Ellen Brown was on the Progressive Radio News Hour with Stephen Lendman on January 26, 2014, and here were some of the highlights:
– Her candidacy for Treasurer of California, where she intends to invest $75 billion of public funds in a public bank, instead of speculative Wall Street investments.
– The third annual Public Banking Institute conference to be held in Detroit in 2014
– Costa Rica’s banking system 80% publicly owned (Ed. They were ranked 53th most economically free out of 178 countries in the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, ahead of Mexico and France).
– California governor Jerry Brown shocked at banks making 10 times the principal off of loans, regulated it down to four times the amount — still too high!
– The Bank of North Dakota the only publicly-owned deposit bank in the U.S. that serves the people
– Credit card companies making 2% off of purchases, and until recently, State laws prohibited retailers from charging a lower price for cash purchases.
– Her support for a new Bill of Rights to provide for housing, basic health care, etc. (This is one of the few points I disagree with her)
hskiprob,
I have an unusual situation (I hope it’s unusual) whereby I bought 2.5 acres of land with the intention of moving my RV up here and saving money until I could purchase a house.
Before I bought the land I called the power company (Arkansas Valley Electric) to see if they would run the power down to my place because it is situated 1/4 mile from an already installed power pole. I complied with the statement from that lady thinking I would have electricity, but on the day of closing they notified me that they wouldn’t run the power to me after all UNLESS I would jump thru more hoops for their entertainment…(and it wasn’t because I owed them money). I refused.
I couldn’t leave because I was afraid of vandalism and so I’ve been living up here for 9 months now running off of a generator (my 3rd one) and between the cost of the generators and the fuel and oil and maintenance to run them, I have wasted almost $20k…that’s right…20 THOUSAND DOLLARS in 9 months…all up in smoke. Money that could have gone to local contractors to install a lawn, a small aquaponic (fish and vegetable growing) system, a driveway…and a nice start on saving the money for the house. As it stands now, the money is wasted on the oil companies and no one locally has benefitted at all.
I was talking to a PRIVATE banker a while ago and he said that he could help with a personal loan for roughly $9k at a 9% to 13% interest rate…I thought JFC…I could do better with a loan shark!!!
So…here you have a State chartered electric utility (a non-profit at that) and a nationally chartered PRIVATE bank (Regions) stopping local economic activity and wasting it on the big international oil companies. WTF?
I’ll opt for the Ellen Brown model ANYDAY!!
Thankyou,
jerry bolduc
jerry bolduc. – We think that because this is the way it is, this is the way it is supposed to be, and therefore we try to come up with ideas to improved our current situation. The reason that we are in such a poor period of socio-economics, is that we have instituted way to much taxation and regulation into our society. I cannot go into the issues because it requires extensive writing but a very good book “How Capitalism Saved America, by Professor Thomas DiLorenzo provides exhaustive analysis and historical evidence of the many points. What the book also points out is the attacks by anti-capitalists over the 120 years and the myths and yellow journalism used to gain public favor and institute the various laws stifling our economy today. I think it will make any intellectually honest progressive, rethink their political ideology. It is the dishonest ones that we should fear and be cognizant of. The idea that socialism can correct/cure capitalist problems has not be found to be true in almost all situations. Socialism has always been a trick used by the ruling oligarchy to get the Citizens to hand over their money to government so that they can skim off the top of the money in the treasury.
The reason why I told that story was to illustrate a real life situation, not the contentions of a Professor who pens a book. If this is the same DiLorenzo, it appears that he has written a lot of books: https://www.lewrockwell.com/author/thomas-dilorenzo/ I bought his book about Lincoln but I didn’t manage to finish it.
What I like about the state bank idea is that the interest will go to the state, to pay for the state’s operating expenses instead of taxing the heck out of everyone. That, to my mind, is a lot better than paying interest that goes to a private corporation…whether they are here or overseas, which is where a lot of the interest on our so-called “national debt” currently goes.
You seem to imply that a “private” company is inherently better than a public one…recall the scandal caused by the judge who was taking “kickbacks” from a PRIVATE prison company to keep their prisons full! http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2011/08/12/pennsylvania-judge-gets-life-sentence-for-prison-kickback-scheme/
Look at our “Defense” budget…it’s three times the defense budgets of Russia and China combined! And for what? A hyped up arms race and space race…and the tax proceeds going to private corporations: http://heiwaco.tripod.com/bomb.htm
And thru it all we’ve managed to hang on to our almost 100 year old, 20% efficient, internal combustion engine as our primary mode of transportation. What’s up with that?
Nuclear radiation supposedly “threatening the planet” from Fukushima and Chernobyl when Brown’s Gas has been proven to be able to neutralize the “spent” fuel rods: http://zapnuclearwaste.com/1-strange-gas-brown-s-gas/browns-gas-zaps-radioactive-waste-nuclear-accidents/
In conclusion, and in as many words as possible, I would have to say that I agree with Jason’s response to your original comment.
Thankyou,
jerry bolduc
Jerry bolduc,
You made very good points. However there are many more elements of the debate that are very lengthy to explain and support with evidence. It’s like trying to explain how free enterprise works. Try telling the entire story of how a bicycle is made, starting with the making of the machinery to mine the ore for the frame and oil and coal for the tires, yet billions of bicycles are built each year that provide transportation for many people on the planet. The same goes for almost every product. Think about every single thing you buy each year. All made by private enterprise. Of course there will be problems. Finding the best solution is the key because neither side of the so called isle provides perfection.
I’ll give you one example of why having public and private enterprise compete against one another is often a bad idea. Section 8 housing pays for the rent of people who can’t afford rent. It also is sending rents higher for those renters who are not subsidized as Section 8 often times pays more then market rents in some areas. Our homeless rates are climbing here is Palm Beach Country, FL because salaries are not rising as fast as rents. With so many people having lost their homes to foreclosure, the market is able to demand higher rents as investors are buying up a large portion of the single family homes and apartments and there are so many more renters looking for property. Renters are getting squeezed by the higher rents and therefore homelessness is rising here in West Palm Beach. The problem is that it is not just the Section 8 program that is the problem. There are many many causes for the problems we are experiencing today.
As a realtor, I try to sell my short sales to owner occupied people but the ratio on my offers is 80% investor/ 20% owner occupied, but many realtors like the cash buyers that most investors are rather the owner occupied that almost always require financing.
Sorry I miss quoted the title: You should really read: How Capitalism Saved America; The untold history of our country, from the pilgrims to the present”. You’ll have a much better handle on the many economic elements and arguments of when laws are enacted and what actually happens. Most often prices increase and wages do not, as is happening in the rental market hear in WPB. Most Realtors will not talk about this though, but they surely see what is happening.
Society has been drastically misled by the political system and the main stream media it controls. DiLorenzo even goes into how and why politicians and phony capitalists benefit from laws that disrupt/alter the market place. You’ll understand what I mean in greater detail, when you read the book. There are many other books but this one is my favorite primer on the predominant issues.
I like Dean Baker’s books…almost done with “False Profits: Recovering from the Bubble Economy”. The book was published in 2010 so it’s 3 years old and from your last post, it appears that you are still dealing with some of its’ deleterious effects.
I agree that it can be complicated…but the housing bubble had to be apparent to Greenspan as it was very apparent to many, many other economists. It almost seems like the “maestro” did this intentionally to hurt our country! Why did he move to his two homes in Switzerland and London? What’s wrong with living here in the U.S. where he was considered to be such a wonderful person?
Here’s another current event…the propane shortage: http://www.landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=26502#.UvJy4bT4Ivw
Go to the comments section and read Stephen Webster’s comment. I took the liberty of copying a section of the comment: “… In July i expressed concerns about amount (sic) propane being exported to China.with little going to storage. In Sept the On. and fed. gov. were told the propane storage levels were too low. The propane co. told the gov. to not interfere as the private sector could do a better job.BY Nov. 15 the O.F.A. was pushing a plan to put natural gas pipes to the farmers. I voted against that after being assured the O.FA .concerns were wrong by the head of the Canadain Propane Ass. The Fed Gov. needs to store propane, fuel oil , wheat, corn and soybeans, and take control of trucking industry. …”
Here in Arkansas, Tractor Supply’s propane price shot up from $2.69/gal to $3.69 in under a week…and I was told yesterday that even at that price there was no propane available. The fella said that he was told it may go to almost $5/gal. No one knew there was going to be a cold winter ahead? What about the private weather forecasters? They charge hefty fees for their services yet it escaped their forecasts too?
It’s my opinion that in the end we’re going to see the private sector ruin the water supplys in the U.S. and Canada as they frack the oil out of our earth and ship it to the highest world-wide bidder. That, in my opinion, is a good example of why the private sector needs to be watched like a hawk by a government that has the best interests of we, the people, in mind!
There needs to be a balance between private sector and government, but right now the private sector has the upper hand and they’ve pretty much wrecked EVERYTHING! Try to point this out and the private sector advocates start claiming how complicated everything is and they had no idea that certain things were going to happen…and all the while their actions are what has caused them to happen. It’s fairly common knowledge that it’s a revolving door between the private sector and Washington regulators.
My contention is that the private sector may be good at some things and not not very good at others. The Federal Reserve is a private corporation and look at the mess Greenspan’s housing bubble created. Granted, the government regulators didn’t do their jobs probably because they didn’t want to tangle with Greenspan and his pro private sector associates. Google “Brooksley Born” and look at how Greenspan, Rubin and Summers, et al, all but crucified her.
Will a state bank solve all of our problems? Of course not…but it’s a step in the right direction. The people need to care enough to get involved whenever things start to go wrong. From my observations over the years, it seems that not enough people care until it’s too late and the damage has already been done.
I need to pass this on…in the early 80s I was living in Houston, TX and one day I was at the library reading an article about a company that had built an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. The construction company told the Saudi official that they could build the plant entirely automated…they would only need a small fraction of their current work force to operate it. The Saudi official said no because he needed to have jobs for the people or there’d be a revolution. Let’s face it…automation is eventually going to make most human intervention unnecessary in the production and service processes. Then what?
Could that be why we’re still running around in 20% efficient internal combustion engines? The government is afraid of very few jobs being created to replace the ones being displaced? If that’s the case, then we will need a new financial system to get purchasing power into the hands of the people who have no job. How are we going to do that? Kill off the unemployed? Imagine a world with 7 billion people and only 1 or 2 billion are needed to operate it.
This is not meant to be inflammatory, but I can almost hear the private sector advocates say how more and better jobs will be created; but the reality was that the Saudi official didn’t quite see things that way. He was worried about the stability of his country…and probably the integrity of the connective tissues between his shoulders and head. ;)
Jerry Bolduc wrote: “I agree that it can be complicated…but the housing bubble had to be apparent to Greenspan as it was very apparent to many, many other economists. It almost seems like the “maestro” did this intentionally to hurt our country! Why did he move to his two homes in Switzerland and London? What’s wrong with living here in the U.S. where he was considered to be such a wonderful person?
Of course they knew; perhaps Greenspan was to old and feeble to know but the rest of the scumbags central bankers had no excuse. I haven’t read Dean Bakers stuff but it sounds like I would “enjoy” his work.
You do not go up against the central bankers. They have killed 4 of the 5 Presidents that did. Only Jackson survived the assassination attempt.
The central bankers took over much of this Country soon after the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, doing their standard pump and dump scheme, focusing on the Stock Market in the twenties. Most people do not understand that they control the money supply and thus can initiate higher levels of economic activity and then slow the economy down by withholding loans by raising interest rates, reserve requirements and underwriting guidelines. They can even do this in regions through their various District banks. It’s not rocket science but it does take some knowledge. Approximately Economics 102 to 104. I like to believe thee eye on the $1.00 FRN, Federal Reserve Note is the all seeing eye. Only Bank Julius Baer, clears their offshore transactions, without the Fed oversight, and the minimum account there is $1,000,000.
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The solution to free market problems is not socialism. Instituting a state bank, will end up causing as much harm as the Fed has. Why would you want to enact a bank that competes against private banks. Very bad idea!!!!!
Rather than abolishing the Fed and it’s monopolistic powers, people continue to believe that government, despite all the contraindications the legislation has had on society, thinks that somehow their policies are going to work. As economics professor Thomas DiLorenzo points out in his book, How Capitalism Saved America, almost all legislation causes increases in prices and less competition in the market place. The legislation is almost always master mined by less efficient opponents and politicians to skim money out of the system and weaken competition. A good example is how Nortel, Sun Microsystems and Orrin Hatch, a Senior Senator from Utah concocted the suit against Microsoft, despite it “not” being a monopoly, in a hotel room in Salt Lake City, as Apply and others had clearly has been competing in that sector for years. Nortel just happens to be Utah’s largest employer and contributed campaign money to Hatch and the Republican Party.
The solutions to free market problems is free market solutions. Fifty years of increased taxation and regulation should give us some idea of just what happens when government is called upon to solve social problems. Almost every single social problem is worse today than it was 50 years ago.
hskiprob,
I only support publicly-owned banks to the extent that they issue credit to pay for valid (unless you’re an anarchist) and constitutional powers of government, which exclusively involves the protection of natural rights.
You say that a state bank can lead to as much problems as the Fed has, but the Bank of North Dakota has run well so far, as it doesn’t have an effective monopoly over the issuance and control of credit in the state.
I support government-owned banks just to pay for their powers because the debtor becomes the servant of the lender, so the government would become the servant of private interests.
Your other statements are why I support strictly limited government to protecting natural rights, and I ideally would like to see the resolution of contractual disputes settled completely in the private sector, and government only involved in defense and basic criminal law.
As for the suit against Microsoft, it was bogus, because it would’ve better been handled by having fewer government privileges and regulations that benefit bigger businesses in order to prevent competition. But I would say Microsoft did have a monopoly in the operating system market, because a monopoly means effective control over the market where no other competitor can really affect it significantly. And that did hold for the period of more than just since 1995.
Bill Gates looked like a fool during some of his testimony, claiming he couldn’t recollect incriminating emails he had written and seen, and they were bullying computer distributors into using their OS or else face an overwhelming competitive disadvantage in offering another pre-installed OS. This is why even no big company bothered doing it — because MS had a monopoly.
But the question is how to deal with a monopoly, and I agree that the lawsuit wasn’t the appropriate way, overall.
I knew you were going to bring up North Dakota. Take the richest State per capita in the Country with a very small population, because it is sitting on huge oil supplies and using that as your sole example is not looking at the history of government controlled banking over the last 1000 years. You don’t think most of the economists in this country understand all the main stream media memes and propaganda.
Microsoft was said at the time to have an 85% market share. A monopoly is when there is “NO” other competition and not “effective control over the market place”. They didn’t bother doing it because the couldn’t compete. As long as a company is offering a good product at a good price, why would we want to break up or punish such a company. If I offer you a chair and it only comes with one color fabric, if you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Go buy and Apple like so many other people did.
It is a fallacy perpetrated by government that free market monopolies can drastically effect the marketplace. There are tons of books on the issue that go into the various lawsuits and issues of Anti-trust legislation such as Standard Oil, the electrical utilities during FDR and Alcoa Aluminum. The only real monopolies that you must fear are those that are State franchised or sanctioned. They cause real harm by allowing unfair advantage by thwarting competition.
I cannot provide all the arguments and examples in a blog format, because it would be several pages long at a minimum.
We have been deluged by anti-capitalist propaganda for over a century now, despite a multitude of evidence that much of the history of our country has been manipulated by those in political and economic power through the main stream media. It called yellow journalism. I think it should be called red Journalism. Read DiLorenzo’s book “The Untold History of Our Country, from the Pilgrims to the Present”
You’re not going to get the truth out of the main stream media and you should stop regurgitating their lies and misrepresentations.
Come on man, really, a State bank is going to make miraculously all the world right????? Ellen Brown is not taken seriously by many in the economics community and I can give you numerous examples.