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by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
March 18, 2018
The US Postal Service, under attack from a manufactured crisis designed to force its privatization, needs a new source of funding to survive. Postal banking could fill that need.
Image by AK Rockefeller via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
April 11, 2017
Phil Murphy, the leading Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey, has made a state-owned bank a centerpiece of his campaign. He says the New Jersey bank would “take money out of Wall Street and put it to work for New Jersey – creating jobs and growing the economy [by] using state deposits to finance local investments … and … support billions of dollars of critical investments in infrastructure, small businesses, and student loans – saving our residents money and returning all profits to the taxpayers.”
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by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
January 13, 2016
My Dec. 29th article “Bail-ins Begin” prompted two video interviews, with Greg Hunter on USAWatchdog.com, and Thom Hartmann below.
Image by Mike Licht via Flickr
Updated: Jan. 1, 2015
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
December 20, 2014
The sudden dramatic collapse in the price of oil appears to be an act of geopolitical warfare against Russia. The result could be trillions of dollars in oil derivative losses; and the FDIC could be liable, following repeal of key portions of the Dodd-Frank Act last weekend. Continue reading
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
December 1, 2014
Image by saguarosally via Flickr
On the weekend of November 16th, the G20 leaders whisked into Brisbane, posed for their photo ops, approved some proposals, made a show of roundly disapproving of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and whisked out again. It was all so fast, they may not have known what they were endorsing when they rubber-stamped the Financial Stability Board’s “Adequacy of Loss-Absorbing Capacity of Global Systemically Important Banks in Resolution,” which completely changes the rules of banking. Continue reading
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
April 13, 2014
Taxpayers are paying billions of dollars for a swindle pulled off by the world’s biggest banks, using a form of derivative called interest-rate swaps; and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has now joined a chorus of litigants suing over it. According to an SEIU report:
Derivatives… have turned into a windfall for banks and a nightmare for taxpayers…. While banks are still collecting fixed rates of 3 to 6 percent, they are now regularly paying public entities as little as a tenth of one percent on the outstanding bonds, with rates expected to remain low in the future. Over the life of the deals, banks are now projected to collect billions more than they pay state and local governments – an outcome which amounts to a second bailout for banks, this one paid directly out of state and local budgets.
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. Continue reading
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.
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
March 28, 2013
Image by scrappy! via Flickr
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.
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democracynow on Jul 22, 2011
President Obama and Republican House speaker John Boehner are allegedly close to a $3 trillion deficit-reduction package as part of a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling before an Aug. 2 deadline. But the deal is coming under fire from both Congressional Democrats and Republicans — part of it calls for lowering personal and corporate income tax rates, while eliminating or reducing an array of popular tax breaks, such as the deduction for home mortgage interest.
by Josh Sidman
Dandelion Salad
Featured Writer
Josh’s Blog Post
Sept. 1, 2009
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday on the government’s latest improvisation for propping up the banking system, called “loss-sharing”. Essentially, what it boils down to is that the FDIC encourages healthy banks to acquire failing banks by guaranteeing that it will cover 80% of any losses arising from the acquisitions. The Journal and others have correctly observed that this amounts to a taxpayer-funded giveaway to the acquiring banks. While it is certainly true that loss-sharing is yet another federal giveaway to banks, I believe that focusing on this part of the picture overlooks the most important aspect of the program.
by Josh Sidman
Dandelion Salad
Featured Writer
Josh’s Blog Post
August 24, 2009
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
It is said that people living in war zones become so acclimated to horror and destruction that they hardly even notice it after a while. While a car bomb in Manhattan would bring the entire city to a standstill, one in Baghdad probably goes unnoticed by everyone except those immediately affected by it. Unfortunately, much the same can be said about the American economy these days. Disasters have become so commonplace that they hardly even register in the average American’s consciousness anymore.
