Don't wait for the banks to fix our economy

[Adele Edisen]

Sat, June 16, 2012 11:18:44 PM
The fight for monetary reform continues
From: The American Monetary Institute <ami@taconic.net>


DON'T WAIT FOR THE BANKS TO FIX OUR ECONOMY.pdf (261KB)


Dear Friends of the American Monetary Institute,
Congressman Dennis Kucinich remains in Congress until the end of the 112th Congress, which is January 2nd, and continues to promote and bring attention to monetary reform through the HR 2990, the NEED Act (National Emergency Employment Defense act). Congressmen seek additional sponsors by sending a "Dear Colleague" letter to all the other Representatives, requesting support. Dennis Kucinich made the most recent one public, through a press release, below.

Friends of the institute, please be sure to read the attached letter, not just the press release. It is dynamite, and identifies another banking scam, perpetrated against state and local governments, that almost no one was aware of until the New York Times identified it on June 9th. These "contracts" beg for annulment. I've attached it for you.

June 14, 2012 For Immediate Release
Nathan.White@mail.house.gov (202)225-5871



Kucinich: We Can't Wait for the Banks to Save Us

N.E.E.D. Act Will Give State and Local Governments Freedom to Balance Budgets and Fund Much-Needed Infrastructure

Washington D.C. (June 14, 2012) - As President Obama and Governor Romney square off with competing economic speeches in Ohio, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) sent a letter to Congressional colleagues highlighting the urgent need to reassert Congressional authority over American monetary policy in order to build an economy that works for all Americans. H.R. 2990, The National Emergency Employment Defense Act (The N.E.E.D. Act), would allow Congress to make much-needed investments in our infrastructure and put Americans back to work. The bill was introduced in the 112th Congress with Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).

In his letter, Kucinich highlighted a recent New York Times column about the hundreds of millions of dollars in interest rates being paid each year by state and local governments to the Wall Street banks who handled their bond issuances. Approximately 80% of transit agencies nationwide have been forced to cut back on services and raise fares. At the same time, many are paying hundreds of millions of dollars each year in interest rates that banks refuse to renegotiate into lower-interest loans.
"The Great Recession, brought to us in large part by Wall Street, caused a massive drop in revenue that states and localities depend on, forcing them to cut all but the most necessary costs. As Americans who depend on public transportation for their livelihood have watched helplessly, state and local governments have had been forced to cancel or cut service, or indefinitely delay much-needed improvement projects as they bear the ongoing burden of having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars worth of high-interest-rate loans to Wall Street banks. Even now, after trillions in bailouts on behalf of those banks, they wrongly refuse to renegotiate those loans," said Kucinich.

"I introduced H.R. 2990, the National Emergency Employment Defense Act of 2011 because it is wrong that Americans are beholden to the private financial institutions that put their own greed ahead of rebuilding our economy. Under the N.E.E.D. Act, new money would be spent into circulation as the economy grows and that money would be used to pay for infrastructure, education, renewable energy, and other projects as appropriated by Congress. It would create real wealth and career opportunities in millions of new, good jobs, without inflation.


Adele

[Magda Hassan]

The banks are never going to fix the economy. Not their job. All they are concerned with is profits and shareholders and bonuses. I like Kucinich's suggested solution. The money supply should be the responsibility of government.

[Adele Edisen]

Aside from Dennis Kucinich's N.E.E.D. Act, there is also action in our Senate, a bill sponsored by Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Barbara Boxer of California. An organization, Democracy for America, is circulating a petition in support of their legislation to bring some kind of control over the Federal Reserve.

Their proposal:

Please join Senators Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer and demand an independent Fed that represents the needs of all Americans, and not just powerful Wall Street CEOs.

The Federal Reserve Independence Act would:



-Prohibit banking executives or employees of companies regulated by the Fed from serving on the Federal Reserve's board of directors. 



-Prohibit the banking industry from choosing any members of the Federal Reserve's board of directors.

-Prohibit Fed employees or board members from owning stock or investing in companies that the Fed regulates, supervises or oversees with absolutely no exceptions.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Federal Reserve Independence Act would help alleviate the power of monied interests over the Federal Reserve. The ideal solution would be to place the Federal Reserve under the Treasury Derpartment
where it would be a truly national bank owned by the people of the United States and responsible to all of the people of the United States, not to only certain domestic and foreign interests.

If any U.S. citizens are interested in signing the Democracy for American petition in support of the Sanders-Boxer bill in the US Senate, please go to the website:

http://democracyforamerica.com/activitie...reform-now


Adele

[Peter Lemkin]

The banks are never going to fix the economy. Not their job. All they are concerned with is profits and shareholders and bonuses. I like Kucinich's suggested solution. The money supply should be the responsibility of government.

A number of Presidents have been deposed or executed who agreed with you Magda. The Banksters have been running the Murder and Mayham Inc. since the country was founded. They are not the solution - but the PROBLEM.

[Adele Edisen]

Sat, June 30, 2012 10:42:13 PM
House Oversight Committee Moves Legislation to Audit the Fed
From: The American Monetary Institute <ami@taconic.net>

Dear Friends of the American Monetary Institute,

Here is your chance to help get the Fed audited for real! I've forwarded you Congressman Kucinich's report of his House Oversight Committee moving legislation forward to audit the Federal Reserve System! Please read Dennis' press release.

I'm hoping it will encourage you to take action NOW with your Congressman - to ask him or her to support this legislation, HR 459, introduced by Ron Paul, when it gets to the House Floor soon.

You can find the email address of your Representative at https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
HR 459 calls for an independent and complete audit of the private Federal Reserve System - the long overdue and first real one ever. This moves significantly in the direction of reform! Please do it NOW!

And now that you have your Congressman's name and email handy,
May I ask you to send another email urging them to co-sponsor Congressman Kucinich's (and Conyers) Monetary reform bill, HR 2990, the NEED Act (National Emergency Employment Defense Act). This is an historic Bill because HR 2990 will:
*dismantle the Federal Reserve System, incorporating it into the US Treasury.
*End whats known as fractional reserve banking; money no longer consists of Bank debt!
*Congress creates & spends new US money into circulation for infrastructure, health care and education. Those are the central features. In addition HR 2990:
* limits interest rates to 8% *Ends compound interest
*Lets the states control 25% of new money creation, with per capita federal grants to the states
*Provides for a tax free "end the depression" citizens dividend to every American
Sound too good to be true? History shows that each part of it has existed at some time in our nation, and each part works. The NEED act HR2990 brings them together to end the financial rape of our people, once and for all. See http://www.monetary.org/wp-content/uploa...Videos.pdf

Want to learn more?
Attend the 8th Annual AMI Monetary Reform Conference, Sept. 20-23rd in Chicago. Register by July 18th and save $110 discount ($285 instead of $395)
See the great conference speakers:http://www.monetary.org/2012schedule.html

Warm regards to all,
Stephen Zarlenga

The Press Release is at
http://kucinich.house.gov/news/email/sho...YKU6LIRI4Y

American Monetary Institute, PO BOX 601, Valatie, NY 12184, USA

[Adele Edisen]

Sun, July 1, 2012 6:07:32 AM
Devon DB: Economic Austerity or Debt Default - Choose Your Poison
From: Global Research E-Newsletter <crgeditor@yahoo.com>

Economic Austerity or Debt Default: Choose Your Poison
By Devon DB

Global Research, June 27, 2012

URL of this article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?c...&aid=31617


Currently the US is now over $15 trillion in debt. [1] The national debt has now gotten to the point where it is larger than US GDP and is now unpayable. In response to this crisis, many in government have been arguing for austerity measures, yet they have not been using that actual term, rather there has been an argument for deep cuts in social spending, with one example being Paul Ryan's budget proposal which targets mainly the poor and elderly. The debt crisis may very well lead the US to being forced to choose from two poisons, austerity on one hand and default on the other.

Austerity measures are currently being pushed by the intellectual elite. Niall Ferguson argues that the main problem in Western democracies "is the huge debts we have managed to accumulate in recent decades, which - unlike in the past - cannot largely be blamed on wars" and poses the question "[W]ould young people be wise to encourage politicians to pay-off national debts now to avoid an even more miserable financial future?" [2]

In the US, Pacific Investment Management Co.'s Neel Kashkari, states that the US should "stop kicking the can down the road' and implement fiscal austerity measures so the economy can fully recover from the financial crisis." [3] While Ferguson states that the debt "cannot be blamed on large wars," the facts prove him to be incorrect as during the Clinton Administration there began a decrease in the national debt and ended with the US being in the black. [4] When President Bush came in, the US went back deeply into debt and this debt increase can be blamed mainly on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

The arguments for austerity, while they may be many, are nullified by the fact that the International Monetary Fund, the biggest advocate of austerity for so-called third world countries (and increasingly for many first-world European countries), has admitted that austerity only hurts income and worsens long-term unemployment. [5] In other words, austerity only makes a bad economic situation worse. Yet, this begs the question, if austerity doesn't work, then why are people arguing in favor of it? This question can be understood by examining the situation from the perspective of the banks. Austerity measures result in large amounts of privatization and thus allow for banks to buy up essential services such as water and electricity systems for dirt-cheap prices and then the banks can make large amounts of money from the perpetuity of state assets. Thus, the banks that gave the loans will then be able to recoup the amount of the loan and then make much more money.

Yet, austerity has more effects than just those the IMF listed. Austerity also produces "falling wages and a broadly recessionary environment that can last for decades," [6] and can result in the near or total economic destruction of a nation. In addition to this, one only need to look at Greece which used austerity measures to see just how ineffective they are. "[T]hose massive cuts in spending have caused the Greek economy to contract, reducing its ability to pay off its debt." [7] Thus, there is no hope that austerity will work to aid America's current debt woes as it will only create an even worse situation where it is that much harder to lower the debt.

Concerning default, that would be even more catastrophic than austerity measures. While one may scoff at such a notion, the reality of the situation is not unrealistic as just last year the US almost defaulted while the House of Representatives battled over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. [8] A default on US debt would have multiple, interlocking effects. Firstly, a default would trigger a high degree of risk among US treasury which would result in the disruption of many different types of contracts and all types of transactions as well as the destruction of private credit. [9] Such a crisis would force the Federal Reserve to either "step in and provide an enormous amount of credit directly to households and firms" or "stand by idly while GDP fell 20 to 30 percent." On top of all of this, the US economy would be hit even harder by the fact that

With the private sector in free fall, consumption and investment would decline sharply. America's ability to export would also be undermined, because foreign markets would likely be affected, and because, in any case, if export firms cannot get credit, they most likely cannot produce. [10]

Thus, default will only bring about a near or total collapse of the economy.

The US, if it wants to get its economy back on track, will have to reject both default and austerity. The first step it could take is by making the bankers pay for the economic crisis that they created rather than forcing the burden upon the populace.

NOTES

1: US Debt Clock, http://www.usdebtclock.org/

2: Niall Ferguson, "Viewpoint: why the younger generation should embrace austerity," BBC, June 16, 2012
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18456131)

3: Tom Keene, Catarina Saraiva, "U.S. Needs Austerity to Reset Economy, Pimco Official Says: Tom Keene," Bloomberg News, June 8, 2012
(http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-08...keene.html)

4: US National Debt by Presidential Term: Per Capita and as Percentage of Gross Domestic Product,
http://www.skymachines.com/US-National-D...l-Term.htm

5: Alexander Eichler, "IMF Report: Austerity Measures Hurt Income, Make Long-Term Unemployment Worse," Huffington Post, September 13, 2011
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/13...60199.html)

6: Rob Urie, "Who Benefits From Austerity Politics?," Counterpunch, November 18, 2011
(http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/18/w...y-politics)

7: "End of the line: What a Greek default means," CNN Money, June 17, 2012
(http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/06/1...ault-means)

8: "US almost out of time' for debt deal: Obama," Dawn, July 30, 2011
(http://dawn.com/2011/07/30/us-almost-out...deal-obama)

9: Simon Johnson, "What if the Government Defaults?," Slate, July, 18, 2011
(http://www.slate.com/articles/business/p...aults.html)

10: Slate, July, 18, 2011

Devon DB is a 20 year old independent writer and researcher. He is currently majoring in political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He can be contacted at ddbthewriter[at]gmail[dot]com.

GLOBAL RESEARCH | PO Box 55019 | 11 Notre-Dame Ouest | Montreal | QC | H2Y 4A7 | Canada

Adele

[Adele Edisen]

The arguments for austerity, while they may be many, are nullified by the fact that the International Monetary Fund, the biggest advocate of austerity for so-called third world countries (and increasingly for many first-world European countries), has admitted that austerity only hurts income and worsens long-term unemployment. [5] In other words, austerity only makes a bad economic situation worse. Yet, this begs the question, if austerity doesn't work, then why are people arguing in favor of it? This question can be understood by examining the situation from the perspective of the banks. Austerity measures result in large amounts of privatization and thus allow for banks to buy up essential services such as water and electricity systems for dirt-cheap prices and then the banks can make large amounts of money from the perpetuity of state assets. Thus, the banks that gave the loans will then be able to recoup the amount of the loan and then make much more money.

Yet, austerity has more effects than just those the IMF listed. Austerity also produces "falling wages and a broadly recessionary environment that can last for decades," [6] and can result in the near or total economic destruction of a nation. In addition to this, one only need to look at Greece which used austerity measures to see just how ineffective they are. "[T]hose massive cuts in spending have caused the Greek economy to contract, reducing its ability to pay off its debt." [7] Thus, there is no hope that austerity will work to aid America's current debt woes as it will only create an even worse situation where it is that much harder to lower the debt.

Concerning default, that would be even more catastrophic than austerity measures. While one may scoff at such a notion, the reality of the situation is not unrealistic as just last year the US almost defaulted while the House of Representatives battled over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. [8] A default on US debt would have multiple, interlocking effects. Firstly, a default would trigger a high degree of risk among US treasury which would result in the disruption of many different types of contracts and all types of transactions as well as the destruction of private credit. [9] Such a crisis would force the Federal Reserve to either "step in and provide an enormous amount of credit directly to households and firms" or "stand by idly while GDP fell 20 to 30 percent." On top of all of this, the US economy would be hit even harder by the fact that

With the private sector in free fall, consumption and investment would decline sharply. America's ability to export would also be undermined, because foreign markets would likely be affected, and because, in any case, if export firms cannot get credit, they most likely cannot produce. [10]

Thus, default will only bring about a near or total collapse of the economy.

An excellent summary of the problems...

The US, if it wants to get its economy back on track, will have to reject both default and austerity. The first step it could take is by making the bankers pay for the economic crisis that they created rather than forcing the burden upon the populace.

And a most worthy solution.

Adele