reform (Greening the Dollar)”. July 2014. 

Comment:

Planks 17, 18 and 19 faithfully reflect the three prongs promoted by The American Monetary Institute. For more see:  “Formulations of the Three-Point Policy Proposal for Monetary Reform“. Alpheus, 6 Feb 2018.

http://www.alpheus.org/the-green-party-us-position-on-banking-reform/?fbclid=IwAR0Vval2tUABiPvKb2-iqAWsag5OBjOspC6FrlE9DAayNjpg4EYiVDB-VRI 

APRIL 23

384 BC – BIRTH OF ARISTOTLE

“The most hated sort of wealth getting is usury, which makes again out of money itself and not from the natural object of it.  For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. And this term interest, which means the birth of money from money, is applied to the breeding of money…of all modes of getting wealth this is the most unnatural.” 

“Money exists not by nature but by law.” This is one of the most insightful comments on money of all time. 

871 – REIGN OF KING ALFRED OF ENGLAND BEGINS

King Alfred (Alfred the Great) implemented a law that moneylenders who took usury would forfeit all their possessions to the King.

1616 – DEATH OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. HE WAS BORN ON THE EXACT SAME DATE IN 1564

“Poor? Look upon his face. What call you rich?

Let them coin his nose, let them coin his cheeks.”

– From The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, act 3, sc 3

[Note: The word “coin” is a verb, a common usage of the period. The same is true in the phrase “To coin Money” in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives the legislative branch the authority to “create” or “coin” our nation’s money supply. Was true then. Is still true now. Yet, banking corporations have largely usurped this public authority – creating money as debt, loaned to the government, which must be paid back with interest. We the People must end the hijacking by banking corporations and banksters of our Constitutional authority to create our own money for purposes that we collectively determine, not banks and bankers which create money as debt that must be paid back with interest.] 

2018 – POSTING OF VIDEO “TODAY’S SOURCE OF MONEY CREATION” BY RICHARD WERNER

Professor Richard Werner, Chair in International Banking, University of Southampton, England provided this overview of how money is created in nations throughout the world and the impacts and consequences of the current system.

2018 – POSTING OF VIDEO “WHY I SUPPORT SOVEREIGN MONEY” BY LARRY KOTLIKOFF

Professor Larry Kotlikoff, Professor of Economics, Boston University, former Senior. Economist, US President’s Council of Economic Advisers provided this overview of the concepts of limited purpose banking and sovereign money, as well as why he favors the adoption of such a such a system in nations around the world.

APRIL 24

2014 – PUBLICATION OF ARTICLE IN FINANCIAL TIMES: “STRIP PRIVATE BANKS OF THEIR POWER TO CREATE MONEY” BY MARTIN WOLF, CHIEF FINANCIAL WRITER

Since banks create money out of thin air, they should be stripped of this power, and limited to normal depository functions. Wolf indicates the centrality and importance of the issue with his subtitle: “The giant hole at the heart of our market economies needs to be plugged.”

APRIL 25

2012 – PUBLISHED ARTICLE, “TARP OVERSEER DEBUNKS BAILOUT MYTHS: BIG COMPANIES HAVEN’T REPAID TARP FUNDS…AND FUNDS TO HELP HOMEOWNERS HAVEN’T BEEN PAID”

“Apologists for government bailouts push two main myths:

-That all of the bailout funds have been repaid

-That the bailouts helped the average American

But the official government overseer of the Tarp bailout program – the special inspector general for TARP, Christy L. Romero – has debunked both myths.

Today, Romero wrote the following to Congress:

After 3½ years, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) continues to be an active and significant part of the Government’s response to the financial crisis. It is a widely held misconception that TARP will make a profit. The most recent cost estimate for TARP is a loss of $60 billion. Taxpayers are still owed $118.5 billion (including $14 billion written off or otherwise lost).”

2020 – OPEN LETTER TO MICHAEL MOORE ON FACEBOOK FROM HOWARD SWITZER

“Thank you! Planet of the Humans is a wonderful and powerful film because it exposes the reason WHY we have to change our civilization, the way we live on this planet, and do it NOW. It also gives us a hint at WHAT is responsible for the horrendously destructive perpetuation of this system.  “Its all about the money.

“Now can you please expose the myths about money? Delve into Capitalism, the “private control of the creation and allocation of what we use for money,” which is credit/debt? All our money is created by a private for-profit industry run by the oligarchy, which allows them to direct the entire economic development of the world. They have sufficiently proved that such power in the hands of a few means very bad decisions. Money is the most influential of all man-made systems and money is more about power than it is economics, which is why it should not be in a few private hands but in broadly represented public hands. Just like the American Revolution, Mike, it’s all about the money. 

“A friend of mine says “Public money won’t fix everything but it makes everything fixable.”  (the Continental and  the Greenback were both debt-free public money) It would be so great to explore a vision of what a Public Money System is capable of in transforming our ‘economics of greed’ into an ‘economics of care.’ The pandemic has shown us how fast the air and water clears when we stop what we’re doing. We need to rebuild the local economies destroyed by capitalism and localize food production on a massive scale and only a public money system is capable of doing that. Instead of wealth flowing to the few at the center, it flows out to the many. This is because it is not money issued as debt, it is money issued as money, a permanently circulating public asset, based on a share in our national equity.

“The story of money is the story of power, and I find it vexing that it has been left out of our history books for so long. I would LOVE to talk to you more about this and help you uncover the story.   howard.s@monetaryalliance.org

Switzer is on the Board of the Alliance for Just Money 

APRIL 26

1914 – DEATH OF GEORGE ‘DIVING RIGHT’ BAER, PRESIDENT OF THE PHILADELPHIA & READING RAILROAD CORPORATION, WHICH WAS OWNED BY BANKER J.P. MORGAN

“The rights and interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for, not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian men to whom God in His infinite wisdom has given the control of the property interests of the country, and upon the successful management of which so much depends”

APRIL 27

1637 – HOLLAND SUSPENDS ALL CONTRACTS DURING TULIPMANIA BUBBLE

Tulip mania or tulipomania (1636-37) was a period during which contract prices for new tulip bulbs in Holland exceeded more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble (or economic bubble). People from all walks of life sold homes and land at low prices just to speculate on the rising tulip prices. Prices suddenly collapsed in February 1637. By March, tulip prices had crashed by 90 percent or more. There were widespread defaults on purchased contracts. Long-term economic decline followed. The suspension of contracts gave the seller the right to sell contracted bulbs at market prices.   

2009 – COMMENT BY DICK DURBIN, US SENATOR, ILLINOIS

“And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

[Note: What was a refreshing bit of true reality in 2009 is even truer today. The finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) sector tops all sectors in political campaign contributions (or are they investments?) to Washington politicians. The return on their investments are substantial – no indictments of top bankers responsible for the 2008 subprime crisis and financial implosion, bailouts galore…and, of course, the continuation of the license to print debt money that is loaned to the US – at interest. Between the economic stimulus bill and Repurchase loans, more than $13 trillion has been pumped into the financial markets since September 2019…and counting. Meanwhile, help for small businesses from the stimulus bill was initially only $379 billion, an amount already depleted. Banking corporations and banksters still “own the place,” and that includes elected officials of both political parties.] 

2021 – “WEBINAR WITH MICHAEL HUDSON: A 4000-YEAR PERSPECTIVE ON ECONOMY, MONEY AND DEBT” ONLINE POSTING

“The Bible talks about jubilee years that recurred at certain intervals when all debts were written off. This was to correct imbalances that arise in economies over time. When economics professor Hudson in 1994 published his research that biblical debt relief dates back two thousand years to the Babylonian and Sumerian traditions, it was very controversial. Today it is recognized by Assyriologists, but among most economic thinkers the idea is taboo.

“Why was debt write-off a matter of course several thousand years ago, but not today? Hudson’s research shows that, as he writes, ‘Debts that can’t be paid, won’t be paid.’ How then will it be resolved? Do you want to know more? Watch this webinar.”

April 14 – 20

APRIL 14

1948 – RETIREMENT OF MARRINER S. ECCLES AS CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE US FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD

“That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn’t be any money.”

2018 – WORKSHOP, “’WHAT’S MONEY GOT TO DO WITH IT?’ WOMEN AND MONETARY REFORM” AT 3^RD ANNUAL 4W SUMMIT ON WOMEN, GENDER AND WELL-BEING AND 41ST WISCONSIN WOMEN AND GENDER STUDIES CONFERENCE, MADISON, WI

“As Earthlings and females, we understand the need to protect habitat and future generations. But doing so requires monetary and economic stability for caregivers, their families and communities. Unfortunately, due to a flaw in how legislators institutionalized it 105 years ago, our money system systematically and increasingly impoverishes most living creatures to serve the interests of the very few. Ironically, habitat collapse and economic instability caused by our monetary system imperil rich and poor alike. It is crucial to understand this flaw and how our money system currently works, who benefits from and who pays for it, and how we can correct it. This interactive session with friends of the American Monetary Institute (AMI) will help participants to explore these issues and how to become part of a growing national and international movement for sovereign money reform. We will tell you about a suite of three concrete monetary correctives that together will create a level playing field from which we can eliminate poverty, end debt slavery, and sustainably rebuild our earthly commons for a thriving future.”

Facilitators/speakers were Susan Peters, Lucille Eckrich, Mary Sanderson and Bo-Young Lim – all affiliated with the American Monetary Institute 

2019 – “JESUS & THE MONEY SYSTEM – A PALM SUNDAY REFLECTION” BY REV. DELMAN COATES ARTICLE PUBLISHED

“Debt-based money and not simply the need for more financial regulations create the conditions for the moral hazard and speculative activity of Wall Street. Their power over the money supply, and the power to create what is used as money out of nothing give them almost divine power to control society…

“Dr. King said, “If a soul lives in darkness sins will be committed. But the guilty one is not the one who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” The nation’s debt-based money system is the cause of the darkness, and it is not until we have the prophetic courage to envision an alternative world that we will create a monetary system that benefits the many rather than the few. It has been done before. It will take knowledge and courage to do it again, but we must be willing to be like Jesus and overturn the tables of today’s moneychangers.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jesus-the-money-system-a-palm-sunday-reflection_us_58e2a7eae4b09deecf0e18f1 

2020 – “THE PEOPLE WANT THEIR MONEY BACK, PART 1: WHY A NATIONAL MONETARY COMMISSION?” posted article by Joe Bongiovanni

“Over the years, many have questioned the necessity of establishing a Congressionally-mandated ‘Commission’ to inquire into the national money system with the goal of achieving what is essentially a revolution in how our money system works – a change from private issue and gain to public purpose and benefit.

“For over 100 years, monetary reformers have called for fundamental change from a private (corporate), temporary, debt-based money system which privileges the banking and financial class to a public, democratic, permanent, equity-based system of money that serves the needs of the people who create the real national wealth. Such a reformed system would then be capable of fulfilling what Dr. Frederick Soddy (Nobelist and Father of the ecological economics movement and its supporting science) termed The Role of Money, namely to distribute the increasing national wealth among our wealth creators instead of the already wealthy. Only the Congress, and the law, can make these changes happen. Only a national monetary commission can give Congress the task and duty to bring that about. Only Congress can establish this National Monetary Commission (NMC).”

The People Want Their Money Back, Part 1: WHY a National Monetary Commission?

2020 – “THE PEOPLE WANT THEIR MONEY BACK, PART 2: SHIFTING THE TIDE OF OUR MONETARY UNDERSTANDING – A RESOLVE” posted article by Joe Bongiovanni

“At the very start of the discussion about AFJM Resolution One, On the Establishment of a National Commission of Inquiry into the Monetary System of the United States of America, there were key questions: (1) Why call for a “National Monetary Commission” (NMC), and (2) Why adopt a “Resolution.” That first question stands answered in Part 1 of this article.

“But the answer to both should be familiar to us all: the purpose is to overcome our national monetary ignorance. It is especially important to inform and to empower those whose consent is needed in order to do something about our monetary system. We hereby Resolve to do just that…

“This initial public-money powered benefit is a benchmark of how our money MUST and will fulfill its true role in a modern monetary economy: the role of distributing national wealth created by the 99 Percent – as best we can and as much as possible – to that same 99 percent of Americans. Under the current system, where the 1% have a legal (though illegitimate) leash on the operations of our money system, our national wealth concentrates in the hands of that One Percent…

“But FIRST, we’ll NEED a BRIDGE:

“From Our Collective Money Ignorance to Its Understanding.

“Please read the Alliance’s Resolution. Please understand it. Please question it in any way you care through our Blog. Please sign our Petition  for advancing the Resolution’s key purpose – achieving a Congressionally-authorized National Monetary Commission. Please join us in this critical effort in any way you can to make the revolutionary change that is needed. We need to move from private to Public money. We need to so this NOW. Because it’s OUR money system, our common good.

The People Want Their Money Back, Part 2: Shifting the Tide of Our Monetary Understanding – A Resolve

APRIL 15

1865 – ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Under Lincoln’s administration, the US Government issued 450 million “Greenbacks” – interest and inflation free money. They weren’t government bill, bonds or any other debt-bearing note. This was money not borrowed from banks, but created (as authorized in the US Constitution, Article 1, Sec 8) 

by the government to meet the nation’s needs.

2020 – “THE PANDEMIC AND THE ECONOMY: A STATEMENT OF THE AFJM BOARD OF DIRECTORS” POSTED ONLINE

“The government is about to spend a lot of money. Why should the government have to borrow it when the Constitution gives Congress the authority to create money? Why should we as taxpayers have to pay interest on that money as it is created by the banking system? The government creates the demand for money; it doesn’t currently create money, itself. But with appropriate legislation it could. That legislation has been written and was introduced into Congress in 2011 as H.R. 2990. It should be reintroduced and given serious consideration. It would set up the machinery within the government to create money and spend it into circulation for the public good. It would also end creation of money by the private sector. It lays out how we can transition from the bank money-as-debt system we have now to the Just Money system we need—money as a public asset lubricating the exchange of goods and services we produce…

“Under the pressure of the moment imposed by the pandemic, while we deal local issues as best we can, let us not fail to keep up our efforts toward fundamental reform of the money system that will serve all of society. Let us use this enormous disruption as stimulus to build a just and prosperous society for all. For this purpose, the Alliance has recently launched a campaign around an adopted Resolution calling for a National Monetary Commission to look into the current dysfunctional system and consider possible alternatives like a sovereign monetary system as we discussed above. The Alliance has also initiated a Petition asking Congress to create the proposed National Monetary Commission.  Read the Resolution and sign the Petition. Use the resources of the Alliance For Just Money and How We Pay for a Better World to keep telling our neighbors, friends, relatives, colleagues, media, and elected representatives at all levels that now is our time to make a real difference and to make the world safe for our children and theirs.”

The Pandemic and the Economy: A Statement of the AFJM Board of Directors, April 15, 2020

2024 — TAX DAY 

Why are taxes so high? Why does it feel like we aren’t getting back in programs and services what we put in? Part of the reason has to do with the hundreds of billions of dollars we spend every year paying interest on the national debt. That interest goes disproportionately to the very wealthy. And that interest would not exist if instead of borrowing that money (including from banking corporations), we created interest-free and inflation-free money as stipulated by Congress in Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution. Why be enslaved by debt when we could be liberated by democratic money? 

APRIL 16

1804 – DEATH OF WILLIAM MACLAY, SENATOR OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE 18TH CENTURY

“Bank bills are promissory notes, and, of course, not money. I see no objection in this quarter.”

1915 – DEATH OF NELSON ALDRICH, LEADER OF REPUBLICAN PARTY IN THE US SENATE

Aldrich was a key proponent of the Aldrich-Vreeland Act, a bill creating a National Monetary Commission in 1908, which studied the problem of monetary instability following the financial Panic of 1907. The Commission played a pivotal role in calling for “reform” of the US monetary system. The Act also established the “Aldrich-Vreeland system” which through the Comptroller of the Currency authorized some banks to issue new money. This helped the US deal with the financial crisis associated with WWI. The expanded money power of the government, however, was meant to be short-lived. The final volume of the Commission’s report called for a privately owned central bank, the “National Reserve Association,” in which “[c]ontrol was to be exercised completely by private bankers.” Passage of this Act was a stepping-stone to passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913. 

2019 – “MOMMY, WHERE DOES MONEY COME FROM” VIDEO POSTED

“In this episode of Mafiacracy Now we see in irrefutably cold detail how the criminal banking cartel maintains not only control of, but sovereign status within, the U.S.

“Everything else is piss, dodge, sham and weave.

“The book of Leviticus will end up looking like a fantasy vacation before these inbred psychopaths are finished with our husks.

“The launchpad for this springtime message of hope is a scientific paper in the field of… gasp… economics! No. Seriously. Not some stealth advocacy team slinging equations from tensor calculus and diff-EQ like the coked-out snake oil salesmen who define that sad “profession.” But a real paper about an actual experiment. Behold: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521914001070

“You won’t see this one in your econ textbook, that’s for damn sure.”

2020 – “‘DIGITAL DOLLAR’ REINTRODUCED BY US LAWMAKERS IN LATEST STIMULUS BILL”

“The concept of a digital dollar that can be used to provide U.S. taxpayers with stimulus payments to weather the economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has once again been floated by lawmakers.

“Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) introduced a new proposal to have the federal government issue $2,000 per month to residents by minting a pair of $1 trillion coins and using these to back the payments. The Automatic BOOST to Communities Act (ABC Act) also brings back the idea of a digital dollar, describing the concept using similar language to a series of bills introduced last month.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/digital-dollar-reintroduced-us-lawmakers-165056167.html

APRIL 17

1790 – DEATH OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Franklin printed the paper money for several of the American colonies, most of which developed their own currency – separate from British money. This was an important revolutionary step toward independence, as well as essential to conduct economic transactions in the colonies since British money was in short supply. 

“In the colonies we issue our own money. It is called Colonial Scrip. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of trade and industry to make the products pass easily from the producers to the consumers. In this manner, creating for ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power, and we have no interest to pay to no one.”

[Note: This from Geri Perry, author of “Climate Change, Land Use and Monetary Policy: The New Trifecta”: Franklin made his statement without acknowledging the fact the the British government returned to the colonies their right to coin money in 1773 via an “Act to explain and amend” the 1764 measure. The amendment said that the colonies would henceforth be able to issue money “for the publick Advantage” which could be made “a legal Tender to the publick Treasuries” in payment of taxes and other dues. That is why this complaint was left out of the long list of complaints contained in the Declaration of Independence.]

1837 – BIRTH OF JP MORGAN, US FINANCIER AND BANKER

John Pierpont Morgan dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. His empire consisted of banks but also hundreds of other corporations via interlocking corporate directors and financial investments. The “House of Morgan” was also one of the key players in organizing politically and backing financially the campaign to pass the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, creating the largely private Federal Reserve System. 

APRIL 18

2020 – “COVID-19, CAPITALISM, NEOLIBERAL DEBT & THE NEED FOR SOVEREIGN MONEY” ARTICLE REPRINTED BY TIM DEMUZIO

“As COVID-19 spreads around the world threatening the ‘normal’ operations of global capitalism, governments on the centre, left and right have been issuing large stimulus packages in efforts to stabilise the financial haemorrhaging as businesses shut and unemployment soars. This crisis is made

worse by the mountains of corporate and consumer debt that have accumulated over time to keep businesses turning over and households afloat…

“In our present crisis, I would argue that those of us who want to see a better world for our families and future generations should consult the most progressive idea ‘lying around’: sovereign money – an idea it should be said, that was never broached by Keynesians or free marketeers. Though the technicalities regarding how to achieve this project, as well as the institutional and accounting arrangements for establishing such a system can be debated, in general sovereign money is the idea that democratic governments should be in control of new money creation and that new money should be issued as a public credit or dividend based on the productivity of the economy. Outside of the environmental emergency and the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest challenges of today are the dearth of public money, the creation of private money as debt, and the need to bring forth an economic system that works in the interests of all, not just the 1% and their obsession with their differential rates of return.”

Covid-19 Capitalism, Neoliberal Debt & the Need for Sovereign Money

2023 – VIDEO: “REGENERATIVE CURRENCIES AND POSITIVE CHANGE WITH ALEX BERNAT”

“This was an interactive presentation and open discussion exploring how we can leverage alternative currencies as tools for the common good. This presentation explored the possibility of changing some fundamental properties of our currencies as a way to halt inflation, to fund the complete and equitable elimination of poverty, and to prioritize the well-being of our planet.

“This presentation introduced ‘Regenerative Currency Systems’, an open-source, free, and modifiable framework for using electronic currencies as community-governed tools for funding the protection of people and the planet, discussing this approach as it relates with existing monetary reform work. These scalable systemic platforms are intended to facilitate universal basic access to all components of basic well-being without cost, without inflation, and without requiring any participation from non-interested groups.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqSSqT-gjV8

APRIL 19

2014 – STATEMENT OF ANDREI KOSTIN, PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE POWERFUL RUSSIAN VTB BANK

“It is time to change the entire international financial system that considers the dollar the key reserve currency…The world has changed. [China’s] Yuan and [the Russian] Ruble have to take their place in international transactions.”

APRIL 20

1868 – BIRTH OF JOHN HYLAN, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY, 1918-1925

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

1999 – POSTED PAPER: THE ‘CHICAGO PLAN’ AND NEW DEAL BANKING REFORM

“During the 1930s, there were numerous proposals put forth to modify the financial system. The ‘Chicago Plan,’ submitted in 1933 by economists at the University of Chicago, recommended abolition of the fractional reserve system and imposition of 100% reserves on demand deposits. Despite the radical nature of this proposal, Phillips argues that it played an important, and hitherto neglected, role in the banking legislation passed during the New Deal. The paper addresses the question of whether our present financial problems might have been avoided had the – “Chicago Plan” been fully implemented during the New Deal. 

“Phillips provides a historical analysis of banking reform during that era, and explores the reasons why the Chicago Plan was not adopted. On the surface, it appears to have been defeated as a matter of pure political expediency. The Banking Act of 1935, by institutionalizing Federal deposit insurance and the separation of commercial and investment banking, successfully restored the public’s confidence in the banking system. Moreover, Roosevelt was satisfied since the act permitted enhanced control over monetary policy by a reconstituted Federal Reserve. 

“The Chicago Plan ultimately succumbed to alternative (and less stringent) measures embodied in the Banking Act of 1935, but its principles (e.g. restricting bank assets and limiting taxpayers’ liability from Federal deposit insurance) have reemerged in the contemporary debate over banking reform in this country: after all, there has been a rejuvenation of the 100% reserve plan via “narrow banking” or “core banking” proposals. Though the early New Deal legislation must be considered a success since it remained relatively unchanged for almost fifty years, a formidable challenge is posed in devising a financial system that will last well into the twenty-first century. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=160989  

[Note: It’s time to revisit these questions again: Who should have the power and authority to create money? For what purposes(s)? Should banks be able to issue loans without adequate reserves?]

2010 – PUBLISHED ARTICLE, “BANKING REFORM SELLS BETTER WHEN ‘WALL STREET’ IS MENTIONED”

“Americans are about evenly divided on the merits of giving the federal government new powers to regulate large banks and major financial institutions; however, they offer greater support when the issue is more specifically framed as regulating “Wall Street banks.” http://www.gallup.com/poll/127448/banking-reform-sells-better-wall-street-mentioned.aspx 

March 24 – 30

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 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

2022 – “REIMAGINING POLITICAL ECONOMY” ARTICLE BY JOHN MICHAEL GREER

“Thus a social credit society permits free enterprise in every field except finance, and is wholly compatible with democratic systems of governance…

“Cooperativism…As the name suggests, this is a system in which cooperatives—voluntary associations of individuals—own and control the means of production and distribution. There are two broad categories of cooperatives in a fully developed cooperativist system, worker cooperatives and consumer cooperatives, and they deserve separate discussion…

“Distributism….The distributist idea is that the best way to get the means of production into the hands of the working class is to distribute the means of production so that each worker owns the means he or she uses to produce goods and services…

“Social Credit…Money is recognized as a system of tokens rather than a commodity, and is issued directly by the government rather than by issuing bonds. (Do we really want to have the government paying rich people for the privilege of issuing its own currency?  That’s what today’s system of money creation via debt amounts to.)…Thus a social credit society permits free enterprise in every field except finance, and is wholly compatible with democratic systems of governance.”

Reimagining Political Economy

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 of 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 reserve 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 tha private banks have nowhere near enough central bank cash to convert ALL the “promises to pay” into cash…

“But that system has collapsed regularly 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

2022 – WHY DO WE NEED CBDC’S [CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES]? WITH DR RONNIE PHILLIPS, VIDEO

“Ronnie Phillips will focus on the varying viewpoints on why we need Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The discussion will begin with President Biden’s recent Executive Order on ensuring responsible development of digital assets. Ronnie’s starting point will be through Henry Simons’ “financial good society” and how CBDCs fit in this framework.”

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 money 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 17 – 23

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.

2024 – 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 the 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.]

2014 – “THE TRUTH IS OUT: MONEY IS JUST AN IOU, AND THE BANKS ARE ROLLING IN IT,” BY DAVID GRAEBER

“The Bank of England’s dose of honesty throws the theoretical basis for austerity out the window

“In other words, everything we know is not just wrong – it’s backwards. When banks make loans, they create money. This is because money is really just an IOU. The role of the central bank is to preside over a legal order that effectively grants banks the exclusive right to create IOUs of a certain kind, ones that the government will recognise as legal tender by its willingness to accept them in payment of taxes. There’s really no limit on how much banks could create, provided they can find someone willing to borrow it.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/18/truth-money-iou-bank-of-england-austerity?fbclid=IwAR1OvFwYPQuJg3DBxnWftYpfmipt6FZW7m8KYKZmsD7h_KAcAtFEYEPsnbA

2019 – “TURNS OUT THAT TRILLION-DOLLAR BAILOUT WAS, IN FACT, REAL” BY MATT TAIBBI

“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

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 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 with the 9/11 attacks in the US or possession or imminent use of “weapons of mass destruction” – all of which were 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.”

He makes the same statements here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O133ppiVnWY

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.”

2023 – “RUSSIA SUPPORTS YUAN PAYMENTS IN TRADE WITH OTHER COUNTRIES – PUTIN” POSTED ARTICLE

“‘We support the use of Chinese yuan in payments between Russia and countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America,’ the head of state said. The Russian leader also expressed confidence that such ‘forms of payments will be developed between Russian partners and their colleagues in third countries.'”

https://tass.com/economy/1592277

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)

2014 – “FEDERAL RESERVE 100 YEARS OF MONEY FOR NOTHING” VIDEO

[NOTE:Long but very informative]

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 10 – 16

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 withdrawal 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.

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.

2014 – “MONEY CREATION IN THE MODERN ECONOMY” Bank of England, Quarterly Bulletin, 2014, Q1

“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.”

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy

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.”

2023 – “THE NEXT FINANCIAL CRISIS IS AROUND THE CORNER?” ONLINE ARTICLE BY GOVERT SCHULLER

“We know that the current monetary system is crisis-prone. We know that during the last big crisis in 2008 we skirted a total freeze-up and a possible break-down of the international banking system. We know that Wall Street was bailed-out and Main Street left to fend for itself. We know the system received some band-aids and was not re-set on a sound footing. And now we see another series of big booms and possible big busts, starting with the implosion of crypto-giant FTX in November 2022 and recently the bankruptcy of SVB…

“In the six years after the 2008/9 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) the monetary reform movement has attained far-reaching results in promoting breakthrough monetary theories, especially the credit creation theory of money and banking, and in proposing reform policies based on empirical findings and computer models…

“Our ideas are still spreading and are picked up in many countries to the extent that monetary reform organizations have been started. Even so, main stream economists, politicians and policy think tanks are resisting our findings or stay blissfully ignorant of them. Hopefully this half-panic around SVB’s downfall will create questions about the current crisis-prone, unsustainable monetary system and awaken the vision that a more stable, more equitable and less indebted system is possible.”

The Next Financial Crisis is around the Corner?

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 3 – 9

MARCH 3

1863 – LEGAL TENDER ACT PASSED

Congress authorizes the Government to print no more than $150,000 million Greenbacks to pay for the Civil War. This was interest-free and debt-free money. The Lincoln Administration did not want to borrow money from corporate banks to pay for the war.

1865 — INCORPORATION OF FREEDMEN’S SAVING AND TRUST COMPANY

The bank’s purpose was to serve “persons heretofore held in slavery in the United States, or their descendants.”

The bank operated 37 branches in seventeen states and the District of Columbia. It was one of the first multi-state banks in the nation with nearly all the local branches eventually run by African Americans. The bank held $3.6 million in deposits by 1874 of individual, black churches and beneficial societies.

But the bank was forced to close.

“By 1874, massive fraud among upper management and among the board of directors had taken its toll on the bank.  Moreover, economic instability brought upon by the Panic of 1873 coupled with the bank’s rapid expansion proved disastrous.  Hoping to revive the bank, Frederick Douglass, who was elected president in 1874, donated tens of thousands of dollars of his own money to shore up the declining institution.”

“Although Douglass pleaded for Congress to intervene, on June 29, 1874, the bank was officially closed. At the date of closing $2,993,790.68 was due to 61,144 depositors.  Mistakenly believing that the deposits were insured by the federal government, the bank’s collapse left many African Americans cynical about the banking industry.”

Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Company (1865-1874)

1884 – JUILLIARD V. GREENMAN (110 U.S. 421) SUPREME COURT DECISION

US Supreme Court ruling upholding the legality of US Government issued money (Greenbacks) created following the Legal Tender Acts of 1862 and 1863. The Court ruled that the government possessed the authority under the Constitution to issue a national currency and that that currency could be used to pay debts.

2003 – WARREN BUFFET, SECOND RICHEST PERSON ON EARTH, IN HIS ANNUAL LETTER TO BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY SHAREHOLDERS

“Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction.”

MARCH 4

1789 – US GOVERNMENT UNDER NEW CONSTITUTION BEGINS OPERATION

The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation as the overarching legal document of the nation. The new Constitution provides the federal legislature the sole power “[t]o coin money [and] regulate the value thereof.” (Article 1, Sec 8). The Government subsequently abdicated its responsibility when it gave the Federal Reserve and private banks the power to create money literally out of thin air…as debt.

1837 – FAREWELL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON

Jackson was most responsible for not renewing the charter of the misnamed Second Bank of the United States, a private institution. In his farewell address when leaving office (Presidents used to be sworn in during the beginning of March for decades, now it’s mid January), he stated, “The immense capital and peculiar privileges bestowed upon it [(Second National Bank of the United States] enabled it to exercise despotic sway over the other banks in every part of the country. From its superior strength it could seriously injure, if not destroy, the business of any one of them that might incur its resentment; and it openly claimed for itself the power of regulating the currency throughout the United States. In other words, it asserted (and it undoubtedly possessed) the power to make money plenty or scarce at its pleasure, at any time and in any quarter of the Union, by controlling the issues of other banks and permitting an expansion or compelling a federal contraction of the circulating medium, according to its own will.” This is something to keep in mind during this period when Democrats at the local level hold their “Jackson” or “Jefferson-Jackson” annual events. 

2020 – “L. SWARTZ, STARBUCKS, LIBRA AND THE BORING FUTURE OF MONEY” ARTICLE POSTED

“In 2010, the satirical newspaper the Onion ran a story with the headline, ‘U.S. Economy Grinds to Halt as Nation Realizes Money Just a Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion.’ In the joke news report, people all over the country stop in their tracks as they reconsider ‘little green drawings of buildings and dead white men they once used to measure their adequacy and importance as human beings.’ Although the article was humorous, it reflected larger cultural and technical changes that emerged in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis. As the general public learned about such arcane financial instruments as credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations, money itself had become strange. And it remains that way. In the context of this chaos and creativity, some people saw an opportunity to create new kinds of money, to forge new transactional communities. During the next few years, a dizzying array of new money forms were produced—from computational “crypto” currencies like Bitcoin to trust-based community currencies…

“If national currency represents liberal democracy, and Bitcoin represents some combination of techno-libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism, then Libra represents Silicon Valley feudalism. Libra is complete with its own round table: its infrastructure and monetary policy is controlled by the Libra Association. This is not a “peer-to-peer” technology; rather, it bestows a peerage.”

L. Swartz, Starbucks, Libra, and the Boring Future of Money

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 demonetizing 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 it 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 times 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 different backgrounds.”

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

2021 – BRIEF OF THIRTY-THREE BANKING LAW SCHOLARS ARGUED BEFORE THE U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

“Banking often involves lending, but mere lending does not constitute banking. When a bank makes a loan, it posts a credit in the amount of the loan to the borrower’s deposit account. It need not have any cash on hand. By contrast, before a nonbank lender can lend, it must procure cash or its equivalent. Thus, while nonbank lenders ‘deal’ in money, ‘banks do not merely deal in but are actually a source of money.’ This is a basic principle of economics. Bank deposits constitute

the bulk of our nation’s money supply, and it is for this reason that banks are subject to strict federal oversight.

Click to access 19-4271-Amicus-Brief-of-Banking-Law-Scholars.pdf

2023 – “MEET THE BANKER LADIES,” VIDEO

This zoom is open to the public and features solutions to issues of ‘banking while Black’ or racism in denying loans to people of color.

These women are creating their own banking cooperatives.

Learn how it works and celebrate their caring solidarity economy activism.

Following International Women’s Day, take an optimistic look at feminist economic solutions that are being created by those most affected by financial insecurity and predatory lending.

Guest speaker Dr. Caroline Shenaz Hossein PhD, Associate Professor of Global Development and Political Science at the University of Toronto Scarborough offers her unique understanding of how immigrant women and women in developing countries create their own alternative banking solutions and, in doing so, focus on mutual aid and support, rather than extracting interest and profiteering

WILPF.

February 18 – 24

FEBRUARY 18

1546 – DEATH OF MARTIN LUTHER, MONK, PRIEST, KEY FIGURE IN PROTESTANT REFORMATION

Luther condemned anyone who charged usury (interest): “A thief, robber and murderer. Money is an unfruitful commodity which I cannot sell in such a way as to entitle me to a profit.”

2019 – PUBLICATION OF AN OPEN LETTER TO ECONOMIC PROFESSORS AT MAASTRICHT UNIVERSITY (THE NETHERLANDS) BY PLURALISM IN ECONOMICS (“PINE”)

“RE: Evidence suggests that UM’s teaching on how banks work is flawed – and why this matters a lot!…

 “We are a student-driven initiative at Maastricht University that is eager to improve the economics curriculum. With this open letter, we want to raise your awareness that what is currently taught in economics at UM on how banks work and how money is created is contrary to existing evidence and does not fit with the high-quality education that UM offers. Professors and textbooks at UM teach the mainstream but faulty view of “loanable funds” and ‘money multiplier’, even though central banks and commercial banks openly admit that those concepts are misleading…

“How banks actually work

“Banks individually create money (liquidity) out of nothing by granting a loan. By granting a loan the individual bank extends its balance sheet by creating simultaneously a loan (asset) and a deposit (liability). If a loan contract is fulfilled and paid back, money is destroyed and drained from the monetary circuit. The money creation is neither constrained by savings nor by reserves, but rather by demand for loans as well as by profitability and solvency considerations. What is scarce, is not money nor deposits, but good borrowers.” https://pine-maastricht.nl/pine-open-letter

FEBRUARY 19

1473 – BIRTH OF NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, MATHEMATICIAN AND ASTRONOMER

“Although there are countless maladies that are forever causing the decline of kingdoms, princedoms, and republics, the following four (in my judgment) are the most serious: civil discord, a high death rate, sterility of the soil, and the debasement of coinage.

The first three are so obvious that everybody recognizes the damage they cause; but the fourth one, which has to do with money, is noticed by only a few very thoughtful people, since it does not operate all at once and at a single blow, but gradually overthrows governments, and in a hidden, insidious way.”

[NOTE: Debasement means lowering the value of. What lowers the value of our currency? How about creating it out thin air like the Federal Reserve via Quantitative Easing (QE) has done to prop up major banks or by banks when they create money as debt when they issue loans?]

1869 — CONGRESS PASSES BILL PROHIBITING USING UNITED STATES NOTES AS SECURITY OR COLLATERAL IN ANY LOAN MADE THROUGH A NATIONAL BANKING ASSOCIATION

“That no national banking association shall hereafter offer or receive United States notes or national bank notes as security or as collateral security for any loan of money…and any national banking association offending against the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof in any United States court having jurisdiction shall be punished by a fine…” Approved February 19 1869

This was one of many attacks by bankers on the Greenbacks — public money issued by the Lincoln Administration. Public control of the money system meant banks couldn’t control it. Banking corporations wanted, as they had done prior to and after Greenbacks, to print money out of thin air and then charge interest on top of it (otherwise known as “debt money”). Banks pressured Congress in a variety of ways to delegitimize Greenbacks. This law was one such way.

2013 – “HOW TO FIX BANKING” VIDEO POSTED

“Why our monetary system is broken and how it can be fixed?

“’The financial crisis occurred because we failed to constrain the private financial system’s creation of private credit and money.’” Adair Turner, Chairman of the Financial Services Authority

“Positive Money Founder, Ben Dyson, presenting at the 3rd annual Positive Money Conference “’Modernising Money’…He explains the main principles behind the monetary reform proposals which offer one of the few hopes of escaping from our current dysfunctional monetary system.”

2019 – “MONEY CREATION: HOW DOES IT WORK,” posted on BNP Paribas  commercial bank website

“Commercial banks create money by using book entries. Take the example of an individual, Mister X, who takes out a consumer loan. When issuing the loan, the bank credits Mister X’s checking account (demand deposits) in the amount M corresponding to the loan, which increases the ‘customer deposits’ in its liabilities, and therefore the money supply”

https://www.levernews.com/the-big-money-battle-over-cryptos-public-option

2024 – PRESIDENT’S DAY NATIONAL HOLIDAY IN THE US

In commemoration of today, here’s what a few Oval Office occupants said about money and banking:

• John Adams: “All of the perplexities, confusion, and distress in America arises, not from the deflects of the Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation.”
• Thomas Jefferson: “The bank mania is one of the most threatening of these imitations. It is rising up moneyed aristocracy in our country, which has already set the government at defiance, and although forced at length to yield a little on this first essay of their strength, their principles are unyielded and unyielding. They have taken deep root in the hearts of that class from which our legislators are drawn…”
• Andrew Jackson: “If Congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given to be used by themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations.”

FEBRUARY 20

1811 – CHARTER OF FIRST BANK OF UNITED STATES NOT RENEWED

The federal government issued a 20-year charter in 1791 to create the first national private bank. This was unusual since at the time most corporate charters, or licenses, were issued by states. The Bank was the first private institution empowered by the U.S. federal government to create paper money — with all the power and profit that goes along with it. The bank’s paper money was accepted for taxes. Eighty percent of its shares were privately owned – among these 75% were foreign owned (mostly by the English and Dutch). Originally the government owned 5,000 shares; 2,780 of these were sold in the first two years; the final 2,220 were sold (by the Treasury) in 1803 to Baring & Brothers. The bank was modeled on the Bank of England. Within two months of its creation, it flooded the market with loans and banknotes and then sharply shifted course and called in many of its loans. The result was the first US securities market crash — what became known as the “Panic of 1792” – the first of many panics, recessions and depressions due to the private/corporate control of our money system. On January 24, 1811, the U.S. House voting to not renew the bank’s charter. The U.S. Senate did the same on February 20.

During the first 50 years of the US, legislatures and courts routinely chose not to renew or revoke corporate charters, which were considered democratic instruments and used to control the actions of corporations.

1842 – BIRTH OF GEORG FRIEDRICH KNAPP, AUTHOR OF THE “STATE THEORY OF MONEY”

“Money is a creature of the Law…” (page 1)

“The most important achievement of economic civilizations, the cartelism (using tokens for money) of the means of payment.” (page 92)

1878 – REIGN OF POPE LEO XIII BEGINS

“On the one hand there is the party which holds the power because it holds the wealth, which has in its grasp all labor and all trade, which manipulates for its own benefit and its own purposes all the sources of supply, and which is powerfully represented in the councils of State itself.  On the other side there is the needy and powerless multitude, sore and suffering. Rapacious usury, which, although more than once condemned by the Church, is nevertheless under a different form but with the same guilt, still practiced by avaricious and grasping men…so that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the masses of the poor a yoke little better than slavery itself.” — Pope Leo XIII statement on usury.

2020 – PUBLICATION OF BOOK, “FAREWELL TO BANKS” BY FORMER GOVERNOR OF THE BANK OF SPAIN

“On February 20, the book Adios a los Bancos (Farewell to Banks) by the former governor of the Bank of Spain Miguel Ordoñez will be in bookstores. The book contains a set of reflections on the advantages of using as money what we now call Central Bank Digital Cash (CBDC, i.e. deposits in the Central Banks) instead of using fragile deposits in private banks…

“Last summer, when I delivered the manuscript to the editor, nobody could still foresee the CBDC media revolution that was going to unfold throughout the world. But Facebook’s announcement to create Libra, a private digital currency, has forced most Central Banks to study, experiment and even approve the issuance of public digital money (CBDC) in its various modalities. As D. Marcus has said, ‘we don’t know how it will end, but I’m sure the system will be different from what it is now.’ The extraordinary atmosphere of expectation that has been created on the possibilities of public money and the reform of Money and Banking is very positive.”

Book on Monetary Reform by Former Governor of the Bank of Spain

FEBRUARY 21

2013 – RELEASE OF NEW VIDEO ON MONETARY REFORM IN CANADA

Monetary Reform – a simple solution to some major problems affecting everyone in society. In this short interview, William Abram explains how money is created and some solutions that will benefit everyone. http://www.positivemoney.org/2013/02/new-monetary-reform-video-from-canada/

FEBRUARY 22

1732 — BIRTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Washington’s image is on the $1 bill, which has lost over 90% of its value since 1900. It’s estimated that $100 in 2012 equals the purchasing power of $3.48 in 1900. That’s a 96.4% decline. Inflation due to money printing for spending on unproductive purposes has been the major cause. The private Federal Reserve System has been the US central bank during for most of this period (since 1913).

1878 – FOUNDING OF GREENBACK-LABOR PARTY

The National (Greenback-Labor) Party was formed at a convention in Toledo, Ohio. Their platform declared that reform of the monetary system was necessary in order to “secure to the producers of wealth the results of their labor and skill, and muster out of service the vast army of idlers who, under the existing system, grow rich upon the earnings of others, that every man and woman may, by their own efforts, secure a competence, so that overgrown fortunes and extreme poverty will seldom be found within the limits of our Republic.”

2013 – ‘WHY DOESN’T THE MEDIA UNDERSTAND MONEY?” video posting

Patrick Chalmers, former Reuters journalist and the author of “Fraudcast News: How Bad Journalism Supports our Bogus Democracies”, presentation

“’Why didn’t I get money?’ Answer: ‘I didn’t have to! But I didn’t know I could get it, no-one was asking me to get it, and my day-to-day job was trying to find out what a derivative was and how it related to gold.’ And then he listed some further reasons why the journalists and the media don’t understand money:…

2022 – THE BIG-MONEY BATTLE OVER CRYTO’S PUBLIC OPTION” posted article

“Momentum is building for a central bank digital currency, a kind of public option for cryptocurrencies, which advocates claim would be more stable and viable than highly volatile and speculative cryptocurrencies, and that wouldn’t require energy-intensive proof-of-work systems that can have larger carbon footprints than entire countries.

“But now a Goldman Sachs-backed cryptocurrency startup, Circle, is framing such a central bank digital currency as a threat to financial privacy. At the same time, the tech firm is spending big on ads promoting its own digital alternative: a so-called “stablecoin” that it claims will provide financial reliability in a turbulent market — even though experts warn such “stable” coins may not be as trustworthy as their name suggests.”

https://www.levernews.com/the-big-money-battle-over-cryptos-public-option

FEBRUARY 23

2023 – “MAKING MONEY WORK FOR THE COMMON GOOD”
“For over three centuries, banks have been consolidating their power by extracting interest from people, businesses, governments and the planet. This power helps to explain why politicians and governments bend to their will.

“Mainstream economists treat money as a neutral medium of exchange and never consider its origin and purpose. Is it meant to serve the people, or to serve the interests of the monied elite alone? Exploring that question helps explain why there’s always plenty of money for military research and development and none for protecting pollinators…and always enough to finance luxury condos instead of affordable dwellings.

“This webinar will examine how the bank credit system undermines our efforts to build peace and a sustainable environment every minute of every day and what we can do about it.

Virginia Hammon, author of How We Pay For A Better World and Lucille Eckrich, founding president and Board Member of Alliance for Just Money (www.MonetaryAlliance.org) , will be our presenters for this brave and necessary conversation hosted by WILPF’s National Women, Money & Democracy Committee. “

(https://tinyurl.com/FutureInOurPockets

FEBRUARY 24

1809 – BIRTH OF ELBRIDGE SPAULDING, US LAWYER, BANKER AND POLITICIAN 

“Why then should we go into Wall Street…begging for money? Their [private bank] money is not as secure as Government money…I am unwilling that this government should be left in the hands of any class of men, bankers or moneylenders, however respectable or patriotic they may be.

The Government is much stronger than any of them. All the gold they possess would not carry on the Government for ninety days. They issue promises to pay, which, if Congress does its duty, are not half as secure as United States Treasury notes based on adequate taxation upon all the property of the country.”

2021 – “SAVING THE FOREST, SAVING OUR LIVES” POSTED ARTICLE BY HOWARD SWITZER

“In the 1990s I was a member of groups called The Cumberland Greens and the Dogwood Alliance that at the time were both trying to save Tennessee’s forests from being clear-cut via protests, public rallies and lobbying the state legislature…

“I even wrote and sang two songs to educate people about the forest issue.

“However, we failed which taught me that power over public policy was critical, not only to save our world’s forests but to have any semblance of economic justice able to save life on the planet.

“History reveals what can be done to create a stable and just economy. Stephen included a proposal, based on history, science, and law, to return the sovereign monetary power to the government…

“[U]nless the monetary system was changed there was no way any of that legislation would ever be passed…

” The big decisions being made that propel this [forest] destructive profit-obsessed economy are made at the top financial level.

“I leave you with the lyrics to the two songs I wrote for the forests, Stumps Don’t Lie and The Forest Feeds Us.”

https://howardswitzer.medium.com/saving-the-forest-saving-our-lives-fab915b507bf

February 11 – 17

FEBRUARY 11                                                               

1847 – BIRTH OF THOMAS EDISON, US INVENTOR

“If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good… If the Government issues bonds, the brokers will sell them. The bonds will be negotiable; they will be considered as gilt edged paper. Why? Because the government is behind them, but who is behind the Government? The people. Therefore it is the people who constitute the basis of Government credit. Why then cannot the people have the benefit of their own gilt-edged credit by receiving non-interest bearing currency… instead of the bankers receiving the benefit of the people’s credit in interest-bearing bonds?”

2004 – RON PAUL, US CONGRESSMAN, SPEAKING TO THE HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE

He referred to the Federal Reserve by stating, “maybe there’s too much power in the hands of those who control monetary policy?  The power to create the financial bubbles.  The power to maybe bring the bubble about. The power to change the value of the stock market within minutes.  That to me is just an ominous power and challenges the whole concept of freedom and liberty and sound money.”

2020 – PSYCHOLOGIST EXPLAINS WHY ECONOMISTS  – AND LIBERALS – GET HUMAN NATURE WRONG” posted articleP

“That’s why a rebel economist challenging conventional thinking about subjects like human nature faces a heavy lift. Experts have to see a lot of evidence accumulating across many studies before they reach a point where they are finally forced to think differently. Scientific studies are even less helpful in persuading the general public.

“When I asked Haidt how the mavericks could help their cause, he noted that humans are social creatures more influenced by people than by ideas. So, it matters who says something as much as what they say. It also makes a difference how they say it: elephants don’t like to be insulted, and they lean towards arguments made by people they like and admire. Not very rational, perhaps, but likely true.”

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/psychologist-explains-why-economists-and-liberals-get-human-nature-wrong

FEBRUARY 12

1791 – BIRTH OF PETER COOPER, US INDUSTRIALIST, PHILANTHROPIST (FOUNDED COOPER UNION) AND GREENBACK CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT

“The substitution of greenbacks for National bank notes would have the bounty now paid to banks, which, being invested as a sinking fund, would in less than thirty years pay off the whole debt of the country.”

1809 – BIRTH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

“The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace, and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me, and the financial institutions in the rear. Of the two, the one in my rear is my greatest foe.” Source:  Letter to a friend on November 21, 1864

1873 – COINAGE ACT PASSED BY CONGRESS (THE “CRIME OF ‘73”)

The Coinage Act removed silver as a form of currency (“demonetized) – leaving gold as the major form of US currency. The public didn’t realize at first what happened. With silver no longer a form of money, the overall amount of currency dramatically declined, causing the prices farmers received for their produce to drop (deflation) but the cost of their debts rise. Thousand of famers lost their land. Those who held silver also suffered. This was one of the sparks of the rise of the farmer-led US Populist movement.

2021 – “MONEY CREATION IS A FORM OF VIOLENCE,” PUBLISHED ARTICLE

“The institutional level of violence is submerged from view so that its forms are almost completely invisible. Violence at this level includes harmful actions by social and financial institutions (the Federal Reserve system, large commercial banks) that obstruct the development of human potential through the use of discriminatory lending and other economic policies and practices. Violence at this level is not universally condemned because it is often subtle, indirect, covert, and involves long-term rather than immediate consequences.”

Money Creation is A Form of Violence

FEBRUARY 13

1728 – DEATH OF COTTON MATHER, AUTHOR, MINISTER AND CONVERT TO PAPER MONEY

“Where money has not been introduced, men are brutish and savage and nothing good has been cultivated.”

FEBRUARY 14

2021 – “THE TRANSFORMATIONAL APPROACH TO PAY FOR HUGE COVI-19 AND CLIMATE COST”S posted article

“There are three approaches of paying for the enormous costs to combat the coronavirus-19 pandemic and the looming climate catastrophe:

1. the traditional approach of raising taxes and borrowing,

2. the present approach of Central Bank funding, called quantitative easing (QE) or monetary financing and

3. the emerging transformational approach that moves from monetary financing to the sovereign approach of financing by the creation of money…

“Very few politicians are discussing about how both the national debt and the Fed’s negative balance sheet are going to be resolved. Here Approach #3 comes into view where money is created in the quantities and qualities that match the needs for dealing with the COVID-19 and climate emergencies. Given that the financial needs are so high, the national economy and the world economy are not in danger of leading to an inflationary spiral. Disciplined imagination will be the limit of spending in this sovereign money approach, not inflation dangers or bank runs.”

The Transformational Approach to Pay for Huge COVID-19 and Climate Costs

2022 – VALENTINE’S DAY – A DAY OF LOVE

In trying to find a link between love and something related to money and debt…

Bible, Romans 13:8 “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”

FEBRUARY 15

2007 – QUOTE BY BEN BERNANKE, CHAIR OF THE US FEDERAL RESERVE (THE PRIVATE CENTRAL BANK OF THE US), ON THE US ECONOMY

“Despite the ongoing adjustments in the housing sector, overall economic prospects for households remain good. Household finances appear generally solid, and delinquency rates on most types of consumer loans and residential mortgages remain low.”

Less than a year later, the economy collapses due to the reckless housing loans and speculation by the financial industry. So much for Federal Reserve chairs being, as many believe, great sages. Congress passes a $700 billion bailout bill. The nation was mired in a ‘Great Recession;’ for many an outright Depression. The economy has in some ways today still not recovered.

FEBRUARY 16

1922 – BIRTH OF MARGARET DEVRIES, IMF HISTORIAN

“The extreme volatility of capital flows in response to interest rate difference or anticipation of exchange rate changes was in large part responsible for undermining the international monetary order that existed until the late 1960’s.”

2018 – MAN MADE MONEY MONEY – STEFF KUYPERS online video posting

“Money is often said to the ‘root of all evil’ what if it could be ‘reconfigured’ to solve the worlds social problems by incentivizing it’s natural strengths?  Stef Kuypers has a history in IT, creative thinking, improvisation and business interventions. He self studied on economics, monetary systems, complexity theory, human behaviour and sociology through diving into online research articles on the subjects and engaging with progressive thinkers. He got interested in monetary systems after discovering that the biggest hurdle to solving our climate change problem is actually our monetary system and more importantly the behaviour it creates. This launched him on a path to create a system which could lead to more sustainable economical and social behaviour. The end result is the Circular Money Economic Ecosystem model. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

FEBRUARY 17

1950 – TESTIMONY OF JAMES PAUL WARBURG BEFORE US SENATE

Warburg, son of Paul Warburg, the “father of the Federal Reserve,” was a banker, advisor to FDR and member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Speaking before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, he stated: “We shall have world government, whether or not we like it. The question is only whether world government will be achieved by consent or by conquest.”

2015 – A NEW ERA FOR MONETARY POLICY – ADAIR TURNER online video posting

“Since the financial crisis of 2007/8 central banks have entered unchartered territory. Unconventional monetary policy tools such as Quantitative Easing and Funding for Lending have blurred the line between monetary and fiscal policy.

“This has opened an opportunity to question current models and conventional wisdom. For example, should central banks add financial stability to their remit?

“New insight has come both from people working inside the system as well as from people working on these issues from the outside. Lord Turner has been a leading voice in this enquiry examining both theoretical and practical policy considerations.

“One of the most pressing questions concerns democratic accountability. Fiscal authorities are directly democratically accountable to the public, but central banks are not. How can these important policy debates become more transparent and accountable, allowing civil society to participate in the crucial debate on how monetary policy can best serve the needs of society?

2023 – FACEBOOK POSTING OF MONEY JOKES LINK

Here’s one:

“Why is it a penny for your thoughts but you have to put your two cents in? Somebody’s making a penny.” — Steven Wright, comedian

More at https://www.rd.com/jokes/money/