168 results for author: Dave Svetlik

PUBLIC BANKING – UNIT II: THE COST OF “INTEREST”

Let us assume a state needs to replace an aging bridge on one of its state highways. If the contractor’s bid for supplying the materials and completing the construction is two million dollars, the tax payers of that state will eventually pay close to four million dollars for the bridge. How can this possibly be? The answer in a word is - - “interest.” The near doubling of the cost of most public projects, from bridges, to schools, to water and sewage systems, is the result of the legal process of fractional reserve banking through which the quasi-public US Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed) and the private banking industry loan most of the ...

PUBLIC BANKING

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VkkCQyoRfY UNIT I: FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING As the above video by the Philadelphia branch of the US Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed) indicates, money is created out of thin air by the private banking industry through a process called “fractional reserve banking.” We all find this difficult to believe. It defies our “household budget” logic. How can money be created out of nowhere? Let us take time to look at how the centuries old practice of fractional reserve banking led to current practices where, by law, private banks are only required to physically possess 10 percent of the money they have actually ...

MODERN MONETARY THEORY UNIT III: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SPENDING FUNDS TAXES

Imagine for a moment that this popularly held belief is true – that the US Federal Government has no money of its own and depends on taxes to fund any government spending. Think about this. Ask yourself the obvious question. If the US Federal government has no money of its own and depends on tax dollars for its operation, where did the tax dollars people pay each year come from in the first place? Well, we would all answer, “I work hard for my wages or salary and part of the money I earn is taken away from me to pay my federal and state taxes. That’s where federal tax dollars come from!” But then the question must be asked, “Where did our ...

MODERN MONETARY THEORY UNIT II: THE MONETARY SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES

The US Government cannot run out of money any more than Lambeau Field can run out of points during a Packer game. Quoting former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed), Ben Bernanke, during a 2009 interview with Scott Pelley on CBS 60 Minutes: (PELLEY): “Is that tax money the Fed is spending?” (BERNANKE): “It’s not tax money. The banks have accounts with the Fed much the same way that you have an account with a commercial bank. So, to lend to a bank, we simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account that they have with the Fed.” In 1944 as World War II was coming to an end, Europe and Japan were in economic ...

MODERN MONETARY THEORY UNIT I: MONEY AND PHYSICAL RESOURCES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6MGX1AKFm4 Let us take a moment to look at what was actually said in this 2005 discussion between Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank, Allen Greenspan, and Congressman Paul Ryan. The subject, of course, is Social Security: Congressman Ryan: “Do you believe that personal retirement accounts can help us achieve solvency for the system and make those future retiree benefits more secure?” Chairman Greenspan: “I wouldn’t say the pay-as-you-go benefits are insecure in the sense that there is nothing to prevent the Federal Government from creating as much money as it wants and paying it to somebody. The ...

MAKING THE WORLD WORK FOR EVERYONE – A PALE BLUE DOT PART V

  Planet Earth from a distance of 4 billion miles. Photo by Voyager I. Source: NASA/JPL Feb. 1990 (Just below middle of page in orange/brown color band on right) Imagine we had a magic wand we could simply wave to solve humanity’s problems and make the world work for everyone. We could assess all of the human activities occurring around the Earth, decide if they were beneficial or harmful to the health of people and the planet, and use the wand to end bad activities and initiate good ones. Simple. So, what might we do if we had such a wand: The use of fossil fuels to produce energy. . . Wave the wand – Gone! The use of solar, ...

VOICES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

“When blatant antisemitic conspiracy theories were spread against George Soros, President Trump retweeted them. When antisemites carried tiki torches in Charlottesville, Donald Trump called them “very fine people.” Under Trump, well-known antisemites and white supremacists have unprecedented access to positions of power. Yet when Congresswoman Ilhan Omar criticized AIPAC [American Israeli Public Affairs Committee] for behaving like any other powerful lobby, Trump has the audacity to feign concern over antisemitism? We don’t buy it. Ilhan Omar supports our Constitutional right to boycott, and she criticizes Israel’s violations of ...

MAKING THE WORLD WORK FOR EVERYONE – A PALE BLUE DOT PART IV

  Planet Earth from a distance of 4 billion miles. Photo by Voyager I. Source: NASA/JPL Feb. 1990 (Just below middle of page in orange/brown color band on right) “We stand today upon the fulcrum of history, a crossroads at midnight with a blood moon rising. Down one road lies fire, flood, famine, failure and the final triumph of greed. What awaits down the other road is unknown, terra incognita, a mystery to be solved one gentle step at a time. As a species, we tend to recoil from what we do not know, often choosing the awful alternative simply because it is familiar. Now, even that poor option is a suicidal indulgence leading inexorably ...

THE UNIVERSAL ECONOMY UNIT XIX: MONEY IS A CONCEPT – NOT A THING

Money is a concept – not a thing. We have the physical resources – the matter, the energy, the man power, the machine power, the knowledge – to rebuild our infrastructure, to repair our crumbling roads. We have the physical resources – the matter, the energy, the man power, the machine power, the knowledge – to provide healthcare for all. We have the physical resources, the knowledge, to put an end to the use of global warming fossil fuels and switch to safe alternative energies. We have the physical resources, the knowledge, to provide food for everyone on the planet. We have the physical resources, the knowledge, to clothe everyone on the ...

MAKING THE WORLD WORK FOR EVERYONE – A PALE BLUE DOT PART III

  Planet Earth from a distance of 4 billion miles. Photo by Voyager I. Source: NASA/JPL Feb. 1990 (Just below middle of page in orange/brown color band on right) Matthew 6:28-33 “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we ...