We are on a bucket list stopover on Santorini, in the country that has suffered so much under austerity measures. Hiking around up on the crater rim villages I will occasionally remember the images of the huge protests against austerty in Athens and other parts of Greece.
Detroit, Michigan is of course much closer to home , and what's been going there is outrageous.
Read an article today that made me sick to contemplate.
How would you like to see the same crap imposed on more cities, counties and states around the US?
All hands on deck for push back against the odd change to rules made by the Federal Reserve may lead to bankrupting of cities/states and transfer of assets to private interests, more austerity of the kind that the people of Detroit have been fighting?
Preparing to Asset-Strip Local Government? The Fed's Bizarre New Rules
Monday, 08 September 2014 14:56 By Ellen Brown, The Web of Debt Blog | News Analysis
In an inscrutable move that has alarmed state treasurers, the Federal Reserve, along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, just changed the liquidity requirements for the nation’s largest banks. Municipal bonds, long considered safe liquid investments, have been eliminated from the list of high-quality liquid collateral. assets (HQLA). That means banks that are the largest holders of munis are liable to start dumping them in favor of the Treasuries and corporate bonds that do satisfy the requirement.
Hope you will take time to read the entire article.
After recent meeting in Jackson Holehad thought maybe the Fed was coming around to help boost the economy for all. But now, not so much.
What can be done to protect ourselves from the banksters?
CREDIT: http://www.publicbankinginstitute.org/
Public Banks to the Rescue?
Whatever the explanation for the Fed’s game-changing move, the vulnerability of state and local governments to unpredictable and unaccountable federal regulators is another strong argument in favor of forming publicly-owned banks. Why be under the thumb of an erratic privately-owned central bank manipulated by Wall Street megabanks now caught in multiple frauds?ntire disturbing article.
What can be done to keep the 1%ers from going after City/State assets, pension funds, busting unions etc like they have in Detroit and Greece?
Like Eurozone countries, US states cannot print their own currencies. But unlike Eurozone countries, they can borrow from their own public banks, which can create money as credit on their books just as private banks do.
At least, they could if they had their own banks. Only one state – North Dakota – has currently taken advantage of that option. North Dakota is also the only state to have escaped the 2008 credit crisis, sporting a budget surplus every year since then. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, the lowest default rate on credit card debt, and one of the lowest foreclosure rates.
True, North Dakota also has oil. But the 2008 crisis happened before oil and gas had made a significant impact on state revenues; and the state was posting a budget surplus all during that period. Other oil and gas states are not doing so well.
Globally, 40% of banks are publicly owned; and they are largely in the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China. These countries also escaped the credit crisis largely unscathed.
If state and municipal governments want to protect themselves from the fate of Greece and Detroit, they would do well to follow North Dakota’s lead and form their own publicly-owned banks. And time is of the essence, if they hope to beat the rush before the first US Cyprus-style bail-in consumes the collateral that local governments are counting on to protect their multi-billions in deposits.
Momentum is growing for public banks.
At the time of Occupy many of us transferred our money to credit unions and local banks as a way to push back. I had read about the Public Bank movement, but until today had not realized how much progress has been made!
National Movement for Public Banks http://www.publicbankinginstitute.org/
The advent of BankAct and the groundswell of support we are seeing for public banking all over the country speaks to this critical historical moment. The Occupy movement made the growing gap between the 99% and the 1% a household term – the Public Banking movement is poised to make the changes needed to change the trend toward inequality and bring economic democracy to a country built on the tenets of equity, self-determination, and the possibility of human fulfillment and happiness.
Get involved?
There are activities underway in over 25 states around the country. Click hereto find the coordinator near you. If there is no coordinator where you are, Click here for assistance getting a local chapter started. PBI's mission is to support local initiatives with training, technical assistance, and conversations with people who are working hard to make public banks succeed in their states.