Elizabeth Warren’s QE for Students: Populist Demagoguery or Economic Breakthrough? by Ellen Brown

Image by Saint Huck via Flickr

by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
June 14, 2013

On July 1, interest rates will double for millions of students – from 3.4% to 6.8% – unless Congress acts; and the legislative fixes on the table are largely just compromises. Only one proposal promises real relief – Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s “Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act.” This bill has been dismissed out of hand as “shameless populist demagoguery” and “a cheap political gimmick,” but is it? Or could Warren’s outside-the-box bill represent the sort of game-changing thinking sorely needed to turn the economy around?

Noam Chomsky: Latin America-There is an Alternative for Democracy and Freedom, Europe-On a Suicidal Course

Image by Synne Tonidas via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Noam Chomsky

LeftTalks Jun 8, 2013

A Message From Noam Chomsky To The Alter Summit In Greece.

Recorded at the Left Forum 2013.

What Socialism is NOT… by Michael Engel

by Michael Engel
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Socialism for Dummies, March 23, 2013
May 3, 2013

Image by EnvironmentBlog via Flickr

So what is NOT socialism?

Obviously, capitalism isn’t.  Well, duh, you say.  But it’s important to point that out, because defining capitalism is a useful start towards answering the question.  And it’s a lot easier to define than socialism.  Specifically: Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned, and which are organized and utilized for the purpose of maximizing the profits of the owners. 

Bail-out Is Out, Bail-in Is In by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
April 9, 2013

Image by The Workers’ Party of Ireland via Flickr

“[W]ith Cyprus . . . the game itself changed. By raiding the depositors’ accounts, a major central bank has gone where they would not previously have dared. The Rubicon has been crossed.”

—Eric Sprott, Shree Kargutkar, “Caveat Depositor”

The crossing of the Rubicon into the confiscation of depositor funds was not a one-off emergency measure limited to Cyprus. 

Richard Wolff: Obama Preaches Stimulus to Europe and Practices Austerity at Home

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Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews – Apr 20, 2013

Richard Wolff: Low wages, cheap money, and cheap equipment are driving higher profits and the politics of austerity.

Michael Hudson: Solution to Student Debt is to Get the Banks Out of the Education Business

Image by Saint Huck via Flickr

by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
michael-hudson.com
March 21, 2013

TheRealNews·Mar 20, 2013

Michael Hudson: Crippling student debt, which is also a drag on the whole economy, developed as governments pushed the burden of higher education costs onto students and pushed them into the arms of the banks.

On Wall Street by Ed Ciaccio

by Ed Ciaccio
Writer, Dandelion Salad
March 22, 2013

Image by David Paul Ohmer via Flickr

(to the tune of “On Broadway” by Barry Mann, Mike Stoller, Jerry Leiber & Cynthia Weil)

They say there’s profit to be made on Wall Street (on Wall Street).
That’s what the banksters & fraudsters, they all say (on Wall Street).
But when their schemes and bubbles burst,
It’s always us who get hurt the worst,

A Safe and a Shotgun or Public Sector Banks? The Battle of Cyprus by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
March 21, 2013

Image by @Popicinio via Flickr

If these worries become really serious, . . . [s]mall savers will take their money out of banks and resort to household safes and a shotgun.

– Martin Hutchinson on the attempted EU raid on deposits in Cyprus banks

The deposit confiscation scheme has long been in the making.  US depositors could be next . . . .

Government Debt and Deficits Are Not the Problem. Private Debt Is. by Michael Hudson

Image by Saint Huck via Flickr

by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
michael-hudson.com
March 14, 2013

There are two quite different perspectives in the set of speeches at this conference. Many on our morning panels – Steve Keen, William Greider, and earlier Yves Smith and Robert Kuttner – have warned about the economy being strapped by debt. The debt we are talking about is private-sector debt. But most officials this afternoon focus on government debt and budget deficits as the problem – especially social spending such as Social Security, not bailouts to the banks and Federal Reserve credit to re-inflate prices for real estate, stocks and bonds.

Money for the People: Grillo’s Populist Plan for Italy by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
March 7, 2013

Default on the public debt, nationalization of the banks, and a citizen dividend could actually save the Italian economy.

Comedian Beppe Grillo was surprised himself when his Five Star Movement got 8.7 million votes in the Italian general election of February 24-25th. His movement is now the biggest single party in the chamber of deputies, says The Guardian, which makes him “a kingmaker in a hung parliament.”

How the Fed Could Fix the Economy—and Why It Hasn’t by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
February 24, 2013

Image by Truthout.org via Flickr

Quantitative easing (QE) is supposed to stimulate the economy by adding money to the money supply, increasing demand. But so far, it hasn’t been working. Why not? Because as practiced for the last two decades, QE does not actually increase the circulating money supply. It merely cleans up the toxic balance sheets of banks. A real “helicopter drop” that puts money into the pockets of consumers and businesses has not yet been tried. Why not?  Another good question . . . .

Worker Owned Businesses Point to New Forms of Ownership

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Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews·Feb 13, 2013

Can co-ops come out of the margins of the economy and be part of a larger political project to transform how things are owned?

How Congress Could Fix Its Budget Woes, Permanently by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
February 13, 2013

Image by EnvironmentBlog via Flickr

As Congress struggles through one budget crisis after another, it is becoming increasingly evident that austerity doesn’t work. We cannot possibly pay off a $16 trillion debt by tightening our belts, slashing public services, and raising taxes. Historically, when the deficit has been reduced, the money supply has been reduced along with it, throwing the economy into recession. After a thorough analysis of statistics from dozens of countries forced to apply austerity plans by the World Bank and IMF, former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz called austerity plans a “suicide pact.”

Frontline: The Untouchables

Image by seiuhealthcare775nw via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

www.pbs.org
January 22, 2013

FRONTLINE investigates why Wall Street’s leaders have escaped prosecution for any fraud related to the sale of bad mortgages.

The Incredible Debt Spider by Rand Clifford

by Rand Clifford
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
January 17, 2013

Image by wildcard403 via Flickr

The “Federal Reserve Bank” (Fed) is not part of the United States Government. The Fed is a private, for-profit corporation ultimately owned by eight elite banking families:

1. Rothschild’s of London and Berlin
2. Lazard Brothers of Paris