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. A leading Republican in Congress, Senator Phil Gramm, proposed the bill. President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, signed it.
NOVEMBER 13
1856 – BIRTH OF LOUIS BRANDEIS, US SUPREME COURT JUSTICE (1916-1939)
“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.” Louis Brandeis, Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It (1913)
NOVEMBER 14
2008 – US GOVERNMENT BAILS OUT US BANKS
The U.S. Treasury Department purchases a total of $33.5 billion in preferred stock in 21 U.S. banks under the Capital Purchase Program.
NOVEMBER 15
1637 – WAMPUM ACCEPTED AS CURRENCY
On November 15, 1637 the Massachusetts General Court stated that wampum beads would pass at 6 to a penny and were to be legal as payment in sums fewer than 12 pence. http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Wampum.intro.html
2005 – QUOTE BY BEN BERNANKE
“With respect to their safety, derivatives, for the most part, are traded among very sophisticated financial institutions and individuals who have considerable incentive to understand them and to use them properly.”
2018 – WORLD PHILOSOPHY DAY [3rd Thursday in November every year]
“Are you not ashamed of heaping up the greatest amount of money and honour and reputation, and caring so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul?” – Socrates (469-399 B.C.) Greek philosopher
“The trade of the petty usurer is hated with most reason: it makes a profit from currency itself, instead of making it from the process which currency was meant to serve. Their common characteristic is obviously their sordid avarice.” — Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher
NOVEMBER 16
1914 – US FEDERAL RESERVE OPENS FOR BUSINESS
“Commercial banks create checkbook money whenever they grant a loan, simply by adding new deposit dollars in accounts on their books in exchange for a borrower’s IOU.” From I Bet You Thought, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
1914 – FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF BOSTON OPENS FOR BUSINESS
“When you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover the check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money.”
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Putting It Simply (1984)
2006 – DEATH OF MILTON FRIEDMAN, US ECONOMIST
“The Federal Reserve definitely caused the Great Depression by contracting the amount of currency in circulation by one-third from 1929 to 1933.”
NOVEMBER 17
2008 – FEDERAL RESERVE BAILS OUT BANKS
The US Treasury gives out $33.6 billion to 21 banks in the second round of disbursements from the $700 billion bailout fund. This payout brings the total to $158.56 billion to date.
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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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