Ohio is one of the hardest hit towns in America during the financialization of manufacturing and all other parts of our economy. Are we going to take on these issues and run our own economy here?
Bailouts, stimulus packages, debt piled upon debt. Where will it all end? How did we get into a situation where there has never been more material wealth and productivity and yet everyone is in debt to bankers? And now, all of a sudden, the bankers have no money and we the taxpayers, have to rescue them by going even further into debt!
Money as Debt II explores the baffling, fraudulent and destructive arithmetic of the money system that holds us hostage to a forever growing DEBT...and how we might evolve beyond it into a new era.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
6:30 pm
Akron-Summit County Public Library
60 S. High St., Akron, Ohio
More information, Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee
www.afsc.net 330-928-2301 gcoleridge@afsc.org
American Casino film coming to Cleveland
December 18, 7:00 pm
December 19, 5:30 pm
Cleveland Cinematheque
Description and trailer http://www.americancasinothemovie.com/
We will host a discussion following each showing.
More information: Greg Coleridge, gcoleridge@afsc.org, 216-255-2184
Saturday, December 12, 10 am – 1 pm, Peace House, 10916 Magnolia Ave., University Circle
Stephen Zarlenga, author of The Lost Science of Money and Director of the American Monetary Institute, ( http://www.monetary.org/ ) will lead a free workshop on the history of money and power, the current banking and financial crisis, and the American Monetary Act (which will soon be introduced under a different name by Rep. Dennis Kucinich).
The American Monetary Act calls for shifting the Federal Reserve under the US Treasury Department (and thus transforming the Federal Reserve from a private corporate to a public agency), eliminating fractional reserve banking (which allows banks to make huge loans with very little financial backing), and embarking on a massive public works programs using money printed and backed (and thus interest free) by the US government. Information on the American Monetary Act is at
http://www.monetary.org/amacolorpamphlet.pdf
If you’re interested in attending the workshop, please RSVP gcoleridge@afsc.org so we know how many sets of materials to provide.
Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free
by Ellen Brown
Wednesday, November 4, 7:30 pm
Peace House, 10916 Magnolia Ave., University Circle, Cleveland at 7:30 pm.
Info on the book is at http://www.webofdebt.com/
We’ll discuss Section IV of the book
Info on the book is at http://www.webofdebt.com/
Questions: Greg Coleridge, gcoleridge@afsc.org, 216-255-2184
Capitalism: A Love Story
After you see Michael Moore's film,
BECOME INVOLVED locally to:
- Challenge the power and rights of corporations to govern
- Eliminate additional bank bailouts
- Reduce personal, community and national debt through public
issuance of money and currency
IF YOU LOVE JUSTICE, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY, JOIN US!
Come to the next meeting of the
Cleveland Committee on Corporations, Law & Democracy
Wednesday, October 7, 7:30 pm
Peace House, 10916 Magnolia Ave., University Circle, Cleveland
Questions, comments: 216-231-2170 or gcoleridge@afsc.org
Tell Congress
New laws should be put in place that minimize the risk of companies becoming “too big to fail.”
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Tell your friends to sign up.
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Follow on Twitter @wayfwd - hashtag #anwf
Not a member of any groups.
1)Lawrence Goodwyn’s “The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America,” one of the truly great works of American history and how to build a foundation for 20th century American political economy.
2)William Greider’s “Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country,” picks up where Goodwyn’s left off. An essential read in understanding money, banking and finance in the 20th century.
3)Kevin Phillips’ “Bad
Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of
American Capitalism,”
|
MELTDOWN CAUSES: Articles and Interviews 1. Finger of blame points to shadow banking’s implosion -Financial Times "FINANCIAL INNOVATIONS" 1. Genesis of the Debt Disaster -Financial Times WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE BIG BANKS THAT FAIL? 1. Willem Buiter -FT ANTITRUST 1. Breaking up the Banks -Zephyr Teachout REGULATION 1. Regulatory Capture -Thomas Frank WHAT'S IT MEAN FOR THE ECONOMY? 1. Evolution or Revolution -Bill Gross Blogs |
By Michael McKee and Scott Lanman
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. regulators should consider breaking up large financial institutions considered “too big to fail,” former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said.
Those banks have an implicit subsidy allowing them to borrow at lower cost because lenders believe the government will always step in to guarantee their obligations. That squeezes out competition and creates a danger to the financial system, Greenspan told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
“If they’re too big to fail, they’re too big,” Greenspan said today. “In 1911 we broke up Standard Oil -- so what happened? The individual parts became more valuable than the whole. Maybe that’s what we need to do.”
At one point, no bank was considered too big to fail, Greenspan said. That changed after the Treasury Department under then-Secretary Hank Paulson effectively nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Treasury and Fed bailed out Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc.
“It’s going to be very difficult to repair their credibility on that because when push came to shove, they didn’t stand up,” Greenspan said.
Fed officials have suggested imposing a tax or requiring higher capital ratios on larger banks to ensure the firms’ safety and reduce some of the competitive advantage from the implied subsidy. Greenspan said that won’t work.
“I don’t think merely raising the fees or capital on large institutions or taxing them is enough,” Greenspan said. “I think they’ll absorb that, they’ll work with that, and it’s totally inefficient and they’ll still be using the savings.”
‘Really Arbitrarily’
The former Fed chairman said while “just really arbitrarily breaking down organizations into various different sizes” goes against his philosophical leanings, something must be done to solve the too-big-to-fail issue.
“If you don’t neutralize that, you’re going to get a moribund group of obsolescent institutions which will be a big drain on the savings of the society,” he said.
“Failure is an integral part, a necessary part of a market system,” he said. “If you start focusing on those who should be shrinking, it undermines growing standards of living and can even bring them down.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael McKee in New York at mmckee@bloomberg.net; Scott Lanman in Washington at slanman@bloomberg.net
