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

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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?

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

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

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“[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. 

Why Derivatives Threaten Your Bank Account–All Depositors May Be at Risk by Ellen Brown

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

Image by The Workers’ Party of Ireland via Flickr

Shock waves went around the world when the IMF, the EU, and the ECB not only approved but mandated the confiscation of depositor funds to “bail in” two bankrupt banks in Cyprus. A “bail in” is a quantum leap beyond a “bail out.” When governments are no longer willing to use taxpayer money to bail out banks that have gambled away their capital, the banks are now being instructed to “recapitalize” themselves by confiscating the funds of their creditors, turning debt into equity, or stock; and the “creditors” include the depositors who put their money in the bank thinking it was a secure place to store their savings.

It Can Happen Here: The Confiscation Scheme Planned for US and UK Depositors by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
March 28, 2013

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Confiscating the customer deposits in Cyprus banks, it seems, was not a one-off, desperate idea of a few Eurozone “troika” officials scrambling to salvage their balance sheets. A joint paper by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Bank of England dated December 10, 2012, shows that these plans have been long in the making; that they originated with the G20 Financial Stability Board in Basel, Switzerland (discussed earlier here); and that the result will be to deliver clear title to the banks of depositor funds.  

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

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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 . . . .

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

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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 . . . .

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

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

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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.”

The Trillion Dollar Coin: Joke or Game-changer? by Ellen Brown

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by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
January 18, 2013

The trillion dollar coin actually represents one of the most important principles of popular prosperity ever conceived: the creation of money by sovereign governments, debt-free.

Last week on “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart characterized the proposal that the White House circumvent the debt ceiling by minting a trillion dollar coin as an attempt to “just make shit up.”

Political Football Over Disaster Relief: Most Sandy Victims Are Left Stranded by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
January 4, 2013

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In a shameless display of putting politics before human needs, Congress began 2013 still scrapping over a $60 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill fully nine weeks after the disaster hit. And if the Katrina experience is any indication, the bill may not bring adequate relief to struggling and displaced homeowners even when it is finally passed.

Fiscal Cliff: Let’s Call Their Bluff by Ellen Brown

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by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
December 20, 2012

The “fiscal cliff” has all the earmarks of a false flag operation, full of sound and fury, intended to extort concessions from opponents.  Neil Irwin of the Washington Post calls it “a self-induced austerity crisis.”  David Weidner in the Wall Street Journal calls it simply theater, designed to pressure politicians into a budget deal:

The cliff is really just a trumped-up annual budget discussion. . . . The most likely outcome is a combination of tax increases, spending cuts and  kicking the can down the road.

Ensuring Scottish Sovereignty: Exploring the Public Bank Option by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
December 8, 2012

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The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and the Bank of Scotland have been pillars of Scotland’s economy and culture for over three centuries.  So when the RBS was nationalized by the London-based UK government following the 2008 banking crisis, and the Bank of Scotland was acquired by the London-based Lloyds Bank, it came as a shock to the Scots.  They no longer owned their oldest and most venerable banks.

Ellen Brown: Restoring Prosperity With Public Banking

with Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
Nov. 15, 2012

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Guns and Butter – | KPFA 94.1 FM
October 24, 2012

The Public Banking Institute; public versus private banking; two banking models – sustainable and extractive; the Federal Reserve; the shadow banking system; the repo market; the benefits of a public banking system; debt; the money supply, compound interest; and all things money.

It’s the Interest, Stupid! Why Bankers Rule the World by Ellen Brown

by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
Nov. 8, 2012

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In the 2012 edition of Occupy Money released last week, Professor Margrit Kennedy writes that a stunning 35% to 40% of everything we buy goes to interest. This interest goes to bankers, financiers, and bondholders, who take a 35% to 40% cut of our GDP. That helps explain how wealth is systematically transferred from Main Street to Wall Street. The rich get progressively richer at the expense of the poor, not just because of “Wall Street greed” but because of the inexorable mathematics of our private banking system.

What Is QE Infinity? by Ellen Brown

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by Ellen Brown
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
Oct. 3, 2012

QE3, the Federal Reserve’s third round of quantitative easing, is so open-ended that it is being called QE Infinity.  Doubts about its effectiveness are surfacing even on Wall Street.  The Financial Times reports:

Among the trading rooms and floors of Connecticut and Mayfair [in London], supposedly sophisticated money managers are raising big questions about QE3 — and whether, this time around, the Fed is not risking more than it can deliver.