It´s Our Money with Ellen Brown

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - History Was Made This Year

2019 was the Centennial celebration of America’s only publicly-owned State Bank, the Bank of North Dakota -- a living legacy that has helped sustain that state through thick and thin.  It’s also the year that new public banks gained important ground from state governments and governors in two key states, New Jersey and California. It’s also the year that one of the Fed’s best-known leaders passed away, Paul Volker, whose administration is credited with helping solve an inflation crisis in the 1970’s, a factoid that Ellen doubts to be true. We celebrate the North Dakota history with a leisurely conversation with its Centennial historian, Mike Jacobs, whose deep knowledge of the Bank’s history provides instructive context for new public bank initiatives. 

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Regenerative Science – Regenerative Economy

It turns out that laws of nature are foundational to sustainable economies. The human overlay of extractive and exploitative industries and systems ultimately leads to a demise of life systems for people and the planet, yet we celebrate “free” markets that are driven by much different principles.  Ellen reports on her discussions with bio-nutritionists about how returning to principles of natural pasturing present the best way for us to correct global warming, and Walt talks with Professor Ed Quevedo about regenerative economies that mirror biological systems of collaboration and mutual support.  

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - That’s An Order

Executive Order 91, just delivered by Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey, has dramatically accelerated the national drive for creating new public banks. Now beginning a year-long project to explore the prospects and resources for a NJ State Bank, the new Public Bank Implementation Board includes both State officials and citizen advocates. Ellen and Walt discuss the mandate of this new order which puts NJ in a leading position among state bank proponents.  Ellen also reports on how public banks can help enable a Green Transition and some of the surprising fiscal efficiencies being discovered by new research. And we also talk with political economist and author Dr. Sean Vanatta about our notion of money and some of the systems that have evolved around its applications.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Forces of Nature: Principles, Passion and People Power

With focused minds, persistent hearts and no money, the citizens of California overcame one of the most powerful financial and political lobbies in the state to win the legislative battle that has codified creation of municipal banks in the world’s fifth largest economy. Trinity Tran, founding leader of the movement, talks with Ellen about what it took to achieve the surprising victory which has opened the door for creation of municipal public banks in California and around the country. How would such a bank impact an historic American city like Baltimore? A recent study suggests that the opportunities are many, unique and deserve serious study. Our guest Dr. Sean Vanatta authored the report and talks with co-host Walt McRee about its recommendations.  

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - California Dreaming Becomes Reality

In a remarkable exercise of democratic will and persistence, public banking advocates in California have succeeded in creating a pathway for creation of municipal public banks.  “This is a grassroots effort and it has to stay that way,” says our guest David Jette of the CA Public Banking Alliance.  David goes into more detail about how this law will facilitate creation of new public banks, while another of his colleagues, Carlos Marroquin, shares why he got involved in the first place, motivated in part by a personal experience with corrupt banking practices.  Ellen’s featured guest is Thomas Greco, a monetary theorist, author and professor who sees the only hope for escaping the tyranny of the global banking cartel to be creation of local currencies built on personal relationships and community economies.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - California Gets It Rolling

California Gets It Rolling

 

California has passed breakthrough legislation that sanctions municipal public banks to serve as public administration entities, a development with wide repercussions across the country.  We talk with a couple of the citizen leaders, Marc Armstrong and Susan Harman, who were pivotal drivers of the effort, and what they think it means for the movement. Then Ellen speaks with an author and former US Treasury economist, Richard C. Cook, about why the extractive domination of private banks over the totality of civic life must be taken down if we wish to have an economy that works for all.  Finally, we have another talk with Bank of North Dakota historian Mike Jacobs about why that bank has managed to avoid corruption and remain a robust example of why banks should be owned by the people.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Free Trade? Fair Trade?

The current face-offs between the United States and China over trade resurrect an issue that has wide-ranging ramifications in both countries. Is “free trade” really free? Is there such a thing as “fair trade?”  Our guest, Ian Fletcher, speaks with Ellen about his book “Free Trade Doesn’t Work.” We also visit with historian Mike Jacobs about how the Bank of North Dakota relates to the state’s oil industry, which is too often given credit for the bank’s success.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Neoliberalism Losing to the China Model

The underlying model on which the US and other Western nations have built their economies appears to be falling far behind the consistent economic and social successes being created by the likes of China, Japan and others which employ state guidance and banking controls.  We talk with Ellen about her research that discusses how we too might benefit from loosening our bonds to private capitalists.  And Ellen concludes her discussion with the Democracy Collaborative’s Ted Howard about their new book The Making of a Democratic Economy which lays out some of the structural changes that will be needed to revive American productivity. Finally, we take an historical look back at the Bank of North Dakota on its 100^th birthday, and a brief reprise of 12-year-old Victoria Grant’s simple exposition of what’s wrong with the monetary regimes that we allow to indebt our nations.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Making a Democratic Economy

Making a Democratic Economy

The remarkable financial successes of the American economy have been mostly bestowed on a small percentage of our populace while a growing proportion of citizens face increasing financial hardships. That’s because our economy is controlled by powerful special interests. After 40 years of this trend, it’s clear we need to democratize the power that shapes our economy. Illustrating that case, the Democracy Collaborative’s Ted Howard discusses their new book “Making a Democratic Economy”, while guest commentator Mike Jacobs, historian for the Bank of North Dakota’s centennial celebration, provides a look back at how the citizens of North Dakota, faced with similar conditions, succeeded in turning their economy around 100 years ago in a deeply conservative state.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - A March Through Our Time

A March Through Our Time

With the benefit of hindsight, our insights get inspired. Today’s program draws on over eight decades of personal and economic experience to take a look at where we’ve gotten and how we’ve gotten here. Ellen discusses some of our nation’s political and economic realities with Stephen Lendman, a noted, prolific writer and observer of such developments.  And we look back on some of the unique issues that emerged in the earlier years of the Bank of North Dakota with Mike Jacobs, writer-historian of the Centenary book “The Bank of North Dakota – The First 100 Years.” The powers and circumstances that formed our country’s only public bank provide us with historical context, and encouragement, for today’s historically challenging fiscal needs.