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Guest: Jules Brouillet
Next week the American Monetary Institute is holding its annual Monetary Reform Conference in Chicago. Last year I was invited to speak and I spoke on Strategy for the Monetary Reform Movement. This year my son, Jules Brouillet, an intern at the American Monetary Institute, a graduate from Oberlin College (in Economics), will be speaking on this topic.
Jules, was elected twice to the student senate at Oberlin, and has interned for elected officials and non-profits. In addition to assisting in AMI research and operations, in 2011 Jules Brouillet worked with the AMI Chicago Chapter,Moveon.org, and US Uncut, and other local groups to effect monetary reform. He has written on financial market crises, penitentiary privatization, public health policy, and grassroots organizing. He writes that at AMI they have "the economic know-how and the legal expertise to define money, account for the mishandling of the money power throughout history, counter Trojan Horse monetary reform proposals, and guide a real monetary reform bill into the Congress- we need only train our political muscle to make reform into reality! How can a non-partisan movement force corrupt, partisan officials in Washington to approve real reforms? Why and how Fractional Reserve banking must be made illegal, how every one of us can use our unique skills and strengths to grow monetary reform? How can we grow this into a real, national movement that cannot be ignored by a press whose primary responsibility is to preserve the status quo? How can we activate millions of adult Americans with imaginations destroyed, childhoods prolonged, and communities splintered by our education system?
Protestors at this moment are occupying Wall Street, and other financial districts. The majority of people realize that they are being robbed by the financial system, but they don't know what to do about it.
AB 750, California’s bill to study the feasibility of establishing a state-owned bank that would receive deposits of state funds, has passed both houses of the legislature and is now on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown awaiting his signature.
It seems that the higher up the ladder one goes to effect change- from local to state to national to international, the less democratic the processes are and the more likely they are to favor the corporate interests of the powerful rather than the well being of the majority.
Jules will share his unique perspective on the current situation, the upcoming conference in Chicago, proposed legislation for genuine monetary reform, and the path forward.
On Wednesday, September 21, 2011, Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced The National Emergency Employment Defense (NEED) Act of 2011 "to address our structural economic problems directly by creating over 7 million jobs."
The Act "would allow the federal government to directly fund badly-needed infrastructure repairs and fund education systems nationwide by spending money into circulation without increasing the national debt or causing inflation."
“Today, nearly 25 million Americans are either unemployed or cannot find a job on which they can live and support their families. FDR’s response to such circumstances was the New Deal. Today, we need similarly bold solutions,” said Kucinich. “We need a solution that will revive our economy in a sustainable way that will put millions of American back to work.”
“There should be work for those who are able to work. Government must become the employer of last resort. The private sector is not providing the jobs. When the private sector fails to provide the jobs, the government has a moral responsibility and a practical responsibility to step forward to put the country back to work.
“The ability to coin money is an inherent power under Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. The NEED Act would control inflation because it will enable the government to invest in America by creating infrastructure, which is real wealth. Inflation is caused when new money is created without the creation of new wealth,” explained Kucinich.
"The proposal would also establish fiscal integrity, reassert Congressional sovereignty and regain control of monetary policy from private banks." Representative Kucinich was interviewed today about his proposal on C-Span. He also spoke before Congress on September 7, 2011 on International Policy: Its Relationship to the Domestic Economy.