Rita Jacobs
Co-chair, Banking and Monetary Reform Committee
PLATFORM AMENDMENT PROPOSAL # 2
Submitted by Banking and Monetary Reform Committee (BMRC)
Contact: Co-chairs:
Howard Switzer GPTN, hmsarchitecture@gmail.com
Rita Jacobs rjacobs@arq.net
The proposal was approved by the BMRC members under the Committee’s decision-making rules on January 18, 2024.
Authored by the committee as a whole
Amendment is proposed to Chapter IV Economic Justice and Sustainability, Paragraph N. Monetary Reform (Greening the Dollar).
This amendment does not replace the present contents of Paragraph N, but would add statements at the beginning of the plank directly under the sub-heading A Green Public Money Future. The remainder of the plank would remain unchanged.
Following is the text of the statements to be added:
The power of private banks has increased substantially since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the private banks control over the nation’s money supply.
Government, corporate and personal debts have now reached unsustainable levels. Current total debts are about four times the amount of money in circulation.
To maintain the constant flow of interest payments to banks, this bank-credit system forces ruthless consumption of Earth’s resources at the expense of nature and future generations.
The stated purpose of the Federal Reserve Act was “to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system.”. The Federal Reserve System has created so much inflation that a 1913 dollar was worth about three cents in 2023, failing miserably in keeping that financial system stable.
Since the money system is not taught in schools or universities, it is hard for the public to identify that the Federal Reserve monetary system is the root cause of many problems in our society.
Because banks’ criteria for making loans is to maximize their own profit and power, community needs are routinely neglected. This private creation and control of money is the reason we haven’t been able to stop wars, house everyone, care for each other or grow our food locally. Bank-credit continues to colonize the world and our neighborhoods. Physical resources are sucked away to the financial centers because so much of our current borrowing is only to pay interest on old debt. This interest upon interest results in graphs that look like hockey sticks, called exponential growth. Hundred-year graphs of rising debt load and inequality show us well up the handle of the stick today, heading for environmental and/or social collapse. Bank-credit is unsustainable.
Thus, the banks have vastly influenced public policy, not only by determining what sectors of the economy to finance, but also using their wealth and power to influence elections, control corporate investments, fund and control think tanks that influence the government, and choose the kind of lending vehicles for the public that create the greatest profit. By controlling the amount of new money issued into the economy, the banks also create boom and bust cycles that inevitably increase wealth inequality.
With this amendment, Paragraph N. Monetary Reform (Greening the Dollar) would read as follows (added text is bold):
N. Monetary Reform (Greening the Dollar)
A Green Public Money Future
The power of private banks has increased substantially since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the private banks control over the nation’s money supply.
Government, corporate and personal debts have now reached unsustainable levels. Current total debts are about four times the amount of money in circulation.
To maintain the constant flow of interest payments to banks, this bank-credit system forces ruthless consumption of Earth’s resources at the expense of nature and future generations.
The stated purpose of the Federal Reserve Act was “to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system.”. The Federal Reserve System has created so much inflation that a 1913 dollar was worth about three cents in 2023, failing miserably in keeping that financial system stable.
Since the money system is not taught in schools or universities, it is hard for the public to identify that the Federal Reserve monetary system is the root cause of many problems in our society.
Because banks’ criteria for making loans is to maximize their own profit and power, community needs are routinely neglected. This private creation and control of money is the reason we haven’t been able to stop wars, house everyone, care for each other or grow our food locally. Bank-credit continues to colonize the world and our neighborhoods. Physical resources are sucked away to the financial centers because so much of our current borrowing is only to pay interest on old debt. This interest upon interest results in graphs that look like hockey sticks, called exponential growth. Hundred-year graphs of rising debt load and inequality show us well up the handle of the stick today, heading for environmental and/or social collapse. Bank-credit is unsustainable.
Thus, the banks have vastly influenced public policy, not only by determining what sectors of the economy to finance, but also using their wealth and power to influence elections, control corporate investments, fund and control think tanks that influence the government, and choose the kind of lending vehicles for the public that create the greatest profit. By controlling the amount of new money issued into the economy, the banks also create boom and bust cycles that inevitably increase wealth inequality.
The crisis in our financial system makes it imperative that we restructure our monetary system. The present system of privatized money issuance and control has resulted in the misdirection of our financial resources to speculation, toxic financial instruments, and loans that create huge profits and wealth for the corporate few, but inadequate income and jobs for the common people.
It is both possible and necessary for Congress to take back its exclusive Constitutional power to create our money (Article1 Section 8) without the creation of debt, and assume the responsibility to spend this money directly into circulation to fund public benefits outlined in the Federal Budget. Only with a Public Money System can the government direct our national wealth to the needs of the people through their local and state governments. A Public Money System will enable millions of good livelihoods, provide sufficient incomes, shrink the debt burden and begin to close the wealth gap. Public money has not been issued since Greenbacks, introduced by President Lincoln in 1862, and circulating as public money until 1971.
To reverse the private control of issuing our nation’s money; to reverse the immoral and undeserved concentration of national wealth and income resulting from that private control; to place control over money within a more equitable public system of governmental checks and balances; and to end the regular recurrence of severe and disruptive financial crises that mark the Booms and Busts cycles of capitalism – the Green Party proposes the following three Public Money solutions to be enacted together:
1. Nationalize the 12 Federal Reserve Banks and transfer administrative functions of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to a Bureau of the U.S. Treasury. All money created under the nationalized Federal Reserve System will be treated as publicly issued money. The private creation of money will cease and with it the reckless practices that have led to recurring economic crises.
2. All new money will be issued as a debt-free, permanently circulating asset by the federal government. A new Public Monetary Authority will be established under the Department of Treasury to scientifically determine the amount of money that can be safely created for the national economy to avoid inflation or deflation. The Monetary Authority will be empowered with full autonomy and independence to avoid political influence. Although banks will continue as financial intermediaries, lending publicly-issued money at interest, and performing traditional banking functions they will no longer be allowed to create money, ending what is known as fractional reserve banking. Specific guidance for a progressive publicly-controlled Monetary Authority can be found in a bill already entered into the U.S. Congress: H.R. 2990 112th Congress: National Emergency Employment Defense Act of 2011 (NEED Act).
3. All new money will be spent into circulation by the U.S. Government as authorized by Congress for public purpose. This includes funding a 21st century infrastructure including education and health care. Per capita spending guidelines for new money will assure a fair distribution across the nation, creating good livelihoods, re-invigorating local economies and funding government at all levels. Newly-created money will also be distributed directly to state and local governments.
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Background and reason for this amendment:
The added opening paragraphs give explanations for the need to change the current monetary system that has existed for more than a century. The built-in constant growth of debt creation has caused government, corporate and personal debt levels to become unsustainable. Wealth inequality caused by the system has reached the highest level in the history of the country.