It´s Our Money with Ellen Brown

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.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - And Forgive Them Their Debts

The backdrop of debt is so ubiquitous that we seldom stop to think about what devastation it causes in our personal and public lives. Today’s guest, world-renown economist Dr. Michael Hudson, knows. Debt’s role in destroying economies and nations dates back to ancient times when rulers understood that public debt needed to be periodically forgiven in order to maintain order and economic stability. But today conditions have actually gotten worse as the uber-powerful financial elite the world over prey on the worker economy for the sake of personal profit, infiltrating government decision-making that keeps them and their profits in control.  It’s a sobering assessment not to be ignored and a wake-up call for citizen education and action.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Getting to Yes

What’s it like to start a public bank in 2019, one hundred years after the last one?  What steps and impediments are discovered along the way and what succeeds?  Today’s guest, David Jette, reports on the substantial progress being made in CA after several years of studying and initiatives for creating public banks. Current proposed legislation seeks to transform an existing state agency for infrastructure and another seeks to open the regulatory path – and both represent the sort of challenges other proponents face around the country. And for karmic and comic relief, we get a visit from Swami Beyondanonda who reviews our civic prospects with inscrutable common sense.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - The Public Banking Revolution Is Upon Us

The pace of public bank developments appears to have reached a new plateau. From turning revolving funds erroneously called infrastructure “banks” into depository banks capable of leveraging capital as real banks do, to new bank configurations that connect municipalities as virtual co-op bank partners, public banking is “arriving” from coast to coast. Ellen reports on where these new legislative developments are taking place and why they matter to the big picture of public bank adoption. Later, Ellen completes her conversation with global public bank expert Thomas Marois about how public banks provide more cost effective management of public funds and co-host Walt McRee brings the fourth installment of a centennial retrospective on the Bank of North Dakota with author and historian Mike Jacobs.     

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Global Proof of the Public Option

The success of publicly-owned banks around the world should give broad encouragement to US state and local governments looking for some financing relief on their growing debt loads. Today’s guest, Thomas Marois, a Senior Lecturer at the University of London, is an expert on the impact that public banks have on economies and societies. His study of public banks shows both the efficiencies and stability these banks provide, as well as the important role democratic participation plays in bank operations.  Our lone US public bank, the Bank of North Dakota, is celebrating its first 100 years and reflects the same values and benefits as its global siblings.  But its birth years were anything but stable and make a colorful story of politics, personalities and pushback from the banking industry. We take a third visit on BND’s historical trail with author and historian Mike Jacobs.