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
-------------
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
Sunday, November 27, 2011
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!
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
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 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
Thursday, November 24, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
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
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
Monday, November 21, 2011
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
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
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
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
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
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
Monday, November 14, 2011
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
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
Thursday, November 10, 2011
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
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."
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."
Sunday, November 6, 2011
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
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
Thursday, November 3, 2011
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/)
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