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

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Fed Up with the Fed

Click here to access article by Carol Harvey from IndyBay San Francisco (California).
After sunset at 5:00 p.m., on Monday, December 23, 2013, FedUp100.org, a national coalition of activists spanning a wide political spectrum called to action several 100th anniversary illuminated Birthday Un-Celebrations in front of eight Federal Reserve buildings in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C, Orlando, Dallas, Cleveland, and Chicago.
.... In San Francisco, 101 Market Street protestors chalked a beautiful sidewalk Monopoly board with rules to show how this rigged game is played. The debt will never be paid because the Banksters make money off it.
The Fed was created shortly before Christmas in 1913 when the banksters in our ruling One Percent slipped through Congress a bill that enabled one of their biggest scams of all time at the expense of American workers.
On December 22, 1913, after most of Congress left for Christmas, the remaining members passed The Federal Reserve Act. President Wilson's signature established the Federal Reserve System, legally empowering The Fed to issue Bank Notes --- or dollars --- as legal tender. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 also gave The Fed the exclusive right to loan money to Congress.