Image by Bart Everson via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
March 21, 2019
As alarm bells sound over the advancing destruction of the environment, a variety of Green New Deal proposals have appeared in the US and Europe, along with some interesting academic debates about how to fund them. Monetary policy, normally relegated to obscure academic tomes and bureaucratic meetings behind closed doors, has suddenly taken center stage.
Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog, Feb. 21, 2019
February 24, 2019
“Quantitative easing” was supposed to be an emergency measure. The Federal Reserve “eased” shrinkage in the money supply due to the 2008-09 credit crisis by pumping out trillions of dollars in new bank reserves. After the crisis, the presumption was that the Fed would “normalize” conditions by sopping up the excess reserves through “quantitative tightening” (QT) – raising interest rates and selling the securities it had bought with new reserves back into the market.
Image by Generation Grundeinkommen via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
December 29, 2018
Calls for a Universal Basic Income have been increasing, most recently as part of the Green New Deal introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and supported in the last month by at least 40 members of Congress. A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a monthly payment to all adults with no strings attached, similar to Social Security. Critics say the Green New Deal asks too much of the rich and upper-middle-class taxpayers who will have to pay for it, but taxing the rich is not what the resolution proposes. It says funding would primarily come from the federal government, “using a combination of the Federal Reserve, a new public bank or system of regional and specialized public banks,” and other vehicles.
Image by May S. Young via Flickr
Updated: Sept. 19, 2018
by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
September 18, 2018
Wall Street did not let the Lehman Brothers crisis go to waste. The banks that have paid the largest fines for financial fraud are now much bigger and more profitable. The victims of their junk mortgage loans are poorer, and the economy is facing debt deflation.
Image by Truthout.org via Flickr
by Michael Hudson, with Ellen Brown
Writers, Dandelion Salad
Michael Hudson, Jan. 28, 2018
The Web of Debt Blog
February 10, 2018
I appeared alongside Ellen Brown on Princetown Community Television in two parts. Enjoy!
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by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
August 2, 2016
Bernie Sanders supporters are flocking to Jill Stein, the presumptive Green Party presidential candidate, with donations to her campaign exploding nearly 1000% after he endorsed Hillary Clinton. Stein salutes Sanders for the progressive populist movement he began and says it is up to her to carry the baton. Can she do it? Critics say her radical policies will not hold up to scrutiny. But supporters say they are just the medicine the economy needs.
Image by Rich Girard via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
July 1, 2016
Brexit could trigger a $500 trillion derivatives meltdown, by forcing the EU to allow insolvent member governments and banks to write down debt. Italy is in financial crisis and is already petitioning for that concession. How to avoid collapse of the massive derivatives house of cards? Alternatives are considered.
Image by Tony Webster via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
January 16, 2016
In a landmark infrastructure bill passed in December, Congress finally penetrated the Fed’s “independence” by tapping its reserves and bank dividends for infrastructure funding.
The bill was a start. But some experts, including Congressional candidate Tim Canova, say Congress should go further and authorize funds to be issued for infrastructure directly.
Image by AK Rockefeller via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
September 22, 2015
Predictions are that we will soon be seeing the “nuclear option” — central bank-created money injected directly into the real economy. All other options having failed, governments will be reduced to issuing money outright to cover budget deficits. So warns a September 18 article on ZeroHedge titled “It Begins: Australia’s Largest Investment Bank Just Said ‘Helicopter Money’ Is 12-18 Months Away.”
Image by AK Rockefeller via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
August 19, 2015
“The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default.”
— Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan on Meet the Press, August 2011
Image by Mike Licht via Flickr
with Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
michael-hudson.com
June 15, 2015
TheRealNews on Jun 15, 2015
UMKC professor of economics Michael Hudson explains how the bond-buying program helps keep interest rates low for everyday people but has also shored up bad mortgage loans of corrupt banks.
Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr
with Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
michael-hudson.com
March 11, 2015
TheRealNews on Mar 10, 2015
Michael Hudson says quantitative easing is a pretext to assist banks make even more profits
Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
The Web of Debt Blog
December 7, 2013
December 23rd marks the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve. Dissatisfaction with its track record has prompted calls to audit the Fed and end the Fed. At the least, Congress needs to amend the Fed, modifying the Federal Reserve Act to give the central bank the tools necessary to carry out its mandates.
by Ellen Brown
Writer, Dandelion Salad
webofdebt.com
July 23, 2013
Image by 禁书网中国禁闻 via Flickr
Rather than expanding the money supply, quantitative easing (QE) has actually caused it to shrink by sucking up the collateral needed by the shadow banking system to create credit. The “failure” of QE has prompted the Bank for International Settlements to urge the Fed to shirk its mandate to pursue full employment, but the sort of QE that could fulfill that mandate has not yet been tried.
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.”
