By David Korten | Website Read the previous post in this series. This brings us to the most important reform of all:
changing the way we create money. One key to Wall Street’s power and to
the inherent instability of the financial system is the current
practice of private banks creating money with a simple bookkeeping
entry each time they make a loan. Because the bookkeeping entry creates
only the principal, but not the interest, unless the economy grows fast
enough to generate sufficient demand for loans to create the new money
required to make the interest payments on the previous loans, debts go
into default and the financial system and the economy collapse. The
demand for repayment [ Read More]
Written by eldering at The Great Turning
Tagged with:
debt-free_money
main_street
wall_street
By David Korten | Website
Read the previous post in this series. Far from serving the financial needs of Main Street, Wall Street treats
Main Street like a colony to be managed for the benefit of its colonial
master. In alliance with the Federal Reserve, Wall Street players have
used a combination of control over the money supply, predatory lending
practices, and lobbying and campaign contributions to suppress wages,
dismantle social safety nets, and capture the value of productivity
gains for themselves. The top 1 percent of U.S. income earners
increased their share of national cash income from 9 percent to [ Read More]
Written by eldering at The Great Turning
Tagged with:
local_self_reliance
main_street
new_rules_project
wall_street
By David Korten | Website
Read the previous post in this series. The first item of business is to get the immediate
crisis under control. Wall Street institutions have long claimed their
trading activities create wealth, provide the funds that keep business
moving, increase economic efficiency, and stabilize markets. The
financial meltdown pulled away the curtain to reveal a corrupt system
that runs on speculation, the stripping of corporate assets, predatory
lending, and asset bubbles like the real estate and dot-com “booms.” [ Read More]
Written by eldering at The Great Turning
Tagged with:
economic_stimulus_package
glass_steagall
wall_street
By David Korten | Website The financial crisis has put to rest the myths
that our economic institutions are sound and markets work best when
deregulated. Our economic institutions have failed, not only
financially, but also socially and environmentally. This, combined with
the election of a new president with a mandate for change, creates an
opportune moment to rethink and redesign. President-elect
Obama has promised to grow the economy from the bottom up. That would
be a substantial improvement over growing the top at the expense of the
bottom. [ Read More]
Written by eldering at The Great Turning
Tagged with:
bailout_package
financial_crisis
sustainable_economy
wall_street
|
RSS Feeds
