08/11/2026
August 9 - 15
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AUGUST 9
1836 – BIRTH OF ALEXANDER DEL MAR, AMERICAN POLITICAL ECONOMIST, HISTORIAN, NUMISMATIST, AUTHOR, DIRECTOR US BUREAU OF STATISTICS
"As a rule political economists…don't take the trouble to study the history of money; it is much easier to imagine it and to deduce the principles of this imaginary knowledge."
“[T]he State alone had the right to issue money and to decide what substances its symbols should be made, whether of gold, silver, brass or paper. Whatever the State declared to be money was money.”
“Lexington and Concord were trivial acts of resistance, which chiefly concerned those who took part in them and which might have been forgiven; but the creation and circulation of bills of credit by revolutionary assemblies in Massachusetts and Philadelphia were the acts of a whole people, and coming, as they did, upon the heels of the strenuous efforts made by the Crown to suppress paper money in America, they constituted acts of defiance so contemptuous and insulting to the Crown, that forgiveness was thereafter impossible…Thus the bills of credit of this era, which ignorance and prejudice have attempted to belittle into the mere instruments of a reckless financial policy, were really the standard of the Revolution. They were more than this: they were the Revolution itself.”
1944 – BIRTH OF WILLIAM ENGDAHL, AUTHOR OF "GODS OF MONEY"
“Since 1945, American hegemony, or more accurately an American imperium, has rested on two firm pillars of support! The 1st pillar has been the role of the dollar as an unchallenged world reserve currency in which New York’s Wall St. is the center of global finance, the ‘banker to the world’. The 2nd has been the role of the Pentagon and the unchallenged dominance of American military power….
“As President Barack Obama made clear, he was every bit as much beholden to the powers of Wall St. and the big banks as was Woodrow Wilson and most every President, with the possible exception of John Kennedy, since the Civil War.”
““In 1875, under pressure by East Coast bankers advocating the gold redemption of Greenbacks and the future issue exclusively of gold-backed U.S. Government notes, the U.S. Congress passed the Specie Resumption Act. The key Senator pushing the bill through Congress was John Sherman of Ohio.”
1989 – FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS REFORM RECOVERY AND ENFORCEMENT ACT (FIRREA) ENACTED
The law passed in response to the 1980’s savings and loan crisis – in which. FIRREA created the Resolution Trust Corporation, which bailed out failed institutions primarily through taxation. It also shifted regulatory authority from the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to the Office of Thrift Supervision within the Department of the Treasury.
It should be noted that more than more than a thousand felony convictions followed the savings-and-loan scandal of the 1980s and early 1990s. There were virtually no investigations, let alone convictions, of those responsible for the 2007-2008 global financial meltdown triggered by US financial institutions.
2019 – “A PARABLE: ON MONEY – ON COUNTING MONEY – ON MONEY ACCOUNTING – ON CAPITALISM” BY JOE BONGIOVANNI
“We can end the essence of Capitalism’s complete control of all ‘commerce’ on this Mother Earth simply by changing to the system of Public Money issuance used in Sparta a while back, and thus adopting a ‘new kind of money’ system of issuance and use, and in adopting concurrent modern accounting norms that do not destroy our money, money which will be and must be persevered as circulating ‘financial capital’ when borrowers make principal repayments on their loans.
“Yes! It’s the accounting system, stupid!
“Governmental control and benefit from money issuance is an actual ‘state right’ that must be reserved and restored to its historic Athenian and Spartan wisdom. Public Money. Period.”
https://www.monetaryalliance.org/a-parable-on-money-on-counting-money-on-money-accounting-on-capitalism/
2021 –“AFJM COFFEEHOUSE” DEBT DRIVES WAR AND WAR DRIVES DEBT WITH SUE PETERS” VIDEO POSTING
“Sue Peters will discuss her research and conclusions from her 2019 inaugural Robert Poteat Lecture on DEBT DRIVES WAR & WAR DRIVES DEBT: The Powers of Bank Credit Creation in World War I. Sue presented the paper at the annual conference of the American Monetary Institute (AMI) as the 2019 Keynote Address. Sue's research leads to the conclusion that the use of private bank credit as society's money is a major driver of imperialism and war. The facts of the bank credit system are examined in relation to World War I--its effects on the policies of the U.S. government, the changes in the U.S. economy, and the changes of the U.S. dollar in world trade. A central piece of the U.S. experience in World War I is the creation of the Federal Reserve System and the amendments that powered its funding of the world war.“
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8a1RqAnZG0
AUGUST 10
1863 – BIRTH OF ALFRED OWEN CROZIER, PROMINENT OHIO ATTORNEY AND AUTHOR
Crozier wrote widely against the power and influence held by Wall Street Bankers. Crozier wrote eight books, including The Magnet and U.S. Money vs. Corporation Currency, which served to warn the country of the replacement of the country’s currency by notes printed by private banking corporations. A wonderful display of political cartoons from his book, US Money vs. Corporations Currency is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4qQ59w4ML4
1868 – BIRTH OF PAUL WARBURG, US BANKER
Warburg guided the operations of the National Citizens League, an organization formed in 1911 with $5 million in contributions from the big New York banks (including those owned by Rockefeller and J.P Morgan) to establish an "educational fund." The fund financed respected university professors to endorse the concept of creating a private central bank, which became the Federal Reserve Bank, created by the 1913 Federal Reserve Act.
1929 – THE FEDERAL RESERVE BEGINS TO TIGHTEN THE MONEY SUPPLY – LEADS TO GREAT DEPRESSION
The Federal Reserve sharply raises the interest rate it charges local banks to borrow money (called the “discount rate”). At the same time, it begins to sell its government securities (remember, the Fed is not part of the federal government, despite its name, but rather a largely private entity controlled by 12 reserve banks which are controlled by banks). These actions were the seeds, which led to the Great Depression – as limited money in circulation prevents business and commercial transactions from occurring.
1930- BIRTH OF GEORGE GOODMAN, AUTHOR, “THE MONEY GAME”
“[T]hose who live by numbers can also perish by them, and it is a terrifying thing to have an adding machine write an epitaph, either way.”
2017 – Video posting, “THE NEW ABOLITIONISM: MONETARY REFORM, DEMOCRACY AND THE FUTURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS” BY REV. DELMAN COATES
Presentation at the 2017 Democracy Convention, Minneapolis, MN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63ITN35v39o
AUGUST 11
1943 – BIRTH OF NICOLAUS TIDEMAN, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, VIRGINIA TECH AND FORMER SENIOR ECONOMIST FOR THE PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS
“Money is what people make sure they have when they want to buy things. Something works as money when people expect others to accept it as payment. Sometimes money is a valuable commodity, such as gold, wampum, or packs of ci******es. More often, especially these days, money consists of pieces of paper.
“The pieces of paper that serve as money have sometimes been issued by governments and sometimes by banks…What gives paper money its value to the general public is the expectation that a party with whom many will have occasion to trade will accept the paper as the basis for crediting the person who presents it. The crediting can take the form of payment of taxes, payment of loans, payment of religious obligations, or, as with paper money issued by banks and some paper money issued by governments, the crediting can take the form of obliging the issuer to exchange the paper for some specified thing of value…
“In those cases in which the crediting takes the form of obliging the issuer to exchange the paper for a specified thing of value, the paper money can be described as the record of a promise to pay a debt on demand, and if that is the only form of money, then an expansion of the money supply requires an expansion of debt. But other forms of paper money are not debt. In particular, a paper money that consists of fiat currency issued by a government, good for the payment of taxes but not otherwise guaranteed to be convertible, is not debt.”
2011 – PUBLISHED BLOG POSTING: CONGRESSMAN DENNIS KUCINICH’S BRIEFING TO SOLVE THE DEBT CRISIS
“Congressman Dennis Kucinich hosted Professor Kaoru Yamaguchi (Berkeley & Doshisha universities) for a Monetary Briefing to present to members of Congress the real solution to the real problem. The problem is that the monetary system itself is broken. It is controlled not by our government but by corrupt financial interests. The solution is genuine monetary reform!...
“This money system requires government and private debt to grow exponentially and indefinitely. Dr. Yamaguchi finds that it inevitably leads to either a Financial Meltdown, a Debt Default, or Hyper-Inflation…
“The real surprise comes when he examines what would happen with a government money system, where the government creates the money as money, not debt, and spends it into circulation for things the country (i.e. the people) really need, like infrastructure.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-zarlenga/congressman-dennis-kucini_b_924004.html
2016 – POSTING OF "THE FINANCE FRANCHISE" by Robert C. Hockett & Saule T. Omarova
"When a bank receives a loan application from a creditworthy business or household, the bank does not peer into a vault to determine how much in the way of depositors’ funds are on hand to lend out to others, then put available such funds at the disposal of the borrower. Nor does the bank engage in any contemporary analogue to that act, like checking its reserve balance at the regional Federal Reserve Bank and then using the available balance to transfer funds to the borrower. The bank simply credits a checkable borrower ac- count (either newly opened or pre-existing), then books this transaction as an asset and a liability of its own, on the one hand, and an asset and a liability of the borrower, on the other hand." 102 Cornell L. Rev. 1143 (2017). Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 16-29
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2820176
AUGUST 12
1933 - PUBLISHED REPORT, "CLOSED BANKS AND BANKING REFORM" BY CQ RESEARCHER
"The many bank failures occurred in widespread concern as to the fundamental soundness of the dual banking system and of American banking methods in general. Provision for certain radical changes in banking practice was made by the Glass-Steagall act, passed at the close of the special session of the 73rd Congress. It was generally felt, however, that a more thoroughgoing reform of the whole system was needed. In this connection, the movement toward unification of the state and federal banking systems, with possible federalization of all banks, appears to have been gaining headway. While the views of the administration on the question have not been made known, it is thought likely that the President will recommend enactment of new banking legislation by Congress at the regular session in January, 1934."
[NOTE: A reform not made was one that was suggested by hundreds of economists of the day -- to democratize money creation via what was called "The Chicago Plan," specifically for the government to create money as an asset (not as debt which is what banks do) and 100% reserve requirement of banks (i.e. banks could only lend money that they actually possessed).
2021 -- "MONETARY REFORM: SIMPLE SPIEL" BY GOVERT SCHULLER POSTED ARTICLE
"What monetary reform is all about is to promote a bill that has already been drafted in various formulations here in the USA. One in the 1930s and one from 2012. And it concerns a radical change in the current monetary system."
https://www.monetaryalliance.org/monetary-reform-simple-spiel
AUGUST 13
1946 – BIRTH OF JANET YELLEN, FORMER CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
• (2005, speech in San Francisco) – Yellen argued against deflating the housing bubble because – “arguments against trying to deflate a bubble outweigh those in favor of it” and predicted that the housing bubble “could be large enough to feel like a good-sized bump in the road, but the economy would likely be able to absorb the shock”.
• (2010, Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing) “For my own part, I did not see and did not appreciate what the risks were with securitization, the credit ratings agencies, the shadow banking system, the S.I.V.’s — I didn’t see any of that coming until it happened.”
So, what is Ms. Yellen and her colleagues at the Fed today not seeing and won’t “until it happens?”
AUGUST 14
1989 – DEATH OF ROBERT B. ANDERSON, SECRETARY OF TREASURY UNDER PRESIDENT EISENHOWER
"When a bank makes a loan it simply adds to the borrowers’ deposit account in the bank by the amount of the loan. The money is not taken from anyone else's deposit; it was not previously paid into the bank by anyone. It's new money, created by the bank for the use of the borrower."
2017 – VIDEO POSTING “MONEY, SCHOOLING AND EDUCATORS: CREATING A CRITICALLY-INFORMED MOVEMENT FOR MONETARY REFORM AND ECOJUSTICE” BY LUCILLE ECKRICH AND STEVEN WALSH
Presentation at the 2017 Democracy Convention, Minneapolis, MN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Fk2FElTU8&list=PL_Ybyssa0tL28lxacb7TGVKYARueSwUow
2017 – VIDEO POSTING, “CLIMATE CHANGE AND MONEY: HACKING AT THE ROOT” BY HOWARD SWITZER
Presentation at the 2017 Democracy Convention, Minneapolis, MN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPxXkz1Nv-8&list=PL_Ybyssa0tL28lxacb7TGVKYARueSwUow
2019 – “AMERICAN CAPITALISM IS BRUTAL. YOU CAN TRACE THAT TO THE PLANTATION” POSTED ARTICLE
“Financialization is not just as a modern problem. In the NY Times series on Slavery this bubble was financed by the banks:
“The American South rashly overproduced cotton thanks to an abundance of cheap land, labor and credit, consumer demand couldn’t keep up with supply, and prices fell. The value of cotton started to drop as early as 1834 before plunging like a bird winged in midflight, setting off the Panic of 1837. Investors and creditors called in their debts, but plantation owners were underwater. Mississippi planters owed the banks in New Orleans $33 million in a year their crops yielded only $10 million in revenue. They couldn’t simply liquidate their assets to raise the money. When the price of cotton tumbled, it pulled down the value of enslaved workers and land along with it. People bought for $2,000 were now selling for $60. Today, we would say the planters’ debt was “toxic.” ... Even academic historians, who from their very first graduate course are taught to shun presentism and accept history on its own terms, haven’t been able to resist drawing parallels between the Panic of 1837 and the 2008 financial crisis.”
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html
AUGUST 15
1939 – THE WIZARD OF OZ PREMIERS - A MONETARY ALLEGORY
"For many years, the Wizard of Oz retained its status as purely a modern classic of children's literature. More recently, however, a number of authors have argued that the Wizard of Oz is not a children's book at all, but rather a populist allegory about the US monetary debates of the last quarter of the 19th century. During this period, the successive Republican administrations, concerned about the potential inflationary effects of the excessive monetary expansion during the American civil war of the early 1860s, gradually returned the US monetary system to the gold standard. Under this system, banks could only print new dollar bills when purchasing gold, as opposed to earlier times when they could also print money by purchasing US government bonds. This return to gold, under the conditions of severe gold shortage, resulted in a tighter money supply and, hence, the economic depression of the late 19th century. To combat the depression, a number of Democrats began the free silver movement which favored giving banks the permission to also print money by purchasing silver, a metal found in abundance in the western American states. The free silver coinage, many Democrats asserted, would end the dearth of money and, thus, initiate the process of American economic recovery. Indeed, during the 1896 presidential election, the Democrats led by their nominee, William Jennings Bryan, called for an end to “crucifying mankind upon a cross of gold.”
"Baum, a journalist at the time in Chicago, is supposed to have composed the Wizard of Oz as an allegory depicting these events. Thus, according to this interpretation, Dorothy (representing America and her honest values) wearing silver shoes (representing the free silver coinage) recruits the Scarecrow (representing the American farmer), the Tin Man (representing the American worker), and the Cowardly Lion (William Jennings Bryan), to accompany her on the yellow brick road (representing the gold standard) to the Emerald City (Washington, D.C.) to plead with the Great Wizard (the Democratic president Grover Cleveland) of Oz (an ounce of gold) for free silver coinage. In the process, Dorothy and her companions also battle the Wicked Witch of the West (William McKinley, the Republican presidential nominee in 1896). Unlike the Democrats, McKinley was against abandoning the gold standard in favor of a more expansionary bimetallist (gold and silver) system. As it turned out, however, the issue of the silver coinage became moot with the new gold discoveries in Alaska in the 1890s, which served to undermine the Democratic platform and, thus, to cost the Democrats the US presidency both in 1896 and 1900."
The Wizard of Oz as a Monetary Allegory
https://blogs.stthom.edu/cameron/the-wizard-of-oz-as-a-monetary-allegory/
1971 – PRESIDENT NIXON CLOSES “GOLD WINDOW”
Richard Nixon issues Executive Order 11615 freezing wages and prices. Foreign-held paper dollars are no longer converted for gold, thereby nullifying in an important aspect the Bretton Woods Agreement
2023 -- "WALL STREET MEGA BANKS AND THEIR DISGRACEFUL BAILOUT CHARTS SINCE THE REPEAL OF THE GLASS-STEAGALL ACT," POSTED ARTICLE
"Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Thus, today we offer, in charts, a few of the milestones delivered to us by the Wall Street kleptocracy since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act."
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/08/wall-street-mega-banks-and-their-disgraceful-bailout-charts-since-the-repeal-of-the-glass-steagall-act-in-1999/
2025 – “OUR MONEY: MONETARY POLICY AS IF DEMOCRACY MATTERS.” THE DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION PODCAST
Luke talks with Dr. Leah Downey about her latest book, Our Money: Monetary Policy as if Democracy Matters. Topics include an overview of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, issues with separating monetary policy from the legislative branch and broader oversight, current dissatisfaction with bureaucracies and our elected officials, and how a country might manage money creation if democracy truly mattered.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1W2pBhgeXK63KFlLTK5nh4?si=tb5MNw_YTeeGvLd4YzfMmw&nd=1&dlsi=4ec72182eaa64f8f
The Democratic Constitution Podcast · Episode
