MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR July 30 – August 5

JULY 30

1863 – BIRTH OF HENRY FORD, INVENTOR AND INDUSTRIALIST

"It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."

JULY 31

1881 – BIRTH OF SMEDLEY BUTLER, US MARINE MAJOR GENERAL (TWICE DECORATED)

“I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested…

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things that we should fight for. One is the defense of out homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.”

1912 – BIRTH OF MILTON FRIEDMAN, ECONOMIST

“If you kill the Fed [Federal Reserve] and don't kill fractional reserve lending, you've done nothing.”

JULY [Not certain of date]  

1939 - A PROGRAM FOR MONETARY REFORM RELEASED

A group of prominent economists issue a plan for US monetary reform. One of the co-authors of the plan, “A Program for Monetary Reform,” was University of Chicago professor and Quaker Paul H. Douglas (later to become U.S. Senator). More than 230 economists from 150 universities approved it without reservations while an additional 40 supported it with some reservations.

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

The PMR called for government creation and maintenance in the quantity of money. “Our own monetary policy should…be directed toward avoiding inflation as well as deflation, and in attaining and maintaining as nearly as possible full production and employment.” The plan also called for eliminating fractional reserve lending – the process of banks loaning our many more times the amount of money in their possession. Back in the 1930’s the reserved requirement was 5:1. Today it’s 10:1. Some of the major banks involved in the economic collapse of 2007 had ignored this law and were loaning out 50 times their reserves. The PMR called for a 100% reserve requirement – banks could only lend the amount of money they possessed.

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

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

AUGUST 2

1100 – BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF KING HENRY I OF ENGLAND

About 1100 AD, the King ordered the creation of a unique form of money. Made of wood, the currency was called “Tally Sticks.” They were polished sticks of wood declared by the Sovereign King to be good for the payment of taxes. The sticks were used as money by England for 726 years – included the period of the British Empire. It may be no coincidence that shortly after the Bank of England (a private entity) was established in 1694, it attacked the Tally Stick system. Nevertheless, the Sticks were accepted as money for another 150 years, until 1854.

AUGUST 3

1871 – BIRTH OF VERNON PARRINGTON, AMERICAN HISTORIAN

"The only safe and rational currency is a national currency based on the national credit sponsored by the state, flexible and controlled in the interests of the people as a whole."

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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

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR July 23 – 29

JULY 24

1862 – DEATH OF MARTIN VAN BUREN, 8^TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

"It can only be when the agriculturalists abandon the implements and the field of their labor and become, with those who now assist them, shopkeepers, manufacturers, carriers, and traders, that the Republic will be brought in danger of the influences of the MONEY POWER" 

JULY 25

1876 – BIRTH OF CONGRESSMAN LOUIS T. MCFADDEN (R-PA), CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE BANKING AND CURRENCY COMMITTEE

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

JULY 26

1925 – DEATH OF WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, SECRETARY OF STATE

"We say in our platform that we believe that the right to coin money and issue money is a function of government…Those who are opposed to the proposition tell us that the issue of paper money is a function of the bank and that the government ought to go out of the banking business.  I stand with Jefferson...and tell them, as he did, that the issue of money is a function of the government and that the banks should go out of the governing business...When we have restored the money of the Constitution, all other necessary reforms will be possible, and ... until that is done there is no reform that can be accomplished." 

JULY 27

1694 – BANK OF ENGLAND CREATED

A private central bank, England began to borrow all of its money from corporate banks rather than simply creating it debt-free as it had for hundreds of years. 

JULY 28

1919 – BANK OF NORTH DAKOTA FOUNDED

The Bank of North Dakota is the only state-owned bank in the US. Its primary deposit base is the State of North Dakota. All state funds and funds of state institutions are deposited with the Bank, as required by law. Other deposits are accepted from any source, private citizens to the U.S. government. No tax dollars are used to pay interest to bond holders since the state has no debt.

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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 

Corporate "Living Wills"

This corporate personhood thing is getting ridiculous.
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-735http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-735

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR July 16 – 22

JULY 16 

1979 -  FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF SAN FRANCISCO AD FOR COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS IN "COMPUTER WORLD MAGAZINE"

"Some people still think we're a branch of the Government. We're not."

[Note: You can’t get any clearer or succinct than this!]

JULY 17

1780 – BANK OF PENNSYLVANIA ESTABLISHED

Quakers or Friends (short names for members of the Religious Society of Friends) first introduced public banking in America with the creation of this state-owned bank, which issued its own paper scrip that it lent to farmers. Resident paid no income taxes. There was no government debt and no inflation. The state prospered.

1862 – PASSAGE OF POSTAGE CURRENCY ACT

The act authorized the issuance of 5, 10, 25, and 50 cent notes – which were needed to substitute for gold, silver and copper coins which were hoarded. These fractional currency US debt-free notes, sold in perforated sheets like stamps, were redeemable by the US Post Offices at face value in postage stamps until 1876.  

JULY 18

BIRTH OF STEPHEN ZARLENGA, DIRECTOR, AMERICAN MONETARY INSTITUTE

"We propose that ultimately the monetary power should be constituted as a fourth branch of government, like the executive, judicial and legislative branches.  We have concluded that the nature of man and society requires four, not three, branches of government."     "True monetary reform must take a better path. AMI’s research indicates that money, properly defined, is a legal institution of society and government; not a commodity or economic good of the markets; that if money is a legal institution, then the control of monetary systems can be rightfully viewed as a proper function of government; much as the law courts are.”  "When society loses control over its money system, it loses any control it might have had over its destiny."

JULY 22

1950 – DEATH OF WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE KING, 10^TH PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA, 1935-48.

"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 recognised as its most sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of parliament and of democracy is idle and futile....The Liberal Party believes that credit is a public matter, not of interest to bankers only, but of direct concern to every citizen. The Liberal Party declares itself in favour of the immediate establishment of a duly constituted national bank for the control of the issue of money in terms of public needs. The flow of money must be in relation with the domestic, social, and industrial needs of the Canadian people...If my party is returned to power, we shall make good our monetary policy in the greatest battle between the money power and the people Canada has ever seen." Mackenzie King won re-election. The private Bank of Canada, which had been a private corporation, was converted to a "Crown Corporation," belonging to the people of Canada.

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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

Taking Action

Here's a fine analysis from Common Dreams of the further control of our nation by corporations and plutocrats.
The New Company Store: The Final Step in the Corporate Takeover of America

But like so many very fine analyses that have preceded and will follow it, there is a grand total of zero words discussing what to do about it. Zero.

Nothing will ever change unless we work for change. Want to end the political power of corporations and the super wealthy? Changing the constitution to end corporate personhood and money as speech via the Move to Amend campaign is one such way.

Great quote

The empire will always be able to start more fires than we can put out. That's why we need to prioritize fire prevention above fire fighting. The best option for doing so is www.movetoamend.org
- Mike Ferner

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR July 9 – 15

JULY 9

1778 – FIRST STATES RATIFY THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.

Eight states sign the Articles on this day. Other states followed shortly thereafter. The Articles granted the Federal Government the authority to issue money and determine its value if nine states agreed.

2007 – CITIGROUP CEO CHARLES PRINCE INTERVIEW WITH THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Explaining his bank’s excessive money creation through the creation of risky sub-prime loans,

“When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will get complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.”

JULY 10

1509 – BIRTH OF JOHN CALVIN, FRENCH THEOLOGIAN AND PASTOR

“For we altogether condemn usuries, we shall impose severer restrictions upon the consciences that the Lord himself desired”     

1832 – ANDREW JACKSON VETOES LEGISLATION TO RENEW THE CHARTER OF THE PRIVATE SECOND BANK OF THE UNITED STATES

“Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank that in its nature has so little to bind it to our country?... Should its influence become concentrated, as it may under the operation of such an act as this, in the hands of a self-elected directory whose interests are identified with those of the foreign stockholders, will there not be cause to tremble for the purity of our elections in peace and for the independence of our country in war? Their power would be great whenever they might choose to exert it; but if this monopoly were regularly renewed every fifteen or twenty years on terms proposed by themselves, they might seldom in peace put forth their strength to influence elections or control the affairs of the nation. But if any private citizen or public functionary should interpose to curtail its powers or prevent a renewal of its privileges, it can not be doubted that he would be made to feel its influence. 

JULY 11

1862 – LEGISLATIVE ACT AUTHORITIZING US GOVERNMENT TO ISSUE MONEY

Congress passes legislation to issue and circulate $150 million in non-interest bearing, debt-free notes – Greenbacks. This is authorized in the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8.

JULY 12

1804 – DEATH OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON, FIRST SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

He was a major proponent of First Bank of the United States - a privately owned national bank. The name was to deceive people into thinking that money creation was done by the government instead of corporate banks. The nation's money was created out of thin air and loaned to the government - at interest - and to private individuals. Eighty percent of the stock was privately held. Hamilton called the public debt "a public blessing" because of his belief that it would tie the wealthy (who would own the government bonds) of the country to the government, and they would in turn proved political support for higher taxes, to make sure that there was enough money in the treasury to pay off their principal and interest.

JULY 13

1832 – CONGRESS FAILS TO OVERRIDE PRESIDENT JACKSON VETO TO RENEW THE CHARTER OF THE SECOND NATIONAL BANK OF THE UNITED STATES

In his veto message to renew the misnamed “national bank” (it was actually a private bank controlled/owned by stockholders, a majority of whom were foreigners), Jackson stated: “Controlling our currency, receiving our public monies, and holding thousands of our citizens in dependence…would be more formidable and dangerous than a naval and military power of the enemy.”

1956 – QUOTE OF J.R.R TOLKIEN, AUTHOR (THE HOBBIT AND LORD OF THE RINGS) AND UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD PROFESSOR IN CONTOUR MAGAZINE

“The main mark of modern governments is that we do not know who governs, de facto any more than de jure. We see the politician and not his backer; still less the backer of the backer; or, what is most important of all, the banker of the backer.

Throned above all, in a manner without parallel in all past, is the veiled prophet of finance, swaying all men living by a sort of magic, and delivering oracles in a language not understood of the people…

There should only be one source of money: one fountainhead from which flows the nation’s blood to vitalize commerce and industry, ensure economic equity and justice and safeguard the welfare of the people…In other words, it has always been and still is our contention that the prerogative of creating and issuing the money of the nation should be restored to the State. “

JULY 14

1833 – DEATH OF WILLIAM GOUGE, ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON; AUTHOR, A SHORT HISTORY OF MONEY AND BANKING

"The large extent of bank influence is not easily seen. We seldom see an identified bank or a money corporation candidate running for office; but when questions arise which affect them, the banks have agents at work, whose operations are the more effective because they are unseen."

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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

Farmer Filburn's Chickens and Pecking at Democracy

NPR this morning had a story about an Ohio farmer, his chickens and the Commerce Clause to the U.S. Constitution. Why is this important to those concerned about corporate rule and democracy? Because the Commerce Clause (Article 1, Section 8) has been labeled by some as the “Baby NAFTA” or “Granddaddy WTO” – depending on your generational preference.

What does this mean?

The Commerce Clause was rammed into the Constitution by large commercial interests to preempt localities and states in the making of rules regarding trade. Remember, what we know of today as the U.S. Constitution was actually our second national constitution. The first, the Articles of Confederation, placed all real power in the laps of states. Major business interests didn’t like this at all. They preferred federal control of trade – one set of rules that would overrule the laws of states – no matter how democratically enacted they may be. The Commerce Clause, thus, has been used as a battering ram by corporations to create laws favorable to their interest.

So here’s the full story of the Ohio farmer and his struggle to maintain local control over corporate control.

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Farmer Filburn's Chickens and Pecking at Democracy

Back in 1938, as the country was struggling its way out of the Great Depression, Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act.  Part of the idea was to limit production to keep prices up, so if a farmer grew extra acres of a crop, a penalty was incurred.

Well, Farmer Filburn of Ohio grew his allotted eleven acres of wheat for sale on the market.  But he also grew a few extra acres for himself and his family, just to feed his chickens and bake some bread.  However, Mr. Wickard, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, didn't like this one bit, and charged Farmer Filburn $117.11 for exceeding his quota.  Farmers were outraged by this federal intrusion on state, local and private rights, and joined with Mr. Filburn to fight the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

Local rights are very important for protecting communities from a variety of harms. For example, large businesses such as Walmart can decimate local economies, and distant corporations can poison air and water with an operation such as a quarry or factory farm with relative impunity.  Over the past two hundred years states and municipalities have passed countless measures to meet their obligation to protect the health and welfare of their citizens.

But state and local laws can be very annoying and expensive for large, non-local businesses.  In the perennial battle for the supremacy of big business and the federal government, we the people often lose, frequently at the hands of our unelected Supreme Court which is composed mostly of wealthy white men (and lawyers to boot).  Over the years these Gentlemen, with a few striking exceptions, have generally proved themselves unable to sympathize with and support normal people going about their lives, earning a living, raising children, and just plain being people.

A prime tool for imposing this federal power has been the Commerce Clause, Article I Section 8 of our Constitution.  It states that Congress makes the rules about interstate commerce -- which the Supreme Court, exercising its questionable authority of judicial review, rewrites at will.

And that's what the Judges, in their curious wisdom, did with Farmer Filburn, as they usurped local authority and ordered him to pony up his $117.11. In so doing the Court demonstrated, as it had so many times in the past, that it favored special interests by inventing a decision and then -- well, pecking around -- for the rationale to support it.

So here's what the Supremes said: by not shipping via interstate transport, by not using interstate storage silos, by not giving his chickens interstate wheat for dinner, Farmer Filburn deprived the interstate commerce stream of his business. Therefore, by not engaging in interstate commerce, Farmer Filburn was engaging in interstate commerce (and 1984 hadn't even been written yet)!

There are many examples throughout our history of the Supreme Court, Appointed for life and answerable to no one, overriding the will of millions of people as expressed through our elected representatives.  

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Many thanks to Jane Anne Morris and POCLAD for the story of Farmer Filburn, from Jane Anne's forthcoming book on the Commerce Clause, Gaveling Down the Rabble.

From http://www.constitution411.org

The Ongoing Legacy of the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy (POCLAD) in Ohio

POCLAD principals Richard Grossman and Jane Anne Morris came to Ohio in 1996 to conduct a "Rethinking the Corporation, Rethinking Democracy" workshop on the history and current manifestations of corporate rule. It was one of dozens of "Rethinks" facilitated by them and others in POCLAD over several years across the country. The Ohio Rethink led to publications and audiovisuals on the history of the relationship of corporations and democracy in the state -- as well as talks, articles, our own in-state version of a Rethink workshop, several state-wide coordinated local actions and projects, and regulator phone and email coordination and communication.

The original Ohio Rethink has also paved the way 16 years later for the current education and organization in many communities to promote a 28th amendment to the  U.S. Constitution as proposed by the national Move to Amend (MTA) coalition calling for an end to the legaldoctrines that corporations possess constitutional rights and that money spent in elections is equivalent to First Amendment free speech. The MTA amendment  would certainly include reversing the Citizens United vs FEC decision of 2010 but goes much further.

Many campaigns across Ohio are underway at the local level, inspired by POCLAD's work over the years, to pressure city councils to pass a resolution calling for a Move to Amend like resolution or, better, to place the issue on the ballot for direct voter consideration. The latter istricky since conventional "resolutions" can't appear directly on ballots under state law unless there is an included provision calling for the creation of a new or amendment to an existing local law. This makes citizeninitiative campaigns, which bypasses councils altogether, challenging.

Three Ohio cities have already passed resolutions calling for a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United…if not more.  More than a dozen other communities are working to pass complete MTA resolutions in their councils. Additionally, two Cleveland suburbs, Newburgh Heights and Brecksville, are pursuing strategies to put these issues directly before voters this November. To get around the local law hurdle, Newburgh Heights calls for the creation of a Mayor's Task Force (the Mayor personally knew Richard Grossman) that would meet 10 times over the next year to examine the influence of corporate expenditures on elections. Meanwhile, the Brecksville initiative calls for establishing a "Democracy Day" (the term taken from POCLAD principal Peter Kellman's BuildingUnions booklet) each February after every federal election. A public meeting would be held on that day to take public testimony, including from the Mayor and council, on the impact of political spending by corporations, unions, PACs and SuperPACs on their community.

What started out as "far out" concepts and strategies by POCLAD in Ohio (and certainly elsewhere) has in less than a generation become much more normal vernacular and respected — if not essential — work. Richard and others in POCLAD used to say our first goal was not to change the politics or constitution but to change the culture. Once the waypeople think shifts, changing politicians, laws, rules and constitutions will follow. Our work in Ohio, while certainly seeking to pass resolutions and citizen initiatives is nice and great for morale, essentially seeks primarily to alter the way we think about who we are and the rights and powers we should possess over those of corporations and money.

Ward Morehouse

Ward Morehouse
1929-2012

Ward Morehouse, co-founder of the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy (POCLAD), died suddenly on June 30 swimming laps, one of his favorite activities. He was 83. His death comes less than nine months after POCLAD's other co-founder, Richard Grossman, passed away.

Though Ward was a co-founder of POCLAD, I always felt he was the "grandfather" among us — wise, supportive, gentle, and humble. He contributed to our POCLAD collective a unique and diverse political perspective born from his direct experiences with people and conditions outside the U.S. His discussion of corporate rule and strategies to create genuine democracy through the lens of the Bhopal tragedy humanized my understanding of the global reach of corporate power and the need for fundamental change. It also helped me realize our kinship with others suffering harms from corporate rule as well as the various forms of resistance and movements for real democracy taking place globally.

I knew very little of Ward's immense knowledge and experiences until spending time driving him around Ohio on a speaking tour about a dozen years ago. He was as humorous as he was intelligent, interested in me personally as he was in conditions of the world. Ward was never afraid to show his emotions -- whether it was the love of his family (including his dog Buster), of us fellow "POCLADistas" (his word) or those in his many other circles. I will always cherish his insights and opportunity to support him as he supported me through some mutually trying times.

Ward was not the boastful sort. His disarming manner, firm convictions, and vast and diverse knowledge made him a compelling orator. His "communication" skills had another dimension — APEX Press— which he founded. Along with our newsletter, By What Authority, several of POCLAD's most important resources that were produced by APEX were the central vehicles for sharing outward the ideas and strategies generated by our small little collective which have ended up having a disproportionate influence in our nation.

Ward sometimes looked more than slightly disheveled, as his shirts were often untucked, shoes untied, shirt pocket overflowing with pens, and papers and folders on multiple issues and projects stashed into bags of all sorts. Yet his mind and body were always focused on kindness, service and fundamental social change.

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To read other reflections from "POCLADistas" about Ward, go to http://poclad.org/BWA/2012/BWA_2012_July.html

Declaration of Independence from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)

What gall. How incredibly brazen. Of all days.

Today, July 2, is the first day of an 8 day gathering of over 600 pro-corporate representatives from a dozen nations in San Diego. Their goal is to push for a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a pro-corporate globalization treaty that if passed, would cede American sovereignty of land and law to corporations.
TPP negotiators are considering a dispute resolution process that would grant transnational corporations special rights to challenge countries’ laws, regulations and court decisions in international tribunals that usurp domestic judicial systems.

TPP: Direct from the San Diego Negotiations: Last Chance to Save Democracy
http://www.opednews.com/articles/TPP-Direct-From-the-San-D-by-Brett-Redmayne-Tit-120701-196.html

So much for self-governance. Self-determination. Democracy.

Of all days.

Today, July 2, is the anniversary of the passage of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was signed on July 4 but it was passed by the Continental Congress on July 2.

It's time once more to Declare our Independence from a centralized, undemocratic authority.

Read the article.
Let others know.
Contact your Congressperson and Senators.

MONETARY HISTORY CALENDAR July 2 – 8

JULY 2

1787 – LETTER TO JAMES MADISON FROM GOUVENEUR MORRIS, ONE OF THE PRIMARY ARCHITECTS OF THE US CONSTITUTION

In describing the motives of the owners of the new Bank of North America, Morris stated,

“The rich will strive to establish their dominion and enslave the rest. They always did. They always will…They will have the same effect here as elsewhere, if we do not, by [the power of] government, keep them in their proper spheres.”

1881 – PRESIDENT JAMES A. GARFIELD SHOT. HE DIED 10 WEEKS LATER

"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.”

1890 – SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT BECOMES LAW

The Sherman Act was an attempt to prevent unlawful restraint of trade and commerce and prevent monopolies – including banking monopolies. The Act was more aggressively enforced under President Teddy Roosevelt, including against the corporate practices of JP Morgan, the most powerful banker, if not corporate titan, of the day. In response to this increased enforcement of the Sherman Act and the Hepburn Act, Morgan created a financial panic by having his banks and those he controlled call in loans and refusing to grant new ones. The economic crash of 1907 followed. The “Panic of 1907” was a direct cause for the creation of the Federal Reserve System several years later. 

JULY 4

1826 – DEATH OF JOHN ADAMS, SECOND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

“ All of the perplexities, confusion, and distress in America arises, not from the deflects of the Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation.”

1826 – DEATH OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. . . The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

1892 – ADOPTION OF THE “OMAHA PLATFORM,” FOUNDING DOCUMENT OF THE POPULIST PARTY

“The national power to create money is appropriated to enrich bondholders; a vast public debt payable in legal tender currency has been funded into gold-bearing bonds, thereby adding millions to the burdens of the people…[The two political parties] propose to drown the outcries of a plundered people with the uproar of a sham battle over the tariff, so that capitalists, corporations, national banks, rings, trusts, watered stock, the demonetization of silver and the oppressions of the usurers may all be lost sight of."

PLATFORM

"We demand a national currency, safe, sound, and flexible, issued by the general government only, a full legal tender for all debts, public and private, and that without the use of banking corporations, a just, equitable, and efficient means of distribution direct to the people, at a tax not to exceed 2 per cent per annum, to be provided as set forth in the sub-treasury plan of the Farmers' Alliance, or a better system; also by payments in discharge of its obligations for public improvements….We demand that postal savings banks be established by the government for the safe deposit of the earnings of the people and to facilitate exchange."

JULY 6

1863 – BIRTH OF RICHARD MCKENNA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE MIDLANDS BANK OF ENGLAND

"I am afraid that the ordinary citizen will not like to be told that the banks can and do create and destroy money.  And they who control the credit of a nation direct the policy of governments, and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people."

JULY 7

1896 – REMARKS OF WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN BEFORE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION, CHICAGO, IL (BRYAN WAS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT)

"We say in our platform that we believe that the right to coin money and issue money is a function of government…Those who are opposed to the proposition tell us that the issue of paper money is a function of the bank and that the government ought to go out of the banking business.  I stand with Jefferson...and tell them, as he did, that the issue of money is a function of the government and that the banks should go out of the governing business...When we have restored the money of the Constitution, all other necessary reforms will be possible, and ... until that is done there is no reform that can be accomplished."

1947 – DEATH OF HENRY FORD, INDUSTRIALIST, FOUNDER, FORD MOTOR COMPANY

"It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."

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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 Radical Supreme Court

Among the next changes needed constitutionally after eliminating corporate personhood and money is speech is making the Supremes somehow, someway accountable to somebody. Maybe term limits of 12 years. Or increasing the power of Congress to reverse decisions by a super majority of some kind. They simply have too much power -- and have been venturing into realms not before entered.
The Radical Supreme Court
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/opinion/sunday/the-radical-supreme-court.html?_r=1&emc=eta1