NOVEMBER 6
1841 – BIRTH OF NELSON ALDRICH, US SENATOR (R.I.), LEADER OF REPUBLICAN PARTY IN THE SENATE
Aldrich was the major Senate proponent of the Federal Reserve Act. He railroaded the bill through both houses of Congress in the fall and winter of 1913. Alfred Crozier, an Ohio attorney and author of the book US Money vs Corporation Currency, testified before Congress against the Aldrich bill. He said, “The… bill grants just what Wall Street and the big banks for 25 years have been striving for, namely, private instead of public control of currency. [The bill] robs the Government and the people of all effective control over the public money supply and vest in the banks exclusively the dangerous power to make money among the people scarce or plenty.”
NOVEMBER 7
1775 – QUAKERS OF PHILADELPHIA REFUSE TO ACCEPT “CONTINENTALS”
The Continental Congress issued their own money, “continentals,” to facilitate economic transactions during the time of the American Revolution. The money was used in large part to pay for the war, since British and Spanish money was in short supply. Continentals helped the colonists win the war. As pacifists, however, Quakers of Philadelphia argued beginning on this day they couldn’t touch money created to fight a war.
1931 – PUBLISHED LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF ALBERT EINSTEIN IN BERLINER TAGEBLATT
“The gold standard has, in my opinion, the serious disadvantage that a shortage in the supply of gold automatically leads to a contraction of credit and also of the amount of currency in circulation… The natural remedies to our troubles are, in my opinion…Control of the amount of money in circulation and of the volume of credit in such a way as to keep the price level steady, abolishing any monetary standard.”
2000 – DEATH OF ROBERT DE FREMERY, AUTHOR, RIGHTS VS PRIVILEGES
“There are some people who look with distrust upon ‘printing press’ or ‘fiat’ money. But they overlook one of the basic facts about money. It is true that we need a ‘hard’ money. But we should not make the mistake of associated ‘hardness’ with convertibility into gold. The essence of hard money is not determined by he material of which it is composed — or the material into which it is convertible. The essence of a hard money is that its supply is fairly stable and there are precise limits to it…a purely paper of ‘fiat’ money can be a hard money is we set precise limits to its supply, or it can be a soft money is we set no precise limits to its supply.”
NOVEMBER 8
2013 – “THE CRISIS AS A CLASSIC FINANCIAL PANIC,” TALK BY BEN BERNANKE, CHAIR OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE
“The recent crisis echoed many aspects of the 1907 panic. Like most crises, the recent episode had an identifiable trigger–in this case, the growing realization by market participants that subprime mortgages and certain other credits were seriously deficient in their underwriting and disclosures.“
[No, Ben. The crisis was due to banking corporations being handed the authority to create the vast majority of money in our economy…and deciding where it should go. Too much of it went was into risky speculation – many times the amount they had in reserves to cover defaults. Add to this the reality that if those speculations went bust, banks would be bailed out by U.S. taxpayers – which added to their risk taking.
NOVEMBER 9
1910 – BIRTH OF CARROLL QUIGLEY, AMERICAN HISTORIAN AND THEORIST OF THE EVOLUTION OF CIVILIZATIONS
“The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements, arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland; a private bank owned and controlled by the worlds’ central banks, which were private corporations. The growth of financial capitalism made possible a centralization of world economic control and use of this power for the direct benefit of financiers and the indirect injury of all other economic groups.” Tragedy and Hope: A History of The World in Our Time
2011- FEDERAL RESERVE AWARENESS DAY
Sponsored by the US Occupy movement, teach-ins and forums took place in several locations across the country to expose the true nature of the largely private misnamed Federal Reserve System. Federal Reserve Awareness Days are still needed since the myths, lore, untruths and lack of understanding of the origin, purposes, consequences and alternatives to the Federal Reserve.
NOVEMBER 10
1483 – BIRTH OF MARTIN LUTHER, MONK, PRIEST, KEY FIGURE IN PROTESTANT REFORMATION
He condemned anyone who charged usury (interest): “A thief, robber and murderer. Money is an unfruitful commodity which I cannot sell in such a way as to entitle me to a profit.”
1796 – BIRTH OF WILLIAM GOUGE, EDITOR AND WRITER
Gouge edited the ” Philadelphia Gazette” and other journals, and for thirty years contributed articles on banking to various periodicals. He was for thirty years connected with the treasury department at Washington. He published “History of the American Banking System” (1835); ” Expediency of Dispensing with Bank Paper” (1837); and a “Fiscal History of Texas” (1852)
“As it is public credit that supports the Banks, and not the Banks that support public credit, as the deposits of the Banks are the property of the community generally and the profits derived from circulation come from the community generally they ought to go to the community generally and be used to lighten the burden of taxation.”
“The banking system is the principal cause of social evil in the United States.”
NOVEMBER 11
2013 – STATEMENT BY ANDREW HUSZAR, “CONFESSIONS OF A QUANTITATIVE EASER” IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“I can only say: I’m sorry, America. As a former Federal Reserve official, I was responsible for executing the centerpiece program of the Fed’s first plunge into the bond-buying experiment known as quantitative easing. The central bank continues to spin QE as a tool for helping Main Street. But I’ve come to recognize the program for what it really is: the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time.”
NOVEMBER 12
1999 – ENACTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES MODERNIZATION ACT (ALSO KNOWN AS GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT)
The act removed many barriers contained in the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, including those that separated banking, securities and insurance corporations. The result was massive combination and consolidation within the financial sector – creating enormously powerful institutions. Leading Republican in Congress, led by Senator Phil Gramm, proposed the bill. President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, signed it.
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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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