It´s Our Money with Ellen Brown

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – Can Inequality Drive Systemic Change? – 01.06.16

After finally realizing that our economic system is designed to keep us away from the fruits of our labors, citizens will hopefully rise up and start working to manifest the sort of sustainable changes that are truly possible if we work together. Ellen speaks with noted author and co-Founder of the Labor Institute, Les Leopold, about how the market mechanics of inequality have succeeded over the past 40 years and what we can do collectively to bring about real change. She also discusses her latest article about the looming crisis that could be triggered by the new practice of bailing-in depositor money to save failing banks. And Matt Stannard delivers some words about money from the mouths of historical figures.    

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – Looking Back - Watching Out – 12.23.15

This past year saw the crossing of financial boundaries and traditions around the world as economic and political events continue to make the monetary horizon an ever-changing realm. Digitized dollars and cash-less societies, global banks overruling national democracies and growing populist demands for economic fairness all help shape a view forward suggesting turmoil and perhaps real trouble for dominant bank institutions -- and hence our own prospects. Ellen speaks with Wolfram Morales of the German Sparkassen savings banks that have taken it on themselves to help preserve the success of local banks around the world. And co-host Walt McRee joins Ellen and public banking commentator Matt Stannard for a retrospective on the year’s financial stories that they thought significant.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – Addressing A Digital Divide - 12.09.15

Digital currency is destined to change almost everything about our money systems and management. The traditional gatekeepers of credit, and the types of credit issued, are also changing.  This week Ellen talks with Scott Smith, an author, financial innovator and presidential candidate who achieved great success in the old mechanics of money but sees a brighter path ahead with simple changes that can do away with income tax and the national debt.  Co-host Walt McRee speaks with the CEO of a community-dedicated credit union choosing to leave the business because of harassment from the federal agency that oversees them.  And Matt Stannard takes a retrospective look at the past year in public banking news.   

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – Is Your Money Better Off in a Mattress? – 11.25.15

As European central banks employ negative interest rates (you pay the bank to keep your money) as well as all-digital currencies that give bankers virtually complete control over your access to it, this question is not silly. What are the bankers really up to? Ellen speaks with co-host Walt McRee about these developments and then talks with evolutionary economist and world-renowned futurist Hazel Henderson about how far afield economics has gone from its practical obligations to serve public interest. Matt Stannard discusses banker logic and negative interest, and common logic about the need for a basic income for everyone.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – Flush the TPP ..... One More Time – 11.11.15

The deservedly-despised Trans Pacific Partnership is front and center in our discussion this week. Ellen talks with author and producer of the "Secret of Oz" movie Bill Still, who discusses the consolidation of monetary power and the quest for total global control. Co-host Walt McRee talks to one of the central figures leading the public campaign to stop this misnamed corporate coup, Dr. Margaret Flowers, of Flush the TPP.org.  And Matt Stannard once again brings the focus back to the moral implications of the pact that have been ignored.   

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – What Democracy? – 10.28.15

As if the Greek tragedy of Syriza’s thrashing by the European Troika wasn’t enough, we’ve just witnessed direct overrule of a popular vote by the President of Portugal who refuses to accept a resounding public vote for governmental change. “The bondholders must be served!” reflects his declaration and the predicament citizens of the world face in reclaiming control of their money and their governments from Supra-national Finance. This week Ellen talks with Dr.Thomas Marois about how public banking is working despite the anti-democratic developments in other nations of the world and how the future of public banking will depend on social and political movements, and she looks at some of the current monetary issues headlining in the US with co-host Walt McRee. Bernie Sander’s support for postal banking is another headline grabber, as reported by Matt Stannard on the Public Banking Report. 

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – Too Big to Exist – 10.14.15

Nature limits all systems -- nothing grows forever.  Economic systems built around growth, like ours, are no different. Ellen revisits that topic with biomimicry expert Jamie Brown-Hansen about what nature teaches regarding sustainable economic systems that last for eras rather than just decades.  The theme is picked up by Bernie Sanders as he reflects on the precarious nature of our national economy, while Matt Stannard considers what’s not being addressed on the topic by the presidential candidates. And co-host Walt McRee talks with New Hampshire State Representative Valerie Fraser about the movement underway there to create a public State bank.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – End of the Line – 09.30.15

Our debt-based monetary system conceals a brutal fact: indebtedness to private sources for the acquisition of money is an unnecessary scourge on our economy and societal well-being. But with everyone, including local and state governments, in debt over their heads there’s nowhere to get more without digging the hole deeper. Systemically, the debt-money regime has run its course. Happily, alternatives are being explored in the form of outright free public issue of money directly to the people -- “QE for the People.” We look at several dimensions of these ideas. Ellen speaks with noted UK professor and author Mary Mellor about the democratization of money and financial systems. Co-host Walt McRee discusses the current Bretton Woods IV Convocation which is focusing on the vital need for reclaiming public control of money, and on the Public Banking Report Matt Stannard takes a look at the morality of money.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – It’s Nature’s Way of Telling You – 09.16.15

The evolution of financial systems is seldom matched with the evolution of biological systems, just as Western medicine has too long ignored nature’s own abilities to heal and sustain personal health. In both cases imposition of monetary control over these systems ignores signposts and laws that can lead to doom. Ellen speaks with co-author, physician and pharmacist Dr. Lynne Walker about the institutional hypocrisy that drives profits over people’s health, while co-host Walt McRee reviews Jamie Brown’s groundbreaking work on the wisdom of mimicking nature when designing new sustainable economic systems. 

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – If Capitalism is so great, then why….. – 09.02.15

Capitalism is often touted as the most dynamic marketplace performer capable of lifting more boats faster than any other -- but why then do we see its colossal failures as a stable and equitable driver of well-being for the vast majority of its practitioners? Ellen speaks with one of the most knowledgeable economic experts on economic systems, Dr. Richard Wolff, about how capitalism fails in part because of its anti-democratic underpinnings that rock many of those boats and swamp others while letting the captains of capital cruise on.  We also talk about the emerging popularity of Quantitative Easing for the People and the importance of values-driven common cause for change.