MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR - December 26-31

DECEMBER 28

1856 – BIRTH OF WOODROW WILSON, 28TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
“A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men who, even if their action be honest and intended for the public interest, are necessarily concentrated upon the great undertakings in which their own money is involved and who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom.”

DECEMBER 31

1781 – BANK OF NORTH AMERICA ESTABLISHED
This was the nation’s first private commercial bank. The Articles of Confederation was the nation’s constitution at that time. Article 9 of the Articles gave Congress the power to “emit bills of credit” -- to create money. By a single vote, Congress voted to willingly transfer their authority to issue money to the The Bank of North America when it chartered the bank on December 31, 1781. Thus, the Bank served as a quasi national central bank. Why did Congress willingly give up their money power? The public argument was that the business of finance could not be ably conduced by a public body (Congress) — only by a small number of private financiers. The first head of the Bank was Robert Morris, the richest merchant in America. This same argument against public issuance of money is made today – a public body can’t be trusted to create and distribute our nation’s money supply. The result is the creation and distribution of our nation’s money supply by banking corporations.

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR - Special Christmas Eve edition

DECEMBER 24

1294 – PAPACY OF POPE BONIFACE VIII BEGINS
Benedetto Gaetani became Pope of the Catholic Church on Christmas Eve, 1294. He instituted the first Christian “Jubilee” in 1300. Jubilee has both Jewish and Christian roots. According to Wikipedia, “The concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. In the Biblical Book of Leviticus, a Jubilee year is mentioned to occur every fifty years, in which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest.” It was also common for land to be returned. Pope Boniface VIII conditioned the forgiving of sins and debt on personal confessions and pilgrimages to sacred sites (i.e. basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome) at least once a day for a specified time.

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR December 19-25

DECEMBER 23

1913 – FEDERAL RESERVE ACT PASSES CONGRESS - CREATING FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
The Act created a largely corporate controlled national banking and currency system. It was a major coup for banking corporations through the establishment of a private central bank authorized to "monetize" government debt (i.e. to print their own money and exchange it for government securities or I.O.U.'s). The central banking system was composed of 12 regional private/corporate banks owned by participating commercial banks. All national banks were required to join the system. Banking corporations now controlled the issuance and circulation of our national currency. By controlling our national money faucet, they could create inflation and deflation. This corporate monopolization of our currency allowed for public regulation, but not control. It was now banking corporations, not the US government, that was in control of the national currency.

DECEMBER 25

2011 YEARS AGO – CLAIMED BIRTH DATE OF JESUS
In his book, Money and its True Function, author FR Burch said, “As long as Christ confined his teachings to the realm of morality and righteousness, He was undisturbed; it was not till He assailed the established economic system and 'cast out' the protiteers and 'overthrew the tables of the money changers,' that He was doomed. The following day He was questioned, betrayed on the second tried on the third and on the fourth crucified.”

1983 – DEATH OF ROBERT H. HEMPHILL, CREDIT MANAGER, ATLANTA FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
"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. "

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

Bill of Rights are for People, not Corporations

Today is Bill of Rights Day. On December 15, 1791, the first 10 amendments were added to the Constitution.

Outside of the first three words contained in the Preamble, We the People, the most well known and, for many, cherished portions of our constitution are contained in the Bill of Rights. It provides a set of protections from political and social government intrusion.

The Bill of Rights include:
Amendment 1- Freedom of speech, press and religion
Amendment 2 - The right to bear arms
Amendment 3- Protection of homeowners from quartering troops, except during war.
Amendment 4 - Rights and protections against unreasonable search and seizure
Amendment 5 - Rights of due process of law, protection against double jeopardy, self incrimination
Amendment 6 - Rights of a speedy trial by jury of peers and rights of accused
Amendment 7 - Rights to trial by jury in civil cases
Amendment 8 - Protection from cruel and unusual punishment, excessive bail
Amendment 9 - Protection of rights not specified in the Bill of Rights
Amendment 10 - States rights, power of the states.

As we celebrate, honor and (re)commit to protect these sacred Rights on this day, here are five points to keep in mind.

1. These basic and “inalienable” rights weren’t part of what we know of today as our nation’s “original” constitution. The US constitution that became binding on June 21, 1788 didn’t contain a Bill of Rights. It was only enacted with the understanding that a set of political and social rights would be added in the near future. The “rabble” (the 99% of the day), many who had fought in the revolution for freedom and liberty, were incensed the drafted founding document of the new nation was void of basic political and social rights. They rebelled. They forced their state legislatures to condition ratification with a Bill of Rights. It took three and one-half years of educating, organizing and agitating for the Bill of Rights to finally be added as the constitution’s first 10 amendments.

2. Our nation’s first constitution was not the document that begins with We the People in the Preamble. Prior to that was the Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781. For seven years our nation existed under a much more decentralized set of national governing rules. States possessed most political power. Most states also had their own Bill of Rights. This added to the outrage of those at the grassroots who saw the “new” constitution absent a Bill of Rights as a step toward a return of centralized authority. Adding to this perception, if not reality, was how the second constitution was created People from each state had gathered in Philadelphia to merely “amend” the Articles of Confederation. Once there, they locked the doors, tossed out the Articles and started over. The minutes from James Madison of the Constitutional Convention weren’t made public for over 50 years.

3. The Bill of Rights is limited in the provision of basic “inalienable” rights to political and some social. They represent a sliver of those rights professed in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which call for political, social, civil, gender, cultural, developmental and economic rights. In the midst of WWII, President Roosevelt called for a second Bill of Rights, an Economic Bill of Rights, including the right to income, medical care, education, housing and employment. "We have come to a clear realization of the fact," FDR said, "that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence."

4. Providing protections from political and social government intrusion, the purpose of the Bill of Rights, is extremely important. These protections have allowed for dissent and democratic participation. These political rights, however, don’t include the right to govern in direct and defining ways. The right to vote and to have one’s vote count, for example. Or the right of people to have control of their economy. Or the right to control and define corporations.

5. Corporations are not mentioned in either the constitution or the Bill of Rights. They were never intended to possess any inalienable constitutional rights — which were reserved exclusively to real human beings. The lack of their inclusion as a right of people to define these creations of the state created enough of a vacuum for corporate agents to argue that corporations were meant all along to be protected right along side real human beings from government intrusion.

The Bill of Rights and virtually every other amendment to our constitution is proof that changing the constitution can be beneficial in expanding the rights of people. Most every amendment occurred following major social movements, some longer and more diverse than others. It’s happened before. It can and must happen again. In the spirit of those who fought long and hard against the power elite of their day for a Bill of Rights, rights for women and people of color, expanding the popular vote for Senators and among young people, it is time once more to become part of expanding our Bill of Rights to include the right of we, sovereign people, to declare that a corporation is not a person and can be regulated and that money is not speech and can be regulated — as called for by the Move to Amend amendment -- http://movetoamend.org/amendment

Bill of Rights Day is a good day to (re)commit to these ends.

Prepared Comments at "No Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security" Rally, Saturday, December 10, Cleveland, OH

[what I actually said deviated somewhat from these]

Thank you all for being here.

In the midst of WWII, FDR proposed a second Bill of Rights. It didn’t call for extended political liberties but economic liberties. FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights included,
- The right to earn enough income to provide adequate food, clothing and recreation;
- The right to a decent home;
- The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
- The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
- The right to a good education.

“We have come to a clear realization of the fact,” FDR said, “that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.”

Four years later on this day, December 10, 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It proclaimed that political, economic, cultural, religious and other rights were inherently entitled to every human beings.

Compare these visions of inherent economic rights for all people with recent proposals to slash and plunder deferred income programs (Social Security and Medicare) and other social safety net programs that provide basic medical and income protection to millions of people. The ruling class over the past year has called for cuts of upwards of $4 trillion. The failure of the so-called “supercommittee” does not mean these efforts have ended. Far from it. Austerity efforts will continue in 2012 – most likely building momentum and seeking political cover following the fall elections during the lame duck session of Congress.

Economist Jack Rasmus has calculated that the US Federal Debt rose between 2000 and 2010 by $9.2 trillion. The major causes (by %) for this were:
Bush Tax Cuts: 34.2
War spending: 22.9
Bush-Obama Stimulus Package: 20.6
Direct bank and other bailouts (TARP, etc): 9.8
Nonfunding of Part “D” Prescription Drug plan: 4.8
Excess inflation costs for Medicare and Medicaid: 1.9

Guess where the 1% ruling class have focused their slash and burn deficit reduction energies?
On the 34% Bush tax cuts? The 23% war spending? The 10% bank bailouts? These 3 causes amount to 2/3rds of the increased debt over the last decade. The 1% ruling class, true to form, is, instead, focusing on the 1%. Actually the measly 1.9% increased costs for Medicare and Medicaid – claiming that this is the real cause for the exploding federal debt.

Nonsense.

Their ultimate goal, of course, is to privatize/corporatize them. To create voucher programs. To turn Social Security and Medicaid, at least, over to Wall Street to do with our social security and health care what they’ve done with our housing and pensions. Plunder them. And profit from them.

They say cut back. We say fight back.

It’s up to us to stop this nonsense. We must not accept calls to “balance” domestic cuts with war spending cuts – what will happen automatically in 2013 if no other deal is reached. The 99% must not accept austerity when the 1% are plundering us for their own prosperity. We must not accept that millions of people who depend on these social programs and deferred income programs will be bargaining chips to be used by some politicians against other politicians to wrestle a few minor tax concessions.

A majority of Washington public officials have been bought, rented, leased or retained by the super wealthy and corporations. They won’t turn it around. Only we will.

It’s time to say Enough.
It’s time to come together like we’ve never come together. And stay together after today.
It’s time to demand an economic bill of rights
It’s time to expand our political rights
It’s time to slash the military budget. To end the Bush era tax cuts on the wealthy. To end bank bailouts. And to end subsidies to health insurance corporations… in fact, to all corporations.

This is how to reduce the debt. And while we’re at it, eliminate the debt completely as Dennis Kucinich has proposed by democratizing our monetary system and ending the power of banks to create our money out of nothing.

It’s up to us. We must have the vision to see human rights extended far beyond where now are. And the commitment, drive, and desire to make it happen.

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR - December 12-18

DECEMBER 13

2009 – DEATH OF PAUL A. SAMUELSON, ECONOMIST, AUTHOR OF ECONOMICS, AN INTRODUCTORY ANALSYS (BEST SELLING ECONOMICS TEXTBOOK OF ALL TIME)
“Few understand that all our money arises out of debt and IOU operations. The banking system as a whole can do what each small bank cannot do: it can expand its loans and investments many times the new reserves of cash created for it, even though each small bank is lending out only a fraction of its deposits.”

DECEMBER 15

1793 – BIRTH OF HENRY CAREY, PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR
Carey advised Lincoln on creating public money, Greenbacks, rather than receiving loans from private banks during the Civil War. He helped prevent the destruction of Greenbacks by the National Banking Act and its subsequent modifications – which were presented by bankers as monetary “reforms” but with the intent of eliminating Greenbacks.

DECEMBER 17

1874 – BIRTH OF WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE KING, 10TH PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA (1935-1948)
"Once a nation parts with the control of its currency and credit, it matters not who makes the nations laws. Usury, once in control, will wreck any nation. Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of parliament and of democracy is idle and futile."

2010 – NATIONAL EMERGENCY EMPLOYMENT DEFENSE (NEED) ACT, HR 6550, IS INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS
Congressman Kucinich (D-OH) introduced a dramatic new proposal to establish fiscal integrity, reassert Congressional sovereignty and regain control of monetary policy from private banks. The NEED Act would allow the federal government to directly fund badly-needed infrastructure repairs and fund education systems nationwide by spending money into circulation without increasing the national debt. The bill would end the current practice of fractional reserve lending, whereby the economy depends upon private financial institutions to lend money into circulation.
Congressman Kucinich stated, “The staggeringly bad employment and economic numbers represent a massive problem which cries out for bold action. Rather than crossing our fingers and hoping that banks will finally lend some of the billions of public dollars they haven’t thus far seen fit to lend, we can take action. My bill would replace the Federal Reserve System’s dependence on private banks to create credit. In its place, a Monetary Authority under the Treasury Department would directly inject liquidity into the economy by purchasing much needed public infrastructure repair. Today, we have idle capital, millions of able-bodied but unemployed workers, unused equipment, and record low interest rates. These conditions are the best possible time to make a long-term investment in our nation’s infrastructure. My bill would do exactly that.”
The bill was reintroduced in 2011, (HR 2990)

DECEMBER 18

1977 - DEATH OF MARRINER S. ECCLES, FORMER CHAIRMAN AND GOVERNOR OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
"That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money. "

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR - December 12-18

DECEMBER 13

2009 – DEATH OF PAUL A. SAMUELSON, ECONOMIST, AUTHOR OF ECONOMICS, AN INTRODUCTORY ANALSYS (BEST SELLING ECONOMICS TEXTBOOK OF ALL TIME)
“Few understand that all our money arises out of debt and IOU operations. The banking system as a whole can do what each small bank cannot do: it can expand its loans and investments many times the new reserves of cash created for it, even though each small bank is lending out only a fraction of its deposits.”

DECEMBER 15

1793 – BIRTH OF HENRY CAREY, PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR
Carey advised Lincoln on creating public money, Greenbacks, rather than take loans from private banks. He helped prevent the destruction of Greenbacks by the National Banking Act and its subsequent modifications – which were presented as monetary “reforms,” by banks but with the intent of eliminating Greenbacks.

DECEMBER 17

1784 – BIRTH OF WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE KING, 10TH PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA (1935-1948)
"Once a nation parts with the control of its currency and credit, it matters not who makes the nations laws. Usury, once in control, will wreck any nation. Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of parliament and of democracy is idle and futile."

2010 – NATIONAL EMERGENCY EMPLOYMENT DEFENSE (NEED) ACT, HR 6550, IS INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS
Congressman Kucinich (D-OH) introduced a dramatic new proposal to establish fiscal integrity, reassert Congressional sovereignty and regain control of monetary policy from private banks. The NEED Act would allow the federal government to directly fund badly-needed infrastructure repairs and fund education systems nationwide by spending money into circulation without increasing the national debt. The bill would end the current practice of fractional reserve lending, whereby the economy depends upon private financial institutions to lend money into circulation.
Congressman Kucinich stated, “The staggeringly bad employment and economic numbers represent a massive problem which cries out for bold action. Rather than crossing our fingers and hoping that banks will finally lend some of the billions of public dollars they haven’t thus far seen fit to lend, we can take action. My bill would replace the Federal Reserve System’s dependence on private banks to create credit. In its place, a Monetary Authority under the Treasury Department would directly inject liquidity into the economy by purchasing much needed public infrastructure repair. Today, we have idle capital, millions of able-bodied but unemployed workers, unused equipment, and record low interest rates. These conditions are the best possible time to make a long-term investment in our nation’s infrastructure. My bill would do exactly that.”
The bill was reintroduced in 2011, (HR 2990)

DECEMBER 18

1977 - DEATH OF MARRINER S. ECCLES, FORMER CHAIRMAN AND GOVERNOR OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
"That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money. "

---------------------------

Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR -- December 5 - 11

DECEMBER 5

1782 – BIRTH OF MARTIN VAN BUREN, 8TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
“The practice of funding the public debt…has long been discontinued…A National Bank has become a completely 'obsolete idea' among us, as thoroughly condemned in public opinion as a national debt.”

DECEMBER 6

1921 – THOMAS EDISON QUOTE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
“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?”

DECEMBER 9

1946 – BIRTH OF SONIA GANDHI, PRESIDENT, HEAD OF CONGRESS, INDIA
“Let me take you back to Indira Gandhi’s bank nationalization of 40 years ago. Every passing day bears out the wisdom of that decision. Public sector financial institutions have given our economy the stability and resilience we are now witnessing in the face of the economic slowdown.” (2008)

DECEMBER 10

1896 – DEATH OF ALFRED NOBEL, INVENTOR AND BENEFACTOR OF NOBEL PRIZES
Each year, annual international awards are bestowed to honor great scientific and cultural advances. Nobel’s great-grandnephew, Peter Nobel, in 2001 asked the Bank of Sweden to differentiate its award to economists given "in Alfred Nobel's memory" from the five other awards. He said, "The economics prize, awarded by the Swedish Rupsbank, runs counter the idealism in Alfred Nobel's declaration that the prizes should be awarded to those who have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind - the vast majority of economic prizes have gone to people who reflect the dominating western view of the world. It's doubtful whether this really is of benefit to all mankind."

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

The Country is BROKEN Because the System is FIXED — ps

I wrote an article [ http://www.opednews.com/a/141081?show=votes ] with this title several weeks ago after having seen a photo of a random man wearing a t-shirt with this slogan at Occupy DC. I thought it was a perfect slogan summarizing our problems and the direction we must pursue. It inspired me to write the article.

A few days ago I received an email from him. Amazing!

Turns out Selden frequently googles the term to see what turns up. He read the article and approved of its message that the US constitution should be amended in response to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision extending never-intended corporate constitutional rights.

What he wrote next was even more remarkable. It so happens that Selden worked for one year in the International Division of the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia! He said the experience “permanently affected my view of society and the world economy.” AFSC has certainly had a similar effect on my awareness...coupled with those who have been educating and organizing to abolish “corporate personhood” and the legal doctrine that “money is speech.”

He also said he wanted to “honor the circle that led, somehow, from one F/friend to another.”

Much, if not most, of the time we never know the impact of our social action deeds — never able to complete of own circle of sorts. That’s the nature of the work. Quantifying outcomes can be nebulous when the task is to change structures or institutions, including constitutions and corporations. But we do them anyway because of our faith, compassion, commitment and/or will. But every once in a while, sometimes by accident, we’re able to catch a glimpse of at least some impact of what we do for others — where it all somehow, someway circles back and connects.

Selden saw that. At a much larger scale, Rosa Parks was able to eventually see the results of what she did on this very day in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white person — sparking the Civil Rights movement which benefited her, other people of color and all the rest of us.

May we all be so fortunate to witness, on occasion, the effects of our cause.

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR -- November 28-December 4

DECEMBER 1

1135 – DEATH OF KING HENRY I OF ENGLAND
About 1100, King Henry, short on gold money, created a unique form of government issued money – Tally Sticks. These sticks were just that – polished pieces or sticks of wood with notches of a certain size to indicated the value of the wood. They were declared by the King as money and issued for purchases. They were accepted by the King for payment of taxes. Tally Sticks was an accepted debt-free government-issued money system of England for over 700 years, including the period of the rise of the British Empire. At is peak, about 95% of all money in England was in the form of Tally Sticks.

DECEMBER 4

1975 – DEATH OF GRAHAM TOWERS, GOVERNOR, BANK OF CANADA, 1934-54
"Each and every time a bank makes a loan, new bank credit is created - new deposits - brand new money."


NOTE: Due to the shortness of this week’s calendar, this may be an appropriate moment to invite you to share your thoughts about monetary policy/democratizing money with others. Forward this calendar (an earlier version with more entries might be more interesting) to your email list, write a letter to the editor incorporating information or a quote from previous entries, post the link to the running calendar (link below) on your Facebook page or via email, or talk about it to a friend. Change will only happen when we engage others and awareness reaches a tipping point. Below is an effort toward the letter to the editor end connecting monetary policy with the recently imploded Super Committee fiasco.

Now expand the money supply
Letters to the editor / Akron Beacon Journal / November 23, 2011
http://www.ohio.com/editorial/vop/letters-to-the-editor-nov-23-1.246842

Since Democrats and Republicans on the congressional supercommittee, including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, were unable to find common ground on spending reductions and tax increases to reduce the debt, Congress should now focus on an arena where both Democrats and Republicans might agree — monetary reform.

Passage of the National Emergency Employment Defense (NEED) Act, H.R. 2990, would eliminate the national debt by authorizing the government to print U.S. dollars (different from the Federal Reserve notes in our wallets) to pay off U.S. Treasury bonds, bills and notes.

Virtually all of our nation’s money is currently created by banking corporations as debt to people, businesses and governments, to be paid back with interest that over time often becomes an inflationary debt trap.

Democratic Presidents Jefferson and Jackson felt the people, not banks, should create our own money, while Republican President Lincoln created debt-free public money (greenbacks) in an effort to preserve the Union. The U.S. Constitution empowers the government to coin money.

Canadian economist William Hixson has said, “The very idea of a government that can create money for itself, allowing banks to create money that the government then borrows, and pays interest on, is so preposterous that it staggers the imagination.”

Congressional passage of the NEED Act would create a policy most people believe has existed since the nation’s founding — creation and issuance of U.S. money — which is both progressive and conservative.

Greg Coleridge
Director
Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee, Cuyahoga Falls

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html. Previous calendar entries are posted at http://afsc.net/monetaryhistorycalendar.html

The Constitutional Amendment We've Been Waiting For

Ends Corporate Personhood and Money as Speech

This message is from Move to Amend...

* * *

The time has come!

Move to Amend has led the call for a Constitutional amendment to not only overturn the heinous Supreme Court decision of Citizens United v. FEC, but to put corporations in their proper place as subservient to The People.

Passing an amendment will be a tough job, so the language must be commensurate with the effort needed to win. The amendment must be strong and clear enough to end corporate rule - there's no room here for half solutions or ambiguity.

Move to Amend's proposed amendment will clearly establish that money is not speech, corporations are not people, and allows for no loopholes. Our amendment will put people in charge of our government, and corporations in their proper place.

We've spent the last two years listening and organizing at the grassroots level. Our amendment reflects what we have heard from Americans across the nation - our country is ready for a change that is bold and sweeping.

But is Congress ready?

It is our belief that we need to operate on the assumption that once an Amendment comes out of Congress we won't get another shot. So we MUST get it right!

In the months ahead it will be important that we not let our goals be diluted by our legislators in Washington or organizations who have their ear, even those that mean well and want to see reform in our political system.

You've probably heard by now about the flurry of amendments introduced in Washington, DC in the past month.

With many competing proposals, it can be confusing to figure out what is what in terms of what the proposals will actually do. We have prepared a summary of each of the amendments proposed, including what is missing from each one

In the weeks to come we will be sharing our strategy to win our bold and yet common sense amendment . We know we still have a long way to go, but the tide is turning in this country and Move to Amend intends to ride it to victory.

We thank you for coming this far with us already, and we urge you to take a next step:

Move to Amend is a grassroots organization. Local Move to Amend Affiliates are spreading across the country. Is it time to start one in your community?

Occupy the Courts, Liberate the Law! is our call to action on January 20 for the second anniversary of the Citizens United decision. Communities across the nation are joining in, including folks at Occupy Wall Street and several other Occupy sites. Will you stand with us on January 20?

Move to Amend and several partner organizations hosted over 200 house parties across the nation last month to plan local action in 2012. The next round of these meetings will be the week of December 13. Will you host a gathering of your friends to take action?

Move to Amend is in it to win it, over the long haul. We know you are too. Thank you for your support, and your partnership.

Yours for democracy,

Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, David Cobb, Nancy Price, Lisa Graves, Laura Bonham, Ben Manski, Jerome Scott and George Friday
Move to Amend Executive Committee

PS - Our Amendment needs a name! Help us brand this amendment and make it a household name . What do you think the amendment should be called? We want to hear from you!

Death of Richard Grossman

Richard Grossman passed away on Tuesday, November 22. The movement we know today to end never-intended constitutional rights for corporations as a step toward real self-governance was birthed, grew and developed to a great extent by this remarkable, complex human being with a deep passion and love for nature, humanity and justice. He influenced and inspired thousands directly, an incalculable number more indirectly.

Richard and Ward Morehouse started the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy (POCLAD) in 1994, a combined think tank and breeding ground for activist experimentation to challenge corporate rule.

His work in this field originated with the publication of Taking Care of Business: Citizenship and the Charter of Incorporation, which he co-authored with Frank Adams in 1993.

Richard reveled in reading, thinking, writing and discussing on what had been for more than a century buried history and analysis on how corporations (creations of the state) came to acquire power and rights that were presented by the culture as inevitable and irreversible. POCLAD semi-annual retreats among the dozen collective “principles” were serious extended weekends in “grappling” and “rethinking” the relationship between people and our own legal creations — conveying that the ultimate inhibitor to self-governance weren’t corporations but us — what we’ve come to accept and what we’re willing to do. He dug deep in history, law and scholars that most people in the present had never heard of and/or who seemed quaint or arcane.

Richard was rigorous and demanded the same from everyone who took ending corporate rights seriously. He challenged as well as supported. He demanded as well as suggested. He knocked our ideas and conceptions down as well as worked collaboratively to build up others. He was uncompromising on core concepts but engaged in genuine give and take that helped him evolve from primarily advocating revoking individual corporate charters, to ending corporate constitutional rights (personhood) at the national level, to asserting democratic “right to decide” control over corporations through municipal ordinances, to criminalizing chartered incorporated business entities. You didn’t always agree with Richard but you were always mentally stretched and challenged to defend your unconsciously accepted doctrines.

I first ran into Richard when he and fellow “POCLADista” Jane Anne Morris came to Ohio to lead a weekend “Rethinking Corporations, Rethinking Democracy” in 1995 — one of scores of intentional in-depth retreats to unlearn our “myths and lore” regarding governance that he helped facilitate. It was a personal awakening. Though I had gone to what was considered a pretty radical college (Oberlin) and grew up with a father who was involved in the formation of the labor movement (United Rubber Workers in Akron), I had learned nothing in either venue about what Richard and Jane Anne had “unearthed.”

At the end of the “Rethink,” Richard challenged us to do our own “unearthing,” to dig into Ohio history and law — since corporations historically received their charter from states. The result was Citizens Over Corporations, our booklet which provided “A Brief History of Democracy in Ohio and Challenges to Organizing in the Future” (the subtitle, per Richard’s suggestion). He was an invaluable asset in the writing, framing and tone. The booklet led to our documentary, CorpOrNation, the Story of Citizens and Corporations in Ohio. As Richard said time and again, the issue isn’t about corporations. It’s about democracy. It’s about us. I was forever in awe once I became involved with POCLAD by his overall intellect, discernment and focus.

On a very personal note, after my wife suddenly passed away in 2000, Richard’s hand written letter and subsequent notes, Buddhist calendar and phone calls were among the most cherished communications I received from anyone — always inquiring about my welfare and my daughter’s. Beneath his exterior crustiness was a deeply caring soul.

Richard was a planter. All his seeds did not sprout in quite the democratic ways he completely approved. Yet time will tell how far and deep the current anti corporate personhood movement extends. Transcending it to envelop real self-governance with compassion for all living things is where I believe Richard would want it to travel.

So should we. For the real barriers to this are not chartered incorporated business entities. They're us.

Now expand the money supply

Letters to the editor / Akron Beacon Journal
November 23, 2011
http://www.ohio.com/editorial/vop/letters-to-the-editor-nov-23-1.246842

Since Democrats and Republicans on the congressional supercommittee, including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, were unable to find common ground on spending reductions and tax increases to reduce the debt, Congress should now focus on an arena where both Democrats and Republicans might agree — monetary reform.

Passage of the National Emergency Employment Defense (NEED) Act, H.R. 2990, would eliminate the national debt by authorizing the government to print U.S. dollars (different from the Federal Reserve notes in our wallets) to pay off U.S. Treasury bonds, bills and notes.

Virtually all of our nation’s money is currently created by banking corporations as debt to people, businesses and governments, to be paid back with interest that over time often becomes an inflationary debt trap.

Democratic Presidents Jefferson and Jackson felt the people, not banks, should create our own money, while Republican President Lincoln created debt-free public money (greenbacks) in an effort to preserve the Union. The U.S. Constitution empowers the government to coin money.

Canadian economist William Hixson has said, “The very idea of a government that can create money for itself, allowing banks to create money that the government then borrows, and pays interest on, is so preposterous that it staggers the imagination.”

Congressional passage of the NEED Act would create a policy most people believe has existed since the nation’s founding — creation and issuance of U.S. money — which is both progressive and conservative.

Greg Coleridge
Director
Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee
Cuyahoga Falls

What the supercommittee should have done

Supercommittee should focus on monetary reform to eliminate national debt
Friday, November 18, 2011
http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2011/11/supercommittee_should_focus_on.html

Since Democrats and Republicans on the congressional supercommittee, including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, are having difficulty finding common ground on spending reductions and tax increases to reduce the debt, they should focus on an arena where both might agree-- monetary reform.

Passage of the National Emergency Employment Defense (NEED) Act, H.R. 2990, would eliminate the national debt by authorizing the U.S. government to print U.S. dollars (different from the Federal Reserve notes in our wallets) to pay off U.S. treasury bonds, bills and notes as they come due.

Virtually all of our nation's money is currently created by banking corporations as debt to people, businesses and governments -- to be paid back with interest that over time often becomes an inflationary debt trap.

Democratic Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson felt "we the people," not banks, should create our own money, while Republican President Abraham Lincoln created public money (greenbacks) to preserve the union. The U.S. Constitution empowers the government to coin money.

Portman and his supercommittee colleagues should recommend a policy to eliminate our national debt that most people already believe has existed since the nation's founding -- a policy to democratize the U.S. monetary system that is both progressive and conservative.

Greg Coleridge Cleveland Heights

Coleridge is director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee in Cuyahoga Falls.

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR -- November 21-27

NOVEMBER 21

1944 – BIRTH OF 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." Interview on WJJG 1530 AM's "Mornings with Ray Hanania," April 2009

NOVEMBER 22

1879 – BIRTH of RALPH HAWTREY, FORMER SECRETARY OF TREASURY, ENGLAND
"Banks lend by creating credit. They create the means of payment out of nothing."

NOVEMBER 23

1910 – JEKYLL ISLAND MEETING TO PLAN FOR US PRIVATE CENTRAL BANK
Attending this secret meeting were US Senator Nelson Aldrich; A. Piatt Andrew, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Frank Vanderlip, president of the National City Bank of New York; Henry P. Davison, senior partner of J.P. Morgan Company; D. Norton, president of the Morgan-dominated First National Bank of New York; Benjamin Strong (a lieutenant of J.P. Morgan); and Paul Warburg, connected to the banking house of Kuhn, Loeb. The meeting would lead to the Aldrich bill, which eventually led to the Federal Reserve Act, passed in 1913.

NOVEMBER 25

1874 – GREENBACK PARTY FOUNDED
The Greenback Party was founded on this day at a convention in Indianapolis. Many of its members were farmers hurt by the financial Panic of 1873 (also known as the “Crime of ‘73”). The party supported “Greenback” paper money that was issued and spent into circulation by the Lincoln administration. They opposed all money systems backed by any precious metal, believing that those who owned gold or silver (banks and corporations) would possess the power to define the value of products and labor. Government control of the US money system would also ensure sufficient quantity of money was in circulation to help small businesses and farmers. Twenty one independent congressmen, mostly Greenbackers, were elected in 1878.

--------------

Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

Corporations: Good Servants, Lousy Masters

Excellent talk by professor john a powell linking race to corporate power
Full version
http://blip.tv/the-uptake/professor-john-a-powell-at-fair-economy-summit-full-video-5541998
Short version
http://blip.tv/the-uptake/corporations-good-servants-lousy-masters-5556626

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR -- Nov 14-20

NOVEMBER 16

1914 – US FEDERAL RESERVE OPENS FOR BUSINESS
“Commercial banks create checkbook money whenever they grant a loan, simply by adding new deposit dollars in accounts on their books in exchange for a borrower's IOU. From I Bet You Thought, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

2006 – DEATH OF MILTON FRIEDMAN, US ECONOMIST
"The Federal Reserve definitely caused the Great Depression by contracting the amount of currency in circulation by one-third from 1929 to 1933."
“If you kill the Fed and don't kill fractional reserve lending, you've done nothing.”

NOVEMBER 19

1831 – BIRTH OF JAMES GARFIELD, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (R- OHIO)
"Whosoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce, and when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate."

NOVEMBER 20

1910 -- DEATH OF LEO TOLSTOY, RUSSIAN WRITER AND SOCIAL REFORMER
"Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal, there is no human relation between master and slave. "

---------------

Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

Corporate rights and resistance

A FEW RECENT EXAMPLES OF CORPORATIONS EXERTING NEVER INTENDED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

Judge Blocks Tobacco Warning Laws
http://www.dailymarkets.com/stock/2011/11/09/judge-blocks-tobacco-warning-laws/
[Corporate constitutional rights is all smoke]

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin loses lawsuit over use of his image on trading cards
http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20111108/NEWS07/111109866#
[Corporate constitutional rights is out of this world]

PUBLIC RESISTANCE TO CORPORATE RIGHTS

Lori Sturdevant: Corporations and people
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/133582263.html

Missoula MT voters say corporations are not people, ask for constitutional amendment
http://missoulian.com/news/local/missoula-voters-say-corporations-are-not-people-ask-for-constitutional/article_f90f0f06-0a8b-11e1-99bf-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1dMGJvv5U

Boulder, Colorado Occupies the Ballot Box and Calls for End to “Corporate Personhood”
http://movetoamend.org/news/boulder-votes-constitutional-amendment-abolish-corporate-personhood

US SENATORS CALL FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO “REVERSE CITIZENS UNITED”
Warning: it doesn’t end corporate personhood

The country is broken because the system is fixed
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-country-is-broken-beca-by-Greg-Coleridge-111110-545.html

HOW TO RESIST CORPORATE RIGHTS AND CREATE DEMOCRACY

January 20, 2012: Move to Amend Occupies the Courts!

Inspired by our friends at Occupy Wall Street, and Dr. Cornel West, Move To Amend is planning bold action to mark the second anniversary of the infamous Citizens United v. FEC decision!

Occupy the Courts will be a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday January 20, 2012.

Move to Amend volunteers across the USA will lead the charge on the judiciary which created — and continues to expand — corporate personhood rights.

Americans across the country are on the march, and they are marching OUR way. They carry signs that say, “Corporations are NOT people! Money is NOT Speech!” And they are chanting those truths at the top of their lungs! The time has come to make these truths evident to the courts.

Join us Friday, January 20, 2012 at a Federal Court building near you!

Details at http://movetoamend.org/occupythecourts

Are you interested in this? Planning to work on an action in your community? If so, email gcoleridge@afsc.org so we can connect you with others.

---

Move to Amend Ohio Statewide Conference Call
Saturday, November 19 / 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Phone # (toll-free): 1-866-256-1242 Access Code: 86204415

Circulate the Move to Amend petition
Download a petition at http://www.movetoamendohio.org/

Ask organizations you’re a member of to endorse
Endorsement form at http://www.movetoamendohio.org/

Organize an educational program and/or start a group in your community
We’re happy to help! Contact gcoleridge@afsc.org

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

Ohio Move to Amend
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ohio-Move-to-Amend/163413857048478
Move to Amend Cleveland
http://www.facebook.com/groups/190361927681980/#!/pages/Move-To-Amend-Cleveland/223000864433861
Move to Amend Medina
http://www.facebook.com/groups/190361927681980/
Move to Amend – Central Ohio
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Move-to-Amend-Central-Ohio/182896321729826
Democracy over Corporations – Athens
http://fr-fr.facebook.com/pages/Democracy-Over-Corporations/123585487749688?sk=wall

If interested in starting a Move to Amend group in your community...or incorporating ending corporate personhood and money as speech into an existing group, contact us for ideas and assistance.

GREAT QUOTE

"I refuse to believe corporations are people until Texas executes one."
http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13021

The country is broken because the system is fixed

Why SJRes29 won't fix what's left of our democracy
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-country-is-broken-beca-by-Greg-Coleridge-111110-545.html

Nine US Senators, led by Tom Udall of New Mexico, have introduced a joint resolution (Senate Joint Resolution 29, or SJRes 29) calling for a constitutional amendment to limit money in elections. It's presented as an effort to "Reverse Citizens United ," the 2010 Supreme Court decision expanding the never-intended constitutional free speech "rights" of corporations to spend money from their treasuries to influence elections -- without having to report it.

Citizens United resulted in an estimated $300 million spent on political ads in the 2010 mid-term elections, a four-fold increase from the 2006 mid terms. This is pocket change compared to the projections for the 2012 Presidential and Congressional elections.

The recent explosion of corporate election spending and projected meteoric increase next year is likely major motives for this resolution. Another one is, no doubt, the rising chorus heard in the Occupation Movement that "corporations are not persons " -- short hand for a call to abolish corporate constitutional rights via a constitutional amendment.

Albert Einstein once observed, "If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I would solve the problem in less than five minutes."

Senator Udall and his resolution co-sponsors rushed to a solution without correctly determining the proper question.

It doesn't take 55 minutes -- or Einstein for that matter -- to figure out that our entire political system is and has for a very long time been fixed -- rigged toward the interests of wealthy individuals and corporations.

It basically doesn't matter:
- How smartly we study and then prepare a glossy report on the dangers of the activities of (fill in the name of any major corporation here),
- What animal we dress up as outside a corporate headquarters to protest an environmental destruction,
- How many constituents we bring to testify (to put a human face on the problem) on the impact of a particular corporate abuse to their communities before a regulatory agency,
- What experts we hire to document that a tax cut to the super rich or corporations harms the economy and balloons the public debt,
- What lawyers we hire to make the case that corporations shouldn't be able to hide behind 14th Amendment "equal protections" or the Commerce Clause to site their big box store or dump their toxic trash in our communities,
- The number of call-in days, letter writing campaigns or email blasts we organize to pressure public officials,
- Or even (I know this in the minds of many is scandalous) whom we elect of whatever political party to public office.

The bottom line almost without exception -- whether it's today, the day after the Citizens United ruling, or the day before the decision -- is that if the super wealthy and corporations will be seriously harmed by whatever bill, law, regulation, rule or decision the public wants, it won't happen -- short of massive grassroots organizing, sometimes over many months or years. If something is passed or decided, it's been so stripped down in depth, breadth or enforcement (i.e. the federal Dodd-Frank financial so-called "reform" bill is one classic example) that it's one half step above complete uselessness. Actually, such half-baked measures are worse than useless as they are proclaimed by proponents (from politicians to pundits) as real reform!

Our political system is fundamentally broken. On an unconscious if not conscious level, a majority of participants of both the Tea Party and Occupation movements know this.

Real democracy doesn't exist. It's a problem what goes back to when wealth and corporations first attained rights and disproportionate power -- which is basically at the beginning of our nation in the case of the former and more than a century ago in the later.

The root question Einstein might produce if he pondered this problem is: "Can we have anything approaching a real representative democracy in a society that defines money as speech and corporations as people with inalienable constitutional rights?"

If our answer is NO, then SJRes29 doesn't come remotely close to being a solution. Despite websites popping up with mastheads saying "REVERSE CITIZENS UNITED" and asking people to sign a petition calling for a "constitutional amendment to give Congress and states the authority to limit corporate and special interest money in our elections," the whole effort is inadequate.

The two sections of the proposed amendment states, "Congress shall have power to regulate the raising and spending of money and in kind equivalents with respect to Federal elections"" and "A State shall have power to regulate the raising and spending of money and in kind equivalents with respect to State elections."

Shall?

Regulate?

How about MUST regulate.

And what about PROHIBIT raising and spending money by corporations?

Simply providing Congress with the option to address an issue doesn't guarantee that they actually will. Congress currently possesses the ability to take many actions but they don't.

Worse, calling for the "regulation" of raising and spending money by corporations in elections would legitimize never-intended First Amendment free speech corporate rights. Free speech and every other right in our Bill of Rights were meant by its architects to be reserved exclusively for real human beings. Corporations were intended to be creations of the state with privileges, not rights, granted via charters by We the People through state legislators and, in the case of national banks, Congress.

The architects of this resolution didn't take the time to study and reflect. As a result, they didn't come up with the right solution.

Voters in Boulder, CO and Missoula, MT just voted to end corporate personhood. People at Occupation sites across the nation are displaying signs that say abolish corporate personhood. They understand an important part of the solution.

The resolution effort is not completely useless however. If lucky, the resolution will receive one or more congressional hearings. These will provide important teachable moments to educate the resolution's supporters, other members of Congress and the public at large. They'll provide an opportunity to show that our political system, if not entire country, is broken because the political system is fixed. Finally, they'll represent an arena where real democratic fixes can be promoted, including the proposed constitutional amendment by Move to Amend (http://movetoamend.org) which states, "We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights."

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR - November 7-13

NOVEMBER 7

1931 – PUBLISHED LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF ALBERT EINSTEIN IN BERLINER TAGEBLATT
“The gold standard has, in my opinion, the serious disadvantage that a shortage in the supply of gold automatically leads to a contraction of credit and also of the amount of currency in circulation… The natural remedies to our troubles are, in my opinion...Control of the amount of money in circulation and of the volume of credit in such a way as to keep the price level steady, abolishing any monetary standard.”

NOVEMBER 9

1910 – BIRTHE OF CARROLL QUIGLEY, AMERICAN HISTORIAN AND THEORIST OF THE EVOLUTION OF CIVILIZATIONS
"The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements, arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the worlds' central banks which were themselves private corporations. The growth of financial capitalism made possible a centralization of world economic control and use of this power for the direct benefit of financiers and the indirect injury of all other economic groups." Tragedy and Hope: A History of The World in Our Time

NOVEMBER 10

1796 - BIRTH OF WILLIAM GOUGE, EDITOR AND WRITER
Gouge edited the " Philadelphia Gazette" and other journals, and for thirty years contributed articles on banking to various periodicals. He was for thirty years connected with the treasury department at Washington. He published "History of the American Banking System" (1835); " Expediency of Dispensing with Bank Paper" (1837); and a "Fiscal History of Texas" (1852)
“As it is public credit that supports the Banks, and not the Banks that support public credit, as the deposits of the Banks are the property of the community generally and the profits derived from circulation come from the community generally they ought to go to the community generally and be used to lighten the burden of taxation."
"The banking system is the principal cause of social evil in the United States."

NOVEMBER 12

1999 – ENACTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES MODERNIZATION ACT (ALSO KNOWN AS GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT)
The act removed many barriers contained in the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, including those that separated banking, securities and insurance corporations. The result was massive combination and consolidation within the financial sector – creating enormously powerful institutions.. The bill was pushed for by leading Republicans in Congress, including Phil Gramm and signed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

----------

Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

Why ‘occupiers’ must confront fallacy of corporate ‘personhood’

By Gary Houser and Greg Coleridge

http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-35248-why-lsoccupiersrs-must-confront-fallacy-of-corporate-lspersonhoodrs.html

Even from the mainstream media perspective, the "occupy" movement has been amazing to observe. Those outraged by the concentration of wealth and power have finally found their voice. They see a government that's been corrupted and captured by corporate money to the detriment of We the People's welfare.

But to those who've devoted lifetimes fighting corporate greed, something even deeper is happening. If "midnight" represents when the forces of greed triumph and the miraculous human experiment ends through global catastrophe, then we're surely in the last minute before. We may be witnessing a primal force deep within the heart of humanity, realizing — perhaps only subconsciously — how close we are to the precipice.

It's as if life on earth senses the enormity of the danger (i.e. mass extinction) and is rising up like antibodies in a bloodstream to fight off the invader/disease. The occupy movement is spreading because it provides a channel through which that deep organic wisdom can express itself.

The issue best illustrating the overwhelming danger of our situation is the climate. Seventeen Nobel Prize-winning scientists released an unusually urgent warning that carbon emissions are heating up the planet toward tipping points where monumentally destructive forces will begin to spin out of human control (http://globalsymposium2011.org/). At the very same time, corporations are using colossal profits to orchestrate campaigns aimed at confusing and deceiving the public (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-keystone-pipeline-revolt-why-mass-arrests-are-just-the-beginning-20110928).

The corporate form grinds on because it has no feelings, conscience or remorse. In short, it's not a person. Corporations are artificial legal entities created for the purpose of making money. To maximize this ability, our laws and Constitution have been perverted to declare that the corporate form should have many of the same inalienable human rights as an actual living, breathing person.

This floodgate opened 125 years ago when the Supreme Court first granted corporations constitutional equal-protection rights. Although these rights extended in several directions, their most destructive form was in the realm of First Amendment "free speech," the most recent example being the 2010 Citizens United decision. Corporations not only claim a right to take part in elections, but also that any attempt to curtail their financial contributions and political lobbying are violations of their "free speech." By spending money from vast treasuries (some larger than those of entire countries), they have overwhelmed the democratic process and gained a stranglehold on our government. Consequently, in many fundamental ways corporations now govern.

Corporations were never intended to possess inalienable constitutional rights or to rule. As legal creations of the state, most corporations were meant to be subordinate to We the People via charters issued by state legislatures. Charters stipulated the production of specific goods or services for a specific period of time. Lobbying, investing in election campaigns, writing laws and other forms of political engagement were prohibited, yielding charter revocations by both state legislatures and courts — including those in Ohio.

The Citizens United decision resulted in $300 million spent on political ads in the 2010 midterm elections. This so-called "free speech" drowned out the voices and aspirations of people without money. Conditions will only worsen during the 2012 elections.

"Corporations are not people" is a frequent sign at occupy sites. Only if we pretend that corporations are persons under our Constitution is limiting corporate speech a constitutional violation. Ending the twin legal fictions that corporations are people and money is speech are among the major objectives of the national coalition Move to Amend (http://movetoamend.org), and should be among the major goals of the occupy movement.

This approach calls for amending our Constitution, something that's essential but not imminent. Achievable in the short term is the passage of resolutions by organizations and political bodies as well as citizen ballot initiatives calling for an end to this twisting of our Constitution.

The enormity of the multiple environmental crises we face brings with it an enormity of opportunity to profoundly change our nation's rules toward authentic self-governance. Since corporations lack feelings, consciences and remorse, the task of ensuring that our lives, communities and the natural world that we live within survive and thrive falls on us — real humans beings with the ability to feel, aspire and act for the common good.

Editor's note: Gary "Spruce" Houser is a documentary producer currently working on climate tipping points (www.590films.org/methane.html) and co-authored the first local ballot initiative in U.S. aimed at re-asserting democratic control over corporations (Arcata, Calif. in 1998). Greg Coleridge is director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee (http://www.afsc.net ) and coordinator of Move to Amend Ohio (www.movetoamendohio.org/)

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR - October 31- November 6

OCTOBER 31

1874 – PUBLICATION OF OCTOBER ISSUE OF INDUSTRIAL AGE MAGAZINE
“The religious press has almost without exception been the allies of the bondholders and bankers in their endless schemes to fleece the public, and the mouthpiece of the monopolists and the defender of the soulless corporations that fill their pockets by robbing the toiling people.”

NOVEMBER 1

1873 – PASSAGE OF THE COINAGE ACT BY CONGRESS
The fourth coinage act passed by Congress, the 1873 bill “demonetized” silver – meaning silver was no longer accepted as currency or used as a metal to back paper money. Only gold was now accepted as currency and used to back paper money. With the money supply now contracted, the US went into an economic depression. The demonitization of silver was also not apparent in the bill at the time of passage. When this became public, there was national outrage. Congressional passage became known as “the Crime of ’73.”

NOVEMBER 6

1841 – BIRTH OF NELSON ADRICH, US SENATOR (R.I.), LEADER OF REPUBLICAN PARTY IN THE SENATE
Aldrich was the major Senate proponent of the Federal Reserve Act. He railroaded the bill through both houses of Congress in the fall and winter of 1913. Alfred Crozier, an Ohio attorney and author of the book US Money vs Corporation Currency, testified before Congress against the Aldrich bill. He said, “The… bill grants just what Wall Street and the big banks for 25 years have been striving for, namely, private instead of public control of currency. [The bill] robs the Government and the people of all effective control over the public money supply and vest in the banks exclusively the dangerous power to make money among the people scarce or plenty.”

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR - October 24-30

OCTOBER 27

1945 – BIRTH OF LULA DE SILVA, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (2003-2010)
The Third World War has already started. The war is tearing down Brazil, Latin America, and practically all the Third World. Instead of soldiers dying, there are children. It is a war over the Third World debt, one which has as its main weapon, interest, a weapon more deadly than the atom bomb, more shattering than a laser beam.

OCTOBER 29

1897 – DEATH OF HENRY GEORGE, US AUTHOR, POLITICIAN AND ECONOMIST
On the other hand it is the business of government to issue money. This is why the issuance of this money should be made a government function become still stronger. The evils entailed by wildcat banking in the United States are too well remembered to need reference. The loss and inconvenience, the swindling and corruption that flowed from the assumption by each State of the Union of the power to license banks of issue ended with the war, and no -one would now go back to them. Yet instead of doing what every public consideration impels us to, and assuming wholly and fully as the exclusive function of the General Government the power to issue money, the private interests of bankers have, up to this, compelled us to the use of a hybrid currency, of which a large part, though guaranteed by the General Government, is issued and made profitable to corporations. The legitimate business of banking – the safekeeping and loaning of money, and the making and exchange of credits, is properly left to individuals and associations; but by leaving to them, even in part and under restrictions and guarantees, the issuance of money, the people of the United States suffer an annual loss of millions of dollars, and sensible increase the influences which exert a corrupting effect upon their government.

1929 – US STOCK MARKET CRASH
Known as "Black Tuesday," October 29 was the worst day in stock market history. Since everyone was selling and no one was buying, stock prices collapsed. The crash was due to policies of the Federal Reserve which had made money cheap to borrow. Too much money was concentrated in too few hands. Cheap money resulted in wild speculation (booms or bubbles) in financial instruments, the stock market and office buildings rather than useful and necessary goods and services. Speculation was rampant. Understanding what was happening, but not admitting it to the public, the Fed significantly contracted the US money supply by raising interest rates to borrow money. Not enough money was available to meet economic needs. The speculative bubbles burst, triggering what became the Great Depression.

OCTOBER 30

1735 – BIRTH OF JOHN ADAMS, 2ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword, the other is by debt."
and
"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from the defects of the Constitution or confederation, not from the want of honour or virtues, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nation, of coin, credit and circulation."

1840 – BIRTH OF WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER, PROFESSOR, YALE UNIVERSITY AND MONETARY THEORIST
For as the currency question is of first importance and we cannot solve it or escape it by ignoring it. We have got to face it and the best way to begin is not by wrangling about speculative opinions as to untried schemes but to go back to history and try to get hold of some firmly established principles.

1885 – BIRTH OF EZRA POUND, US POET AND CRITIC
Some of his poetry deals with the destructive moral and social effects of usury, or usura, such as his Canto XLV:
“…Usura rusteth the chisel
It rusteth the craft and the craftsman
It gnaweth the thread in the loom
None learneth to weave gold in her pattern;…”

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR -- October 17-23

OCTOBER 18

1931 – DEATH 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?”

1987 – US STOCK MARKET CRASH
Known as Black Monday, stock markets around the world crashed.
In finance, Black Monday refers to Monday, October 19, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed. Dow Jones dropped by 508 points. It was the largest one-day percentage decline in Dow Jones history.

OCTOBER 23

2008 – TESTIMONY OF ALAN GREENSPAN, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN, BEFORE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM (NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE)
“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.”

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

PsySR Statement on Corporate Personhood

Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) issued a fine statement on October 7 on corporate personhood.

The awakening continues. The movement against corporate personhood grows.

This important statement comes at a critical juncture as people across the country and around the world are occupying public spaces demanding democracy and justice. Among the major institutions on planet earth preventing justice and usurping our right to govern is the business corporation.

From the PsySR statement:
"Corporations...are structural entities created by laws rather than by natural, biological processes. Corporations are vehicles, designed to achieve specific ends, typically those of growth, profitability and longevity beyond the span of human life. Corporations are amoral. They have no capacity for guilt, shame, pride, or penance. They possess no motivations, beliefs, or emotions, and they cannot make decisions nor take action—not, at least, outside of the human beings who run them. Corporations are not people. From a psychological perspective, corporate personhood is a misleading and highly dangerous legal fiction. It provides protection to corporate leaders for activities in which they would otherwise bear personal, lawful responsibility. This legal validation of corporate personhood therefore shields select, powerful corporate officials from the law and liability, encouraging recklessness in the form of unethical, dangerous and, in some instances, illegal behaviors."

Read the entire statement at
http://www.psysr.org/about/programs/wellbeing/corporate-personhood.php

Talk this Thursday on First Amendment and Corporate Rights

From: Melissa Athens
Date: Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 2:03 PM
Subject: For Immediate Press Release Oct 13 6pm Public Square

Hello,

Please forward to your network tree.

Occupiers! Learn more about our 1st Amendment Right to Free Speech. Greg Coleridge, State Coordinator for Move to Amend, will talk about what our right to free speech means for people and how corporations have hijacked it.
Thursday, October 13 - 6pm - ***PUBLIC SQUARE***

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR - October 10-16

OCTOBER 13

1879 – DEATH OF HENRY CAREY, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Carey was the major proponent in the Lincoln Adminstration of issueing debt-free US money, Greenbacks. In referencing the US economy under the Greenback system, he said, …”for the first time, too, in the history of the world, there has been presented a community in which nearly all business was done for cash, and in which debt has scarcely an existence…there has been a large and general diminution of the rate of interest…traders have therefore become more independent of the capitalist, while the country at large has become more independent of the ‘wealthy capitalists’ of Europe.”

OCTOBER 15

1908 – BIRTH OF JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH, US ECONOMIST
“The study of money, above all other fields in economics, is on in which complexity is used to disguise or evade truth, not to reveal it.”
"The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.”

1982 – CONGRESS PASSES GARN-ST.GERMAIN DEPOSITORY INSTITUTIONS ACT
The act deregulated savings and loan associations and allowed banks to provide adjustable-rate mortgage loans. Many believe it contributed to the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s.

---------------

Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt?
Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice.
This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini and Greg Coleridge helped in its development.
Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, contact monetarycalendar@yahoo.com For more information, visit http://www.afsc.net/economiccrisis.html

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City -- grievances includes corporate personhood

As with the Declaration of Independence of 1776, the list of grievances in New York City -- which is what's being used by others as a template -- include both individual harms to people and communities AND usurpations of collective power and rights, including stripping collective bargaining and granting
corporations the same rights as people. Actually they go beyond in questioning the right of corporations to determine economic policies.

Moving beyond individual problems to address structural causes is the shift that is necessary to achieve unity...and real change We are all being hurt, regardless of our issues or causes, by the reality that we aren’t in charge of decisions that impact our families, communities and world. Wide recognition that corporations being defined as persons, corporate political donations and unilateral corporate economic decision making are fundamental problems is evolution in the right direction.

Check your community for these democratic “Occupations.” Where they exist, engage participants in discussion on corporate constitutional rights and money as speech. Take Move to Amend petitions. Participate.


http://nycga.cc/2011/09/30/declaration-of-the-occupation-of-new-york-city/
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.