We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Debate: Occupy versus the Bank of England

This was posted by Inka Stafrace on CounterFire (UK).

The "debate" format for the 10:55m video below consists of a bank representative from the Bank of England responding officially to demands by the Occupy movement in England followed by responses from knowledgeable Occupy activists. 

Although this is focused on British banking, their banking practices are essentially the same as in the US and other capitalist countries. The so-called "Bank of England" established by private bankers in 1694 created the model of banking that exists throughout most of the world. This topic is most useful to people who have at least some understanding of how money is created by banks including central banks. Others may have their curiosity piqued sufficiently to delve into the subject more.  

The best online source I've found is this one, organized as a series of lessons designed by someone by the pseudonym of "Smithy". Smithy has degrees in mathematics and economics, and she works as a consultant calculating investment risk for financial institutions. For this reason, she can't reveal her real name. One needs to be aware that accurate knowledge about the money scam is difficult to obtain simply because it is so profitable for those powerful private parties known as bankers who control it. They have ways of punishing people who reveal too many of their secrets.
Ben Dyson from Positive Money and Richard Paton from Occupy respond to five measures suggested by Andy Haldane of The Bank Of England, after he claimed that the Occupy movement was right.