On the latest episode of “It’s Our Money,” David Morris, co-founder of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, talks with PBI Chair Walt McRee about how to reclaim the narrative that government can and should work well on our behalf. And Ellen Brown talks with “The Earth Belongs to Everyone” author Alanna Hartzok about how our current method of taxation overlooks a more obvious and fair approach based on land and the Earth itself. Listen here.
Bernie Sanders supporters are flocking to Jill Stein, the presumptive Green Party presidential candidate, with donations to her campaign exploding nearly 1000% after he endorsed Hillary Clinton. Stein salutes Sanders for the progressive populist movement he began and says it is up to her to carry the baton. Can she do it? Critics say her radical policies will not hold up to scrutiny. But supporters say they are just the medicine the economy needs.
Stein goes even further than Sanders on several key issues, and one of them is her economic platform. She has proposed a “Power to the People Plan” that guarantees basic economic human rights, including access to food, water, housing, and utilities; living-wage jobs for every American who needs to work; an improved “Medicare for All” single-payer public health insurance program; tuition-free public education through university level; and the abolition of student debt. She also supports the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall, separating depository banking from speculative investment banking; the breakup of megabanks into smaller banks; federal postal banks to service the unbanked and under-banked; and the formation of publicly-owned banks at the state and local level. Continue reading →
Fifteen years after embarking on its largely ineffective quantitative easing program, Japan appears poised to try the form recommended by Ben Bernanke in his notorious “helicopter money” speech in 2002. The Japanese test case could finally resolve a longstanding dispute between monetarists and money reformers over the economic effects of government-issued money.
When then-Fed Governor Ben Bernanke gave his famous helicopter money speech to the Japanese in 2002, he was talking about something quite different from the quantitative easing they actually got and other central banks later mimicked. Quoting Milton Friedman, he said the government could reverse a deflation simply by printing money and dropping it from helicopters. A gift of free money with no strings attached, it would find its way into the real economy and trigger the demand needed to power productivity and employment. Continue reading →
BREXIT, FREXIT, GREXIT – where’s everybody going? The recent vote in the United Kingdom to get out of the European Union is a telling example of how ill-served citizens in the political/financial union are feeling about their status. Such feeling suggests the potential for contagion with other European nations souring on the control of the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. Ellen talks with a noted international observer Stephen Lendman about this vote and the politics that led up to it and are now playing out.
Matt Stannard reports on another political stage, in NC, where money for local infrastructure depends on compliance with onerous immigration policies. And our What Wall Street Costs America report focuses on the tragic human costs inflicted on Puerto Rico by American hedge funds. Archived here.
California’s “Adult Use of Marijuana Act” (AUMA) is a voter initiative characterized as legalizing marijuana use. But critics warn that it will actually make access more difficult and expensive, squeeze home growers and small farmers out of the market, heighten criminal sanctions for violations, and open the door to patented, genetically modified (GMO) versions that must be purchased year after year.
As detailed in Part I of this article, the health benefits of cannabis are now well established. It is a cheap, natural alternative effective for a broad range of conditions, and the non-psychoactive form known as hemp has thousands of industrial uses. At one time, cannabis was one of the world’s most important crops. There have been no recorded deaths from cannabis overdose in the US, compared to about 30,000 deaths annually from alcohol abuse (not counting auto accidents), and 100,000 deaths annually from prescription drugstaken as directed. Yet cannabis remains a Schedule I controlled substance (“a deadly dangerous drug with no medical use and high potential for abuse”), illegal to be sold or grown in the US.
Powerful corporate interests no doubt had a hand in keeping cannabis off the market. The question now is why they have suddenly gotten on the bandwagon for its legalization. According to an April 2014 article in The Washington Times, the big money behind the recent push for legalization has come, not from a grassroots movement, but from a few very wealthy individuals with links to Big Ag and Big Pharma. Continue reading →
Brexit could trigger a $500 trillion derivatives meltdown, by forcing the EU to allow insolvent member governments and banks to write down debt. Italy is in financial crisis and is already petitioning for that concession. How to avoid collapse of the massive derivatives house of cards? Alternatives are considered.
Sovereign debt – the debt of national governments – has ballooned from $80 trillion to $100 trillion just since 2008. Squeezed governments have been driven to radical austerity measures, privatizing public assets, slashing public services, and downsizing work forces in a futile attempt to balance national budgets. But the debt overhang just continues to grow.
Austerity has been pushed to the limit and hasn’t worked. But default or renegotiating the debt seems to be off the table. Why? Continue reading →
Mayer Rothschild is famously quoted as saying “Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws!” – and so it is. When we look at the distribution of capital, we see that those who control the franchise of creating money through loans and debt rule our world. Ellen speaks with one of the planet’s oldest serving statesmen, Canada’s Paul Hellyer, about the nature of this controlling franchise and about the alternatives still available. Walt McRee speaks with Lisa Cody, a researcher for the Service Employees International Union, who did a landmark study of the outrageous costs Los Angeles has paid private financiers as part of our ongoing series What Wall Street Costs America, and Matt Stannard comments on the increasingly popular idea of providing a basic income to people as one way of balancing the scales against the controlling interests. Archived here.
The war on cannabis that began in the 1930s seems to be coming to an end. Research shows that this natural plant, rather than posing a deadly danger to health, has a wide range of therapeutic benefits. But skeptics question the sudden push for legalization, which is largely funded by wealthy investors linked to Big Ag and Big Pharma.
In April, Pennsylvania became the 24th state to legalize medical cannabis, a form of the plant popularly known as marijuana. That makes nearly half of US states. A major barrier to broader legalization has been the federal law under which all cannabis – even the very useful form known as industrial hemp – is classed as a Schedule I controlled substance that cannot legally be grown in the US. But that classification could change soon. In a letter sent to federal lawmakers in April, the US Drug Enforcement Administration said it plans to release a decision on rescheduling marijuana in the first half of 2016. Continue reading →
California Democratic Party Business and Professional Caucus, Saturday at 6:30 June 18th, at the Long Beach Hyatt Regency Hotel, 200 S. Pine Ave, Long Beach.
Moderator – Ray Bishop, Chair, Business & Professional Caucus, County Small Business Commission, City Commission Industrial Development Authority, Business Owner.
Ellen Brown – Attorney and Founder of the National Public Banking Institute, author of twelve books including “Web of Debt” and “The Public Bank Solution”.
Mike Gatto – California Assemblyman and Attorney, Chair of the Utilities & Commerce Committee, served as Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Chairman of the Privacy & Consumer Protection. Introduced legislation to establish the “rainy day fund” and Co-Authored AB750 to Create Public Banking in California.
John Batiste – Forty Years of Commercial Banking Experience, New York & California. Senior Vice President & Regional Manager specializing in Business & General Banking.
Joel Luxenberg – Entrepreneur and advocate for the JOBS Act legislation. Instrumental in developing innovative alternatives to banking to include an active role in Crowdfunder and Investedin. Served as a founder and shareholder in Venture Capital Funds. Lectured around the world on the impact of EB5 investing and small business entrepreneurship.
Kevin Klowden – Managing Economist, Milken Institute & Director of the California Center. Extensive experience in government affairs and has participated in and hosted events around the world to include the Federal Reserve System & the World Economy. Graduate Degrees from the University of Chicago & London School of Economics.
Barbara Polsky – Attorney and Partner, Manat, Phelps & Phillips, one of the nation’s most prominent Banking Law Firms, founded by Chuck Manatt also a founder of LA Bank and Chair of the Democratic Party, Barbara has extensive experience representing numerous domestic and foreign banks as well as major other financial institutions and is well versed in regulatory and compliance matters and M&A.
Special Guests: Lisa Pinto, Russell Baldwin, Frank Sanitate, Jeffrey Leckich
The Bank of North Dakota started a century ago with the simple goal of service to citizen victims of the Wall Street monopoly. It now inspires the hopes of citizens nationwide, as they struggle to wrest their financial freedom from the same financial masters. Ellen talks with Dr. Rozanne Enerson Junker, who got her doctorate studying how this upstart institution took on the big banks and turned a challenged economy into a financial powerhouse of service to its owners, the people of North Dakota. Rozanne is featured in a documentary called “The Bank of North Dakota,” linked below. Walt McRee then talks with Tom Tresser about a new collaborative book called “Chicago is Not Broke – Funding the City We Deserve” — there’s more money laying around than most citizens know. And Matt Stannard discusses What Wall Street Costs America with a focus on Detroit and Harrison, NJ – yet more victims of the global banking cartels that keep America under the thumb of debt servitude. Listen to the archive here.
In Part II of Rozanne’s interview, played on June 8th’s show, we continue our conversation about the founding factors and functional dimensions of America’s only state-owned public bank. Ellen also discusses block-chain technology with co-host Walt McRee, while this week’s What Wall Street Costs America examines the impact of predatory banking costs on the city of Detroit — Matt Stannard talks with Tom Stevens of “Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management.” Archived here.
Almost 100 years ago, populist politics marched across America in reaction to the same sort of monetary monopoly that is depriving this century’s citizens of their hard-earned assets and wealth. That deprivation has mobilized an angry, fed-up backlash of folks willing to support any candidate who will talk straight and promise real change. Several candidates are rising to the challenge. Ellen talks with Tim Canova, a law professor and Fed expert facing off against Congressional Democratic insider Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in South Florida; out West, a State House Representative candidate Pamela Powers-Hannley runs on a platform calling for a public bank to stave off the deteriorating state economy and using inspiration from 100-years ago; and Matt Stannard talks with the award-winning author David Dayen whose new book Chain of Title reveals how a few plucky citizens pushed back against the Goliath of Wall Street mortgage fraud. Archived here.
“Print the money” has been called crazy talk, but it may be the only sane solution to a $19 trillion federal debt that has doubled in the last 10 years. The solution of Abraham Lincoln and the American colonists can still work today.
“Reckless,” “alarming,” “disastrous,” “swashbuckling,” “playing with fire,” “crazy talk,” “lost in a forest of nonsense”: these are a few of the labels applied by media commentators to Donald Trump’s latest proposal for dealing with the federal debt. On Monday, May 9th, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate said on CNN, “You print the money.” Continue reading →
Despite North Dakota’s collapsing oil market, its state-owned bank continues to report record profits. This article looks at what California, with fifty times North Dakota’s population, could do following that state’s lead.
In November 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the nation’s only state-owned depository bank, was more profitable even than J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. The author attributed this remarkable performance to the state’s oil boom; but the boom has now become an oil bust, yet the BND’s profits continue to climb. Its 2015 Annual Report, published on April 20th, boasted its most profitable year ever. Continue reading →
Ellen’s noted guest Dr. John McMurtry describes capitalism as being in a cancerous stage in which it’s being devoured from within by metastasizing greed and self-interest. He also talks about why the establishment hates Donald Trump. Matt Stannard looks at how the banking cancer has affected Jefferson County, AL, which declared bankruptcy after buying into toxic interest rates swaps from Wall Street salesmen. The antidote: public banks! Show archived here.
You’ve Been Strip Mined! That’s how Ellen’s guest Les Leopold describes what has happened to the constructive role of capital, such as investment in research and development, expansion and improvement of services and industries. He calls it “economic strip-mining” in which capital speculators like hedge funds strip the equity of companies, countries and consumers to feed their insatiable desire for short term profits – outcomes be damned. We also introduce the new national project and campaign called “What Wall Street Costs America” – the start of a national conversation revealing the massive extraction of public dollars by Wall Street interests. And Matt Stannard reviews presidential politics and bank reform on the Public Banking Report. Archived here.
Next up: Prof. John McMurtry on the Trump phenomenon and the Cancer Stage of Capitalism.
Exposing tax dodgers is a worthy endeavor, but the “limited hangout” of the Panama Papers may have less noble ends, dovetailing with the War on Cash and the imminent threat of massive bail-ins of depositor funds.
The bombshell publication of the “Panama Papers,” leaked from a Panama law firm specializing in shell companies, has triggered both outrage and skepticism. In an April 3 article titled “Corporate Media Gatekeepers Protect Western 1% From Panama Leak,” UK blogger Craig Murray writes that the whistleblower no doubt had good intentions; but he made the mistake of leaking his 11.5 million documents to the corporate-controlled Western media, which released only those few documents incriminating opponents of Western financial interests. Continue reading →
Kiss your cash goodbye! The word is that things would be more convenient, crooks would be confounded and diseases might be thwarted if we’d just get rid of filthy currency as the most essential form of personal financial liquidity. Currently circulating in the corridors of world financial powers, it may appear as an enlightened technical step forward to eliminate cash, but is it also a stalking horse for yet another way global bank interests can separate you from your assets? Ellen speaks with renowned author and media figure Stephen Lendman about why this idea is appearing now and what’s happening behind the scenes that’s moving it forward. Also behind the scenes is a huge and stark reality about municipal debt to Wall Street that the Public Banking Institute is targeting in its new project called What Wall Street Costs America. Co-host Walt McRee speaks with PBI’s Matt Stannard on this groundbreaking campaign. Listen here.
Critics have long questioned why violent intervention was necessary in Libya. Hillary Clinton’s recently published emails confirm that it was less about protecting the people from a dictator than about money, banking, and preventing African economic sovereignty.
The brief visit of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Libya in October 2011 was referred to by the media as a “victory lap.” “We came, we saw, he died!” she crowed in a CBS video interview on hearing of the capture and brutal murder of Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi.
But the victory lap, write Scott Shane and Jo Becker in the New York Times, was premature. Libya was relegated to the back burner by the State Department, “as the country dissolved into chaos, leading to a civil war that would destabilize the region, fueling the refugee crisis in Europe and allowing the Islamic State to establish a Libyan haven that the United States is now desperately trying to contain.” Continue reading →
I’m currently in Switzerland, after presentations on public banking in Reykjavik, Iceland; London, UK; Manchester, UK; and Cardiff, Wales. Very interesting and productive trip!
A February 13th seminar on public banking was sponsored by the Dawn Party in Reykjavik. Below is a youtube video of my power point followed by one by Wolfram Morales of the German Sparkassen group. (English begins at 12’35”.)
Iceland is a beautiful country with charming people. They face daunting challenges but have been bold in standing up to the banks, and the spirit is there for a true revolution in banking.
955. Sept. 21-23rd, speaker, The Nexus Conference, http://www.nexusearth.com/conference.html — cryptocurrency/blockchain conference, Aspen CO
954. Aug. 17, interview with Sinclair Noe, Financial Review, moneyradio.com. Listen to podcast here.
953. July 15, Public Banking Forum, with Seattle mayoral candidate Bob Hasegawa and Ellen Brown, UW Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, Kane Hall, UW Campus, 7-9 pm.
952. June 19, interview with Eric Draitser, CounterPunch radio. 6 pm EDT. Podcast here.
951. June 1, interview with Tom Kiely, INN World Report, 7:30 pm Eastern
949. May 24, interview with Michael Rivero on whatreallyhappened.com, 5 pm Central
948. May 17, Interview on Al Jazeera, in which Ellen Brown gives her critique of President Trump’s approach to infrastructure. Part of coverage of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “Infrastructure Week”. Watch it here.
947. May 13, Bring On the Power of a Public Bank for CA: People’s Forum, L.A., 3 pm. Info here. At the beautiful PUENTE Learning Center DTLA in Boyle Heights: https://www.puente.org/locations/
946. May 2, presentation, The Web of Debt and the Deep State: How do we break Free? Info here.
945. May 1, 12:30 pm, The Schilling Show, Charlottesville, VA, http://wina.com/podcasts/the-schilling-show-5117-hour1-tom-garrett-and-ellen-brown/
944. April 29, interview with Ralph Nader, The Ralph Nader Radio Hour, Pacifica Radio Network, ralphnaderradiohour.com
943. April 6, “A Public Option for Banking: A Conversation with Michael Hudson and Ellen Brown,” Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA., 7 pm
942. March 31, “Special event with Ellen Brown, founder of the Public Banking Institute, Boston.” Info here.
941. March 29-30, speaker, “Designing the Next Economy for the People and the Planet,” Babson Executive Conference Center, Boston/Wellesley area, Massachusetts,
940. March 28, interview with Stacy Herbert and Max Keiser on single payer as a replacement for Obamacare, here. 12 noon PDT
939. Feb. 25, 26 interview with Robin Koerner on “Liberty With Love” radio show, 5 pm, ET, listen online here.
938. Feb. 24, interview, The Gary Null Show, noon, EST, listen here.
937. Jan. 18, It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown, PRN, 3 pm EST
936. January 12, interview with Sinclair Noe, Financial Review, moneyradio.com 9:30 a.m. PST
–2016–
935. Dec. 28, Black Tower Radio, 1040 AM WYSL in Rochester, NY, 6:30 PM EST
934. Dec. 21, “It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown,” http://itsourmoney.podbean.com/
933. Dec. 8, Ellen interviews Gar Alperovitz on “It’s Our Money,” http://itsourmoney.podbean.com/.
932. Nov. 17-20, participant, FINTECH retreat in St. Augustine with Hazel Henderson
931. Nov. 9, speaker, “Cannabis Cash & Public Banking,”
Odd Fellows Hall – 575 Pacific Ave., Santa Rosa, CA, 5:30 pm
929. Oct. 30, presentation at Community Forum of the First Universalist Church, Denver
928. Oct. 21, interview with Kevin Barrett, http://truthjihadradio.blogspot.com/, 6 pm PT
927. Sept. 27, presenter on public banking, Ralph
er event, “Breaking Through Power,” Carnegie Institute, Washington DC
926. Sept. 24, interview with Ralph Nader, The Ralph Nader Radio Hour, Pacifica Radio Network, ralphnaderradiohour.com; also noon, PST on KPFK, listen online here.
925. Sept. 14, “It’s Our Money” on PRN, http://itsourmoney.podbean.com/
924. Aug. 25, interview with Richard C. Hoagland on The Other Side of Midnight, www.theothersideofmidnight.com, 12 a.m.-2 a.m Pacific
923. Aug. 25, interview with Fred Smart, www.aunetwork.tv, 9 pm Eastern
922. Aug. 17, “It’s Our Money” on PRN, http://itsourmoney.podbean.com/
921. Aug. 16, interview with Gregg Hunter, USAWatchdog.com, 11:30 a.m. Eastern time
920. Aug. 9, interview with Annie Esposito and Steve Scalmanini on Corporations and Democracy, KZYX, Mendocino, CA, 1:30 pm Pacific
919. June 24, interview with Gordon Long, gordontlong.com, 9 a.m., PDT
918. May 25, interview with Phil Watt, “The Conscious Society” Youtube channel, 6 pm, pst
917. May 19, interview with Brian Greenberg, WNJC, Philadelphia, 5 pm EDT
916. April 26, interview with Jay Taylor, VoiceAmerica, 3:30 pm Pacific time
915. April 12, interview, The Gary Null Show, 4 pm Pacific
914. April 7, speaker, 11th annual Sustainability Enterprise Conference (SEC), Sonoma, CA
913. Interview with Dennis Bernstein, Flashpoints, KPFA, Berkley. Listen to archive here.
912. March 22, interview with Jay Taylor, VoiceAmerica, 12:25 Pacific time. Listen to archive here.
911. March 22, interview with Tom Kiely, INN World Report, 3 pm PDT
910. March 22, interview with Martin and Lois Griffiths, Earthwise, NZ Community Radio, Christchurch, NZ 2 pm PDT Listen to podcast here.
909. March 21, interview with Paul J. Malikowski, KCKQ 1180. Reno, NV, 2 pm PDT
908. March 18, interview with Kevin Barrett, http://truthjihadradio.blogspot.com/, 5 pm PDT
907. March 18, interview with John Wells, http://caravantomidnight.com/radio/, 11 am Central
906. March 17, interview with John Loeffler, Steel on Steel radio show (steelonsteel.com), 10 a.m. PDT (pre-recorded)
905. March 17, interview with
Dennis Tubbergen, host of “The Everything Financial Radio Program”, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Pacific time
904. March 1, interview with Brian Greenberg, WNJC, Philadelphia, 5:25 PDT
903. March 14, Interview with Jim Hogue, http://www.wgdr.org/house-at-pooh-corner/, WGDR, Plainfield, VT, 7 a.m. PST
902. March 14, interview on The Moneywise Guys, KERN-FM 96.1, Bakersfield, CA, 11:00 a.m., PST
901. March 10, interview on The Bev Smith Show, http://tunein.com/radio/The-Bev-Smith-Show-p49679/, Atlanta Georgia. 7:15 pm EDT
900. Wed., Feb. 24, public banking presentation in Cardiff, Wales. Get info and tickets here.
898. Feb. 18, interview with Richie Allen, Manchester, England, http://richieallenshow.com/. Fab Radio 2, TRE, ACR. Also live-streamed on davidicke.com. 9 pm GMT
Listen here.
897. Wed., Feb. 17, presentation on public banking at Royal Society of Arts, 8 John Adam Street, London, 1 pm
896. Feb 13, public banking presentation in Reykjavík, Iceland http://nordichouse.is/is/event/fundur-um-samfelagsbanka-streymi/
895. Mon., Feb. 8, interview, MaxKeiser.com, London
894. Feb. 4, interview with Dennis Tubbergen, The Everything Financial Radio Program, 10:30 EST
California Democratic Party Business and Professional Caucus, Saturday at 6:30 June 18th, at the Long Beach Hyatt Regency Hotel, 200 S. Pine Ave, Long Beach.
You’ve Been Strip Mined! That’s how Ellen’s guest Les Leopold describes what has happened to the constructive role of capital, such as investment in research and development, expansion and improvement of services and industries. He calls it “economic strip-mining” in which capital speculators like hedge funds strip the equity of companies, countries and consumers to feed their insatiable desire for short term profits – outcomes be damned. We also introduce the new national project and campaign called “What Wall Street Costs America” – the start of a national conversation revealing the massive extraction of public dollars by Wall Street interests. And Matt Stannard reviews presidential politics and bank reform on the Public Banking Report. Archived 
Kiss your cash goodbye! The word is that things would be more convenient, crooks would be confounded and diseases might be thwarted if we’d just get rid of filthy currency as the most essential form of personal financial liquidity. Currently circulating in the corridors of world financial powers, it may appear as an enlightened technical step forward to eliminate cash, but is it also a stalking horse for yet another way global bank interests can separate you from your assets? Ellen speaks with renowned author and media figure Stephen Lendman about why this idea is appearing now and what’s happening behind the scenes that’s moving it forward. Also behind the scenes is a huge and stark reality about municipal debt to Wall Street that the Public Banking Institute is targeting in its new project called What Wall Street Costs America. Co-host Walt McRee speaks with PBI’s Matt Stannard on this groundbreaking campaign. 
Can Jill Carry Bernie’s Baton? A Look at the Green Candidate’s Radical Funding Solution
Bernie Sanders supporters are flocking to Jill Stein, the presumptive Green Party presidential candidate, with donations to her campaign exploding nearly 1000% after he endorsed Hillary Clinton. Stein salutes Sanders for the progressive populist movement he began and says it is up to her to carry the baton. Can she do it? Critics say her radical policies will not hold up to scrutiny. But supporters say they are just the medicine the economy needs.
Stein goes even further than Sanders on several key issues, and one of them is her economic platform. She has proposed a “Power to the People Plan” that guarantees basic economic human rights, including access to food, water, housing, and utilities; living-wage jobs for every American who needs to work; an improved “Medicare for All” single-payer public health insurance program; tuition-free public education through university level; and the abolition of student debt. She also supports the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall, separating depository banking from speculative investment banking; the breakup of megabanks into smaller banks; federal postal banks to service the unbanked and under-banked; and the formation of publicly-owned banks at the state and local level. Continue reading →
Filed under: Ellen Brown Articles/Commentary | Tagged: Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, populist revolution, public banking, quantitative easing, student debt | 40 Comments »