THE JOURNAL OF THE COMMITTEE ON MONETARY AND ECONOMIC REFORM

$3.95 Vol. 26, No. 5 • SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2014

CONTENTS

3 Why Bad Beliefs Don’t Die Always Fighting for Long Shots 6 Open Letter to Hassan Yussuff 7 Scientists Fight to Roll Back By Sean Fine, The Globe and Mail, August Snazzy in a beige linen suit with a striped Darkness 23, 2014 shirt and grey-patterned tie (only the open- 8 Oliver Promises Sweeping Wherever I’ve gone this year in Canada, toed sandals hint at non-conformity), the Tax Breaks lawyers are talking about Rocco Galati. 55-year-old comes from a world far from 9 Wynne Calls on Feds to Quadruple What’s Rocco going to do next? If the Ottawa’s Wellington Street, where the Su- Infrastructure Funds Prime Minister tries any funny business preme Court and the Parliament buildings 10 Re-democratizing the Economy — with the courts, Rocco will stop him. Rocco sit in a majestic row. He and his 12 siblings Bien Congress 2014 won’t sit by…. were born in Calabria, in southern Italy. 12 Why Are Stock Markets So It’s as if Mr. Galati, the Toronto lawyer Five of them died in early childhood. Volatile? A Serious Depression is who brought grief to the Conservative gov- His father, a farmer, was court martialled Pending as a Result of Austerity ernment, has been designated the Unofficial twice and interned because he didn’t want to 14 Towards a Positive Economics Opposition. He’s the first person ever to fight in Mussolini’s army. 16 The New World of Retirement: challenge a Prime Minister’s appointment “He always told me the fascists don’t Security for the Rich, Risk for of a Supreme Court judge. And he won. come marching in overnight. It’s a slow Everyone Else All the resources Stephen Harper and his march.” 17 A Practical Utopian’s Guide to the Coming Collapse government could bring to bear, and this His father came to Toronto in 1965, upstart spending $42,000 of his own money found work in construction, and brought Publications Mail Agreement No. 41796016 won the case. And he’s not done. the family over a year later. Only three of Canada’s Unofficial Opposition is eating the children received any formal education, a tuna salad, washed down with red wine (a Mr. Galati says. But that includes a brother Negroamaro, an earthy wine from Friuli), who, though he had only two years of public at an outdoor patio on College Street in To- schooling, went to the University of Toron- ronto’s Little Italy, just down the street from to as a mature student and became a lawyer. the three-storey house he has turned into an “Because of my sense of history, I don’t office for his small law firm. like the idea of injustice. Growing up in To- “The government never thought some- ronto was no picnic in the sixties and seven- one named Galati could defeat it,” he says. ties. It was a very brutal, racist environment. “They were so arrogant in assuming The police were enforcing wartime regula- that an argument from me couldn’t win or tions. On College Street, up until Trudeau shouldn’t win, because we live in a tribal rewrote the loitering laws, more than two culture. You’re only an expert if you’re Anglo Italian males could not congregate. They’d or francophone…. That’s been made clear get billy-sticked home by the police.” to me for 26 years. I’d put my win ratio in Although he is Catholic, he says his impossible cases up against anybody’s, yet family was Jewish, on both sides, at one I’m still ridiculed when I bring a challenge. time. (When I first met him at his office, he How does that work?” showed me his late grandfather’s Argentine But the real question is – why him? Why identification document from 1918, framed not someone else in this country of lawyers? on the wall. It has a Star of David on it.) Mr. Galati and I have a lot to talk about. He says most people don’t realize how many We have so much to talk about that the bat- Jews (and Muslims) used to live in Calabria, teries in my tape recorder run out of juice. or about the violence used to kill or convert Mr. Galati, an amiable provocateur, goes them in previous centuries. It’s a recurrent across the street to buy me new ones. Continued on page 2 Long Shots from page 1 ing the choice was illegal under the Supreme theme of his – the loss of historical memory. Court Act, which governs appointments. A fighter for long shots, he was a long Federal Court judges can’t be appointed for shot himself. He says he was once assessed any of the three spots reserved for Quebec in school as intellectually handicapped, judges, he said. FOUNDING EDITOR and it was only through the efforts of an There was nothing personal in it, he says. John Hotson 1930–1996 English teacher at his technical high school, “In fact, I like Justice Nadon. I was tor- who recognized his perceptiveness in Shake- mented by bringing the challenge. I thought PUBLISHER–EDITOR speare studies, that he was able to go to an he was a good judge. I got along with him. William Krehm academic school for Grade 13. That’s not the point. If it was my father, I ([email protected]) Bob Dylan saved him from life as an would have brought the challenge.” INFORMATION SECRETARY electroplater. He quit his job to move to Justice Nadon immediately stepped Herb Wiseman Montreal to learn to read the poet Arthur aside, pending a resolution of Mr. Galati’s ([email protected]) Rimbaud in French; he came to Rimbaud lawsuit. Then, Quebec’s National Assembly Economic Reform (ER) knowing that he had influenced Dylan. passed a unanimous resolution opposing the (ISSN 1187–080X) is published bi- “He was not very popular in his early appointment. Prime Minister Harper then monthly by COMER Publications years. That was to my liking – this guy asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether 27 Sherbourne Street North, Suite 1 stands on what he believes.” it was legal. Toronto, Ontario M4W 2T3 Canada Once again, his future (and Canada’s) So why didn’t anyone else challenge the Tel: 416­‑924-3964, Fax: 416‑466‑5827 was altered by the kindness of a teacher. He appointment? “Look,” Mr. Galati says, Email: [email protected] enrolled in non-credit courses in poetry at “there are about 300,000 lawyers in Canada. Website: www.comer.org McGill University, and a teacher told him I think 299,995 think they’re all going to he’d written a publishable poem, and saw the Supreme Court and they don’t want to COMER Membership: Annual dues to it that McGill accepted him as a fulltime blow their chances. They’re worried about (includes ER plus 1 book of your choice): student. Despite an A average, journalism their reputation.” CDN$50 schools and teachers’ colleges rejected him Few thought he had a chance to win. Economic Reform subscription only: – he still wonders if it was because of his “Most people in the legal establishment One year (6 issues): in Canada, CDN$20; name. thought his case was frivolous,” University Foreign, CDN$40 At York University’s Osgoode Hall Law of Montreal law professor Paul Daly says. School, in Toronto, he learned that his love Fighting the odds is nothing new for Send request and payment to: of Bob Dylan stood him in good stead: Mr. Galati. Early in his career he argued 27 COMER Publications Constitutional law was like poetry. separate times in Federal Court that govern- 27 Sherbourne Street North, Suite 1 Toronto, ON M4W 2T3 “I had a professor at Osgoode, a very ment officials need to provide reasons for bright man, Graham Parker, who I took their decisions. Finally, in Baker v. Canada, ER Back Issues: CDN/US$4, includes courses on statutory interpretation from. a 1999 deportation case on which he was postage; additional copies same He said to me, ‘Do you read or write po- co-counsel with Roger Rowe, representing issue, $2; additional issue same order, etry?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I do both.’ He said, ‘I a Jamaican immigrant mother, he won his $3. Send requests for back issues to can tell. Reading statutes is as difficult as point at the Supreme Court. Herb Wiseman, 69 Village Crescent, reading poetry.’” “It was epoch-making,” Prof. Daly said. Peterborough ON K9J 0A9. He started his law career by working for “Your liberty and sometimes your life are – of all places – the federal Justice Depart- really in the hands of a government official. Copyright © 2014 ment. “It seemed the best place for me to get Because of Baker, the government has to COMER Publications to court frequently.” But he owed $122,000 give reasons for finding against you.” All rights reserved in bank and student loans, and the interest In the Nadon case, he had a secret advan- Permission to reproduce is granted rate was 22 percent; his salary was $29,000. tage: he knew the Supreme Court Act inside if accompanied by: “Copyright © 2014 COMER Publications. If not for his financial need, “I might have and out from another improbable case. Reproduced by permission of stayed, because I enjoyed the kind of law Four years ago, he learned that a judge COMER Publications” they did.” hearing a constitutional challenge of his was On September 30 last year, Prime Min- 77 – two years past retirement age – and Postmaster, please send address ister Stephen Harper announced his choice that the chief justice could appoint a retired corrections to: for a Quebec vacancy on the Supreme “deputy judge” if he needed someone to COMER Publications Court: Justice Marc Nadon of the Federal hear a case. The Federal Court had followed 27 Sherbourne Street North, Suite 1 Court of Appeal. It was an unusual choice the practice since its creation in 1970, and Toronto, Ontario M4W 2T3 in several respects: He was semi-retired; he a predecessor court since 1927. In 80 years, was a maritime law specialist (hardly a big no one had challenged the practice. Mr. PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION need on the court); and he was little-known. Galati did, in Felipa v. Canada, and won. Watt Solutions Inc., London The Canadian legal community raised We are having a good laugh. In an earlier Printed in Canada on recycled paper. hardly a peep. story, I somehow managed to slip his quote But in early October, Mr. Galati stepped about the Harper government enjoying in. He filed a lawsuit in Federal Court, say- Continued on page 5

2 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org Why Bad Beliefs Don’t Die By Gregory W. Lester, Skeptical Inquirer, is addicted is always perceived by the brain my car. In order to find my car with any de- Volume 24.6, November/December 2000 as a threat to survival. As a result the brain gree of efficiency my brain must ignore the Because beliefs are designed to enhance powerfully defends the overeating or the current sensory data (which, if relied on in a our ability to survive, they are biologically substance abuse, producing the familiar ly- strictly literal sense, not only fails to help me designed to be strongly resistant to change. To ing, sneaking, denying, rationalizing, and in locating my car but actually indicates that change beliefs, skeptics must address the brain’s justifying commonly exhibited by individu- it no longer exists) and turn instead to its “survival” issues of meanings and implications als suffering from such disorders. internal map of the location of my car. This in addition to discussing their data. is my belief that my car is still in my drive- Because a basic tenet of both skeptical Senses and Beliefs way where I left it. By referring to my belief thinking and scientific inquiry is that beliefs One of the brain’s primary tools for en- rather than to sensory data, my brain can can be wrong, it is often confusing and suring survival is our senses. Obviously, we “know” something about the world with irritating to scientists and skeptics that so must be able to accurately perceive danger which I have no immediate sensory contact. many people’s beliefs do not change in the in order to take action designed to keep us This “extends” my brain’s knowledge of and face of disconfirming evidence. How, we safe. In order to survive we need to be able contact with the world. wonder, are people able to hold beliefs that to see the lion charging us as we emerge The ability of belief to extend contact contradict the data? from our cave or hear the intruder breaking with the world beyond the range of our im- This puzzlement can produce an un- into our house in the middle of the night. mediate senses substantially improves our fortunate tendency on the part of skepti- Senses alone, however, are inadequate ability to survive. A caveman has a much cal thinkers to demean and belittle people as effective detectors of danger because greater ability to stay alive if he is able to whose beliefs don’t change in response to ev- they are severely limited in both range and maintain a belief that dangers exist in the idence. They can be seen as inferior, stupid, scope. We can have direct sensory contact jungle even when his sensory data indicate or crazy. This attitude is born of skeptics’ with only a small portion of the world at no immediate threat. A police officer will failure to understand the biological purpose any one time. be substantially more safe if he or she can of beliefs and the neurological necessity for The brain considers this to be a signifi- continue to believe that someone stopped them to be resilient and stubbornly resistant cant problem because even normal, every- for a traffic violation could be an armed to change. The truth is that for all their rig- day living requires that we constantly move psychopath with an impulse to kill even orous thinking, many skeptics do not have a in and out of the range of our perceptions though they present a seemingly innocuous clear or rational understanding of what be- of the world as it is right now. Entering appearance. liefs are and why even faulty ones don’t die into territory we have not previously seen easily. Understanding the biological purpose or heard puts us in the dangerous position Beyond the Sensory of beliefs can help skeptics to be far more of having no advance warning of potential Because beliefs do not require immediate effective in challenging irrational beliefs and dangers. If I walk into an unfamiliar build- sensory data to be able to feed valuable sur- communicating scientific conclusions. ing in a dangerous part of town my survival vival information to the brain, they have the probabilities diminish because I have no additional survival function of providing Biology and Survival way of knowing whether the roof is ready information about the realm of life that does Our brain’s primary purpose is to keep us to collapse or a gunman is standing inside not deal directly with sensory entities. This alive. It certainly does more than that, but the doorway. is the area of abstractions and principles that survival is always its fundamental purpose Enter beliefs. “Belief” is the name we involves such things as “reasons,” “causes,” and always comes first. If we are injured give to the survival tool of the brain that and “meanings.” I cannot hear or see the to the point where our bodies only have is designed to augment and enhance the “reason” called a “low pressure zone” that enough energy to support consciousness or danger-identification function of our senses. makes a thunderstorm rain on my parade, a heartbeat but not both, the brain has no Beliefs extend the range of our senses so so my ability to believe that low pressure is problem choosing – it puts us into a coma that we can better detect danger and thus the reason assists me. If I were to rely strictly (survival before consciousness), rather than improve our chances of survival as we move on my senses to determine the cause of the an alert death-spiral (consciousness before into and out of unfamiliar territory. Beliefs, storm I could not tell why it occurred. For survival). in essence, serve as our brain’s “long-range all I know it was dragged in by invisible fly- Because every brain activity serves a fun- danger detectors.” ing gremlins that I need to shoot with my damental survival purpose, the only way to Functionally, our brains treat beliefs as shotgun if I want to clear away the clouds. accurately understand any brain function is internal “maps” of those parts of the world Therefore my brain’s reliance on my “belief” to examine its value as a tool for survival. with which we do not have immediate in the reason called “low pressure,” rather Even the difficulty of successfully treating sensory contact. As I sit in my living room than on sensory data (or, as in the case of such behavioral disorders as obesity and I cannot see my car. Although I parked it my car, my lack of it) assists in my survival: addiction can only be understood by ex- in my driveway some time ago, using only I avoid an experience of incarceration with amining their relationship to survival. Any immediate sensory data I do not know if it myriad dangerous characters following my reduction in caloric intake or in the avail- is still there. As a result, at this moment sen- arrest for shooting into the air at those pesky ability of a substance to which an individual sory data is of very little use to me regarding little gremlins. www.comer.org September–October 2014 Economic Reform | 3 The Resilience of Beliefs gers) are still closely connected to survival. the face of the brain’s need to maintain its Because senses and beliefs are both tools This is because beliefs do not occur indi- belief system in order to maintain a sense of for survival and have evolved to augment vidually or in a vacuum. They are related to wholeness, consistency, and control in life. one another, our brain considers them to be one another in a tightly interlocking system Skeptics must become adept at discussing separate but equally important purveyors of that creates the brain’s fundamental view of issues of fundamental philosophies and the survival information. The loss of either one the nature of the world. It is this system that existential anxiety that is stirred up any time endangers us. Without our senses we could the brain relies on in order to experience beliefs are challenged. The task is every bit not know about the world within our per- consistency, control, cohesion, and safety as much philosophical and psychological as ceptual realm. Without our beliefs we could in the world. It must maintain this system it is scientific and data-based. not know about the world outside our senses intact in order to feel that survival is being Third, and perhaps most important, or about meanings, reasons, or causes. successfully accomplished. skeptics must always appreciate how hard it This means that beliefs are designed to This means that even seemingly small, is for people to have their beliefs challenged. operate independent of sensory data. In fact, inconsequential beliefs can be as integral It is, quite literally, a threat to their brain’s the whole survival value of beliefs is based on to the brain’s experience of survival as are sense of survival. It is entirely normal for their ability to persist in the face of contradic- beliefs that are “obviously” connected to people to be defensive in such situations. tory evidence. Beliefs are not supposed to survival. Thus, trying to change any belief, The brain feels it is fighting for its life. It is change easily or simply in response to dis- no matter how small or silly it may seem, unfortunate that this can produce behavior confirming evidence. If they did, they would can produce ripple effects through the that is provocative, hostile, and even vicious, be virtually useless as tools for survival. Our entire system and ultimately threaten the but it is understandable as well. caveman would not last long if his belief in brain’s experience of survival. This is why The lesson for skeptics is to understand potential dangers in the jungle evaporated people are so often driven to defend even that people are generally not intending to be every time his sensory information told him seemingly small or tangential beliefs. A mean, contrary, harsh, or stupid when they there was no immediate threat. A police of- creationist cannot tolerate believing in the are challenged. It’s a fight for survival. The ficer unable to believe in the possibility of a accuracy of data indicating the reality of only effective way to deal with this type of killer lurking behind a harmless appearance evolution not because of the accuracy or defensiveness is to de-escalate the fighting could easily get hurt or killed. inaccuracy of the data itself, but because rather than inflame it. Becoming sarcastic or As far as our brain is concerned, there changing even one belief related to matters demeaning simply gives the other person’s is absolutely no need for data and belief to of the Bible and the nature of creation will defenses a foothold to engage in a tit-for- agree. They have each evolved to augment crack an entire system of belief, a funda- tat exchange that justifies their feelings of and supplement one another by contacting mental worldview and, ultimately, their being threatened (“Of course we fight the different sections of the world. They are brain’s experience of survival. skeptics – look what uncaring, hostile jerks designed to be able to disagree. This is why they are!”) rather than a continued focus on scientists can believe in God and people Implications for Skeptics the truth. who are generally quite reasonable and ra- Skeptical thinkers must realize that be- Skeptics will only win the war for ratio- tional can believe in things for which there cause of the survival value of beliefs, discon- nal beliefs by continuing, even in the face is no credible data such as flying saucers, firming evidence will rarely, if ever, be suf- of defensive responses from others, to use telepathy, and psychokinesis. ficient to change beliefs, even in “otherwise behavior that is unfailingly dignified and When data and belief come into conflict, intelligent” people. In order to effectively tactful and that communicates respect and the brain does not automatically give pref- change beliefs skeptics must attend to their wisdom. For the data to speak loudly, skep- erence to data. This is why beliefs – even survival value, not just their data-accuracy tics must always refrain from screaming. bad beliefs, irrational beliefs, silly beliefs, or value. This involves several elements. Finally, it should be comforting to all crazy beliefs – often don’t die in the face of First, skeptics must not expect beliefs skeptics to remember that the truly amazing contradictory evidence. The brain doesn’t to change simply as the result of data or part of all of this is not that so few beliefs care whether or not the belief matches the assuming that people are stupid because change or that people can be so irrational, data. It cares whether the belief is helpful their beliefs don’t change. They must avoid but that anyone’s beliefs ever change at all. for survival. Period. So while the scientific, becoming critical or demeaning in response Skeptics’ ability to alter their own beliefs rational part of our brains may think that to the resilience of beliefs. People are not in response to data is a true gift; a unique, data should supersede contradictory beliefs, necessarily idiots just because their beliefs powerful, and precious ability. It is genu- on a more fundamental level of importance don’t yield to new information. Data is inely a “higher brain function” in that it our brain has no such bias. It is extremely always necessary, but it is rarely sufficient. goes against some of the most natural and reticent to jettison its beliefs. Like an old Second, skeptics must learn to always fundamental biological urges. soldier with an old gun who does not quite discuss not just the specific topic addressed Skeptics must appreciate the power and, trust that the war is really over, the brain by the data, but also the implications that truly, the dangerousness that this ability often refuses to surrender its weapon even changing the related beliefs will have for the bestows upon them. They have in their though the data say it should. fundamental worldview and belief system possession a skill that can be frightening, of the affected individuals. Unfortunately, life-changing, and capable of inducing pain. “Inconsequential” Beliefs addressing belief systems is a much more In turning this ability on others it should Even beliefs that do not seem clearly or complicated and daunting task than simply be used carefully and wisely. Challenging directly connected to survival (such as our presenting contradictory evidence. Skeptics beliefs must always be done with care and caveman’s ability to believe in potential dan- must discuss the meaning of their data in compassion.

4 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org Skeptics must remember to always keep or any one particular belief. Not only must the graduate faculty of the University of St. their eye on the goal. They must see the skeptics’ methods and data be clean, direct, Thomas in Houston, Texas, and in private long view. They must attempt to win the and unbiased, their demeanor and behavior practice in Houston and in Denver, Colorado. war for rational beliefs, not to engage in a must be as well. Address correspondence to: Gregory W. Lester, fight to the death over any one particular PhD, 111 Harrison Street, Suite 1, Denver, battle with any one particular individual Gregory W. Lester, PhD is a psychologist on Colorado 80206.

Long Shots from page 2 transfer to Montreal for personal reasons.’ I goes that far: “What’s in it for the Supreme “urinating on the Constitution” past my sympathize. Court at this point? Nothing, they’ve con- editors. “I say that all the time,” he tells me. Are they going to bend the Constitution stitutionalized their status. Will they care “You’re the first guy who put that in.” for me? Should we bend the Constitution about one judge? Maybe not. It is hard to say what is more fun to for any individual? Well, no. If we do, we’re There are a lot of variables that have talk to Mr. Galati about – the personal or back into l’état, c’est moi. We’re back to the nothing to do with the law, but with hu- political. He’s what my mother would call a divine right of kings, Louis XIV and the man frailties and dysfunction and a non- character. His cellphone voice mail is a Mi- Versailles culture. adherence to the idea of law.” randa warning: “If you’re anyone else except “This is why stacking of the courts is a Rocco Galati, constitutional lawyer Miranda, please do not leave a message.” very serious concern. Miranda is his daughter who is away at uni- There’s only one difference between a Our Comment versity in the United States. (Mr. Galati also dictatorship and a constitutional monarchy: In the August 5 issue of the Canadian has twin four-year-old boys from his second a fair and independent judiciary standing Lawyers’ Magazine, Rocco Galati was cited, marriage; Miranda is from his first.) between the authority of the state and the in the category of “Changemakers,” as sec- Few outside of legal circles realize the rights of the citizen.” ond only to the Supreme Court Justice who lasting importance of the Nadon case. The I tell him I need to pay him for the bat- ruled in his favour in the Nadon case. Supreme Court gave itself the protection teries so no one can accuse me of anything. Surely we have never needed an “Unof- of the Constitution; from here on in, any I give him $5. ficial Opposition,” in both the legal and the changes to its composition will require pro- “Yeah, okay,” he says. “I’m going to give political arenas, more than we do today! vincial consent. On Mr. Galati’s back, the you $1.50 back because as a lawyer I won’t His father’s observation that, “the fascists court insulated itself from tampering. be bribed either.” And he does. don’t come marching in overnight. It’s a Although he calls that “a big win,” he still slow march – it reminds me of an incident describes the ruling as a disappointment. In His Own Words during the teachers’ strike. At a strike cap- “The way they politically split it is inconsis- Rocco Galati on the business of law: tains’ meeting where we were comparing tent and illogical.” (The court said Federal “If I go broke, I’m no good to anybody. notes on a recent lobbying expedition to Ot- Court judges can be named to the six non- A lot of good lawyers who do a lot of good tawa, some of us were expressing concerns Quebec spots on the Supreme Court.) work lose sight of the business side and they about the state of democracy in Canada as It’s news to him that lawyers everywhere go under.” we had perceived it through that experience. are talking about him. “That’s strange,” he On the source of his sharp tongue: Someone made a reference to the rise of says. “It comes from my mother. Nazism in Germany, whereupon another The case hasn’t changed his life, “except She had a great, quick wit and was very teacher scoffed at the comparison. A man taking away time from my family and from quick with a metaphor. Everything that from Germany responded, in anger and my billable hours.” came out of her mouth was original and with passion, “Who do you think you are, He makes his money from doing tax law, often funny.” that it could not happen to you?!” not constitutional cases. On his previous work representing suspected I am ever more frequently reminded of And now he has launched a challenge to terrorists: “I saw it as the civil rights issue of that outburst. another of the Harper government’s judicial the day.” Rocco’s life story makes me think of what appointments – that of Federal Court of Ap- On his chances of winning his challenge, we have to lose in shutting out immigrants peal Justice Robert Mainville to the Quebec filed in Federal Court, to the appointment of and in bashing teachers and shortchanging Court of Appeal, and any subsequent ap- Federal Court of Appeal Justice Robert Main- education. pointment to the Supreme Court. ville to the Quebec Court of Appeal: “What’s Rocco going to do next?” Well, “The other thing I hear – ‘You won the “The Federal Court, because they’re hu- his is a formidable agenda. In addition Nadon reference, but that’s because no- man beings, is going to be resistant to the to other weighty ongoing cases, he has body likes Nadon; everyone likes Mainville.’ idea because he’s one of their own. requested that COMER’s next hearing be What kind of kindergarten debate is that, You know that beautiful line in O Broth- scheduled for some time in January, Febru- really? That’s just stupid. Liking or not lik- er, Where Art Thou?, where the evil sheriff ary or March. ing has nothing to do with it.” is the personification of the devil, and says, Now that the text is accessible, he in- Rain has begun to fall, more on me than ‘The law is a human institution?’ Therein tends to finish reading the CETA (Compre- on him. Mr. Galati is in fine form, still going lies the historic, ageless tension between the hensive Economic and Trade Agreement), strong after two hours, the tuna long since rule of law and human capriciousness and before the end of November, to uncover its finished. It is a good thing he picked up tribal impulses.” implications for our lawsuit. those batteries. On whether the Supreme Court will We have a lot going for us! “I hear, ‘Mr. Justice Mainville wanted a grant leave to appeal, if the Mainville case Élan www.comer.org September–October 2014 Economic Reform | 5 What is money, and where does it come from? We generally assume that government Open Letter to Hassan Yussuff supplies our money, and indeed it does provide the cash we carry for small transac- By George Crowell ronmentally sensitive people’s agenda? tions. But cash is only about 2% to 3% of Congratulations on your recent election Obtaining government funding is crucial our money supply. Nearly all the rest, about as President of the Canadian Labour Con- for most of our activist struggles. But in- 97% to 98% – money essential for facilitat- gress! We who are Canadian social activists debted governments are cutting their spend- ing economic activity – has been created as both inside and outside the CLC greatly ing. Almost all public discussion of govern- computer entries by the privately owned appreciate your long-time commitment ment finances is limited tofiscal policy – the banks in their process of making loans. They not only to wage and benefit enhancements management of income and spending. We would like us to believe that they are simply for workers, but also to social justice and are told that there are only two possibili- intermediators lending out the money of de- environmental protection for all of us, na- ties: raising taxes, which is now regarded positors. But this is not the case. When banks tionally and globally. At present we are in as unacceptable, or cutting spending, the make loans they create new money. When crisis. Despite heroic efforts by many social currently preferred option. Hence the aus- someone takes out a loan, the bank insists activists, for many years we have been losing terity agenda. Obviously raising taxes on the that the borrower provide collateral, some ground to the corporate agenda. This letter rich would move us in the right direction. valuable asset that the bank can take over in proposes a strategy by which the CLC, with Although tax reform must be included, we case the borrower defaults on the loan. The its 3.3 million members under your lead- urgently need to focus also on a potent, ne- bank gets to create that loan money out of ership, could unite Canada’s many social glected alternative: monetary policy. nothing, and if we borrowers fail to pay it activists into a single movement to reverse Concern for monetary policy leads us back fully, on time, with interest, the bank this disheartening trend. to focus attention on the overlooked fact gets to take over our valuable collateral. Here is our situation, as the Making that governments at all levels in Canada are That is bad enough. But it gets worse. Waves document points out. In Canada heavily burdened by interest payments on When banks make loans, they create money there are hundreds of organizations – large their borrowings – some $60 billion every for principal, but not for the interest they and small, local, regional, and national – year recently – and close to $2 trillion since require to be paid. Borrowers have to com- working valiantly on behalf of the 99% 1975! These payments are not necessary! pete with one another for money which for various aspects of human and environ- Our governments have been borrowing at has been created only as principal to pay mental welfare. We have the advantage that interest from private banks and other pri- both principal and interest, and also to have many highly committed people are working vate moneylenders. The federal government money for essential current use. People who for the needed social changes which are could have been using our publicly owned owe nothing are also competing to use this supported by a large majority of Cana- Bank of Canada to provide needed loans same money supply. As competition prevails, dians. They achieve occasional victories, at near-zero interest! Nearly all our activist impulses toward cooperation and charity but mostly they are fighting losing defen- groups could benefit from a return to this are undermined. In this debt-money system sive battles against exploitive initiatives by practice which was used effectively between there is always a shortage of money for profit-oriented corporations, and against 1938 and 1975, enabling Canada to get out interest payments. Money to pay interest the Harper government and its lower-level of the Depression, through World War II, can be obtained only through even more government allies. Our efforts are defensive and for thirty more years to build up our borrowing and more debt. Obviously this is not only in the sense that they react to cor- social programs and infrastructure, bringing unsustainable. Defaults come on inevitably, porate initiatives, but also in the sense that the most prosperous period in Canadian and recession follows. mostly they are attempting to prevent loss history – with negligible inflation. This system is also inflationary. To pay of benefits we have previously enjoyed. Our How does this monetary reform en- interest along with their other expenses, many efforts are also largely separated from able us to go on the offensive against the businesses constantly strive to push up pric- one another, as we take on limited issues corporate agenda? It takes on the corporate es. In response, workers strive to raise wages. that we can manage. elites at the heart of their power. This is not Hence inflation. The interest requirement is Can we gain strength by uniting our simply their control over enormous wealth, also a factor in driving businesses to pursue efforts? Can we find some key issue which but even more basically it is their control, unsustainable growth. Moreover, as those is so crucial to the entire range of issues on through the privately owned banking sys- who are economically vulnerable default on which we are already working that we can tem, over the power to create money out of their loans, many are driven into poverty, all benefit by taking on this additional issue nothing. They use this power to exploit us! and wealth becomes increasingly concen- together? Might such an issue enable us to With a return to the originally mandated trated into the hands of a few, exacerbating break out of our usual defensive posture purpose of the Bank of Canada, the power the growing problem of inequality. to go on the offensive against the Harper- to create money out of nothing could be When borrowers pay off their loans the supported corporate agenda, and to gain made available for public benefit. We ac- banks keep the interest as their own, but new advantages? Might this issue enable us tivists need to unite to campaign for this they destroy the principal. The creators of to reduce at its heart the power of corporate result. An understanding of the workings of money are also its destroyers! This is an elites so that they can no longer run rough- our money system is needed to clarify this enormous additional source of power often shod over us and the environment? Might strategic option. We take our present system used to our disadvantage. If all borrowers we frame this issue vividly as an expression for granted, and have little awareness how – governments, businesses, and individu- of our commitment to foster a caring, envi- unjust and damaging it is. als – strove to exercise the virtue of thrift by

6 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org paying off their debts, long before succeed- in our society is the result of accumulating interest-free loans to all levels of government ing they would have driven the economy interest expenses! (See www.converge.org. for public benefit. Further explanation is into deep depression. nz/evenz/money.pdf.) We could reverse this needed here. We are all in thrall to the banks – even and all the other damaging impacts of our The power to create money out of noth- those of us who carry no debt. On average money system by returning to using our ing is awesome. Whoever gets to benefit from about 40% of the prices of all the goods publicly owned Bank of Canada to provide the first use of newly created money gets a free

Scientists Fight to Roll Back Darkness

By Carol Goar, Toronto Star, October 3, What was striking, when all the evidence What was encouraging, however, was 2014 was laid out, was how successful the govern- the number of young voters who came out. A year ago, a handful of Toronto scien- ment has been in silencing individuals and They listened attentively and asked incisive tists decided they could no longer watch agencies that challenge its ideology or track questions. helplessly as the government of Canada the impact of its decisions. Measured against its modest goal, the systematically stifled information on every- Most could name a few examples: the evening was a success. The debate has thing from climate change to drug safety. cancellation of the mandatory detailed cen- moved beyond a core of muzzled scientists They formed a collective called Scientists sus in 2010, the gag order imposed on and worried academics. for the Right to Know. federal scientists in 2012, and the audits The bigger challenges lie ahead: Ratchet They compiled a list of all the public of charities that speak out on public issues up the decibel level, raise the political stakes agencies that have been eliminated, all the in 2013. But the scientists’ list goes on for and mobilize busy, jaded citizens. science and knowledge-based programs that eight pages, dating back to 2006 when a have been discarded and all the strictures climatologist at Environment Canada was Our Comment that have been placed on public officials. forbidden by then-minister Rona Ambrose In 1936, President Roosevelt faced a pow- They created a website. They urged their to talk to the media about a science-fiction erful opposition from “economic royalists” academic peers to speak out. novel he’d written about global warming. – “privileged princes of…new economic But none of them knew much about Over the next eight years the Tories dynasties” who “created a new despotism… public advocacy. They were scholars after eliminated the National Roundtable on the erected a new industrial dictatorship” (Roo- all, not lobbyists, organizers or publicists. Environment and the Economy, Canadian sevelt’s acceptance speech, 1936, quoted in So they made it their business to learn. Policy Research Networks, the Law Com- Eleanor Roosevelt, vol. II, p. 370). The polls This week, they held a public forum at mission of Canada, the National Council suggested that his opposition “had a sig- the Munk School of Global Affairs. It was of Welfare and the Canadian Council on nificant lead.” Roosevelt, however, won “an called Imposed Ignorance, a panel discus- Learning. They decimated Statistics Can- unprecedented landslide victory” (page 389). sion highlighting what Canadians are losing ada, cut Health Canada so severely it no While she was “profoundly moved” by and why it matters. longer has enough scientists to ensure the the fact that “for all the name calling and They invited three highly regarded pub- safety of new drugs and downsized Environ- rude misinformation, American democ- lic figures – Munir Sheikh, who stepped ment Canada so aggressively it no longer has racy worked,” Eleanor Roosevelt was per- down from his position as chief statisti- enough inspectors to ensure new projects suaded that “only individual involvement, cian of Canada rather than adulterate the meet federal standards. grassroots activism, would result in the national census, Mel Cappe, former head “Canadians are being made more igno- actual changes needed to fulfill her hus- of the federal public service, and David rant about our country and ourselves,” said band’s promises.” She wrote and lectured Hulchanski, of the University of Toronto, Margrit Eichler, president of Scientists for extensively on the need to realize “that true who has lost the data he needs to continue the Right to Know. “Good policies must democracy is the effort of the people indi- his pioneering work on urban poverty. (I be based on solid evidence. Democracy vidually to carry their share of the burden moderated the two-hour session.) requires an informed electorate.” of government.” Addressing an audience Tickets sold out weeks in advance. The Her colleague Phyllis Creighton put it of two thousand, in Philadelphia, she said, audience was knowledgeable, worried and more bluntly: “We’re being cheated by our “We must not think that our leaders can do eager to participate. The speakers eschewed government.” what we wish done, unless we do our share” histrionics, but made it clear that serious It would be misleading to suggest the (page 388). damage has been done. audience was a representative cross-sec- Timely advice! Between now and the “It’s easy to wreck something that’s work- tion of the electorate. Many were the same next federal election – and thereafter – we ing well and it’s hard to make it work again,” folks who protested vehemently when the need to support and appreciate efforts such Hulchanski warned, adding that it will take government cancelled the mandatory cen- as the action taken by Scientists for the more than the election of a new govern- sus; reared up when Harper prorogued the Right to Know, and to do all we can do to ment in 2015 to recover what has been House of Commons for the fourth time; encourage and enable people to “carry their lost. Cappe, who spent 31 years in the fed- and objected when his ministers started ta- share of the burden of government.” eral public service, concurred. “When the bling massive, multi-part bills that changed Clearly, change will not come from the muscles atrophy, it is very hard to pick up everything from the Criminal Code to pro- top! weights. It will take a long time to recover.” tection of inland waterways. Élan www.comer.org September–October 2014 Economic Reform | 7 benefit! The process is essentially the same as When additional new money is needed in functioning of the system is publicly avail- when counterfeiters print and successfully the economy, as now, governments could able, and widespread commitment to as- pass off cash. But they face the difficulties simply spend money into existence as a free suring that the system is benevolently used. of devising convincing facsimiles of mod- benefit for public use. Whether government- Strong public understanding and support ern cash, and they run the risk of arrest created money is lent or spent into exis- are necessary to resist the intense opposition and punishment. Commercial banks can, tence, debt-free money is injected into the that banks can be fully expected to mount entirely legally, quickly create any desired economy, making possible great reductions against monetary reform. quantity of money with simple computer in the far-reaching problems resulting, as We must not wilt before the inevitable entries. This is easier than picking money already mentioned, from our present de- claim that government-created money is off trees. And they tell us there is no such structive debt-money system. And govern- inflationary. We need to emphasize how thing as a free lunch! ments could have access to abundant funds damaging our present bank-created debt- Our Bank of Canada could use this same for initiating creative measures for social money system itself is. It has its own long simple process to create money for public and environmental welfare, while gradually record of promoting steady, ongoing infla- benefit, as it did in the past. It canlend reducing their past debts. tion, as already explained here. Inflationary money into existence – say, for investment in Having money-creation under govern- pressures are built into its very genes. More- much-needed infrastructure, thus creating ment control is no panacea. Spending for over, there is much evidence to indicate that lots of jobs. At present governments borrow human and environmental abuse, as in war, when governments have controlled their at interest and pay for such projects two or remains possible. Any campaign for mon- own money-creation they have managed three times over. Interest-free loans would etary reform is a struggle for democratization their economies with very little inflation, as make it possible for them to pay for the of our money system, and such a campaign can Canada did between 1938 and 1975. The projects just once, out of tax income, over readily be integrated with the wider struggle record shows that hyperinflations, includ- the lifetime of each project – perhaps 30 to for greater democracy. We need to develop ing that of Germany in the 1920s, were not 50 years. This would free large amounts of a high degree of public awareness regarding driven by government irresponsibility, but tax funds for current program spending. how our money system works, procedures by wealthy speculators, including banks, There is another astonishing possibility. to assure that accurate information on the manipulating national currencies to their

Oliver Promises Sweeping Tax Breaks

By Les Whittington, Toronto Star, August splitting would allow couples with children But he said it would be irresponsible to meet 13, 2014 under 18 to split up to $50,000 of their Wynne’s request for $12 billion annually. Preview of 2015 budget reveals help for income for tax purposes. This would reduce If carried out proportionately across the individuals and single-parent families the household’s overall tax bill. country, that would cost Ottawa $30 bil- Wakefield, Que. – The federal govern- But the proposal, which would cost Ot- lion in infrastructure expenses annually and ment is promising income tax cuts – and tawa $3 billion annually in foregone rev- drive the federal government into a massive not just for families. enue, would benefit only about 1.8 million “deficit” was erroneous. “I’m talking about reducing taxes for households and be most valuable to those Canadian families and individuals,” Finance where one spouse stays home while the Our Comment Minister Joe Oliver said in a preview of the other brings in above-average income. The When Premier Wynne called on the feds 2015 federal budget. fairness of the plan has been widely ques- to quadruple infrastructure funds, Finance Prime Minister Stephen Harper has tioned, including by former finance minis- Minister Oliver declared her “demand… pledged since 2011 to trim income taxes for ter Jim Flaherty. divorced from fiscal reality.” families with young children by bringing in As a result, the government has been The reality is that fiscal reality is a mat- an income-splitting measure. But sources considering other tax breaks that could bal- ter of political choice (like, taking from the say the backlash against that narrowly tar- ance its approach by helping other taxpayers poor and giving to the rich – or, easing off geted proposal has led the government to such as single-parent families, individual on the 99 percent just prior to an election). rethink its policy and look at other tax taxpayers or those with lower incomes, It is not one of economic determination. breaks for Canadians who don’t qualify to sources say. Oliver, who met with report- As Wynne noted then, federal infrastruc- take advantage of income-splitting. ers in Wakefield, Que., before a two-day ture investment began to decline in the Flush with an estimated $6.4 billion brainstorming session with 16 Canadians 1970s. Now, that had to do with monetary budget surplus, the Harper government from various walks of life, also said the reality, a reality long denied and a source plans to use its next budget to dangle tax federal government can see why Ontario of revenue criminally neglected since a po- cuts in front of voters in advance of an elec- Premier Kathleen Wynne would ask Ottawa litical decision, after 1974, not to use our tion expected in the fall of 2015. to increase spending on roads, transit and public Bank of Canada to fund government Harper has said the Conservatives will other infrastructure in Ontario to $12 bil- projects. go ahead with income-splitting, which was lion a year. NB: For further insights into reality, read promised in the last election once the bud- “We understand the importance of deal- Paul Martin: CEO for Canada? by Murray get was balanced – something that is only ing with ageing infrastructure and with the Dobbin. happening now. If implemented, income- need for more infrastructure,” Oliver said. Élan

8 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org own great advantage (see Ellen Brown, The paign for monetary reform must aim to get why activists should unite in a campaign to Web of Debt). elected a federal government which will use achieve this end: While there are additional complexities the Bank of Canada to create money for • This campaign would enable us to go regarding our money system which special- public benefit as originally intended by the on the offensive against the power of corpo- ists in monetary reform need to master, the Bank of Canada Act, and as was done be- rate elites at its heart: their monopoly over basics have been presented here. A cam- tween 1938 and 1975. Here are five reasons the creation of money out of nothing. Wynne Calls on Feds to Quadruple Infrastructure Funds By Richard J. Brennan, Queen’s Park Bu- 1993 to 2006. structure. reau, Toronto Star, August 7, 2014 Earlier, Wynne told the gathering that Wynne said too often governments now Finance Minister Joe Oliver says demand Canada’s aging infrastructure is in dire wait for special events like the Olympics or for $12B yearly “divorced from fiscal reality.” straits and is especially threatened by se- Pan Am Games to invest in infrastructure. “We are not going to engage in a wild vere weather being experienced across the “We should question why we need an spending spree, which will create mas- country. international event to bring these projects sive deficits.” – Joe Oliver, federal finance “Public infrastructure in Canada has online,” she said. minister been neglected by all levels of government Manitoba’s Selinger said his province Premier Kathleen Wynne wants $12 bil- for too long,” Wynne told the summit is a case in point having been ravaged by lion a year from Ottawa in infrastructure Wednesday. flooding. funding or more than four times what the “And I would argue that now – time is On July 1, 2013, the Manitoba govern- province gets now from the federal Conser- up,” she said, adding progress in this area ment increased the provincial sales tax to vative government. can only be made when the federal and pro- 8 percent from 7 percent to go entirely to “We are calling on the federal govern- vincial governments work together. infrastructure spending. ment to increase its infrastructure funding Wynne said the provinces are doing what The Ontario government considered a to 2 percent of GDP annually…we would they can to make improvements, but the similar move but abandoned it. see the immediate results of that kind of real problem can’t be tackled without Ot- change in investment,” Wynne told report- tawa’s financial assistance. Our Comment ers Wednesday, at a special interprovincial “We need that federal support. We need Fiscal policy (taxing and spending) – es- summit on infrastructure in Toronto. it in an ongoing way. We need it to be ad- pecially when geared to shrinking govern- “I believe this is the time to fill that in- equate, we need it to be permanent, reliable ment revenue – can not fund infrastructure frastructure gap that has existed,” she said, and flexible enough to address the different satisfactorily. adding that more money means more jobs infrastructure priorities in each part of the Monetary policy (money-creation and and economic stimulus. country,” she told reporters. management), can; “Anything physically The Toronto summit was attended by Wynne said, for example, the province possible and desirable can be made finan- some premiers, including Manitoba’s Greg is spending $130 billion over 10 years on cially possible.” This was confirmed by Selinger, provincial cabinet ministers, as infrastructure compared to the federal gov- Graham Towers, founding governor of our well as municipal and private sector repre- ernment spending $70 billion over the next public Bank of Canada. He also verified that sentatives. decade on the whole country. banks create money. When asked if she really believed that the Wynne acknowledged that Ottawa is Between 1938 and 1974, Canadian gov- federal Conservative government was going looking to balance its books, but cautioned ernments used government-created money to cough up $12 billion a year for Ontario, that, at the same time, it still has a respon- to fund public infrastructure – without Wynne said with a wry smile: “I am making sibility to set priorities, “and a huge part problematic debt or inflation. a proposal.” of that is investing in infrastructure that is They have since borrowed, instead, from Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver told sorely needed in every part of the country.” private banks – costing Canadians to date, the Star that Wynne’s request is “divorced She noted that investment in infrastruc- over 1 trillion dollars in interest on the na- from fiscal reality.” ture started to drop off in the 1970s “when tional debt alone! “We are not going to engage in a wild Canada pulled back from a period of post- Premiers shouldn’t have to beg! The feds spending spree, which will create massive war infrastructure investment. should exercise their sovereignty. deficits and increase the debt…. We will “This mistake wasn’t fully apparent until Canadians need not be debt slaves. They also not jeopardize our top credit rating the 1990s. That’s when the crack could no need only to review the history of their and we will not add to the intergenerational longer be hidden,” she told the gathering of central bank, then elect to Parliament poli- burden,” he said. premiers, provincial ministers and munici- ticians with the understanding, the integrity Oliver said since 2006 Ontario has re- pal and private sector representatives. and the courage to fulfill their constitutional ceived more than $12.3 billion from various Wynne noted that according to a Sta- duty, “to promote the economic and finan- federal infrastructure programs or more tistics Canada report, 10 percent of private cial welfare of the Dominion.” than three times what the previous Liberal sector productivity gains between 1962 Élan government paid out to the province from and 2006 were due to investment in infra- www.comer.org September–October 2014 Economic Reform | 9 • This campaign would enable us to go on the offensive against our corporate an- tagonists so that they have to expend energy Re-democratizing the Economy and give attention to our initiatives. • This campaign would enable us to take — Bien Congress 2014 action which is critical for all our separate struggles, and to combine our strengths into By Carol Bailey word about COMER and the Bank-of- a single struggle. BIEN (Basic Income Earth Network) is Canada solution. • Victory in this struggle would not an international non-profit group, consist- simply maintain or restore a previous ben- ing of 20 member countries, that advocates BASIC Income Visioning Workshop eficial status quo. It would overcome the for a basic income (guaranteed annual in- This morning session (held concurrently debt-driven, exploitive austerity agenda by come). The Canadian member chapter, Ba- with an open forum to discuss the US Basic enabling us to pay off public debts while sic Income Network Canada (BINC), aims Income Guarantee (BIG) program), con- providing abundant funding for improve- to “eliminate poverty” and secure “wellbeing sisted of a workshop to address key aspects ments and initiatives for public benefit. for all Canadians” by instituting a guaran- of the proposed Canadian Basic Income • If we frame our campaign by focus- teed annual income program as an alterna- program. Kelly Ernst, Director of BINC, ing on the glaring injustices resulting from tive to the current collection of income introduced the session and commented that elites’ outrageous monopoly over the cre- security programs. the attendance was more than expected, (the ation of money out of nothing, a power that BIEN held their 15th Congress this entire conference was sold out). could be made available for public benefit as year at McGill University in Montreal from The four aspects discussed were: What in our past, we can make a compelling case June 26 to June 29. The Congress featured is Basic Income and on what Principles is it for our cause. eight key-note speakers, including one from Based?; Taxonomy (definition of terms); the A campaign for monetary reform will Canada (Dr. Anna Reid, Past President Tough Questions; Forming local Chapter certainly be demanding. It requires bring- of the Canadian Medical Association), Groups. One of our members joined the ing together many activist groups which who addressed various aspects of the gen- Taxonomy group and the other joined the already have challenging agendas. It requires eral congress theme, “Re-democratizing the local chapter group. In each workshop one a massive public education effort without Economy.” The four-day agenda included person was chosen to report on the group’s assistance from the mainline media. It will a preliminary program on Thursday that findings, and one was chosen to record the face ferocious opposition from the banks, included a workshop on “Basic-Income- findings. The records will be printed and with the full assistance of the mainline Canada Visioning,” and a concurrent open made available after the conference. Partici- media. It will need to convince a reluctant meeting on the US Big (Basic Income Guar- pation in these groups allowed us to interact NDP to take up this cause. The Commit- antee) Program, an address by the chair- with other participants and to contribute tee on Monetary and Economic Reform person of Basic Income Network Canada, to the Chapter group dealing with the re- (COMER) has been working on this issue Shelia Regehr, a presentation by Kelly Ernst, sources required to start and to maintain a since the 1980s, and has much expertise, Director of the recently launched initiative, local, non-profit, social activist group. but has insufficient strength to manage the BIG Push, and an outstanding presentation It was generally agreed that start-up and task alone. Nevertheless it has in progress by Dr. Anna Reid on the social and eco- maintenance of a non-profit group required a lawsuit against the federal government nomic determinants of health. certain resources that can be problematic. A for its failure to carry out the mandate of Although, due to several limitations, it meeting place of sufficient size, along with a the Bank of Canada Act. There is no other was possible for COMER representatives location that is accessible, was identified as organization in Canada better situated than to attend only the first day of the Con- a necessity. The fact that many people today the CLC to lead a campaign for monetary gress, the effort proved valuable in several are over-committed and have little spare reform. It is a tough assignment. But we ways. First and foremost, the basic income time was also addressed, along with the is- need your leadership. Success could reverse program must have a funding mechanism sue of low income and transportation costs. the corporate agenda, and bring spectacular and our Bank of Canada is the most obvi- It became evident that retired individuals social and environmental improvement. ous means. Second, we were able to get who had good community connections and some insight into BIEN itself as well as the adequate financial resources were often the George Crowell, member of COMER, taught concept of a guaranteed annual income as best-placed to start up and maintain a suc- Social Ethics in the Religious Studies Depart- an important (perhaps necessary) stepping cessful group. ment, University of Windsor, 1968-96. stone to achieve a more equitable and just Two examples were a retired univer- society. sity professor who had ongoing connections Third, we were able to make contact with the university, with colleagues, and About Our Commenter with several “like-minded” individuals, in- with a network of friends, and a retired Élan is a pseudonym representing two of the cluding BINC members and we will be able lawyer with similar assets. This group also original members of COMER, one of whom to maintain contacts with them through the discussed the issue of how a national or is now deceased. The surviving member could never do the work she is now engaged exchange of emails. It was also a fortunate international group, such as BIEN can en- in were it not for their work together over situation that the Raging Grannies were courage and support small chapters, includ- many years. This signature is a way of ac- holding their annual conference at the hotel ing providing literature, along with start- knowledging that indebtedness. where we were staying. Through chance up funding, and providing a newsletter to conversations, we were able to spread the chapters.

10 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org The Big Push Campaign and BIEN membership consists mostly of Canada 2014 website, along with a tran- Kelly Ernst, BINC secretary-general and individuals with professional credentials script of all the lectures that followed and a main organizer of the 2014 Congress, in the academic field, in law, public ad- an archive from earlier years.) This argument described the Canadian initiative to imple- ministration, politics, medicine, and social is one of the most powerful in support of eco- ment a Basic Income plan. The BIG PUSH work. The premises for the conference, for nomic justice and the elimination of poverty. campaign is described as “a national cam- example, at the Faculty of Law at McGill Although we were able to attend only the paign to build on existing forms of basic in- were donated due to the efforts of Prof. first day of the Congress and the benefits of come in Canada so that all Canadians have Weinstock, a faculty member and promi- attending for the full program would have access to a basic income.” The BIG PUSH nent social scientist at McGill University. been a great multiplier, we did learn a lot campaign has three objectives: to raise pub- Following the presentation by Kelly about BIEN, BINC, and campaign organiz- lic awareness of Basic Income and make it Ernst, a panel discussion addressed some ing issues. We made contact with several in- clear why a basic income is needed; to build of the issues around introducing a basic dividuals directly involved with BIEN, and public support and policy support (political income program, including affordability, other conference participants with common support) for a basic income program; to methods of payment (through the tax sys- interests who could be valuable partners in secure public commitments (from political tem for example), resistance, how much COMER’s organizations. parties and other agencies) to expand our should be offered, and other related sub- We learned that BIEN organizers are existing system of income supports. jects. Bruce Hyer was the only politician aware of the need to have an income sup- In his presentation, Mr. Ernst gave a who attended (Green Party, MP, Thunder port program that will go beyond simply progress report on the campaign, and noted Bay riding), although others were invited supplying people with a “sufficient” level of some of the key project phases of the cam- (NDP, Liberal). income and abdicating all other responsibil- paign. The phases included the Founding of One of the key issues is funding. It was ities. One of the panel discussions dealt with PUSH, policy parameters, the establishment noted by Mr. Ernst that Canada has funded the “Basic Income Paradox” stated by Ernst and expansion of local groups, public educa- major social programs in the past without as, “over-focusing on basic income without tion, and reaching out to policy makers. bankrupting the country and gave the se- tackling the larger context [a tendency that] The PUSH campaign can offer some nior pension programs and our health care may undermine efforts to re-democratize insight into campaign and organizational system as an example. However, no one the economy.” The simple implementation development for COMER. One of their mentioned the Bank of Canada and the of a guaranteed annual income without first steps was to make a clear statement turn-about in 1974. consideration of other issues related to social of basic principles and objectives. A quo- In the question period that followed the inequality and injustice may result in the tation from their brochure: “Our Focus: panel discussion, I noted that our Bank of entrenchment of social class distinction. We provide information on Basic Income, Canada had paid for the mentioned social Through the Basic Income Network promote the idea, and educate the public programs with “debt-free money.” I also Canada we could broadcast our message to and policy makers about ways to support a mentioned the lawsuit and Rocco Galati, a much larger audience. As well, we could basic income.” As well, they have one clear the Bank for International Settlements, the learn from the promotional material used statement under their name (Basic Income “order” to stop using our bank (1974), and by BINC to improve our outreach efforts. Network Canada) “By eliminating poverty, the huge burden of debt that compound The two primary issues that BINC must wellbeing for all Canadians is secured.” interest placed on Canadians year after address in its current BIG PUSH campaign PUSH has also identified the develop- year. My impression was that most of the are Canada’s need for a Basic Income pro- ment of local groups as a vital step towards panel members, and Mr. Kelly Ernst himself gram, and the means of funding it. achieving their goal of educating the public didn’t fully understand the issue. However, In these we have a common interest that and getting the support of policy-makers. it seemed to me that MP Bruce Hyer was invites cooperation. BINC should be high I also took note of two other points. Mr. well aware of the Bank of Canada issue. on our list of organizations with whom we Ernst emphasized the importance of having However, he didn’t indicate a particularly might profitably explore the potential ad- a communication plan that would cover all keen interest in advocating it publicly. In vantages of a united effort. of the bases to get the message out. A top- a later conversation, he mentioned that he notch communication plan is necessary. He had to be careful not to alienate his constitu- Carol Bailey is a member of COMER Steer- also noted “web development”; the securing ents in his northern Ontario riding. ing Committee, a graduate of the University of basic resources (such as office space), and of Toronto and York University with a major team development (assembling teams to Public Lecture in political science, environmental studies and work on various projects). And, this requires A public lecture by Dr. Anna Reid, MD, social psychology, a writer and editor for the a budget. Ernst stated, “One million dollars followed by a discussion, completed the Ontario government, and freelance reporter. or more will be required to develop our proceedings for the day. Dr. Reid is the Campaign.” Past President of the Canadian Medical As- The “BIG PUSH” has ten members on sociation and a strong advocate of the social the Board of Directors, individuals who and economic determinants of health. In Check out the have a long-standing interest in Basic In- her comprehensive and powerful lecture, COMER bookstore come and who generally have professional she made it crystal clear that income has interests in the topic. More information far more influence than any other factor in at www.comer.org about this is available on the PUSH website. determining health and longevity. (A copy It was my general impression that PUSH of her lecture will be available on the BIEN www.comer.org September–October 2014 Economic Reform | 11 Why Are Stock Markets So Volatile? A Serious Depression is Pending as a Result of Austerity The Real News Network, http://bit. creating large unemployment. bad news. ly/1rtbeZ3, October 17, 2014 And so Europe and America are saying, PERIES: Michael, when the World Bank Michael Hudson is a Distinguished Re- this the best opportunity we’ve had in a and, actually, the IMF adjusted the global search Professor of Economics at the Uni- century. Here is a chance to do what we growth rates last week, which has been a versity of Missouri, Kansas City. His two call reform. A century ago, reform meant trend – you know, they’ve done it consecu- newest books are The Bubble and Beyond: increasing wage levels and increasing living tively for a number of years now where their Finance Capitalism and its Discontents and standards and taxing the rentiers, but right long-term projections aren’t just turning out upcoming book Killing the Host: How Fi- now reform means, in Europe, breaking the the way they had planned and projected. nancial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy labor unions, lowering wages, and putting Why is that happening? the Global Economy. the squeeze on labor. So all of that is sup- HUDSON: Well, they had thought Transcript of a Real News Network in- posed to be good for profits. when the World Bank and other people terview: PERIES: But, Michael, just last week had forecast a trend, they’d take past growth SHARMINI PERIES, Executive Pro- the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the US an- rates as they were up to 2008 and just said, ducer, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News nounced that unemployment is the lowest it what if they just continue as if growth oc- Network. I’m Sharmini Peries, coming to has been in a very long time. Why? This is curs automatically? But what was fueling you from Baltimore. contrary to what you’re saying. all of this growth was just a creation of On Wednesday this week, the S&P 500 HUDSON: Well, it’s true that the un- debt, largely by inflating real estate prices, took a dive and then partially recovered employment rate among people searching and bank credit creation, and government itself in what stock market watchers call a for jobs is low, but there’s been a large move- spending that has run a deficit. selloff scare. ment out of the market for a number of Now, economies, in order to grow at To talk about what is behind the volatil- things. Number one, fewer people are even this rate, they need credit and they need in- ity is our regular guest, Michael Hudson. looking for work. They’ve given up. Num- come. Now, the credit either can come from Michael Hudson is a distinguished research ber two, many of the jobs that are being governments running a budget deficit and professor of economics at the University of created are very low wage jobs at the low end pumping money into the economy, or it can Missouri-Kansas City. His latest books are of the spectrum or they’re part-time jobs. come from bank lending. But at the IMF The Bubble and Beyond and Finance Capital- And if you work for part time at all, you’re meetings last week, it was clear that as far ism and Its Discontents. not considered unemployed. If you’ve given as Europe’s concerned, the banks have not Thank you so much for joining us, Mi- up looking for work, you’re not considered recovered yet. The banks are not lending. chael. to be unemployed. And American banks are not lending. There MICHAEL HUDSON, Professor of So even though some of the wage levels, has not been any lending in Europe or in Economics, UMKC: It’s good to be back. the minimum wage has been raised in Mas- the United States for new capital invest- PERIES: Michael, if you heard stock sachusetts and out West, when the mini- ment. And it’s capital investment to build market reporting yesterday or saw The New mum wage level is raised, that means the factories, to make new means of production York Times’ business section today, you families that have been living on food stamps that employs labor. would have thought we were in another while they’ve been working at McDonald’s So you have this whole source of employ- stock market plunge. What’s behind this or at other low-wage companies, they don’t ment that was fueling the global economy fluctuation? qualify anymore. So there’s been very little since World War II is coming to an end, HUDSON: Well, the markets are obvi- change in the actual family budgets. capital investment to increase. The only ously confused, because there are two sets of The markets were expected to sort of capital investment that’s occurring really forces on the market, one positive and one somehow take off with higher profit if there is in the BRICS countries, not in America negative. The positive thing is that we’re go- was a business cycle recovery. But it’s become and not in Europe. So the kind of employ- ing into a real serious depression [incompr.] apparent that we’re really not in a business ment that occurred in the past has not been austerity in the United States, austerity in cycle anymore. We’re at the end of a long occurring since 2008. What we have is sort Europe. And for the last six years, since 50-year cycle since World War II, where of living on the corpse of the economy that 2008, almost all of the gains have been go- the debts have been rising so much that all was left in 2008 and it’s basically an eco- ing only to the 1 percent. This has caused of a sudden the economy can’t be financed nomic shrinkage process we are in. There’s – they’ve kept the debts on the book. It’s by debt anymore. And if the economy isn’t no infrastructure spending. The infrastruc- financed by debt, that means that markets ture’s aging. There’s no corporate industrial can’t grow, that all of a sudden what was investment. That stopped. There’s simply VISIT THE COMER WEBSITE fueling the growth and consumer demand services trade in the military. www.comer.org that’s been increasing profits has come to an PERIES: Michael, only thing that held end. This is especially apparent in Europe. up yesterday were some of the transporta- Tell your friends about it. So, basically, what people thought was sup- tion stocks. Why is that? And also explain posed to be good news turns out to be quite to me – you wrote to me saying 91 percent

12 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org of the S&P 500 earnings are spent on stock hedge funds are realizing, wait a minute, rates without crashing the market down. buybacks and dividends. What does that this isn’t your textbook kind of recovery; PERIES: Michael, thank you so much mean? this is a kind of recovery that’s only occur- for joining us. HUDSON: Well, in 2008 the Federal ring in the financial sector and real estate HUDSON: It’s always good to be here. Reserve here and the central bank in Europe and insurance, the FIRE sector, finance, PERIES: And thank you for joining us lowered interest rates way down to almost insurance, and real estate. It’s not occurring on The Real News Network. nothing. It’s one-tenth of a percent in the in the economy at large. And if all of these United States. That means that banks can earnings on Wall Street are not recycled in Our Comment borrow from the Fed to make loans. And the economy at large, then markets are go- Michael Hudson’s essential message, that what they’ve been lending for are for cor- ing to shrink, there’s not going to be much at this point, we’ve gone pretty well as far porate takeovers and for stock buybacks. In of a rental income for commercial space, as we can go with an economic system the stock market in the last year, one-third and with shrinking markets you’re not go- financed through debt, brings into sharp of all of the stock transactions in the United ing to have companies earning more profit focus the absurdity of austerity measures. States are stock buybacks. That means cor- on investment, even if they’re holding down His blunt warning that they can only lead to porations are using – the S&P 500 have wages. a severe depression is clearly explained. His used, I think, 54 percent of their earnings PERIES: Michael, does this have any- argument is compelling. to buy back their own stock, and they’ve thing to do with the murmurs out there that In Canada, because our central bank is been using another 40 percent or so to pay the interest rates might actually increase? public, we can produce the credit and the dividends. Now, that has left only 9 percent HUDSON: There was a fear that the income essential to a healthy economy with- of earnings of the S&P 500 available for markets – that the Federal Reserve was go- out running a deficit. We did it for years! new investment. Never before has this ratio ing to stop quantitative easing. They’ve been While those obsessed with power and been so low. saying, look, we can hold down interest profit may welcome the crisis as a chance to Most companies use their earnings to re- rates forever. And at the IMF meetings last further impose their revision of reform, the invest. They expand. They try to earn more week, the Europeans are saying, look, we rest of us would do well to remember that it by investing more to produce more to make worry that these low interest rates are spur- was the last great depression that taught us more profits to keep on growing. But that ring a financial bubble. the need to own a central bank that would hasn’t been occurring at all. They’ve been Now, if interest rates go up, that means “regulate credit and currency in the best using their earnings basically to give stock that all of a sudden all of this borrowed interest of the economic life of the nation” options to the managers. The manager say, money that’s gone into stocks is going to (Bank of Canada Preamble) – to recall and okay, I’m paid according to how much I can disappear. People are going to say, okay, we repeat: increase the price of the stock. I’m not go- can’t make money borrowing to buy stocks, “Once a nation parts with control of ing to use my corporate earnings of IBM or we can’t make money borrowing for real es- its currency and credit, it matters not who General Motors or whatever, I’m not going tate, so we’re not going to pay back the bank makes that nation’s laws. Usury, once in to use these to build more plant, ’cause then loans. We’re going to stop gambling. control will wreck any nation. Until the I’m going to use it to push up the stock so And all of this was exacerbated by the control of currency and credit is restored I’m going to get more in my stock option. US, the new Cold War against Russia, be- to government and recognized as its most And you have activist stockholders such as cause essentially the United States went to conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all have been raiding Apple and other compa- Europe and said, let’s you and Russia fight. talk of the sovereignty of Parliament and of nies, like Carl Icahn, that have been pressing So Europe imposed sanctions, and Russia democracy is idle and futile.” – Prime Min- Apple and others to actually borrow not to imposed harder sanctions. So the European ister William Lyon Mackenzie King invest as the textbooks say, but to buy back economy is shrinking. And so, because the The stakes today are even higher, for ef- their own stocks. So you have companies European economy’s shrinking, the euros forts to revive a thoroughly failed economic that are actually going into debt to buy their going down. The Eurozone is turning into system threaten the air we breathe, the wa- own stock. a dead zone, and the Europeans are moving ter we drink, the food we eat, and the very Now, the low interest rates that in eco- their money into the United States. That’s planet we depend on for life itself. nomic theory are supposed to make it more pushing up the dollar. The dept-money system must go. profitable for companies to invest and em- Now, if the Federal Reserve were to raise Élan ploy more labor and grow are having just interest rates at this point, this would not the opposite effect. The low interest rates only slow, bring down the stock market and COMER Email Update are creating a new stock market bubble, bring down the bond market, but it would which is why the stock market has gone up also bring so much money into the dollar, COMER would like to keep its confidential so much since 2008. But this rising stock because Europe cannot raise its interest email contact list up to date to better inform market bubble has only been in the price of rates, that this would price American goods members and ER subscribers of relevant, the stock. It’s stocks going up without any out of world markets. And that would late-breaking news and local events. new capital investment, without any new shrink the market for American industrial Interested parties who have not done hiring, and, in fact, with downsizing and exports all the more. So the United States so recently are encouraged to send a mes- outsourcing. So they’ve turned the tradi- has painted itself into a corner where it real- sage with the subject line ”COMER Email tional textbook model of economic recovery ly can’t increase interest rates. Even though Update” to [email protected] from their inside out. investors worry that the Fed is going to raise preferred email account. As ever, all prefer- And gradually the investors and the it, the Fed knows that it can’t raise interest ences will be respected. www.comer.org September–October 2014 Economic Reform | 13 do both! It need not be one or the other. A REVIEW OF PAUL HELLYER’S “THE MONEY MAFIA” Such GCM could be used, then, as Hellyer says, to “First cap and then reduce federal net debt as well as that of states, provinces, Towards a Positive Economics and municipalities.” Clearly, the reduction of government debt translates into more By John Riddell private bankers” must be reversed. Why? Be- money being available for much-needed In The Money Mafia, author Paul Hellyer cause private banks create money as debt, on socio-environmental programs. GCM is the “steps outside the box” and tells us what he behalf of – themselves – which, for the most means whereby this end may be achieved. sees. And he sees a lot. He quotes US Presi- part, taxpayers pay for! This is referred to as A Negative Economy dent James A. Garfield: “Whoever controls bank-created money (BCM). On the other the volume of money in a country is abso- hand, public banks owned and operated by Through the course of the 20th century, lute master of all industry and commerce.” governments who presumably act ‘on behalf organizations similar in outlook to the Fed of the people,’ can create money as credit. arose, so strengthening what has come to be The Problem — The US Federal This way of creating money is referred to as primarily a negative (debt-based) economy. Reserve: A Private Bank government-created money (GCM). What’s Hellyer suggests we “End immediately the Hellyer claims that many of the prob- the difference? power of the BIS [Bank for International lems we face today began with a secret Settlements], the IMF [International Mon- The Barrier of Ignorance meeting on Jekyll Island, Georgia in 1913. etary Fund], the World Bank, the Fed and The seven men attending the meeting rep- If a federal, public “Bank of the USA” other central banks to destroy democratic resented an estimated ¼ of the total wealth were established – and used appropriately institutions and ‘in the process’ Western of the entire world. Their plan was to create – we would be living in an entirely differ- civilization.” Strong words. a Federal Reserve Bank owned, operated, ent socio-economic world, Hellyer argues, It could be argued that the creation and controlled by them – and they got away wherein the welfare of citizens and of the of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913 was with it! earth itself would be paramount. However, the foundation for the emergence of the When the US Congress passed the bill “…there are a number of obstacles to be anti-democratic, greed-driven entities just creating the Federal Reserve Bank, “to put it overcome,” he says. “The first, and most named. Hellyer devotes a chapter each to bluntly,” Hellyer says, “the Congress trans- formidable, is the nearly universal ignorance the BIS, the IMF and the Fed. ferred its sovereign constitutional right to about the nature of money, what it is, and The New World Order (NWO) create money to the sole custody of a small who prints (creates) it.” group of private bankers…. If…the US Indeed. It is most unfortunate that many Moreover, one might infer that the cre- had established a publicly owned central progressives and politicians misinterpret, ation of the Fed also served as the founda- bank mandated to serve the interest of downplay, or fundamentally misunderstand tion for the subsequent institutionalization the American people, the US federal debt the enormous socio-economic and political of self-serving interests namely, the NWO, could have been zero today, instead of $16 power at stake in regards to whether money which Hellyer says “is being sold as a world trillion and rising.” In fact, Hellyer says, is created as debt – or as credit. This in it- of international rules and cooperation… “Soon after the Federal Reserve bill was self, should peak the curiosity of those who their weapons are international agreements passed, the magnitude of the tragedy began seek ways to build a positive economy. The and money power, propaganda, and mind to be recognized…. But the bill was not Money Mafia acts as educational source ma- control.” Hellyer names the “Three Sisters” repealed…. Americans still put their trust terial, in that it provides the nuts-and-bolts – the Council on Foreign Relations, the in a system regulated by a Fed which gives details of how to do just that: care properly Bilderbergers, and the Trilateral Commis- the interests of the banks and the money- for citizens and protect the Earth. sion – as being central to promoting the lenders a higher priority than the interests ambitions of the NWO. An Action Plan of the country.” The idea was to create “a The Three Sisters self-regulating banking system in which Hellyer thereby proposes an Action Plan governments would play no part.” wherein we must regain control of our mon- The primary aim of the Council for ey supply through creating more GCM; and Foreign Relations, Hellyer notes, “was [and The Solution: A Federal Public less BCM. Once that takes place, he says, still is] all-inclusive, a one-world economy “Bank of the USA” “a massive infusion of government-created, dominated by the United States.” Hellyer Hellyer: “[the Fed] has to be nationalized debt-free money (GCM) [is needed] to quotes Daniel Estulin, author of The True or wound up and replaced by a legitimate dilute the debt and stimulate economic Story of the Bilderberg Group (2007). “The Bank of the United States that would secure growth.” Is this suggestion any more outra- Bilderbergers,” Estulin says, “envision a the interests of American taxpayers rather geous than that of allowing the Fed & Co. to socialist welfare state, where obedient slaves than those of a toxic international bank- continue on unfettered in the pillage of na- will be rewarded and non-conformists tar- ing cartel…Politicians who enthusiastically tional economies through debt-collection? geted for extinction.” As to the Trilateral support winding up the Fed and replacing it Yet, contemporary politics has it that Commission, Hellyer says “It is elitist and with a genuine people’s bank will be worthy “paying down the debt” supersedes concerns anti-democratic. A 1975 Trilateral report of re-election.” about health care, social programs, global ‘The Crisis of Democracy” states: The transfer of the right to create money warming, infrastructure, etc. But, as Hellyer “The vulnerability of democratic gov- “to a small group of erudite but ruthless points out, with sufficient credit, we could ernment in the US comes not primarily 14 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org from external threats, though such threats the US. The two primary “institutions” in “Provide nation states with the fiscal flex- are real, not from internal subversion from Canada, constantly used as undisputed “au- ibility to address global warming pretty the left or right, although both possibilities thorities” by mainstream Canadian media, damn quick before the magnitude of the could exist, but rather from internal dynam- are the Frazer Institute (BC) and the C.D. damage becomes calamitous.” Beyond the ics of democracy itself in a highly educated, Howe Institute (Toronto). destructive NWO constructs there is the mobilized and participant society.” “In general, they believe that: the least RWO – the Real World Order – Mother Hellyer exclaims: “Wow, the principal government is the best government; nation Earth! Hellyer notes that the obvious start- danger to democratic government is democ- states have outlived their usefulness; mar- ing-point for reducing man-made global racy! That is a concept you have to dig deep kets are infallible regulators of economic warming is the development and use of to come up with. What about the danger to activity; the rich have no obligation to share clean energy sources. As to the claim that democracy of actions taken by governments their wealth with the poor on whom they reducing global warming would ‘cost too ‘elected’ by the people, but only after being depend for labour and as customers for their much’ Hellyer refers to a lead editorial in chosen and installed to positions of leader- goods and services.” The Globe and Mail, November 23, 2013, ship by these elite groups?” wherein Nicholas Stern, the World Bank The Koch Brothers, Anyone? former chief economist is cited: Politics: Choosing Presidents Although Hellyer doesn’t mention the “In fact, Stern argues that…it is doing Hellyer explains how this “choosing” oc- Koch brothers, it is worthwhile to note that too little too late that would have by far the curs through the political power wielded by they contributed $500,000 to the Frazer more devastating impact on the global econ- the Three Sisters to elect US presidents will- Institute from 2007-2012 (Vancouver Ob- omy. He says that a weak global response ing to abide by their wishes. For example, server, April 26/12). The Koch’s estimated to climate change in the next few decades “when Carter became president, he named net worth: over $100 billion (Carol Gibson, could cause economic and social disruptions 17 ‘trilats’ to important positions in his opednews.com, September 17, 2014); they on a scale similar to those triggered by world administration.” Regan came through for are a major player, if not the dominant wars and the Great Depression, but at a far the Three Sisters with the FTA; and after investor in the tar sands (Toronto Star, July higher cost than all of them combined.” George Bush (senior) had his turn, Clinton 6, 2014). They espouse a libertarian “free – who attended the 1991 Bilderberg meet- market ideology,” which fits in lock-step Three Fundamental Problems ing – came along with NAFTA. Hellyer also with the (1%) NWO. Hellyer says that there are three funda- devotes a chapter to the Military-Industrial mental problems facing humankind; and Complex – an obvious – (perhaps a broth- “Free” Trade Agreements that these problems are intertwined. The er?) – to the Three Sisters…. As the influence and control of the NWO most pressing is man-made global warming, strengthened, ambitions expanded to in- but the paradigm shift from a debt-based Globalization clude nation-state resources – and their gov- to a credit-based economy must take place According to Hellyer, the undemocratic ernments – through so-called, “free” trade first in order for global warming issues to be aims of the members of the NWO are sugar- agreements. Hellyer labels the Canada-US addressed, properly funded, and resolved. coated by mainstream media, gift-wrapped, Free Trade Agreement – one of the first of Also, an integral part of reducing global and presented to the public through the such agreements – as “a template for the warming has to do with clean energy tech- myth of a sweet-tasting “globalization.” But evolution of the NWO…. We pioneered a nologies in large part provided, Hellyer says, the primary aims are bittersweet. Hellyer: system where power was transferred from by extraterrestrials – the third link in his “the reasons for globalization…can be sum- our elected representatives to foreign cor- perspective – for which he provides an im- marized as follows: the elimination of the porations.” Hellyer is equally critical of pressive amount of history, documentation, middle class by allowing multinational cor- NAFTA, CETA, and particularly the TPP. information, and resources. porations to move; production jobs offshore Overall, The Money Mafia is a superb to foreign producers; a reversal of hard-won Revisiting Occupy: analysis of where we’ve been throughout the trade union gains since WWII; and, above Towards a Positive Economy 20th century since the Jekyll Island banking all, the transfer of power to unelected, unac- The Occupy Movement might consider coup, where we are today (1% NWO), and countable, international bureaucrats under as a strategy: where we could be tomorrow (Hellyer’s Ac- the control of the NWO clique.” (Hellyer’s • Exposing the 1% NWO not only as tion Plan). emphasis.) being disproportionately wealthy, but as Without control of its own money, Over time, with continual exposure to being the Hellyer makes it clear – as did President the NWO “philosophy” (but no corre- beneficiaries of a debt-based negative Garfield – any nation state government is sponding, sustained opposing voices or economics; lost, adrift. Hellyer is meticulous and insis- debate), people have come to believe such • Nationalizing (or replacing) the Fed tent in the presentation of his multi-faceted propaganda. with a central “Public Bank of America”; Action Plan for recovery, which emphasizes • Creating a credit-based positive eco- that the beginning point must be a rejuvena- Think Tanks nomics beneficial toeveryone , through the tion of economies through a solid founda- Moreover, as Hellyer points out, a num- establishment and appropriate use of na- tion of National Public Banks owned, oper- ber of so-called think tanks supporting the tional public banks. ated, and controlled by governments which NWO, comprised of individuals with sup- are “for the people” – not for the banks! But posedly impeccable academic credentials, Global Warming where is the political will to evaluate such a have been established. There are many in Further, Hellyer states that GCM could game-changing suggestion? It seems to be www.comer.org September–October 2014 Economic Reform | 15 wrapped up – stifled – by NWO lobbyists, would you use it to fund, all but debt-free, Mafia, Hellyer explains the situation very mainstream media, like-minded think tanks your needs, or would you go down the street well. For those working to dissolve negative and their offspring. Hellyer argues that it is to some other (private) bank to borrow what economies; and to develop socio-environ- therefore necessary to educate citizens, poli- you need as debt, at (substantial!) interest?” mental policies and a “positive-economy” ticians, and progressives as to what’s at stake. Most nation-states do the latter, follow- politics, The Money Mafia is a must read. But don’t worry! You don’t have to be an ing in the Fed’s footsteps. This is the prepos- economist to understand the situation we terous – unbelievable – situation, Hellyer John Riddell is a member of COMER and a are in today. All you need is common sense, says, we are faced with today. Most people veteran champion of money reform. He can be and the ability to answer this question: “If are unaware of the consequences of our neg- reached at his website: www.monetaryandeco- you had your own bank (National Bank), ative, debt-based economy. In The Money nomicreform.ca. The New World of Retirement: Security for the Rich, Risk for Everyone Else By Linda McQuaig, www.ipolitics. thousands of workers. There’s no evidence that the change is ca/2014/07/30/retirement-for-the-rich-hard- Income security for retired workers was necessary for economic reasons, or to ensure ship-for-the-rest, July 30, 2014 one of the key benefits won by unions in the the viability of corporations. Quaint as it now seems, not long ago this postwar era, allowing ordinary Canadians to While the ongoing recession has left the was considered a good basic plan: work hard plan their lives to ensure they wouldn’t end workforce shaken and insecure, corporate all your life and then retire with a comfort- up homeless, or sharing what their pets eat. Canada has made a stunning recovery since able pension. Workplace pensions were always expect- 2008. Profits are up dramatically, and Cana- In recent times, a new plan has replaced ed to be a key part of that retirement securi- dian corporations are now sitting on a stun- it: Work hard all your life and then all bets ty. Unlike many European countries, where ning $630 billion in cash holdings – which are off. public pensions were generous enough to they are declining to invest. The notion of retirement security in serve as the centerpiece of a retiree’s income, None of this fabulous wealth is being exchange for a lifetime of hard work – a cen- the Canadian government kept public pen- shared with workers, who increasingly are tral element in the implicit social contract sion benefits low and encouraged workers to expected to fend for themselves. between capital and labour in the postwar rely on workplace pensions. Perhaps this is simply part of a new men- years – has been effectively tossed aside, as That worked fine for those who were tality – of boldly embracing risk – that is corporations have become more insatiable able to negotiate workplace pensions with integral to the global economy. in their demands and governments have an employer – generally those who had a It’s striking, however, that a bold embrace increasingly abandoned workers. union to represent them. In such cases, both of risk is only expected of those in the lower Stephen Harper’s government hiked the the employer and the employees typically echelons of the corporate world. At the top, eligibility age for Old Age Security benefits contributed to the plan, under terms that executives cling to old-world notions – like to 67, effectively depriving all future Cana- specified what benefits would be paid out to securing comfortable retirements. dian retirees of two years of basic retirement employees in their retirement. The Royal Bank, the country’s largest income. Employers now want to be able to fun- bank, switched over to the new-style pen- And it has steadfastly refused to strength- damentally rewrite the terms of those work- sion system in 2011, so that all new employ- en the Canada Pension Plan, leaving re- place pension deals so that, if the market ees will be obliged to face a risky pension tired Canadians with an average income of plunges and the pension fund declines, the future. $18,000 a year in public pension benefits pay-outs will be less – in effect, shifting the RBC CEO Gordon Nixon didn’t see the – far less than what a full-time minimum risk from the company to the retiree. need to modify his own pension deal, how- wage earner makes in Ontario. When it comes to new hires, many em- ever. When he retires later this week at the And now, the Harper government is ployers now offer only the new-style pen- age of 57, he’ll receive a pension of $1.68 engaging in a fresh frontal assault on the re- sions. But the legislation proposed by Harper million a year, which will rise to an even tirement incomes of beleaguered Canadian would create a way for employers to open up more comfortable $2 million a year when workers. existing pension deals – effectively changing he turns 65. In what amounts to a radical overhaul, the rules in mid-stream, after workers have And he’ll be able to count on that stipend it announced last April that it intends to spent years paying into their plans. – which works out to more than $5,000 a change long-standing legislation governing There have been few objections from day – for the rest of his life. workplace pensions in ways that would al- media commentators, who have ignored the Risk may be good for those lower down low employers (private sector and Crown change or treated it as simply a fait accom- the ladder but, for those at the top, guaran- corporations) to walk away from pension pli, part of a new economic reality. teed lifetime abundance apparently still has commitments they made to employees, even It’s not a fait accompli, in fact. It involves its place in the global economy. after those employees have paid into the the government changing laws, overturning plans throughout their working years. legislation that was put in place to protect Our Comment None of this has received much atten- working people in an era when unions and #@$%^&*!@?*&^%$#@ tion, although it could affect hundreds of workers had some political clout. ?

16 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org It’s fashionable nowadays to view the social movements of the late sixties as an A Practical Utopian’s Guide embarrassing failure. A case can be made for that view. It’s certainly true that in the po- to the Coming Collapse litical sphere, the immediate beneficiary of any widespread change in political common By David Graeber, The Baffler no. 22, one already knows and ask: Were revolu- sense – a prioritizing of ideals of individual 2013 tions ever really what we thought them to liberty, imagination, and desire; a hatred of What is a revolution? We used to think be? For me, the person who has asked this bureaucracy; and suspicions about the role we knew. Revolutions were seizures of pow- most effectively is the great world historian of government – was the political Right. er by popular forces aiming to transform Immanuel Wallerstein. He argues that for Above all, the movements of the sixties al- the very nature of the political, social, and the last quarter millennium or so, revolu- lowed for the mass revival of free market economic system in the country in which tions have consisted above all of planetwide doctrines that had largely been abandoned the revolution took place, usually according transformations of political common sense. since the nineteenth century. It’s no coin- to some visionary dream of a just society. A quarter of the American population is cidence that the same generation who, as Nowadays, we live in an age when, if rebel now engaged in “guard labor” – defending teenagers, made the Cultural Revolution in armies do come sweeping into a city, or mass property, supervising work, or otherwise keep- China was the one who, as forty-year-olds, uprisings overthrow a dictator, it’s unlikely ing their fellow Americans in line. presided over the introduction of capital- to have any such implications; when pro- Revolutions are thus planetary phenom- ism. Since the eighties, “freedom” has come found social transformation does occur – as ena. But there is more. What they really do to mean “the market,” and “the market” has with, say, the rise of feminism – it’s likely is transform basic assumptions about what come to be seen as identical with capital- to take an entirely different form. It’s not politics is ultimately about. In the wake of ism – even, ironically, in places like China, that revolutionary dreams aren’t out there. a revolution, ideas that had been considered which had known sophisticated markets for But contemporary revolutionaries rarely veritably lunatic fringe quickly become the thousands of years, but rarely anything that think they can bring them into being by accepted currency of debate. Before the could be described as capitalism. some modern-day equivalent of storming French Revolution, the ideas that change is The ironies are endless. While the new the Bastille. good, that government policy is the proper free market ideology has framed itself above Already by the time of the French Revo- way to manage it, and that governments de- all as a rejection of bureaucracy, it has, lution, Wallerstein notes, there was a single rive their authority from an entity called “the in fact, been responsible for the first ad- world market, and increasingly a single people” were considered the sorts of things ministrative system that has operated on a world political system as well, dominated one might hear from crackpots and dema- planetary scale, with its endless layering of by the huge colonial empires. As a result, gogues, or at best a handful of freethinking public and private bureaucracies: the IMF, the storming of the Bastille in Paris could intellectuals who spend their time debating World Bank, WTO, trade organizations, well end up having effects on Denmark, or in cafés. A generation later, even the stuffiest financial institutions, transnational corpo- even Egypt, just as profound as on France magistrates, priests, and headmasters had to rations, NGOs. This is precisely the system itself – in some cases, even more so. Hence at least pay lip service to these ideas. Before that has imposed free market orthodoxy, he speaks of the “world revolution of 1789,” long, we had reached the situation we are in and opened the world to financial pillage, followed by the “world revolution of 1848,” today: that it’s necessary to lay out the terms under the watchful aegis of American arms. which saw revolutions break out almost for anyone to even notice they are there. It only made sense that the first attempt to simultaneously in fifty countries, from Wal- They’ve become common sense, the very recreate a global revolutionary movement, lachia to Brazil. In no case did the revolu- grounds of political discussion. the Global Justice Movement that peaked tionaries succeed in taking power, but af- Until 1968, most world revolutions re- between 1998 and 2003, was effectively a terward, institutions inspired by the French ally just introduced practical refinements: an rebellion against the rule of that very plan- Revolution – notably, universal systems of expanded franchise, universal primary educa- etary bureaucracy. primary education – were put in place pretty tion, the welfare state. The world revolution much everywhere. Similarly, the Russian of 1968, in contrast – whether it took the Future Stop Revolution of 1917 was a world revolution form it did in China, of a revolt by students In retrospect, though, I think that later ultimately responsible for the New Deal and young cadres supporting Mao’s call for a historians will conclude that the legacy and European welfare states as much as for Cultural Revolution; or in Berkeley and New of the sixties revolution was deeper than Soviet communism. The last in the series York, where it marked an alliance of students, we now imagine, and that the triumph of was the world revolution of 1968 – which, dropouts, and cultural rebels; or even in capitalist markets and their various plan- much like 1848, broke out almost every- Paris, where it was an alliance of students and etary administrators and enforcers – which where, from China to Mexico, seized power workers – was a rebellion against bureaucra- seemed so epochal and permanent in the nowhere, but nonetheless changed every- cy, conformity, or anything that fettered the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in thing. This was a revolution against state human imagination, a project for the revo- 1991 – was, in fact, far shallower. bureaucracies, and for the inseparability lutionizing of not just political or economic I’ll take an obvious example. One often of personal and political liberation, whose life, but every aspect of human existence. As a hears that antiwar protests in the late sixties most lasting legacy will likely be the birth result, in most cases, the rebels didn’t even try and early seventies were ultimately failures, of modern feminism. At moments like this, to take over the apparatus of state; they saw since they did not appreciably speed up the it generally pays to go back to the history that apparatus as itself the problem. US withdrawal from Indochina. But after- www.comer.org September–October 2014 Economic Reform | 17 ward, those controlling US foreign policy in Washington, DC, in 2002. Coming on were so anxious about being met with similar the heels of 9/11, we were relatively few popular unrest – and even more, with un- and ineffective, the number of police over- BookStore rest within the military itself, which was whelming. There was no sense that we could Available from COMER Publications: genuinely falling apart by the early seventies succeed in shutting down the meetings. 27 Sherbourne Street North, Suite 1 – that they refused to commit US forces to Most of us left feeling vaguely depressed. Toronto, ON M4W 2T3 any major ground conflict for almost thirty It was only a few days later, when I talked [email protected] years. It took 9/11, an attack that led to to someone who had friends attending the Price EXcludes postage and handling. thousands of civilian deaths on US soil, to meetings, that I learned we had in fact shut fully overcome the notorious “Vietnam syn- them down: the police had introduced such Hazel Henderson drome” – and even then, the war planners stringent security measures, cancelling half • The United Nations: Policy and made an almost obsessive effort to ensure the the events, that most of the actual meetings Financing Alternatives: Innovative wars were effectively protest-proof. Propa- had been carried out online. In other words, ganda was incessant, the media was brought the government had decided it was more Proposals by Visionary Leaders, on board, experts provided exact calculations important for protesters to walk away feel- ­Editors Harlan Cleveland, Hazel on body bag counts (how many US casual- ing like failures than for the IMF meetings Henderson, Inge Kaul, $10 ties it would take to stir mass opposition), to take place. If you think about it, they af- W.F. Hixson and the rules of engagement were carefully forded protesters extraordinary importance. written to keep the count below that. It would explain a lot. In most of the • It’s Your Money, $10 The problem was that since those rules world, the last thirty years has come to be William Krehm of engagement ensured that thousands of known as the age of neoliberalism – one • Towards a Non-Autistic Economy women, children, and old people would end dominated by a revival of the long-since- – A Place at the Table for Society, up “collateral damage” in order to minimize abandoned nineteenth-century creed that deaths and injuries to US soldiers, this held that free markets and human freedom $10 meant that in Iraq and Afghanistan, in- in general were ultimately the same thing. • Babel’s Tower: The Dynamics tense hatred for the occupying forces would Neoliberalism has always been wracked by of ­Economic Breakdown, $10 pretty much guarantee that the United a central paradox. It declares that economic • The Bank of Canada: A Power States couldn’t obtain its military objectives. imperatives are to take priority over all oth- And remarkably, the war planners seemed ers. Politics itself is just a matter of creating Unto Itself, $5 to be aware of this. It didn’t matter. They the conditions for growing the economy by • Democracies and Tyrannies of the considered it far more important to prevent allowing the magic of the marketplace to do Caribbean, second English and third effective opposition at home than to actu- its work. All other hopes and dreams – of Spanish editions available, $15 ally win the war. It’s as if American forces in equality, of security – are to be sacrificed for Iraq were ultimately defeated by the ghost of the primary goal of economic productivity. • How to Make Money in a Abbie Hoffman. But global economic performance over the Mismanaged Economy, $12 Clearly, an antiwar movement in the last thirty years has been decidedly medio- • Meltdown: Money, Debt and sixties that is still tying the hands of US cre. With one or two spectacular exceptions the Wealth of Nations military planners in 2012 can hardly be con- (notably China, which significantly ignored Volume 1, ER, 1988–1998, $20 sidered a failure. But it raises an intriguing most neoliberal prescriptions), growth rates Volume 2, ER, 1999–2001, $20 question: What happens when the creation have been far below what they were in the Volume 3, ER, 2002–2003, $20 of that sense of failure, of the complete in- days of the old-fashioned, state-directed, Volume 4, ER, 2004–June 2005, $20 effectiveness of political action against the welfare-state-oriented capitalism of the fif- system, becomes the chief objective of those ties, sixties, and even seventies. By its own Volume 5, ER, July 2005–2006, $20 in power? standards, then, the project was already a co- • Price in a Mixed Economy – Is it possible that this pre-emptive at- lossal failure even before the 2008 collapse. Our Record of Disaster, $15 titude toward social movements, the de- If, on the other hand, we stop taking signing of wars and trade summits in such world leaders at their word and instead COMBO OFFERS: a way that preventing effective opposition think of neoliberalism as a political project, • One volume of Meltdown plus is considered more of a priority than the it suddenly looks spectacularly effective. either The Bank of Canada or success of the war or summit itself, really The politicians, CEOs, trade bureaucrats, It’s Your Money, $35 reflects a more general principle? What if and so forth who regularly meet at summits those currently running the system, most like Davos or the G20 may have done a • One volume of Meltdown plus of whom witnessed the unrest of the sixties miserable job in creating a world capitalist Democracies (English or Spanish), firsthand as impressionable youngsters, are – economy that meets the needs of a majority Price in a Mixed Economy, Babel’s consciously or unconsciously (and I suspect of the world’s inhabitants (let alone pro- Tower, The Bank of Canada and it’s more conscious than not) – obsessed by duces hope, happiness, security, or mean- Towards a Non-Autistic Economy the prospect of revolutionary social move- ing), but they have succeeded magnificently – A Place at the Table for Society, ments once again challenging prevailing in convincing the world that capitalism $90 common sense? The thought first occurred – and not just capitalism, but exactly the to me when participating in the IMF actions financialized, semifeudal capitalism we hap-

18 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org pen to have right now – is the only viable perhaps in the virtual realities of the In- el for a stock exchange and factories – what economic system. If you think about it, this ternet. In all other realms they were to be happened was based on all sorts of technolo- is a remarkable accomplishment. strictly banished. We are talking about the gies that they couldn’t have anticipated, but Debt cancellation would make the perfect murdering of dreams, the imposition of which in part only emerged because society revolutionary demand. an apparatus of hopelessness, designed to began to move in the direction that it did. How did they pull it off? The preemp- squelch any sense of an alternative future. This might explain, for instance, why so tive attitude toward social movements is Yet as a result of putting virtually all their many of the more compelling visions of an clearly a part of it; under no conditions can efforts in one political basket, we are left in anarchist society have been produced by alternatives, or anyone proposing alterna- the bizarre situation of watching the capital- science fiction writers (Ursula K. Le Guin, tives, be seen to experience success. This ist system crumbling before our very eyes, at Starhawk, Kim Stanley Robinson). In fic- helps explain the almost unimaginable in- just the moment everyone had finally con- tion, you are at least admitting the techno- vestment in “security systems” of one sort cluded no other system would be possible. logical aspect is guesswork. or another: the fact that the United States, Myself, I am less interested in deciding which lacks any major rival, spends more Work It Out, Slow It Down what sort of economic system we should on its military and intelligence than it did Normally, when you challenge the con- have in a free society than in creating the during the Cold War, along with the almost ventional wisdom – that the current eco- means by which people can make such deci- dazzling accumulation of private security nomic and political system is the only pos- sions for themselves. What might a revolu- agencies, intelligence agencies, militarized sible one – the first reaction you are likely tion in common sense actually look like? I police, guards, and mercenaries. Then there to get is a demand for a detailed architec- don’t know, but I can think of any number are the propaganda organs, including a mas- tural blueprint of how an alternative system of pieces of conventional wisdom that surely sive media industry that did not even exist would work, down to the nature of its need challenging if we are to create any sort before the sixties, celebrating police. Mostly financial instruments, energy supplies, and of viable free society. I’ve already explored these systems do not so much attack dis- policies of sewer maintenance. Next, you one – the nature of money and debt – in sidents directly as contribute to a pervasive are likely to be asked for a detailed program some detail in a recent book. I even suggest- climate of fear, jingoistic conformity, life of how this system will be brought into exis- ed a debt jubilee, a general cancellation, in insecurity, and simple despair that makes tence. Historically, this is ridiculous. When part just to bring home that money is really any thought of changing the world seem an has social change ever happened according just a human product, a set of promises, that idle fantasy. Yet these security systems are to someone’s blueprint? It’s not as if a small by its nature can always be renegotiated. also extremely expensive. Some economists circle of visionaries in Renaissance Florence What would remain is the kind of work estimate that a quarter of the American conceived of something they called “capi- only human beings will ever be able to do: population is now engaged in “guard labor” talism,” figured out the details of how the those forms of caring and helping labor of one sort or another – defending property, stock exchange and factories would some- that are at the very center of the crisis that supervising work, or otherwise keeping their day work, and then put in place a program brought about Occupy Wall Street to begin fellow Americans in line. Economically, to bring their visions into reality. In fact, the with. What would happen if we stopped most of this disciplinary apparatus is pure idea is so absurd we might well ask ourselves acting as if the primordial form of work deadweight. how it ever occurred to us to imagine this is is laboring at a production line, or wheat In fact, most of the economic innova- how change happens to begin. field, or iron foundry, or even in an office tions of the last thirty years make more sense This is not to say there’s anything wrong cubicle, and instead started from a mother, politically than economically. Eliminating with utopian visions. Or even blueprints. a teacher, or a caregiver? We might be forced guaranteed life employment for precarious They just need to be kept in their place. to conclude that the real business of human contracts doesn’t really create a more ef- The theorist Michael Albert has worked out life is not contributing toward something fective workforce, but it is extraordinarily a detailed plan for how a modern economy called “the economy” (a concept that didn’t effective in destroying unions and otherwise could run without money on a democratic, even exist three hundred years ago), but the depoliticizing labor. The same can be said of participatory basis. I think this is an im- fact that we are all, and have always been, endlessly increasing working hours. No one portant achievement – not because I think projects of mutual creation. has much time for political activity if they’re that exact model could ever be instituted, Labor, similarly, should be renegotiated. working sixty-hour weeks. in exactly the form in which he describes Submitting oneself to labor discipline – It does often seem that, whenever there it, but because it makes it impossible to say supervision, control, even the self-control is a choice between one option that makes that such a thing is inconceivable. Still, such of the ambitious self-employed – does not capitalism seem the only possible economic models can be only thought experiments. make one a better person. In most really im- system, and another that would actually We cannot really conceive of the problems portant ways, it probably makes one worse. make capitalism a more viable economic that will arise when we start trying to build a To undergo it is a misfortune that at best is system, neoliberalism means always choos- free society. What now seem likely to be the sometimes necessary. Yet it’s only when we ing the former. The combined result is thorniest problems might not be problems reject the idea that such labor is virtuous in a relentless campaign against the human at all; others that never even occurred to us itself that we can start to ask what is virtuous imagination. Or, to be more precise: imagi- might prove devilishly difficult. There are about labor. To which the answer is obvious. nation, desire, individual creativity, all those innumerable X-factors. Labor is virtuous if it helps others. A rene- things that were to be liberated in the last The most obvious is technology. This is gotiated definition of productivity should great world revolution, were to be contained the reason it’s so absurd to imagine activists make it easier to reimagine the very nature strictly in the domain of consumerism, or in Renaissance Italy coming up with a mod- of what work is, since, among other things, www.comer.org September–October 2014 Economic Reform | 19 it will mean that technological development as practically possible, followed by a mass This article is an excerpt from The Democracy will be redirected less toward creating ever reduction in working hours: a four-hour Project: A History, a Crisis, a Movement, by more consumer products and ever more dis- day, perhaps, or a guaranteed five-month va- David Graeber. ciplined labor, and more toward eliminating cation? This might not only save the planet those forms of labor entirely. but also (since it’s not like everyone would Our Comment At the moment, probably the most press- just be sitting around in their newfound David Graeber guides us through a wide- ing need is simply to slow down the engines hours of freedom) begin to change our basic ranging exploration of social change, at a of productivity. This might seem a strange conceptions of what value-creating labor stimulating and motivating level of thinking. thing to say – our knee-jerk reaction to might actually be. From the need to question what “we every crisis is to assume the solution is for Occupy was surely right not to make used to think we knew,” he proceeds to the everyone to work even more, though of demands, but if I were to have to formulate importance of the long view. In the context course, this kind of reaction is really pre- one, that would be it. After all, this would of history, we gain new insights into the cisely the problem – but if you consider the be an attack on the dominant ideology at continuity and characteristics of change. overall state of the world, the conclusion its very strongest points. The morality of “Revolutions are planetary phenomena” becomes obvious. We seem to be facing two debt and the morality of work are the most that “transform basic assumptions about insoluble problems. On the one hand, we powerful ideological weapons in the hands what politics is ultimately about.” have witnessed an endless series of global of those running the current system. That’s Like John Kenneth Galbraith who, in debt crises, which have grown only more why they cling to them even as they are the early seventies, asserted that there must and more severe since the seventies, to the effectively destroying everything else. It’s be change, Graeber recognizes that the new point where the overall burden of debt – also why debt cancellation would make the is already present, before the old finally falls sovereign, municipal, corporate, personal perfect revolutionary demand. away. Thus, the capitalist system is “crum- – is obviously unsustainable. On the other, All this might still seem very distant. At bling” while most still believe that it is the we have an ecological crisis, a galloping pro- the moment, the planet might seem poised only one possible. cess of climate change that is threatening to more for a series of unprecedented catas- What has changed is that “revolutions throw the entire planet into drought, floods, trophes than for the kind of broad moral have become a project for revolutionizing chaos, starvation, and war. The two might and political transformation that would not just political or economic life but every seem unrelated. But ultimately they are the open the way to such a world. But if we aspect of human existence,” and “contem- same. What is debt, after all, but the prom- are going to have any chance of heading porary revolutionaries,” realize that “storm- ise of future productivity? Saying that global off those catastrophes, we’re going to have ing the Bastille” is not the way to accom- debt levels keep rising is simply another way to change our accustomed ways of think- plish change. of saying that, as a collectivity, human be- ing. And as the events of 2011 reveal, the His description of how ideas erupt into ings are promising each other to produce an age of revolutions is by no means over. The revolutions, then sink below apparent fail- even greater volume of goods and services in human imagination stubbornly refuses to ure until they filter into the general con- the future than they are creating now. But die. And the moment any significant num- sciousness as “common sense,” is a prescrip- even current levels are clearly unsustainable. ber of people simultaneously shake off the tion for patience as a quality essential to They are precisely what’s destroying the shackles that have been placed on that col- today’s revolutionary. planet, at an ever-increasing pace. lective imagination, even our most deeply He also stresses what Galbraith identified Even those running the system are re- inculcated assumptions about what is and is as, “the emancipation of belief.” Changing luctantly beginning to conclude that some not politically possible have been known to our “accustomed ways of thinking” is key. kind of mass debt cancellation – some kind crumble overnight. Today’s greatest revolution is this shift to of jubilee – is inevitable. The real political a new level of thinking. struggle is going to be over the form that David Rolfe Graeber is an American anthro- That requires imagination and vision, it takes. Well, isn’t the obvious thing to ad- pologist, author, anarchist and activist who and the courage to challenge conventional dress both problems simultaneously? Why is currently Professor of Anthropology at the wisdom – to re-think what we think we not a planetary debt cancellation, as broad London School of Economics. know – like our traditional ideas about money and labour. It will shake up our priorities putting, for example, living above making a living. It puts the notion of failure into a perspective that will make us less vul- nerable to its exploitation. Someone has said, “there are those who watch change happen; there are those who make change happen; and there are those who never knew what hit them.” With logic, historic evidence, and ex- ample, Graeber has left us with much to consider regarding how to go about making change happen. We come away also, in- spired by a renewed faith that we can make change happen! Élan

20 | Economic Reform September–October 2014 www.comer.org