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Ellen Brown - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Ellen Brown, J.D., developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In Web of Debt, her latest book, she turns those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and "the money trust." She shows how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back. Her eleven books include the bestselling Nature's Pharmacy, co-authored with ... [More]
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- Job Losses? Not in North Dakota - A Stimulus Plan That Really Works
[News-and-Society:Economics] On October 21, 2009, Dave Camp, the GOP Ranking Member on the House Ways and Means Committee, issued a disturbing report on the status of new job creation since President Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan went into effect in February. According to the report, the nation has actually lost nearly as many jobs as the plan was projected to create. Instead of adding 3.5 million new jobs, 2.7 million jobs have been lost. California, which was supposed to gain 396,000 jobs, has lost 336,400 jobs. Arizona, which was supposed to gain 70,000, has lost 77,300. Michigan, which was supposed to gain 109,000, has lost 137,300. A total of 49 states and the District of Columbia have all reported net job losses.
- The Public Option in Banking - How We Can Beat Wall Street at Its Own Game
[Finance] President Obama has repeated his call for a public option in health care, in order to create some competition for the insurance companies and keep them honest. We the people need to call for a public option in banking, in order to create some competition for the private banks and keep them honest.
- How California Could Turn Its IOUs Into Dollars
[Finance] California has over $17 billion on deposit in banks that have refused to honor its IOUs, forcing legislators to accept crippling budget cuts. These austerity measures are unnecessary. If the state were to deposit its money in its own state-owned bank, it could have enough credit to solve its budget crisis with funds to spare.
- Solving the California Debt Crisis - The State Could Walk Away and Create Its Own Credit Machine
[News-and-Society:Economics] Bailed Wall Street banks have rejected California's IOUs because the State is supposedly a bad credit risk. The banks say they don't want to delay an agreement on further austerity measures, but state legislators have another alternative . . .
- Out of the Ashes of GM - The Phoenix of Renewable Energy
[Finance:Credit] Prophetically, GM named one of its now-extinct brands the Firebird. Like the fabled Firebird, GM could be reborn as something else. We now own a car company. To finance its transformation into something better, we just need to own a bank.
- The Weimar Hyperinflation - Could it Happen Again?
[Reference-and-Education] Worried commentators are predicting a massive hyperinflation of the sort suffered by Weimar Germany in 1923, when a wheelbarrow full of paper money could barely buy a loaf of bread. But there is something puzzling in the data. The British government is already funding more of its budget by seigniorage than Weimar Germany did at the height of its massive hyperinflation. Yet the pound is still holding its own, under circumstances said to have driven the German mark to one-trillionth of its former value. Something else besides mere money-printing to meet the government's budget must have been responsible for collapsing the German mark, but what? And are we threatened by the same risk today?
- The Tower of Basel - Do We Want the Bank For International Settlements Issuing Our Global Currency?
[Finance] Earlier this month, the G20 leaders agreed to inject $250 billion in SDRs or Special Drawing Rights into the economy. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote that "In doing so, they are putting a de facto world currency into play. It is outside the control of any sovereign body. Conspiracy theorists will love it." Indeed they will. Who will act as global banker? The Bank for International Settlements has been proposed . . .
- But Governor, You CAN Create Money! Just Form Your Own Bank
[News-and-Society:Economics] Christmas comes early, Governor. You CAN print your own money. Fiscally solvent North Dakota is doing it... and so can California. Here's how.
- Revive Lincoln's Monetary Policy - An Open Letter to President Obama
[News-and-Society:Economics] Dear President Obama: The world was transfixed on that remarkable day in January when, to poetry, song, and dance, you gazed upon Abraham Lincoln's likeness at the Lincoln Memorial and searched for wisdom to navigate these difficult times. Indeed, you have so many things in common with that venerable President that one might imagine you were his reincarnation in different dress. You are both thin and wiry, brilliant speakers, appearing on the national stage at pivotal times. Fertile imaginations could envision you coming back dressed in that African heritage you freed, to help heal the great scar of slavery and prove once and for all the proposition that all men are created equal and can achieve great things if given a fighting chance. As Wordsworth said, however, our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; and if that is true, you may have forgotten a more subtle form of slavery from which Lincoln tried less successfully to free his countrymen.
- Thinking Positively About Monetary Policy - How "Quantitative Easing" Can Serve The Public Good
[Finance] Nervous pundits are predicting the end of American life as we know it, after Fed Chairman Bernanke announced that he would be dropping yet ANOTHER trillion dollars in helicopter money. But its new "quantitative easing" policy at least has the potential to serve the government and the people it represents.
- Sustainable Government - Banking For a "New" New Deal
[News-and-Society:Economics] Obama says he plans to create 2.5 million new jobs by 2011 and kick-start the economy by building roads and bridges, modernizing schools, and creating technology and infrastructure for renewable energy. These are excellent ideas, but what will they be funded with-more government debt? There is another alternative...
- "Oops, We Meant $7 TRILLION!" What Hank and Fed Are Up to and How They Plan to Pay For it All
[News-and-Society:Economics] The $700 billion that was arm-twisted from Congress in October was just the camel's nose under the tent. The Paulson/Bernanke team is now prepared to pay $7.76 trillion to rescue the financial system. Prepared to pay how? Congress has not raised its debt ceiling to that level, and the Fed doesn't have the funds on its books.
- All Is Well In Stepfordville - The Pre-Election Chicanery Of The Plunge Protection Team
[News-and-Society:Economics] It was another surreal week on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising a thousand points while the economy continued to sink into its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. More evidence of the Plunge Protection Team at work? The election was only days away...
- The Not-So-Invisible Hand - How The Plunge Protection Team Killed The Free Market
[Finance] October 24 marks the 79th anniversary of the October 1929 stock market crash. Many feared a repeat of this disaster on Friday, October 24, 2008; but remarkably, disaster was averted. How? Suspicious observers saw the hand of the Plunge Protection Team pulling strings behind the scenes
- The Fed Now Owns the World's Largest Insurance Company - But Who Owns the Fed?
[News-and-Society:Economics] The Federal Reserve (or Fed) has assumed sweeping new powers in the last year. In an unprecedented move in March 2008, the New York Fed advanced the funds for JPMorgan Chase Bank to buy investment bank Bear Stearns for pennies on the dollar. The deal was particularly controversial because Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, sits on the board of the New York Fed and participated in the secret weekend negotiations.
- The Real Debate - Crony Socialism Or Financial Sovereignty?
[Finance] The Presidential debates failed to address what is really wrong with the economy -- a credit freeze representing a failure of the banking scheme itself. Bailing out bankrupt banks won't fix the problem. The banking system itself needs to be overhauled.
- Thanks But No Thanks - What Lincoln Would Have Said to Paulson's $700 Billion Ransom
[News-and-Society:Economics] Last week, Treasury Secretary Paulson pulled out his bazooka and held it to Congress's head. "Seven hundred billion dollars or your credit system will collapse!" President Lincoln was faced with a similar threat from the bankers. He said, "Thanks but no thanks; I'll issue my own."
- It's The Derivatives, Stupid! Why Fannie, Freddie And AIG All Had To Be Bailed Out
[Finance] Why the extraordinary bailouts of Fannie, Freddie and AIG? The answer has less to do with the insurance business, housing, or foreign investors than with the greatest Ponzi scheme in history, one that is holding up the private global banking system. What had to be prevented at all costs was an "event of default" that could have collapsed a quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble, taking the global banking system down with it.
- Take a Load Off Fannie - Salvaging the Mortgage Giants Without Bankrupting the Taxpayers
[Finance] Did the government's "rescue" of Fannie and Freddie reverse the housing crisis or just save foreign investors? And what will the cost be to the taxpayers? There is a way to reverse the housing crisis that would cost taxpayers nothing.
- Wag the Dog - How to Conceal Massive Economic Collapse
[News-and-Society:Economics] The first week of August 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had just announced record losses, and so had most reporting corporations. Unemployment was mounting, the foreclosure crisis was deepening, state budgets were in shambles, and massive bailouts were everywhere. Investors had every reason to expect the dollar and the stock market to plummet, and gold and oil to shoot up.
- Putting The "Federal" Back In The Federal Reserve
[Finance] Where is the outrage? Remove the myth that the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac act by and for the people rather than being run for private gain, and we will soon see the outrage curiously missing today.
- Let the Lawsuits Begin - Banks Brace For a Storm of Litigation
[News-and-Society:Economics] Lawsuits threaten the banks from all sides - from state attorneys general, consumer class actions, and investor backlash. Shifting liability for the subprime debacle back to the banks could bankrupt even the biggest banks. But that might not be the end of the world . . .
- The Subprime Trump Card - Standing up to the Banks
[Real-Estate:Foreclosures] The majority of subprime homeowners may have a valid defense to foreclosure. A coalition of beleaguered homeowners armed with this defense could have significant clout with Congress.
- What's the Difference Between Lehman Bros and Bear Stearns? Lehman's CEO is on NY Fed Board
[Investing] Bear Stearns, far from being "rescued" by JPMorgan, was eaten alive. But Lehman Brothers, the next investment bank expected to fall, probably WILL be rescued by the Fed. What's the difference? The CEO of Lehman Brothers -- like that of JPMorgan and unlike that of Bear Stearns -- sits on the Board of the NY Fed.
- Did Bear Stearns Fall Or Was It Pushed? How Insider Trading Looted Shareholders And Taxpayers
[News-and-Society:Economics] Who was bailed out, Bear Stearns or JPMorgan? The evidence for illegal insider trading.
- Speculating in Hunger - Are Investors Contributing to the Global Food Crisis?
[Investing] Investment newsletters are now featuring headlines like "How You Can Profit from the Global Food Crisis." The recommended investments include agribusiness stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that speculate in agricultural commodities. These investments will no doubt do very well in the global food crisis; but before you put your money down, you may want to explore whether you will be helping to alleviate the problem or actually contributing to it.
- Credit Default Swaps - Derivative Disaster Du Jour
[Finance:Credit] When the smartest guys in the room designed their credit default swaps, they forgot to ask one thing - what if the counterparties don't have the money to pay up? Credit default swaps (CDS) are a form of derivative used to hedge credit exposure.
- Today We're All Irish - Debt Serfdom Comes To America
[News-and-Society:International] The Irish were driven to America by debt, and they were reduced by "debt peonage" to a condition lower than slaves: they had no security, no guaranty of food or shelter, no medical benefits. Today this system of debt peonage has replaced physical slavery and has come to dominate the world. It is time that we, the modern-day "Irish," overthrew our oppressors and returned to the debt-free system designed by our forefathers.
- Why Is Iran Still In The Cross-Hairs? Clues From The Project For A New American Century
[News-and-Society:International] Despite a recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) finding that Iran is not engaged in a nuclear weapons program, the push for war continues. The question is, why? The Project for a New American Century provides some clues.
- Sustainable Energy Development - How Costs Can Be Cut In Half
[News-and-Society:Energy] Development loans have become debt traps for Third World countries, as interest compounds annually on money created by banks with accounting entries. If governments or the United Nations would take over that function, advancing credit created with accounting entries themselves, the crippling expense of interest could be eliminated. Interest-free loans could help ease climate change and other global crises.
- Another Way Around the Credit Crisis - Minnesota Bill Authorizing Banks to "Monetize" Public Works
[Finance:Credit] While the Federal Reserve is lowering the interest rates charged to banks, the interest that municipal governments must pay on their bonds is skyrocketing, seriously impairing their ability to engage in public works including repairing bridges and roads. A bill scheduled to be heard before the Minnesota Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday, March 25, 2008, could, if adopted, represent a major innovation in the way state and local projects are funded.
- Financial Meltdown - The End of a 300 Year Ponzi Scheme
[Finance] We have come to the end of a 300 year Ponzi scheme, dating back to the privatization of money creation in the 17th century. The only way out of this fix is the way we got into it, by returning the power to create money to the people themselves.
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