Heads or Tails, Wall Street Wins: Saving Our Pensions From The Casino

Posted on November 6, 2026 by Ellen Brown

“Most billionaires don’t park their money in making more businesses. They park their money in the stock market. That is not meaningfully investing in opportunity, it’s just investing in other billionaires.” So said Abdul El-Sayed, U.S. Senator-elect from Michigan. He said that he would rather “have an economy that makes a thousand millionaires than one billionaire,” and that money that would otherwise go into the S&P 500 should go instead to “good schools, good infrastructure, health care, child care.”

It’s a laudable sentiment, but those thousand millionaires would probably still be parking their money in investments designed to make more money without producing anything. When an investor buys Nvidia shares on the stock market, the money goes to whoever sold the shares, not to Nvidia. A company gets new capital only when it issues new stock. The profits from stock market trades go either to the buyer or the seller, depending on which way the penny falls. And it’s not just the billionaires and millionaires playing those financial markets. Our household savings, corporate funds and pension funds are gambling there as well.

State and local pension funds hold $6.2 trillion, more than a fifth of the GDP of the U.S. economy. That massive pool of money is not building housing, infrastructure or local businesses. It is parked in Wall Street’s casino, bidding up the price of existing assets, while asset managers collect their fees whether the pension funds win or lose. And many pundits are predicting an imminent market crash, in which the funds will lose big.

Worse, the returns to the pension funds are no better than they could get from a simple index fund without incurring outside management fees, and sometimes they are worse. Meanwhile, the nation’s only state-owned bank, the Bank of North Dakota, earned a 17.2% return on its capital in 2025 while lending into its state’s own economy, and paid $258 million of its profits back to the state. North Dakota’s money is safe, earning, and invested in local productivity.

The House Always Wins

“Everything feels like a casino,” said UK financial commentator Anna Bocca in a March 2026 video titled “How Financialisation Rewired the Economy.” “Financialization” is the process by which financial markets and institutions have gained growing influence over economic policy and investing, shifting the focus from making physical goods and services to using money to make more money. The “house” in today’s financial casino is the asset manager collecting our pension money – Bocca names BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard – and the house wins even when the pensioners lose.

Consider New York City. Its five pension funds held $326.3 billion as of June 30, 2026. The city pays about $10 billion a year into them, even as it struggles to close a projected $5.4 billion budget deficit. What does the city get for its money? In 2015, then-Comptroller Scott Stringer examined ten years of results from the asset managers running the city’s pension funds. Managers of public stocks and bonds had beaten their benchmarks (the returns the same money would have earned in a standard market index such as the S&P 500) by $2.063 billion. But that was before deducting the managers’ fees. The fees consumed more than 95% of the gain, leaving the funds only an estimated $40 million ahead. Managers of the funds’ private investments (stakes in assets not traded on public exchanges, such as private equity and real estate funds) fell $2.6 billion short of their benchmarks after fees. Overall, the outside managers fell more than $2.5 billion dollars short of benchmark returns over the ten year period. The pension funds would have done better in plain index funds. “Right now, heads or tails, Wall Street wins,” Stringer said.

Stringer’s study was cited by Scott Baker, managing editor at OpEdNews and a Public Banking Institute expert on pension funds, in a November 2025 article titled “The Case for Selling off the New York City Pension Funds.” Baker asks, “Why do we need pension funds at all?” More on his answer after a look at pension fund financing as it has evolved over the last half-century.

How Our Pensions Got into the Casino

The evolution of pension fund financing was traced in a July 2025 report from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and other sponsors titled “From Public Pensions to Private Fortunes: How Working People’s Retirements Line Billionaire Pockets.” The authors observed that before 1980, state and local pension funds were often treated as a “pay as you go” system: a portion of current employee premiums was used to pay benefits to retirees, similar to Social Security. Then a new “actuarial” accounting approach began treating any shortfall between a fund’s assets and its future obligations as an “unfunded” liability. The pressure to close that apparent gap “drove an unprecedented accumulation of assets” – money-producing investments such as stocks, bonds, real estate and stakes in private equity. Between 1980 and 2007, state and local pension assets grew from $183 billion to $3.2 trillion, from 6% to 23% of GDP. By 2024, they stood at $6.2 trillion (an equivalent percentage of GDP, which had also grown).

Tom Sgouros, a public finance consultant, former senior policy advisor to the Rhode Island General Treasurer and fellow at Brown University’s Policy Lab, has questioned the need for this accumulation of financial assets at the expense of productive investment. In a 2022 report for the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, he pointed out that a public pension plan, unlike a private one, “need not worry about the disappearance of its sponsoring employer,” in this case the city. Cities can go bankrupt, but they will always be there. A new government will just replace the old one.

Until the 1960s, according to a November 2024 housing report co-authored by Sgouros for Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) and Georgetown University, it was “unremarkable” for pension funds to invest in state and local government bonds. Today, however, it is rare. Most municipal bonds are tax-exempt and pay lower interest rates than corporate bonds; and pension funds, which pay no taxes, get no benefit from the tax break. The older arrangement, which Sgouros calls “fiscal mutualism,” meant that public workers’ savings financed public needs: their pension funds lent to their own cities and states for schools and other projects, and were paid back with interest. This mutually beneficial arrangement unraveled when pension funds began chasing higher yields in corporate bonds, forcing local governments to borrow on the open market at higher rates and fees.

Meanwhile, most private sector workers have lost their guaranteed pensions altogether. According to a March 2026 Congressional Research Service report, only 14% of private sector workers had access in 2025 to a “defined benefit” pension (one that guarantees a set monthly payment for life, usually based on salary and years of service), compared to 70% with access to a “defined contribution” plan such as a 401(k), whose value rises and falls with the markets.

“Patsies for the Private Equity Industry”

According to Reason Foundation data, in 2001 public pension funds held 57.7% of their assets in publicly-traded stocks, 31.4% in bonds, and 9% in “alternatives” — private equity, hedge funds, real estate and commodities. By fiscal year 2024, 34% of pension fund investments were in the alternatives, which carry significantly more costs and risks even than the stock market.

Private equity (PE) is particularly risky and controversial. It relies heavily on borrowed money, and investors must commit their money for ten years or more. The management fees are also far higher – typically 2% of asset values plus 20% of profits – and according to the AFT report, “PE managers frequently manipulate reported asset values.” Correcting for these factors, the report concludes, private equity’s “yield advantage is little more than a mirage, facilitated by leverage used for buyouts.”

Yet public pension funds are the biggest backers of the private equity industry. According to the AFT report, public pensions “make up almost a third of all investors to private equity funds and contribute an astonishing 67 percent of their capital.”

PE firms are notorious for the leveraged buyout, described by the AFR housing  report as “using a company’s own assets to finance its takeover by private investors and then looting them after: selling off real estate, closing pension plans, abruptly shuttering less-profitable divisions and major layoffs.” Employment at companies bought by private equity shrinks significantly, and a leveraged buyout can result in bankruptcy. The report points to the devastating collapse of two private equity-owned hospital chains, Steward Health Care and Prospect Medical Holdings.

What do the pension funds get for backing PE firms? In a 2020 study titled “An Inconvenient Fact: Private Equity Returns & The Billionaire Factory,” Oxford professor Ludovic Phalippou found that private equity funds “have returned about the same as public equity indices since at least 2006.” Yet the performance fees on funds raised from 2006 to 2015 were estimated at $230 billion. In an interview, Phalippou called it a “wealth transfer from several hundred million pension scheme members to a few thousand people working in private equity,” one that “might be one of the largest in the history of modern finance.”

In an April 2024 podcast, financial journalist Bethany McLean countered the fiction that pension fund managers are sophisticated investors, stating, “They’re just the patsies for the private equity industry.”

Bailing Out the Casino

Privatization, says Bocca, has “shifted all financial risk and reward away from the state and onto the individual pensioner,” while funneling trillions of dollars into the hands of global asset managers. BlackRock alone now manages a record $15.3 trillion.

Bocca describes the pursuit of shareholder profit over company productivity as “cost cutting instead of long-term innovation, debt loading instead of reinvestment, outsourcing instead of stable employment, stock buybacks instead of wage growth.” When a private equity firm loads a company with debt and it collapses, “it’s often the workers, residents, or taxpayers who end up bearing the consequences.” Asset managers’ fees grow with the size of the pool, not necessarily with its performance; and when markets crash, the losses are absorbed by the pensioners.

A case in point is Blackstone, considered the world’s largest asset manager and the largest landlord in the United States. Blackstone is funded by CalPERS and many other public pension funds. In 2021, it bought 5,600 affordable housing units in San Diego and raised rents by 43% to 65% in two years. “Among the most troubling aspects of the housing crisis,” wrote the authors of the AFR housing report, “is the extent to which workers’ own capital is being used to make it worse.” The pension fund that is supposed to secure a teacher’s retirement may be financing the landlord raising her rent.

The asset managers’ fastest growing product is private credit — loans made directly to companies by investment funds rather than banks. According to the AFT report, private credit loans “are not regulated and not covered by securities laws or even rated,” and private credit “also relies heavily on public pensions.” It is now seeing rising defaults on its loans, which are often to companies owned by PE firms. Yet an August 2025 executive order directed regulators to ease the way for private equity and other alternative assets to be included in 401(k) plans.

When the whole casino is in trouble, the public again bails it out. When markets froze in March 2020, the Federal Reserve hired BlackRock to manage its new corporate debt-buying programs. The flood of central bank money lifted asset prices, and those who owned the most assets gained the most. According to Oxfam, billionaires’ wealth rose more in the first 24 months of Covid-19 than in the previous 23 years combined. “Investors keep the upside,” says Bocca. “Society absorbs the downside.” Today, Moneywise reports, the U.S. has a record 989 billionaires, and the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a record $8 trillion, up from $6.6 trillion a year earlier.

A Better Way: Pay As You Go, and a Public Bank

Scott Baker’s proposal for New York City is to get out of the money-making-money business altogether. The city could guarantee retirees their current benefits plus annual cost-of-living increases, and pay them as Social Security does, from current revenues. It could lay off the outside investment managers and sell off the fund assets gradually over about five years. Part of the proceeds could pay down city debt, immediately raising the city’s credit rating and lowering borrowing costs. The rest could capitalize a public bank. Baker envisions a bank with about $50 billion in deposits, lending to local small businesses and individuals that large commercial banks pass over.

The stellar U.S. model is the Bank of North Dakota (BND), founded in 1919. By law, state funds are deposited in the BND, which uses them to back loans into the state, mostly in partnership with local banks. As noted above, BND earned net income of $231.8 million in 2025 – a 17.2% return – and paid $210 million into the state’s general fund and another $48.3 million to other state funds. There is no house taking a cut.

Momentum for public banks is building around the country, as detailed at a Public Banking Institute conference in Philadelphia on October 22-24. In Washington State and New Mexico, enthusiastic support for public bank bills followed presentations earlier this year by BND president Don Morgan on the mechanics and benefits of the BND. City-owned banks are also in the works. On October 21, the Los Angeles City Council voted 11 to 3 to identify $460,000 for a feasibility study for a city-owned bank; and on November 3, two other California cities voted on public bank initiatives. San Francisco’s Proposition B would create a municipal finance corporation as the first step toward a city-owned public bank, and Berkeley voters will decide on a citizen-initiated parcel tax that would raise $58 million over six years to capitalize a public bank. Neither vote had been called as of November 5; California can take up to 30 days to finalize votes.

In Philadelphia, where the City Council voted in 2022 to create a Public Financial Authority as a first step toward a public bank, advocates are pushing “Project Beloved Community,” a ten-year plan that includes a city public bank and proposes investing city pension funds in local housing, clean energy and community-owned businesses. In New York City, Mayor Mamdani and Comptroller Levine have begun moving city deposits to community lenders, a first step while advocates press Albany to pass the New York Public Banking Act. And at the national level, The National Infrastructure Bank Act,  HR 5356, now has 65 co-sponsors.

The money is already ours — our pension contributions, our tax dollars and our public deposits. Rather than handing it to a casino where the house always wins and the pensioners absorb the losses, we can put it to work building homes, businesses and infrastructure in our own communities, and keep the profits for ourselves.

____________

This article was first posted as an original to ScheerPost.com. Ellen Brown is an attorney, founder of the Public Banking Institute, and author of thirteen books including Web of Debt, The Public Bank Solution, and Banking on the People: Democratizing Money in the Digital Age. Her 500+ blog articles are posted at EllenBrown.com.

Filed under: Ellen Brown Articles/Commentary | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , |

«

Leave a Reply

  • PRN.FM Radio Show, 3pm EST Wednesdays. Click image for archives.

  • Enter your email address to receive new posts by email.

    Join 9,767 other subscribers

  • Interviews/Speaking Engagements

    — 2026

    1204. Oct. 22-24, speaker, Public Banking Institute conference, “Public Banking for Public Prosperity,” Friends Center, Philadelphia, PA

    1203. Aug. 10, Interview with Earl Staelin on Kevin Barrett’s Truth Jihad Radio, “Can Public Banking Solve AI? and End War?”

    1202. May 12, Interview with Jim Hogue, House at Pooh Corner

    1201. Jan. 11, Sabby Sabs youtube podcast hosted by Sabrina Salvati, “The Truth About Banking,” with Earl Staelin

    — 2025

    1200. Aug. 24, interview with Randy Voller, “On the Porch” (radio)

    1199. Aug. 10, interview with Elisa Barwick, Australian Citizens Party, “Return the power of banking to the people.”  

    1198. July 31, 11 am est, speaker, Capital Institute Monthly Discovery Dialogues

    1197. May 29, 5 pm pst, speaker, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar.

    1. Apr. 23, 1 pm EDT, Panel with Prof. Robert Hockett, “From Speculation to Sustainability: Reclaiming Finance for People and Planet.”
    1. Mar. 27, 5 pm pst: National Infrastructure Bank Will Stop a Recession Dead in Its Tracks! NIB Zoom, March 27, 2025 – YouTube
    1. Mar. 19, 7-8 pm pst, Washingtonians for Public Banking Virtual Town Hall.1193.
    1. Feb. 26, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank: Addressing the Federal Budget Crisis!
    1. Jan. 23, 5 pm pst: No to Austerity! Yes to the National Infrastructure Bank! NIB Zoom Town Hall, January 23, 2025

    — 2024 —

    1191. Dec. 10, 9 am EST, interview with Dave Krieger (former host of the Power Hour)

    1190. Nov. 21, 5 pm pst, 11-21 National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar.

    1189. Oct. 30, 1:30 pm EST, Bretton Woods 90th Anniversary Commemoration, “The Public Banking Mandate,” power point by zoom.

    1188. Aug. 15, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar.

    1187. June 18, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar presentation.

    1186. May 22, 6 pm pst, powerpoint for Washingtonians for Public Banking, “The Past, Present and Future of Public Banking”

    1185. Apr. 25, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar presentation.

    1184. Mar. 21, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar presentation.

    1183. Mar. 10, 4 pm PST, speaker, Voices for New Democracy online forum.

    1182. Feb. 29, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar.

    1181. Feb.2-5, speaker, Restore Freedom Rally 2024, Freedom Law School, Orlando, FL. 10% discount code, EB10.

    1180. Jan 18, 5 pm pst, power point presentation, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar.

    1179. Jan. 13, 5 pm EST, video interview with Firebreathin’ Bob.

    — 2023 —

    1178. 12-21-23, 1 pm, GlobalResearch News Hour, tribute to Stephen Lendman.

    1177. 12-14-23, 5 pm PST, webinar presentation, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition.

    1176. 10-22-23, 10:45 am, speaker, The Weston A. Price Foundation’s 23rd Annual Conference, Kansas City, Missouri.

    1175. 10-19-23, The Final Banking Solution, with Simon Thorpe and Colin Maxwell on The Vinny Eastwood Show, YouTube, Australia.

    1174. 8-22-23, 10 am, Claremont, CA, Cobb Institute Center for Process, power point presentation: “Restoring Prosperity with a Financial Transaction Tax and Publicly Owned Banks.“ Zoom link is here.

    1173. 6-15-23, NIB Zoom town hall, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition.

    1172. 5-22-23: Radio interview, 9:30 am est, The Power Hour.

    1171. 5-17-23: TV interview, CGTN America, Global Business: “Banking industry in hot seat during Congressional hearings.”

    1170. Apr 27, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar, “How to Build the Nation: National Banking vs. Privatization”

    1169. Apr 23, interview on World Stage with Bruce De Torres, TNT Radio

    1168. 4-17-23, 9 am pst, interview with Prof. Richard Wolff, “Economic Update.”

    1167. 4-8 & 4-9, 9 am est, radio interview with Dr. Elaina George, “Medicine on Call.”

    1166. 4-8-23, noon pst, radio interview, Tom Quinn Show, ksco.com.

    1165. 4-6-23, radio interview with Phillip Farruggio, “It’s the Empire, Stupid.”

    1164. 4-4-23, 2 pm edt, NIB Zoom Roundtable, “National Banking in Times of Crisis.”

    1163. Mar. 24 & 25, United for Free Speech Webinar, Think Local, Ireland.

    1162. 3-23-23, 9 am EST, radio interview, The Power Hour.

    1161. 3-19-23, Interview with James Corbett, “Alternative Solutions to the Banking Crisis.”

    1160. 3-16-23, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition Town Hall, “Restructuring the American Workforce in a Time of Financial and Economic Turbulence.”

    1159. 3-14-23, 5 pm EST, Living In The Solution with Dr. Elaina George

    1158. 3-9-23, 8 am PST, Sarah Westall, podcast

    1157. 3-2-23, 11 am EST, The Gary Null Show, PRN.live.

    1156. 2-25-23, 15:00-17:00 GMT (Ireland), Think Local Conference 2023, Panel 3 – Money & Economics – New Paradigms

    1155. 2-16-23, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition, “Washington, Hamilton, Lincoln: National Banking and the Economic Demands of Today’s Crisis,” NIB Zoom Town Hall

    1154. 1-19-23, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition, “National Banking Will Drive a U.S. Economic Boom!” NIB Zoom Town Hall

    — 2022 —

    1153. 12-15-22: 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Town Hall presentation.

    1152. 11-17-22: NIB Zoom Town Hall, “The Next Steps: The American System and the National Infrastructure Bank.”

    1151. 10-19-22: NIB Zoom Town Hall, “Rebuild the Nation with a New Reconstruction Finance Corporation.”

    1150. 10-8-22: 18th Annual AMI Monetary Reform Conference, 2022 “The Monetary Scene: The Last Three Years,” power point presentation.

    1149. 9-8-22, 5 pm pst: NIB Zoom Town Hall, “US at the Crossroads: American Industrial Recovery or Fed Chair Powell’s Recession.”

    1148. 8-11-22, 5 pm, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar.

    1147. 8-2-22, noon pst, interview by Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley, “Powers for the People” podcast (joining Prof. Bob Hockett).

    1146. 8-1-22, 5:50 to 6:10 pm pst, interview with Scott Harris, WPKN Radio in Bridgeport, CT, “Between the Lines.”

    1145. 7-22-22, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar.

    1144. 7-8-22, 5 pm pst, Interview with Kevin Barrett, Truth Jihad Radio.

    1143. 6-30-22, 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar with Prof. Robert Hockett, Sen. Bob Hasegawa, et al.

    1142. 6-16-22: National Infrastructure Bank Coalition webinar on stagflation with Nomi Prins, Robert Hockett, et al.

    1141. 6-10-22: TNT radio interview with Sen. Malcolm Roberts, Australia.

    1140. 5-19-22: 5 pm pst, National Infrastructure Bank town hall presentation. https://www.nibcoalition.com/all-videos

    1139. 5-17-22: 11 am pst, interview, Kerry Lutz’s Financial Survival Network.

    1138. Apr. 22, 5 pm cst, interview, The Hrvoje Morić Show, TNT Radio

    1137. Apr. 22, 11 am est, Gary Null Show, PRN Live

    1136. Apr. 20, 7 pm cst, webinar, “Public Banking: Investing in Colorado!,” Colorado Public Banking Coalition

    1135. 4-19, 9 am pst, interview with Simone Mariam for the Italian blog MittDolcino

    1134. Apr. 19, 12:30 pm pst, interview with Jay Taylor, “A PetroRuble Now Competes with the PetroDollar”, Jay Taylor Media

    1133. Apr. 15, Interview with Kristina Borjesson, The Whistleblower Newsroom, bitchute, “History Informs a Reset That Could Serve the People”

    1132. Apr. 8, Interview with Kevin Barrett, Truth Jihad Radio, 5 pm pst

    1131. Apr. 6, Podcast with Bob Scheer, ScheerPost.com

    1130. Mar. 31, Power Point presentation on youtube, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Invita: Debates Ensayos de Economia Coordina: Guillermo Maya — Profesor adscrito al Departamento de Economia

    1129. Mar. 10, Webinar presentation, “Stop Inflation in Its Tracks! Role of the National Infrastructure Bank”

    1128. Feb. 17, Webinar presentation for National Infrastructure Bank Coalition, Abraham Lincoln and the American System of Economics

    — 2021 —

    1127. Dec. 18, Daniel Estulin and Ellen Brown on Global Economic Implosion, Kevin Barrett Truth Jihad

    1126. Dec. 7, Interview with Daniel Estulin

    1125. Nov. 27, “The Greening of Finance and the Global PPP Land Grab” with Matt Ehret on youtube

    1124. Sep. 29, interview with Jan Roberts of Systems Change Advocate,  jroberts@ciaction.org> linkedin.com/in/jan-roberts-0001688  Systems Change Advocate 

    1123. Aug. 30, Center for Global Justice webinar with Walt McRee, “Public Banking: Democratizing Finance”

    1122. July 28, 5 pm pst, webinar, “Public Banks: A Path to Economic Transformation in California,” EcoCiv Dialogues for Global Systems Change series

    1121. July 22, 5 pm pst, webinar, “The Truth about America’s Monetary System,” American Ethical Union National Conference

    1120. Mar. 29, 2 pm est, panel hosted by Rickey Gard Diamond, “Zoom of Our Own, Creating Currency and Blowing Big Bubbles.”

    1119. Mar. 25, 11 am pst, BoldRethink webinar, TBA

    1118. Mar. 21, 10 am pst, Public Banking panel, TBA

    1117. March 5, Sean Stone interview, Unrig

    1116. March 2, PBI Live Town Hall, Ohio

    1115. Feb. 23, 7 pm est, Eco Justice Collaborative Webinar, “Why the Crises We Face Make Financial Reform Essential,” Religious Society of Friends, Philadelphia

    1114. Feb. 17, 11 am, Steff Overbeck, Pod of Gold radio interview

    1113. Feb. 18, radio interview, Phil Mikan, wlis1420

    1112. Feb. 16, National Infrastructure Bank Coalition Presidents’ Day Webinar 2021 – “National Infrastructure Bank: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”

    1111. Feb. 6, radio interview, Sylvia Richardson, Latin Waves

    1110. Jan. 28, 6 pm est, PBI NY Town Hall

    1109. Jan. 27, “Ellen Brown and Matt Ehret Discuss: A Brief History of Economic Warfare and the American System”, youtube

    1108. Jan. 16, 11 am cst, Warner Lewis, Lewis at Large (Kansas City), KLWN, 101.7 FM

    1107. Jan. 15, 3-5 pm, Revolution Radio, The Fetzer Report

    1106. Jan. 8, 4 pm PST, zoom power point presentation, Praxis Peace Institute

    — 2020 —

    1105. Dec. 30, 3 pm EST, Eleanor LeCain radio show on PRN

    1104. Dec. 28, 9 pm EST, interview on WPKN Radio with Scott Harris, Between The Lines Radio 

    1103. Dec. 13, Ramola D. Reports, US/UK news panel #11, with Prof. Tim Canova, et al.

    1102. Dec. 12, podcast/radio interview,  Ralph Nader Radio Hour

    1101. Dec. 6, Ramola D. Reports, US/UK news panel #10, with Dr. Christiane Northrup et al.

    1100. Nov. 29, Ramola D. Reports, News Panel 9, with Justin Walker, Andy Kaufmann, John Reizer, Sandi Adams

    1099. Nov. 3, Turning Point Talks, Australia, Zoom power point presentation, 7 pm Australia time

    1098. Nov. 1, 4 pm pst, panel, 2020 Building the New World Conference

    1097. Oct. 26, Phil Mikan Show, WLIS/WMRD Radio, Conn., pre-recorded for Friday at 10 est or Saturday at 9-11 est

    1096. Oct. 22, 1:15 pm EST, power point presentation, “Public Banking, Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and the National Debt,” Carolina Hills Community, Chapel Hill, NC

    1095. October 3, 1:30, “Energizing a Just Transition Conference.”

    1094. Sept. 30, webinar,2020 Building the New World Conference, 4 pm pst/7 pm est

    1093. Sept. 12, San Diego public banking group webinar with Sen. Ben Hueso, 5 pm

    1092. Sept. 9, interview with Meria Heller, 10 am pst

    1091. Aug. 30, interview with Jack Etkin, Citizens Forum,  Community Television, Victoria, BC, 2 pm pst

    1090. Aug. 17, The Power Hour, 10 am PDT.

    1089. July 30, 4 pm PST, John Truman Wolfe Financial Hour

    1088. July 15, 6 pm EST, Connecticut Public Banking Town Hall, livestream here

    1087. July 13, Webinar, Center for Global Justice, “Why Public Banking Needs to Be Run as a Public Utility,” San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 11am-1pm PDT

    1086. Interview with Susan Johnson on public banking for Connecticut, WILI’s Let’s Talk About It Show, 5 pm EST

    1085. Interview on Russia Today, “In Question,”  “BlackRock the Behemoth,” July 2, 2020

    1084. July 1, Bonnie Faulkner interview with Peter Koenig on Guns and Butter

    1083, July 1, 8 am PST, interview with Phillip Farruggio, “It’s the Empire, Stupid,” Greanvillepost.com

    1082. June 29, 9-9:30 pm EST, interview with Scott Harris, “Between the Lines,” WPKN Radio, Conn.

    1081. June 24, 6-6:30 pm EST, interview with Paul DeRienzo, WBAI News, New York City

    1080. June 23, 6:30-8pm MST, Webinar on Forming a New Mexico State Public Bank, Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity

    1o79. June 10, podcast with Kim Iverson, “The Fed and the Big Bank Wealth Heist. Why We Need Public Banking.”

    1078. Interview with Sylvia Richardson, Latin Waves, 10 am PST

    1077. June 5, 6 pm pst, Center for American Studies Town Meeting, Concord, NH, live-streamed

    1076. June 5, 12:30 pm, Public Banking Town Hall for Colorado Leaders, Zoom conference

    1075. May 28, WECAN webinar, “Structuring an Economy for People and Planet in the Time of Climate Crisis and COVID-19,” 11:00 am PST/ 2:00pm EST

    1074. May 22, Interview with Kevin Barrett, Truth Jihad Radio, 5 pm PST

    1073. May 21, Interview with Aaron Wissner, Local Future, Youtube livestream

    1072. May 20, radio interview, “Law and Disorder,” New York City

    1071. May 13, interview with Paul Jay, “Does Public Banking Work?”, The Analysis

    1070. May 10, 12:00-1:00 PM EST, Dr. Elaina George radio show

    1069. May 7, 11 am EST, interview with Phillip Farruggio, “It’s the Empire, Stupid,” Greanvillepost.com

    1068. May 6, Conversations with Rob, community radio, 9 am PST

    1067. Apr 4, interview with Walt McRee and Mark Anielski, The Economics of Wellbeing podcast (pre-recorded, TBA)

    1066. May 2, podcast with Matt Stannard, Cowboys on the Commons

    1065. May 1, Interview with Robert Scheer, Scheer Intelligence, KCRW Los Angeles

    1064. April 30, 12 noon MDT, Public Banking Virtual Town Hall sponsored by Colorado Public Banking Coalition

    1063. April 30, 6-6:30 pm, interview with Paul DeRienzo, WBAI News, New York City

    1062. Apr 29, 1 pm PST, radio interview with Reinette Senum, KVRM, Nevada City, CA (pre-recorded)

    1061. Apr 26, Schiller Institute Online Conference, 3 pm EST

    1060. Apr 26, 6:30 am PST, Morano in the Morning radio talk show

    1059. Apr 21, Interview with Jason Hartman, Creating Wealth Show

    1058. April 13, “Flashpoints,” KPFA, 5:40 pm PST.

    1057. April 9, radio interview with Claudia Cragg, “It’s the Economy,” KGNU Boulder CO, 6 pm MST.

    1056. April 7, “Treasury Takeover?”, podcast interview with Sarah Westall and Harley Schlanger

    1055. March 26, interview with Phillip Farruggio, “It’s the Empire, Stupid,” Greanvillepost.com

    1054. Mar. 17, 7 pm EST, interview with Gary Null, Progressive Commentary Hour

    1053. Feb. 19, radio interview on George Noory’s “Coast to Coast,” 10-12 pm pst.

    1052. Feb. 8, interview with Sylvia Richardson, “Latin Waves” radio podcast.

    1051. Jan. 8, interview with Marcus Ruiz Evans, 1 pm PST

    1050. Jan. 2, interview with Kevin Barrett,  truthjihadradio, 5 pm PST

    — 2019 —

    1049. Dec. 2, Interview with Jeff J. Brown, China Rising Radio

    1048. Nov. 24, 7 pm, presentation sponsored by Agenda for a Prophetic Faith, Claremont Presbyterian Church, Claremont, CA, “Why We Need Public Banks”

    1047. Nov. 24, 11 am, public banking presentation for “Growing Christians” class, Claremont United Methodist Church, Claremont, CA

    1046. Nov. 23, public banking presentation, Pilgrim Place, Claremont, CA

    1045. Nov 16-17, speaker, Soil & Nutrition Conference, Southbridge, MA.

    1044. Nov. 12, interview in New York with Max Keiser, Keiser Report, “Repo Markets and UBI”

    1043. Nov. 6, 5 pm EST, The CivicLab Show with Tom Tresser, live@www.facebook.com/tomtree

    1042. Oct. 23, 11:30 am-1:30 pm, luncheon presentation on public banking, League of Women Voters of San Diego, Tom Ham’s Lighthouse Restaurant, 2150 Harbor Island Dr., San Diego

    1041. Oct. 22, Presentation on public banking, DSA San Diego, Unite Here Union Hall, 2436 Market Street, San Diego, 6-7:30 pm.

    1040. Oct 16-18, keynote speaker, Economics of Happiness conference, Jeonju, South Korea

    1039. Oct. 6, 6 pm pst, interview, Jeff Rense Radio.

    1038. Sept 30, noon EST, radio interview with Pauline Salotti, WUSB, Stony Brook, NY, 90.1 FM, wusb.fm.

    1037. Sept. 26, 7 pm presentation, “Exploding the Myths of Money and Banking,” New Paradigm College, Lake County, CA

    1036. Sept. 20, podcast interview, Silver Doctors

    1035. Sept. 19, 8-9 pm pst, interview, Jeff Rense Radio.

    1034. Interview, Sept. 13 at 5 pm–6 pm on KPFZ, Lake County community Radio, 88.1 FM.

    1033. Sept. 6, Live with Ernest Hancock, 11 am EST (at 2 hour mark on video)

    1032. Aug. 26, interview with Jason Hartman, Creating Wealth Show, 12:00 pm PST.

    1031. Aug. 9, interview with Lauren Steiner, youtube

    1030. July 25, youtube podcast with Sarah Westall, “This is Why China Is Winning”

    1029. July 23, interview with Steve Bhaerman, Wiki Politiki Radio Show, 2 pm pst.

    1028. July 19, interview with Kevin Barrett,  truthjihadradio, 5 pm PST

    1027. July 12, 11 am pst, interview with Annie Esposito and Steve Scalmanini, “Corporations & Democracy,” Mendocino County, CA, www.KZYX.org

    1026. Interview with Crystal Arnold, Money-Wise Women, posted July 10

    1025. July 9, interview with Liz Lane, “It’s the Economy,” KGNU Boulder/Denver/Ft. Collins, 6 pm MDT/8 pm EDT.

    1024. June 23, interview with Mark Anielski, “The Economics of Well-being”

    1023. June 15, interview with Tom Allen, “This Week in Money,” HoweStreet.com

    1022. June 13, Interview with Sinclair Noe, “Financial Review,” MoneyRadio1510.com (pre-recorded)

    1021. June 12, 2 pm, interview on Princeton Community TV, Princeton NJ, “The Public Banking Solution” with Walt McRee

    1020. June 1, interview with Sylvia Richardson, “Latin Waves” radio podcast.

    1019.  Apr. 5, interview with Phillip Watt, healbyhypnosis.com, 3 pm, PT

    1018.  April 3, panel discussion on Green New Deal, BBC World Service, “The Balance”

    1017.  March 28, interview on Thom Hartmann show.

    1016. March 22, interview with Sinclair Noe, Money Radio 1510 

    1015.  March 11, interview with Phillip Farruggio, greanvillepost.com, 11 a.m. EST

    1014.

    1013.  Feb. 9, interview with Sylvia Richardson, Latin Waves, 8 a.m. PT

    1012.  Feb. 8, interview with Kevin Barrett,  truthjihadradio, 6 pm, PST

    1011. Jan. 31, interview with Lee Camp, LeeCampComedySpecial.com

    1010.  Jan. 3, interview with Robert Stark, The Stark Truth with Robert Stark, re The Green New Deal  https://www.starktruthradio.com/?p=8534

    — 2018 —

    1009.  Dec. 17, interview with Scott Harris, WPKN radio, Bridgeport, CT, Between the Lines Radio Newsmagazine, 9:30 ET

    1008. Nov. 2, Interview with Mike Prysner on Real News Network, https://therealnews.com/stories/will-public-banking-free-la-from-wall-street

    1007. Oct. 31, interview on Real News Network, Student Debt Dogs Millenials for a Lifetime and Drags Down the Economy, https://therealnews.com/stories/student-debt-dogs-millennials-for-a-lifetime-and-drags-down-the-economy

    1006. Oct. 22, speaker with Gar Alperovitz at Praxis Peace Institute, “Changing the System: California’s Strategic Role in National Strategic Change,” Sonoma, CA, 276 E. Napa St, Sonoma. 7:00 pm.

    1005. Oct 19-21, Bioneers Conference, panelist on Oct 20, 2:45 pm, Marin Center, San Rafael, CA.997.

    1004. Oct. 18, 350Marin.org, speaking along with Susan Harman, 750 Lindaro Street, San Rafael CA, 6:30pm.

    1003. Oct. 17, video interview with Abby Martin, work in progress.

    1001.  Oct. 11, Interview with Harvey Wasserman, Greenpower and Wellness, prn.fm, KPFK Los Angeles, 2 pm

    1000.  Oct. 9, speaker, State Bank Forum, University of Washington, Kane Hall, 7-9pm http://sdc.wastateleg.org/hasegawa/state-bank/

    999. Oct. 7, panel, Americans for Democratic Action of Southern California Annual Garden Party, 2-5:30 pm, Santa Monica, CA

    998.  Oct. 4, 7:30 pm, Living Economy Salon, panelist, Public Bank LA: “Solutions for Social and Environmental Justice”, 3110 Main St., Annex Building C 2nd Floor, Santa Monica, CA 90405

    997. Oct. 3, interview on Unmediated, podcast of Reader Magazine, episode title: Making Money The Public’s Slave (The Public Banking Solution), 10 a.m.  PT

    996. Oct. 1, radio interview, “The Power Hour,” www.thepowerhour.com, 2 pm

    995. Sept. 28, interview with Sinclair Noe, Money Radio 1510, pre-recorded for a later date

    994.  Sept. 20-22, California Vision 2020 Conference, speaking at 11 am on Sept 20, Sheraton Grand Hotel , Sacramento.

    993.  Sept. 10, interview with Lila Garrett on KPFK, “Connect the Dots”, http://www.kpfk.org/on-air/connect-the-dots/  7. a.m. PT

    992. Sept. 4, interview with Steve Bhaerman, Wikipolitiki Radio, wikipolitiki.com, 2 pm PT

    991. Aug. 31, interview with Kevin Barrett, truthjihadradio. 6 pm PT

    990. Aug. 26, Left Coast Forum, 1:30 pm, Los Angeles Trade Tech

    989. Aug. 22, interview, the Gary Null Show, 9:40 PST

    988. Aug. 14, podcast interview with Sarah Westall, 9 am pst/11 am cst

    987. Aug. 8, interview with Tom Allen, “This Week in Money”, HoweStreet.com

    986.  Aug. 9, interview with Sinclair Noe, Money Radio 1510, pre-recorded for a later date

    985. Aug. 3, 9-10 pm pst, radio interview with True Ott

    984. Aug 2, New York Green Party video livestream,  5 pm PST

    983.  Aug. 1, interview with Elizabeth Dougherty, The Dougherty Report, Newsradio 102.5 WFLA, 3 pm PST

    982. July 21, guest on WakingupinAmerica.com, 6:45 a.m., PDT

    981.  June 28, interview on MONEY RADIO with Sinclair Noe, 11:00 a.m., PST

    980. May 16, “It’s Our Money,” PRN.FM, 3 pm est

    979. May 16, interview with Michael Welch, Global Research, 11 am pst

    978. May 4, First Unitarian Church, Portland, power point presentation, “How Public Banking Would Benefit Portland and Oregon”, 7-9 pm

    977.  April 17, Retirement Lifestyle Advocates radio program, 1 pm PT

    976.  April 13, interview, the Gary Null Show, 9:35 a.m., PT. Subject: The Bayer-Monsanto Merger Is Bad News for the Planet.

    975. April 12 “Mind Over Matters,” KEXP, Seattle, 9 am PT 

    974. April 5, interview with Deb Hobson, KOPN 89.5  Democracy Now! Chautauqua, 4 pm PT

    973. Mar. 10-12, PBI retreat, Loveland, CO

    972.  Mar. 22 interview with Sinclair Noe, The Financial Review, Money Radio 510, 1:30 pm PST

    971.  Mar. 19, Coast to Coast AM radio, 10pm-midnight, PST

    970.  Feb. 28, interview with Ian Trottier, Miami Radio, http://iantrottier.com/, 5:15 pm EST.  Listen here, bit.ly/EllenBrownCA

    969. Jan. 23. 18th National Conference and Global Forum: The Science Business, and Education of Sustainable Infrastructure, Washington DC, panel

    968.  Jan. 20, Interview with Primo Nutmeg https://soundcloud.com/primonutmeg

    967.  Jan. 17, It’s Our Money, 3 pm est–listen here.

    966.  Jan. 17, interview with Valerie Kirkgaard, http://www.wakingupinamerica.com, 2 pm PST

    965.  Jan. 2, Interview withJeff Rense, rense.com, 9 pm PST

    — 2017 and before, see —

    Older Interviews and Presentations

  • Article Archives