JUNE 17
2009 – PRESIDENT OBAMA RELEASES PLAN FOR FINANCIAL REFORM
“President Obama’s plan to reshape financial regulation seeks to give Washington the tools to police the shadow system of finance that has grown up outside the government’s purview, and to make it easier for regulators to head off problems at large, troubled institutions. However, the president’s plan results from many compromises with industry executives and lawmakers, and is not as bold as some had hoped.” Among the less than ” compromises with industry” were permitting financial institutions to promote various types of derivatives, cutting the number of bank regulators, and granting new powers to the private Federal Reserve.
JUNE 18
1926 – BIRTH OF CHARLES WALTERS, FOUNDER OF ACRES MAGAZINE, A VOICE FOR ECO-AGRICULTURE
“[O]ur forefathers took steps to protect the economic freedom of the United States by giving to Congress, elected by the people, the power to provide a monetary system independent of the monetary systems of other countries, and to regulate the value of the dollar, adopted as our monetary unit, or measure of value. This power automatically gave Congress the right to determine the value of the United States production in terms of United States money.”
2008 – CHRIS DODD PROPOSED HOUSING BAILOUT
As the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Connecticut’s Christopher Dodd proposes a housing bailout to the Senate floor that would assist troubled subprime mortgage lenders such as Countrywide Bank, Dodd admitted that he received special treatment, perks, and campaign donations from Countrywide, who regarded Dodd as a “special” customer and a “Friend of Angelo.” Dodd received a $75,000 reduction in mortgage payments from Countrywide. The Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Kent Conrad and the head of Fannie Mae Jim Johnson also received mortgages on favorable terms due to their association with Countrywide CEO Angelo R. Mozilo.
JUNE 19
1902 – DEATH OF LORD ACTON, ENGLISH HISTORIAN, POLITICIAN, AND WRITER
“The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.”
1946 – DEATH OF HENRY SIMONS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
“The mistake lies in fearing money and trusting debt.”
JUNE 20
1756 – BIRTH OF WILLIAM RICHARDSON DAVIE, NORTH CAROLINA DELEGATE TO THE 1787-8 CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION AND GOVERNOR OF N. CAROLINA
“So low and hopeless are the finances of the United States, that, the year before last Congress was obliged to borrow money even, to pay the interest of the principal which we had borrowed before. This wretched resource of turning interest into principal, is the most humiliating and disgraceful measure that a nation could take, and approximates with rapidity to absolute ruin:
Yet it is the inevitable and certain consequence of such a system as the existing Confederation.”
JUNE 21
1940 — DEATH OF SMEDLEY BUTLER, MARINE CORP MAJOR GENERAL (MOST DECORATED MARINE IN US HISTORY AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH)
“I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism…I wouldn’t go to war again, as I have done, to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things that we should fight for. One is the defense of out homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket…. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912…”
2012 – DEATH OF ANNA SCHWARTZ, CO-AUTHOR OF “A MONETARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES”
“A Monetary History of the United States” contributed to a new consensus on monetary issues, including the sources of the Great Depression. The 888-page book asserts that the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression was caused by mistakes by the Federal Reserve. . Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called the work, ‘the leading and most persuasive explanation of the worst economic disaster in American history.’ ‘You’re right; we [the Fed] did it. We’re very sorry. But thanks to you, we won’t do it again.’
A month after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Schwartz said in the Wall Street Journal interview the insolvent financial firms should not be bailed out, but rather shut down.
JUNE 22
1911 – SPEECH OF PRESIDENT WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT BEFORE NEW YORK STATE BANKERS’ ASSOCIATION
“There is no legislation, I care not what it is, tariff, railroad, corporation, or of a general political character, that at all equals in importance the putting of our banking and currency system on a sound basis.”
Of course, Taft’s definition of a “sound” banking and currency system was the plan being pushed by major bankers – the creation of a private central bank (which basically defines the Federal Reserve) and the ability of banking corporations to create our nation’s money – as debt.
1949 – BIRTH OF ELIZABETH WARREN, US SENATOR, MASSACHUSETTS
“What we need is a system that puts an end to the boom and bust cycle. A system that recognizes we don’t grow this country from the financial sector; we grow this country from the middle class.” “Powerful interests will fight to hang on to every benefit and subside they now enjoy. Even after exploiting consumers, larding their books with excessive risk, and making bad bets that brought down the economy and forced taxpayer bailouts, the big Wall Street banks are not chastened. They have fought to delay and hamstring the implementation of financial reform, and they will continue to fight every inch of the way.”
JUNE 23
1948 – WEST INTRODUCES NEW CURRENCY IN W. BERLIN, SOVIETS RESPOND WITH BLOCKADE
Several factors led to the blockade of W. Berlin by the Soviet Union. These included the unification of the French, British and US sectors into a West German government and the issuance of a currency in the new country. It was the issuance of a new currency in W. Berlin on June 23. The next day the Soviets imposed a complete blockade on Berlin.
2016 – BREXIT VOTE
Citizens in the United Kingdom vote in a national referendum to withdraw from the European Union. British voters felt their sovereignty, including economic sovereignty, was in peril by remaining in the EU. Other European nations, including those who have entirely lost their ability to issue and circulate their own national currency, are exploring a similar exit. [Note: The British maintained their authority to issue and circulate their currency, the Pound, despite being EU members, unlike other members.]
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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 the original 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. It is currently updated by Greg Coleridge. Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, email monetarycalendar@yahoo.com
To see the calendar year-to-date, go to https://monetarycalendar.wordpress.com/
A second historical calendar, the REAL Democracy History Calendar, in many ways complements this calendar. For information, go to https://realdemocracyhistorycalendar.wordpress.com/about/
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