Editor: What do Abraham Lincoln and Adolf Hitler have in common? Both financed economic development during a national crisis with “fiat” money, as explained in Ellen Hodgson Brown’s book, Web of Debt, the focus of a weekly study group in May.
Ellen Hodgson Brown has spoken in Sonoma twice on the benefits of public banking. For instance, the Bank of North Dakota not only saves their state millions in interest, but supports local private banks, keeps money in the state, and insures that sound local businesses can get financing.
Session 1 was on May 10 (Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz is a giant allegory throughout the book, with the wizard representing the Robber Barons who brought economic oppression to America’s industrial workers (the Tin Man) and farmers (the Scarecrow). Session 2 (May 17) covers Keynes, the Federal Reserve, petrodollars, the Asian Tigers, the Mexican bailout, hedge funds, and derivatives. Session 3 (May 24) is a novel explanation of why the real estate bubble popped. Session 4 (May 31), the group will study time-tested solutions such as public banking and local currencies. These approaches can resolve modern dilemmas such as the mismatch between a $360 trillion derivatives market and the annual output from the entire US economy ($13 trillion) — a 28 to 1 ratio.
The fifth meeting (June 7) will cover “Beating the Robber Barons at Their Own Game,” having government pay for itself, and solving the problem of third world debt.
The study group is free, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Village Green community room at 350 Robinson Street, off 3rd Street West. Books are available at cost ($12.50) and can be obtained ahead of time by calling Lauren Ayers at 939.9999.
Lauren Ayers
Sonoma
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