OCTOBER 2
1869 – BIRTH OF MOHANDAS GANDHI
‘Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” One of his “7 Deadly Sins” was “wealth without work.” He also said “[a] small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
2008 – US REPRESENTATIVE BRAD SHERMAN ON HOUSE FLOOR CONCERNING BANK BAILOUT LEGISLATION
“But why are we bailing out the Bank of China? Why are we bailing out the Saudi royal family?… The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and by sustaining a panic atmosphere… A few Members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted “no.”
2014 – MORTGAGE-REFIANCE APPLICATION OF FORMER FEDERAL CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE IS DENIED
More money injected into the banking sector by the Federal Reserve was to make more money available for loans — especially to moderate-income people. Yet, banks were hesitant to increase the pool of housing loans — funneling funds to Wall Streets and speculative investments rather than to homeowners…including to former Fed honcho Ben Bernanke!
2014 – OPENING OF AMERICAN MONETARY INSTITUTE 10TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
“Our stated mission is to advance the independent study of monetary history, theory and reform, and to present the results in a way that’s understandable by the average citizen, so that it can lead to monetary reforms that assure a greater lveel of economic justice in society and a more efficient and equitable functioning of government.” http://www.monetary.org
OCTOBER 3
2008 – US CONGRESS APPROVES $700 BILLION BAILOUT FOR BANKS
Congress passes and President Bush signs into law the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-343), which establishes the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). US taxpayers bailed out the largest US banks since they were considered “too big to fail.” Main Street businesses and side street homeowners facing foreclosures (due in large part to the speculative practices of major financial institutions) received no such support. Many of these major banks were major political campaign contributors/investors in the 2008 political campaign. The final bailout legislation was a revised and slightly better version of an original bill proposed by Sec. of Treasury Hank Paulson that was literally only a few pages in length. Massive public anger resulted in a flood of calls, emails and visits to congressional offices. Congress defeated the original proposal.
OCTOBER 4
1923 – BIRTH OF CHARLTON HESTON, ACTOR
“You shall not charge interest to your countrymen…” A quote from Moses from the Bible, [Deuteronomy 23: 19-20]. Moses was born sometime in 1527 BC. Since the exact date is unknown, why not use the birth date of the guy who played him in films!
OCTOBER 5
1941 – DEATH OF LOUIS BRANDEIS, US SUPREME COURT JUSTICE (1916-1939)
“The development of our financial oligarchy followed, in this respect, lines with which the history of political despotism has familiarized us: usurpation, proceeding by gradual encroachment rather than by violent acts; subtle and often long-concealed concentration of distinct functions, which are beneficent when separately administered, and dangerous only when combined in the same persons. It was by processes such as these that Cæsar Augustus became master of Rome. The makers of our own Constitution had in mind like dangers to our political liberty when they provided so carefully for the separation of governmental powers. . . .
“The goose that lays golden eggs has been considered a most valuable possession. But even more profitable is the privilege of taking the golden eggs laid by somebody else’s goose. The investment bankers and their associates now enjoy that privilege. They control the people through the people’s own money.”
OCTOBER 6
1979 – HISTORIC ANTI-INFLATION MEASURES ANNOUNCED BY FED CHAIR PAUL VOLKER
The Fed made “a short-term change in the method used to conduct monetary policy, from making adjustments in the federal funds rate to …controlling the amount of reserves provided to the banking system.” Alan Greenspan, who would follow Volker as Fed chair, called the decision, “A defining moment may shape the direction of an institution for decades to come. In the modern history of the Federal Reserve, the action it took on October 6, 1979, stands out as such a milestone and arguably as a turning point in our nation’s economic history.” The Fed has since shifted back to focusing on federal funds rates (the rate banks charge each other). Volcker’s decision would he hoped rein in inflation. The goal today by the Fed (and most of the other private central banks) is to increase inflation to 2% via money printing. That was the purpose of the Fed’s multiple Quantitative Easing (QE) programs. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/reflections-on-monetary-policy-25-years-after-october-1979
OCTOBER 7
1849 – DEATH OF EDGAR ALLEN POE, US WRITER, POET AND CRITIC, AUTHOR OF “THE GOLD BUG”
“But what makes ‘The Gold Bug’ highly valuable (a literary work of art), rather than merely entertaining (a humbug) is the fact that encrypted within it is a very sophisticated set of meditations on the subject of money. Specifically, ‘The Gold Bug’ concerns the transition from gold coins to paper money (the piece of parchment). In America, which was the first country to make widespread use of paper money, these very controversial developments took place in the 1830s and ’40s, that is, precisely when Poe was alive and writing all the works for which he would become famous, if not extravagantly wealthy….And so, everything that might be said about the power of paper money can also be said about coined money: both of them produce dissociative, illogical and unnatural effects. What’s so special about gold? As King Midas learned so tragically, you can’t eat it. Provided that they are inscribed with the right words, images and symbols, even bullets can be used as legal tender. Though the advent of paper money made visible a certain crisis, that crisis didn’t begin or wasn’t caused by paper money; it began or was caused by the advent of money itself, thousands of years ago.” http://www.notbored.org/gold-bug.html
OCTOBER 8
1946 – BIRTH OF DENNIS KUCINICH, FORMER CONGRESSMAN, OHIO
Author of the National Emergency Employment Defense [NEED] Act, introduced in 2010 and 2011. Among the bill’s provisions are: (a) make the Federal Reserve System more accountable by placing the Fed under the US Department of Treasury, (b) create government issued money to hire people to repair the nation’s physical and human infrastructure, and (c) eliminate fractional reserve lending – the practice that permits banks to lend many times more funds that they actually possess.
2008 – QUOTE BY ALAN GREENSPAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE
Here’s what he said just after the Glass Steagall Act was repealed in 1999 (just before the market crashed), of the rapid growth of money center banks… “I believe the general growth in large [financial] institutions have occurred in the context of an underlying structure of markets in which many of the larger risks are dramatically — I should say, fully — hedged” -NYtimes.com, October 8, 2008
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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt? Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice. This calendar is a project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini, Deb Jose and Greg Coleridge helped in its development. Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, email monetarycalendar@yahoo.com
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