It´s Our Money with Ellen Brown

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!

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Politics and Public Banking - 11.27.17

The excitement surrounding the inclusion of public banking in political campaigns is now shifting gears into the nitty-gritty process of educating and encouraging legislators and candidates to move forward.  This week Ellen and Walt discuss some of these races and the issues that propel them, we talk with a NJ State legislator about whether the new governor there will be able to pursue his state bank agenda, and we uncover another new gubernatorial candidacy that may also drive for a public bank.  Ellen’s guest Stephen Lendman returns to the show to reflect on the larger political and civic issues affected by our private banking regime.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Globalization vs. Happiness - 11.01.17

We’ve been told that marketplace productivity is irrefutable evidence of economic efficiency and a precursor to consumer happiness.  But that meme is a self-serving axiom designed to consolidate wealth, power and systems control into the hands of global corporations.  Ellen’s guest Helena Norberg-Hodge is the producer of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness and author of Ancient Futures. She is also founder and director of the NGO Local Futures, which has been a pioneer in the emerging global-to-local movement. Helena shows from her studies with native peoples that economies centered in local production are superior to globalized economies in both efficiency and a happiness quotient for citizens.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Paying for Catastrophe - 10.18.17

Paying for Catastrophe

Whether a flood, fire, hurricanes or a failed financial system, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury have the means to address big financial challenges in a variety of ways – if they want to.  Recent devastations challenge our understanding of how to pay for recovery, but when we look back to our not-so-distant past, answers emerge in a clear and encouraging way.  Ellen’s guest is Law Professor Tim Canova, an expert on banking, finance and the Federal Reserve, and candidate for the Congressional seat of Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida.  

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown - Crypto-Chango and Truth in Accounting - 09.21.17

Crypto-Chango and Truth in Accounting

 

Ellen Brown reflects on the true nature of money at the Nexus Conference in Aspen, bringing to a renown body of monetary and financial experts the notion that cryptocurrency systems reflect the reality that money is not a fixed inventory of assets but a fluid and fungible source of mutual credit. And co-host Walt McRee discusses the true nature of our public accounting systems with Truth in Accounting Research Director Bill Bergman, who shares what the real numbers of public debt are and how they are often hidden from public view.  Also, a re-visit with Civic-Labs’ Tom Tresser discussing his book “Chicago Is Not Broke – Funding The City We Deserve.”