It´s Our Money with Ellen Brown

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Thinking Change - 06.26.18

Among emerging monetary ideas that could change our economic future is a new blockbuster notion: give each of us our very own account at the Fed, just like the Big Banks! It’s a well-developed, transformative idea being supported by high-level Treasury veterans as well as our own Ellen Brown, who discusses it’s great potential on this edition. Like other systemic changes needed to create a more fair economy, the “big idea” must first be envisioned, then adopted, for transformative changes to be realized. That is how it happened in Scandinavia about a hundred years ago, which threw out its controlling 1% and turned squalor into globally-renowned abundance.  We talk with author & professor George Lakey about those “Viking Economics.”  And commentator Bob Bows gives you the 8-minute chapter-and-verse description of why our current monetary matrix is beyond redemption.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Making Change - 06.06.18

The lock-down on control of our money by private banks is facing increased challenge in a variety of forms, from technology that creates new methods of exchange, to the public uprising for creation of new public banks. Today we speak with an exciting group of young activists in CA that have already accomplished some remarkable achievements, including a unanimous vote by the Los Angeles city council to foster a public bank and divest from Well Fargo, based on ethical demands. The student loan crisis is also receiving an ethical challenge from Andrew Yang, who has started his campaign for the 2020 presidential race calling for a universal basic income.  And Ellen discusses how the massive hedge funds Black Rock and Black Stone control trillions of public dollars investment that exert overbearing pressure on how our money gets invested to create private profits rather than public benefits. 

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Scarce Money – Abundant Problems - 05.16.18

Public acceptance of unacceptable conditions produced by a privately-controlled money world has institutionalized struggle and sacrifice through unnecessary monetary scarcity. The growing worldwide call for public banks is helping create a new expectation – that money is a common utility that all people have a right to and that retaining public control of it for public purposes is simple common sense. On this program the benefits of a proposed public bank in New Jersey are illustrated in a new academic report from Distinguished Professor of Economics, Dr. Deb Figart, who speaks with Walt McRee about her recently completed study findings, while Ellen discusses the impact of neoliberal economics on the hardships being inflicted on students in higher education. And Bob Bows offers another look behind the curtain of monetary control driving today’s global conflicts.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - SCREWNOMICS - 04.18.18

This is the tongue-in-cheek, double entendre title of a new book by Rickey Gard Diamond, writing about how women have been systematically denied equal treatment in the economy.  She and Ellen discuss EconoMan, the avatar for the economic powers-that-be who are a small group of privileged males  which “just expect” to be in control and expect women to work for less, or even better, for free. But while the book title refers to economic inequity for women, it also covers the economic injustices that most of world’s citizens experience as a result of the private issuance of currency, which is the primary function of banks. Commentator Bob Bows discusses how this situation has firmly established the 1/100,000^th of 1% of the world’s population into perpetual and seemingly indomitable power.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Going Postal – and Going Local + 03.28.18

Going Postal – and Going Local

About 25% of Americans don’t have access to basic banking services such as check cashing and money transfers, often forcing them to rely on expensive charges from street corner profiteers who fill the void. While local banks aren’t always available, post offices are, and they could fill this banking void if only the Congress would allow it. We talk with Katherine Isaac of the American Postal Workers Union about a national campaign to bring back postal banking. Later, Ellen talks with the founder of Cooperation Humboldt, David Cobb, about an effort to model a new type of local economy that leaves no one out. And Walt talks with Rhode Island’s former Secretary of State Matt Brown -- the latest candidate to run for a governorship on a public banking platform.

 

 

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Good Banks - 03.07.18

It’s not an oxymoron. We need banks for quite a number of our civic, economic and personal lives. Bank’s role is so important to communities that it would be tough to live with them, which is why we say that banks need to belong to the public and serve as public utilities.  We talk with IvanFrischberg of Amalgamated Bank, a 100 year old American bank begun by a populist demand for fair banking services, about how that bank is making a solid difference in everything they do.  And we also speak with Wayne Lau, the Executive Director of the Rainier Valley Community Development Financial Institution – two bankers who fill the bill of being “good banks.”  And then there was Alexander Hamilton – is the super successful Broadway show “Hamilton” a whitewash of history?  We speak with Bob Bows about his research on Hamilton’s questionable legacy. 

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Infrastructure and the National Debt - 02.14.18

Infrastructure and the National Debt

Why can’t we have nice things?  Why can’t we have safe bridges and roads, excellent schools and so much more that we need and can actually afford?  Why, the national debt, of course! The use of our national debt as an excuse to not directly fund these essentials is an institutionalized deception used to keep us locked into a mindset of scarcity that requires ever-expanded borrowing from private sources. Ellen discusses why China isn’t having this problem with funding of their needs, Walt talks with Donald Cohen about the push for privatization, economist Michael Hudson talks about the façade of national debt and author/philologist Robert Bows discusses how the history of private issuance of capital has stymied our growth for centuries.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - “An Economy Worthy of Our Affection” - 02.01.18

The very notion that an economy could deserve an emotional response seems to unreasonably mix metaphors; how could economic activities elicit heart-warming affection?  Yet economies can be devised to either deprive or enrich their participants, which suggests that we can craft ones that secure, enable and nurture work and life relationships. Are we living in an age on the verge of creating such new economies?  Our guests this week, Dr. Edward Quevedo and economist Mark Anielski, suggest that new economic metrics and values must be employed to keep humanity viable.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - The Web of Student Debt and other 2018 Challenges - 01.17.18

Through regulatory capture, banks and other powerful corporations are able to maximize their profiteering, usually at others’ expense. A particularly egregious example of lending abuse is in federal loan programs designed to help America’s college students. Ellen talks with Alan Collinge of Student Loan Justice about this exploitive financing regime, and co-host Walt McRee speaks with Mike Brown of LendEdu.com about a new aspect of that financing sector, student loan debt refinancing.  Ellen and Walt also review some of the challenges confronting public banking efforts around the country.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Popular, Persistent Resistance - 12.21.17

A glancing overview of America’s economy discloses significant deprivation and inequality among citizens, corporatized institutions, co-opted politics and diminishing prospects for an increasing number of people. These conditions are neither acceptable nor necessary according to Kevin Zeese and Dr. Margaret Flowers, the leaders of Popular Resistance.org.  Ellen and Walt hold a year-end discussion with them about the developing crescendo calling for transformative change which they believe is coming to America in the not-too-distant future.  And Ellen discusses her latest article on the growing problem of massive student debt, which now exceeds that of national credit card debt!