[A] Audience participation

1. Where does money come from? -- Send us lines to complete this doggerel. We will publish them if they make us smile or scratch our heads.
2. What is it you do not know about money? We will try to find the answers to your questions and get every level of government to consider the questions and answers when they finally get around to teaching the subject of "Money" in our schools.

[C] The meltdown of 2007, 2008, 2009 and on????

1. One root cause of money system meltdown / 9/23/08 / Title: Existing lending rules allow banks to negligently sell off shaky house loans ... The way the system should work ... Leverage built into the fractional reserve system ... Avoidance of risk should not be allowed ... By Martin R. Carbone
2. Spending and lending money into the system
3. Cause of 2008 meltdown
4. Lest we forget -- an article by Paul Krugman
5. Partnoy, Frank / NY Times / 9/2708 / Just Buy the Loans ... Bailout proposal stalled ... Overbroad definition ... Complex derivatives ... Directly purchasing actual mortgage loans ... Securitized loans ... Derivative bets ... Complex slicing and dicing ... Explanation makes no sense ... Congess should keep it simple ... Buy only mortgage loans, not derivatives.
6. The failure of Freddie and Fannie
7. Home loans in the 21st century
8. The lending meltdown is ridiculous?
9. Credit crisis of December 2007 --
10. Credit default swaps explained --
11. 2008 financial meltdown
12. Where is our Ferdinand Percora?
13. Philipine Central Bank is playing the same game that brought down our banking system -- they call it "rediscounting".
14. Some skeptics are calling Henry Paulson’s $700 billion rescue plan for the U.S. financial system “cash for trash.”
15. Robert Reich analyzes the approaching recession
16. How to stop a recession -- by Robert Reich
17. How to achieve a 33% reduction in federal spending. This makes sense to us. It might be just that easy. Are you listening, President Obama and all of Congress?
18. Hold on -- we are on a roller-coaster ride / Another Crisis, Another Guarantee
19. Senator Dianne Feinstein considers economics / Statement of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein In Support of the Economic Rescue Package / October 1, 2008
20. Higgs, Robert / 9/23/08 / Title: Credit Is Flowing, The sky is not falling -- Do not panic ... A good argument that our current "financial meltdown" is phony and in reality, it is a government grab for more power. / Atmosphere of fear ... fear-mongering ... Statistics on loans ... " If people panic and allow Congress to exploit the hyped-up fears of the moment, however, much worse outcomes may be brought about, not the least of which is another giant leap in the size, scope, and power of the federal government—a direct threat to our economy and our liberties. Plus a related posting by (mrc) based on Higgs' article.
21. Statistics on real estate loans
22. U.S. Debt
23. Anderson, Jenny and Bajaj, Vikas / 12/6/07 / Sub-Prime Mortgage Problem of 2007 / This is our analysis of an article in the NY Times -- "Wary of Risk, Bankers Sold Shaky Mortgage Debt"
24. Andrews, Edmund L. / 9/18/08 / A New Role for the Fed: Investor of Last Resort / from The New York Times
25. Andrews, Edmund L. / Greenspan Shifts View on Deficits in 2004 / NY Times
26. Andrews, Edmund L. -- An upfront, front-row seat and view of the meltdown.
27. Bush, George / 6/18/02 / His Greatest Speech? / Title: Remarks on National Homeownership Month / ... led to an unintended consequence ... (Terrorists) hate the idea that somebody can go buy a home ... We don't conquer people. We liberate people ... When somebody owns their own home, they're realizing the American Dream ... What we call a homeownership gap in America. Three-quarters of Anglos own their homes, and yet less than 50 percent of African Americans and Hispanics own homes. That ownership gap signals that something might be wrong in the land of plenty, and we need to do something about it. ... So I've set this goal for the country: We want 5.5 million more homeowners by 2010--million more minority homeowners by 2010.
28. Clinton, Hilary Rodham / 9/18/08 / Her views on the credit crisis ... in a letter to a private citizen/activist.
29. Credit Default Swaps / a discussion at Investopedia
30. Krugman, Paul / NY Times / 9/22/08 / Title: Cash For Trash / Henry Paulson ... $700 billion ... Rescue plan ... Housing bubble ... Capital to debt ratio ... Mortgage-backed securities ... "Paradox of deleveraging" ... Savings and Loan crisis ... Fannie and Freddie ... Dictatorial authority ... "Don't be railroaded" ...
31. Krugman, Paul / Will Congress Rubber-Stamp Bush's plan to stop the financial meltdown of September 2008 -- or will they show some courage? Read what Paul Krugman suggests. He says it is time for careful thought.
32. $5 Billion in political contributions from lobbyists bought wall street freedom from regulation (and) restraint, report finds. / Shows where the money came from and who got it.
33. Ten ideas and actions designed to stop financial sector problems.
34. Time magazine calls Geithner a con-man: 5/9/09
35. How banks seized America -- 5/11/09
36. Cashing In on ‘Government Sachs’ / by Robert Scheer of commondreams.org
37. Save money now -- personal finance from CNN -- 5/11/09
38. Fiscal salvation -- How to generate the cash needed to solve our fiscal problems. A response to David Brooks. -- 5/15/09
39. There's danger in them-there derivatives, pardner -- an article by Frank Partnoy -- 5/15/09
40. Financial sector problems / Robert Weissman & James Donahue - From: Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America -- 5/15/09
    http://www.scribd.com/doc/13027573/Robert-Weissman-James-Donahue-Sold-Out-How-Wall-Street-and-Washington-Betrayed-America
41. An amazing story -- "But in 2004, I joined millions of otherwise-sane Americans in what we now know was a catastrophic binge on overpriced real estate and reckless mortgages. -- By Edmund L. Andrews / Edmund L. Andrews is an economics reporter for The Times. 5/19/09

[D] Wright Patman's writings and information about Patman

1. Money facts -- 169 Question and answers
2. Money facts annotated -- 169 Questions and answers
3. Wright Patman's speech to Congress -- of 8/3/64, just before his book "A PRIMER ON MONEY" was published. This speech is basically a summary and abstract of the book.
   
4. Wright Patman, the first and only person who explained, in relatively plain English, how our Money and Banking system works.
5. Criticism of Wright Patman / Although we admire him, he is not perfect.
6. You can download every page of Patman's "Primer on Money" starting here --- The cover of Wright Patman's breakthrough, and then ignored, 1964 book -- "A PRIMER ON MONEY". At this cover, you will find links to the rest of the book. The main purpose of this website is to bring this book and Patman's insight to the attention of the American Public so they will, we hope, understand the truth behind the money and banking system. We will follow this posting of Patman's words with our up-to-date version and analysis of what we thought he was trying to say. Download the book chapter by chapter on this website. The original book is now available by email in printable PDF form at no charge (for some unknown reason, we can't load the .pdf to this website. Email us at martycarbone@yahoo.com and ask for a copy. We will email it to you.)The book will also be available in a comb-bound printed copy by 5/20/09. (The price is $15. -- including shipping charges)

[E] Views of money reformers / some of them are logical -- but a few of them are quite strange. don't swallow their stuff whole.

1. Sustainable banking: by Ellen Brown
2. Plunge protection team: By Ellen Brown, one of the most prolific and lucid writers on Money and the Fed. I wish we did not come to such different conclusions about what should be done to solve our problems.
3. Brown, Ellen / "Web Of Debt" -- The Introduction in her book. A level headed approach to the subject. She is a more-than-competent historian on the subject of debt and money.
4. Brown, Ellen / Articles -- http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/ Ellen Brown is a clear thinking writer. Read her articles and you are bound to learn something.
5. Brown, Ellen /10/8/08 / Who Owns The Federal Reserve? The Fed is privately owned. Its shareholders are private banks. Once again, Ellen Brown delivers a well written analysis -- this time of the FED.
6. Brown, Ellen / 10/25/08 / Death of the free market by the hand of the U.S. government.
   
7. "DOLLAR DECEPTION: HOW BANKS SECRETLY CREATE MONEY / by Ellen Brown, July 3rd, 2007 / Plus a rebuttal
8. Ron Paul speaks
9. Alan Greenspan on "Gold and economic freedom" ... and comments by mrc
10. Edison and Ford on Government bonds
11. Lincoln's monetary policy
12. Quotations from Thomas Jefferson
13. JFK starts to dismantle the Fed?
14. Debt reduction causes depressions?
15. The Social Imperative of Sound Money by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. / 9/13/08. Rockwell, a very influential voice, criticizes the action taken by Bush and Paulson in 2008.
16. A rant against the Fed. WARNING --This is, more or less, a 28-page, opinionated, off-the-wall, rant against the Fed. However, It is worth reading for a number of reasons.1) It contains some good historical information. 2) It brings forth some arguments that should be considered by those who want to understand both sides of this question. 3) You can learn a lot from fools. 4) It is a fair representation of a certain writing style. Reading it might help you spot similar unbalanced writing. The article is typical of the writing by many well known and influential "money reformers" who mislead their readers and followers by telling half truths about our money and banking system. Much of what they say is absolutely true -- but because they (a) either do not understand how fractional reserve banking is supposed to work or (b) are purposefully telling lies, they come to the wrong conclusions and urge action that simply makes no sense. It could very well that be that they enjoy the ego-stroking power of leading a large group of courageous rebels -- or maybe they are in it for the money and fame they earn they earn on sales of their books and admittance to seminars. In my opinion -- there is nothing wrong with Fractional Reserve Banking that can't be fixed by a change in management and an installation of good controls.
    
    Note that these money reformers justifiably put down (a) the Federal Reserve -- but then call for the abandonment or termination of (b) the Fractional Reserve system of banking. The Federal Reserve and the Fractional Reserve are not the same thing. We agree completely that the Federal Reserve should be terminated -- but think there is much worthwhile about Fractional Reserve Banking that should be kept. It just does not make sense to get rid of a system that has worked well to create more wealth than any other system of money and banking ever devised in the history of humans.
    
    Most of the reformers call for total State Control of the money and banking system, which is what is delivered under Communist and Socialist governments. Such State Control is generally thought to have no place in Democratic Capitalism, which I believe is what we, the American people, overwhelmingly want. The banks can run well under private ownership if they are operated under Narrow State charters that restrict the banks to certain aspects of banking that have a long honorable tradition, while prohibiting them from investing their depositors money in off-the-wall investing schemes where the main goal is making money by manipulating words and figures on paper. Such investing will ALWAYS lead to phony records that do not tell what is going on within the system. Those investors force the Tail of the records to wag the Dog of reality. After writing this previous sentence, we realized that government control of the banking system would work under the American Constitution as long as all levels of government [(a) Federal, (b) State and (c) Local] are involved in such a way as to act as checks and balances to the other levels. See our Community Banking Plan at << http://www.primeronmoney.com/howtosolve.html >>
17. Baker, Alexander "Ace" / Origin of Money / Based on the Austrian School of thought. Focuses on using gold as money or as backing for money. Another good writer bitten by the conspiracy bug.
18. Allen, Gary / 1971 / "None Dare Call It Conspiracy"/ by Gary Allen, 1971 / Mr. Allen, a good writer, was bitten by the conspiracy bug.
19. Some money reformers are feckless
20. Zarlenga, Stephen / 2002 / American Monetary Institute / U.S. Constitution:
    Drafting the Constitution / (c) 2002, Also titled History of Money in the United States: A well written presentation that explains the evolution of money at the start of the U.S. The explanation of how paper money worked then (and still does) is unique, easily understood and logical. Contains this important observation, "But why did the framers of a document (The Constitution), so far advanced in its day regarding the balance between legislative, judicial and executive power, not realize that the monetary power if left unchecked, could endanger and ultimately overwhelm the whole edifice?". From The Lost Science of Money by Stephen Zarlenga. Unfortunately Zarlenga seem to have been bitten by the conspiracy bug before he penned his "Act" -- see below.
    
21. Zarlenga, Stephen / 2/21/06 / The American Monetary Act / © 2006, VERSION 10, / American Monetary Institute (AMI) , P.O. Box 601, Valatie, NY 12184 / <<ami@taconic.net>> This is a blustery Act which the AMI plans to try to have enacted by Congress. Their 10th version of the Act is in black type -- our comments are in blue. It needs help.

[F] Economic theories, books, articles and sources

1. History of economic thought -- Information on all of the famous economists and economic schools of thought can be found starting at the following link on Wikipedia << http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_theory#History_of_economic_thought >>
2. Soddy's ideas. Frederick Soddy was a Chemist turned Economist. I previously picked his definition of money as "worthy of note" -- but I think his rejection of fractional reserve banking is best left in the dustbin. Soddy wrote a notable book in 1926: "Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt -- the Solution to the economic paradox ". "Money is not wealth ... but the evidence that the owner of the money has not received the wealth to which he is entitled and that he can demand that wealth at his own convenience ..." This is from note 3 of a 1950 article by Soddy, Money Reform as a preliminary to all reform -- pages 137 -138. http://nesara.org/articles/soddy88.htm
   
3. "Progress and Poverty" by Henry George / A classic / George was a printer. His book was one of the most influential books on economics. There is a link somewhere on our previous site where you can download the book. When we find that link, we will post it here.
4. Money Wisdom and other stuff by famous people
5. Wealth of Nations
6. Should all future employees own the companies they work for? What a radical idea -- it might just work.
7. Definitions of money
8. Quotations on money
9. “What the hell is an economist?”/ by James Raider, in the NY Times
10. Reverend Billy speaks about the need for community banks
11. What causes inflation? This article is horribly wrong. We tell why. Articles of this type are all over the internet -- be careful that they do not pollute your thinking.
12. A New American Dream -- It is Utopian -- but I buy it. (mrc)
13. Acton, Lord / "The History of Freedom in Antiquity" / A classic / He writes about history -- but that history is deeply entwined with economics.
14. Adler, Mortimer / Louis Kelso (1913 - 1991) and Mortimer Adler (1902 - 2001) Binary Economics / The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) download at <<http://www.kelsoinstitute.org/>>
15. Brooks, David / 2008 / Economics: Five Current (2008) Economic Revolutions in the United States. From a NY Times article by a wise thinker and journalist.
16. Brown, Ellen / Her 4/9/09 open letter to President Obama / ... "Abraham Lincoln had such a solution. President Obama, you can finally bring his monetary solution to fruition. Manifest the vision of Lincoln, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin, and we the people will make sure you are placed in the pantheon of our greatest leaders and are revered for all time. America’s greatest days can still be ahead of us; but for this to happen, we need to expose and root out the deceptive banking scheme that would enslave us to a future of debt and increasing homelessness in this great country our forefathers founded. The time has come for democracy to rise superior to a private banking cartel and take back the power to create money once again."
    ........... Ms. Brown is basically echoing our Silver Bullet #4, where it is written, "(4) Follow the Constitution and return the money creating power to Congress. (more)" see our "Silver Bullet Plan"
17. Calmes, Jackie / 8/16/08 / Economics and the election of 2008 ... If Elected ...Rivals Differ (a Bit) on Financial Market Rules / Comments of this website in blue.
18. Cox, Jim -- Overview of economic thought / short -- worth reading
19. Bastiat, Claude Frederic / "The Law" / A classic / Is taxation theft? Where does government get its authority to use force? What is the scope of the power held by government? What happens to society when government ignores limits on the scope of its power, and establishes for itself the power to violate individual rights of life, liberty and/or property?
20. Davies, Glyn / History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day / Monetary history in context from the dawn of civilization to the beginning of the twenty first century. Very comprehensive.
21. Davies, Glyn / Origins of Money and of Banking: / What is Money? / Functions of Money / Causes of the Development of Money / Primitive Forms of Money / The Invention of Banking and Coinage / Greek Coinage / Money Exchange and Credit Transfer / The Royal Monopoly of Minting / Paper Money / Intangible Money / Noteworthy Points Regarding the Origins of Money
22. Krugman, Paul / Economic Inequality in the U.S.A.: From an article in the NY Times ... Is the Golden Age of middle class America over forever?
23. United States Government / The coinage act -- The actual law establishing rules for the coining of money. (added 8/19/08)
24. Marx & Engels / "The Communist Manifesto" / A classic
25. McElroy, Wendy / "Individualist Anarchism v. Communist Anarchism and Libertarianism" / A classic
26. Mitchell, Rodger Malcolm / Current as of 10/08 / "Free Money: A plan For Prosperity" / http://www.rodgermitchell.com/ ... This is from a very interesting website ... Mitchell has lots of ideas on money and related issues, such as the Federal Budget ... Offhand, it seems as though his ideas are, in general, worthwhile ...
27. NY Times -- articles on Derivatives -- the cause of the Meltdown? / http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/derivatives/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
28. Douglas, Clifford Hugh / (1924) / Social Credit Click through from section to section to read this interesting, influential and somewhat inscrutable book from 1924. It is another branch on the tree of economic thought. Douglas' theory includes annual "Social Dividend Payments of Money" to the public to increase their purchasing power. I personally find the theory hard to swallow. It had a great influence on the Canadian Government in the 1930's.
29. Douglas, Major Clifford Hugh / "Social Credit" / A classic
30. Hitler, Adolph / "Mein Kampf" / A classic
31. Paine, Tom / "Common Sense" / A classic
32. Paine, Tom on economics
    
33. Orwell, George / "1984" / A classic
    
34. Orwell, George / "Animal Farm" / A classic
35. Various Authors / Great, Classic Books on Economics and Politics / Full Text / <<http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/>> Find links to the full text of various books.
    
36. Wikipedia / 2008 / History of Money / You can't rely on Wikipedia as being authoritative -- so be sure not to swallow the information whole.
37. Wikipedia / 2008 / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson / President Jackson and his Opposition to an Elite National Bank
38. Smith, Adam / "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" / A classic
39. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques / "The Social Contract" / A classic
40. Petter, Andrew / "Federalism and the Myth of the Federal Spending Power" / A classic
41. Proudhon, Pierre Joseph / "What is Property?: An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government" / A classic
42. George, Henry / 1897 / Progress and Poverty / Progress and Poverty -- The entire book -- online. An important book on economics. It attempts to explain why poverty is virtually unknown in primitive societies but widespread wherever there is great wealth. George's logic is extremely powerful. Although everything he says may or may not be precisely accurate, it is difficult to find a flaw in his reasoning. This edition has been re-written in modern English. It is relatively easy to understand. Henry George might have been the third most well known man in the United States (behind Thomas Edison and Mark Twain)? / A classic
43. Simmons, Gene / current as of 10/15/08 -- See <<http://www.federalbudget.com/> ... it is about the Federal Budget: It has all sorts of good information about how our government spends money ...
44. Smith, Adam / A brief look at Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations". This is an important book on economics. The complete book is here -- http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/wealthofnations/mpintro.htm
45. Rothbard, Murray N. / 1983 / Banking, The Mystery of / A quite important book that is aligned with the Austrian School of economic thought. Download the book here. This writer, Martin R. Carbone, finds the book and the Austrian School wide but shallow: they cover lots of ground but often skip details. I find the arguments that (paraphrasing) "an increase in the money supply (their main concern?) will always lead to inflation" very unconvincing. If new money is introduced into the system in such a way as to increase true wealth, that new money should not lead to inflation. I don't think they allow for that possibility of "wealth creating" money. The book is dedicated to, among others, Thomas Jefferson. You can find various quotations from Jefferson here. Note that at 1.3 of these quotations, Jefferson writes "It would be best that our medium should be so proportioned to our produce". That statement seems to acknowledge that our money supply can be kept in balance with our "produce". That acknowledgment seems to be at odds with most of the Austrian school of thought.Austrian School of Economics: Exponents of the Austrian School hold that the only valid economic theory is logically derived from basic principles of human action. (from wikipedia)
46. Cook, Peter / Bank Deposit Money
47. Cox, Jim / Concise Guide To Economics (Introduction) /Chronology of Thought / Author / Classic Reference Books / Subject Matter / Schools of Thought
48. Credit Derivative / leads to a definition at Investopedia
49. Curran, John P. / President Kennedy tries to take control of the money supply
    
50. Definitions of money: 22 definitions from the web
51. Edison, Thomas and Ford, Henry on Government Bonds
52. Edison, Thomas and Ford, Henry / 1921 / Edison and Ford Would Simply Issue Currency: Would Use "Power" as a Money Unit.
53. Emry, Sheldon / Title "Billions for Bankers ... " Billions for bankers and debts for you (An indictment of the Federal Reserve System)
54. Federal Budget: A reduction of 33% in the federal budget is proposed. We think it sounds reasonable.
55. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis / 9/26/08 / Statistics on Real Estate Loans at All Commercial Banks -- This is related to the article by Higgs (scroll down) ...
56. Feinstein, Dianne U.S. Senator writes about economics 10/1/08
57. Glossaries:
    Glossary & Index from "Web Of Debt"
    Glossary of Economic Terms (a work in progress)
    Glossary of Economic Terms from about.com
    Glossary of Economic Terms from economist.com
    Glossary of Political Economy Terms / by Paul M. Johnson /
58. Gouge, William / 1833 / Money system: "On The Principles Of The Money System" -- William Gouge was an advisor to President Jackson / 1833 / A 93 page .pdf -- presented here to add historical perspective. This is a very dense and convoluted report -- practically impossible for an average person to understand. Note that it was written less than 50 years after the formation of the U.S.A. and is probably a good example of the less-than-clear understanding of the general understanding of "the principles of the money system" at that time (and perhaps today?).
59. Greenspan, Alan / 8/19/96 / Gold and Economic Freedom: He of great renown as the recent leader of the Federal Reserve System speaks his mind and we offer criticism.
60. Harburg, Yip (1931) Brother, can you spare a dime? / Sad memories (10/20/08)
61. Hazlitt, Henry / 1978 / "Economics in One Lesson" / a .pdf / 144 pages / has a good reading list on the last page of the book. / This book is worthwhile -- primarily because it covers a lot of ground in a relatively few pages.
62. Jefferson, President Thomas / Jefferson's prophecy
    
63. Jefferson, President Thomas / Jefferson quotations: -- From a collection at the University of Virginia.
64. Kaye, David / 9/19/08 / "The Federal Reserve has done remarkably well in managing the dollar these past 100 years, making it the second-most stable currency in the world. I think we will see in the coming months that the Fed will keep the American economic system from collapsing. Any other country in such similar straits would likely have collapsed into banana republic status by now.
65. Louis Kelso (1913 - 1991) and Adler, Mortimer (1902 - 2001) Binary Economics / The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) download at <<http://www.kelsoinstitute.org/>>
66. Krugman, Paul / Deficits and the Future / by Paul Krugman -- He discusses national budget deficits.
67. Krugman, Paul / Let's fix the system for good -- We don't need no stinkin patches / November 28, 2008 / Op-Ed Columnist / NY Times / He makes suggestions, we comment on those suggestions.
68. Kurland, Norman G. / A New Look at Prices and Money: The Kelsonian Binary Model for Achieving Rapid Growth Without Inflation
69. Laws:
    Banking: General Requirements to start a bank in California
    Banking: Detailed Summary of laws regarding the starting of a California bank.
    Constitution of the United States of America
    
70. Liebowitz, Stan J. / 10/3/08 / Title: Anatomy of a Train Wreck: Causes of the Mortgage Meltdown (a .pdf) / Government attack on underwriting standards ... Housing price bubble ... Speculators ... "Nasty sub-prime lenders" ...
71. Lincoln, President Abraham / 1865 / Lincoln's Monetary Policy ... He was a smart, courageous guy. It may have cost him his life.
72. Lowenstein, Roger / NY Times / 9/7/08 / Title: "Long-Term Captal:It's a Short-Term Memory" / Financial Models ... "Long-Term Capital Management" collapse of 1998 ... Bear Stearns ... Leverage ... Equity to assets ratio ... Hedge fund ... Risk ... Risk management ... Black-Scholes formula ... Option Pricing ... Random markets ... Liquidity ... Alan Greenspan ... "Too-big-to fail" ... Derivatives ... Derivative regulation ... Error by Greenspan ... Credit-default swap ... Esoteric securities ...
73. Norris, Floyd -- Hold on -- we are on a roller-coaster ride / Another Crisis, Another Guarantee
74. Paine, Tom / On Economics / "Paine grasped an essential truth underlying the science of political economy: 'Lands are the real riches of the habitable world, and the natural funds of America ... "
75. Paul, Ron speaks -- But he is not convincing -- 12/1/08
76. Paxton, Tom / (1931) What did you learn in school today? / Shame on us (10/20/08)
77. Paulson speaks -- On the 2007-2008 meltdown
78. Paulson again / Fighting the Financial Crisis, One Challenge at a Time / By HENRY M. PAULSON Jr. / Washington
79. Quotations: Quotations on Money subjects from prominent men (added 8/18/08)
80. Quotations: A quotation a week on and about money.
81. Reich, Robert B. / 2/13/08 / We are sliding into a Recession ... How to stop it
82. Rockwell, Llewellyn H. Jr. / 9/13/08 / The Social Imperative of Sound Money A justified attack on our system. Very well written.
83. Schumer, Senator Charles / Free Trade: Second thoughts on the subject.
84. Thayer, Prof. Frederick of George Washington University / 2008 / Money System Management: Debt reduction causes depressions ... an interesting analysis ... from a letter to the editor of the Christian Science Monitor.
85. United States Government / Constitution of the United States of America
86. Unknown Authors -- President Kennedy tried to take control of the money supply by issuing an Executive Order.
    
87. United States Government / Federal Banking Laws / FDIC and FRB law /This is a link to the actual current (early 2008)
88. Ben Gisin writes -- If you understand this, please let me know what his point is. (mrc)
89. Legacies of Great Economists / Audio courses / Course No. 528 (10 lectures, 45 minutes/lecture) / Taught by Timothy Taylor / Macalester College / M.Econ., Stanford University / http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/CourseDescLong2.aspx?cid=528
90. Barney Frank Unveils Internet Gambling Legislation / I am a modest gambler and a risk taker. I come from a family of gambler's and bookies on both sides of my family. I have played in the World Series of Poker. Got to the last table of seven card stud at Binion's in my first attempt. But as I age, I have come to believe that government sanctioned gambling is a bad thing for America. It simply reinforces the widely and reverentially held idea that it is worthwhile to make money without providing a product or service to the community. I think that idea of making money without doing anything for your community is at the bottom of almost all "investment banking" and is primarily why we are now having such money and banking problems. (mrc)

1. Acton, Lord / "The History of Freedom in Antiquity" / A classic <<http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/lordacton/freedominantiquity/mpintro.htm>>
2. Adler, Mortimer / Louis Kelso (1913 - 1991) and Mortimer Adler (1902 - 2001) Binary Economics / The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) download at <<http://www.kelsoinstitute.org/>>
3. Allen, Gary / 1971 / "None Dare Call It Conspiracy"/ by Gary Allen, 1971 / Mr. Allen, a good writer, was bitten by the conspiracy bug.
4. Anderson, Jenny and Bajaj, Vikas / 12/6/07 / Sub-Prime Mortgage Problem of 2007 / This is our analysis of an article in the NY Times -- "Wary of Risk, Bankers Sold Shaky Mortgage Debt"
5. Andrews, Edmund L. / 9/18/08 / A New Role for the Fed: Investor of Last Resort / from The New York Times
6. Andrews, Edmund L. / 3/16/04 / Greenspan Shifts View on Deficits in 2004 / NY Times
7. Bajaj, Vikas and Norris, Floyd / 12/13/07/ Credit Crisis of 2007/ The New York Times /
8. Baker, Alexander "Ace" / Origin of Money / Based on the Austrian School of thought. Focuses on using gold as money or as backing for money. Another good writer bitten by the conspiracy bug.
9. Bastiat, Claude Frederic / "The Law" / A classic
10. Brooks, David / 2008 / Economics: Five Current (2008) Economic Revolutions in the United States. From a NY Times article by a wise thinker and journalist.
11. Brown, Ellen / "Web Of Debt" -- The Introduction in her book. A level headed approach to the subject. She is a more-than-competent historian on the subject of debt and money.
12. Brown, Ellen / Articles -- http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/ Ellen Brown is a clear thinking writer. Read her articles and you are bound to learn something.
13. Brown, Ellen /10/8/08 / Who Owns The Federal Reserve? The Fed is privately owned. Its shareholders are private banks. Once again, Ellen Brown delivers a well written analysis -- this time of the FED.
14. Brown, Ellen / 10/25/08 / Death of the free market by the hand of the U.S. government.
15. Bush, George / 6/18/02 / His Greatest Speech? / Title: Remarks on National Homeownership Month / ... led to an unintended consequence ... (Terrorists) hate the idea that somebody can go buy a home ... We don't conquer people. We liberate people ... When somebody owns their own home, they're realizing the American Dream ... What we call a homeownership gap in America. Three-quarters of Anglos own their homes, and yet less than 50 percent of African Americans and Hispanics own homes. That ownership gap signals that something might be wrong in the land of plenty, and we need to do something about it. ... So I've set this goal for the country: We want 5.5 million more homeowners by 2010--million more minority homeowners by 2010.
16. California, The State of / Banking: General Requirements to start a bank in California
    
17. California, The State of / Banking: Detailed Summary of laws regarding the starting of a California bank.
18. Calmes, Jackie / 8/16/08 / Economics and the election of 2008 ... If Elected ...Rivals Differ (a Bit) on Financial Market Rules / Comments of this website in blue.
19. Carbone, Martin R. / 10/27/08 / Credit Default Swaps Explained / It is quite incredible.
20. Carbone, Martin R. / 9/23/08 / Title: Existing lending rules allow banks to negligently sell off shaky house loans / One root cause of money system meltdown ... The way the system should work ... Banks create new money ... Leverage built into the fractional reserve system ... Avoidance of risk should not be allowed ...
21. Carbone, Martin R. / 9/11/08 / Who runs our banking system? This is an important question.
22. Carbone, Martin R. / 9/11/08 / Title: Freddie and Fannie -- Two Patsies.
23. Carbone, Martin R. / 9/23/08 / Title: A study of money: Aimed at designing a plan of action to improve our money system. The study is based on (1) a set of conjectures and (2) conclusions based on those conjectures.
24. Carbone, Martin R. / 9/23/08 / Title: Plan A, A plan of action: Designed to provide for a better money system. It is based on the study referenced directly above.
25. Carbone, Martin R. / 9/23/08 / Title: A formula for a money system based on 10 required attributes of the nation. This was derived from the "study" and the plan directly above.
26. Carbone, Martin R. / Plan B to provide for a better money system / The plan is embodied in a "Report To Congress" ... (Also see Plan A above)
27. Carbone, Martin R. / 9/23/08 / Title: Money as a social contract: A short essay on the subject.
    
28. Carbone, Martin R. / 9/23/08 / Title: What limits the amount of money that can be put into an efficient monetary system?
29. Carbone, Martin R. / 9/23/08 / Title: Downside Leverage -- The stuff that should keep the Federal Reserve System in line -- by penalizing them when they make bad loans.
30. Carbone, Martin R. / Title: March Meltdown: The March, 2008 Financial, Housing and Money System Problem ... What is happening? ... What should be done? ...
31. Carbone, Martin R. / 2004 / Title: Theory of Economics -- A simple theory developed before I studied the subject earnestly (mrc)
32. Carbone, Martin R. Title: / The Evolution of Systems: A short theory that can be applied to Economics
33. Carbone, Martin R. / Title: Common Sense Economics: Commonomics , A work in progress.
34. Carbone, Martin R. / Title: The myth of problems caused by bank-runs / Bank Runs do not cause significant problems to our monetary system.
35. Carbone, Martin R. / Paper Money: Paper money comes in different forms
36. Carbone, Martin R. / A compilation of the above13 articles + 2 new articles (23 pages) on money and the money supply: / plus 10 pages of Thomas Jefferson quotations. (10/22/08)
37. Carbone, Martin R. / (10/23/08) What determines how much a given bank can lend to its borrower / customers. Is it the "reserve requirement" or the capital / asset ratio?
38. Carbone, Martin R. / (10/27/08) A 44 page .pdf with about 20 articles on money and the money supply.
39. Clinton, Hilary Rodham / 9/18/08 / Her views on the credit crisis ... in a letter to a private citizen/activist.
40. Cook, Peter / Bank Deposit Money
41. Cox, Jim / Concise Guide To Economics (Introduction) /Chronology of Thought / Author / Classic Reference Books / Subject Matter / Schools of Thought
42. Credit Default Swaps / a discussion at Investopedia
43. Credit Derivative / leads to a definition at Investopedia
44. Curran, John P. / President Kennedy tries to take control of the money supply
    
45. Davies, Glyn / History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day / Monetary history in context from the dawn of civilization to the beginning of the twenty first century. Very comprehensive.
46. Davies, Glyn / Origins of Money and of Banking: / What is Money? / Functions of Money / Causes of the Development of Money / Primitive Forms of Money / The Invention of Banking and Coinage / Greek Coinage / Money Exchange and Credit Transfer / The Royal Monopoly of Minting / Paper Money / Intangible Money / Noteworthy Points Regarding the Origins of Money
47. Definitions of money: 22 definitions from the web
48. Douglas, Clifford Hugh / (1924) / Social Credit Click through from section to section to read this interesting, influential and somewhat inscrutable book from 1924. It is another branch on the tree of economic thought. Douglas' theory includes annual "Social Dividend Payments of Money" to the public to increase their purchasing power. I personally find the theory hard to swallow. It had a great influence on the Canadian Government in the 1930's.
49. Douglas, Major Clifford Hugh / "Social Credit" / A classic
50. Edison, Thomas and Ford, Henry on Government Bonds
51. Edison, Thomas and Ford, Henry / 1921 / Edison and Ford Would Simply Issue Currency: Would Use "Power" as a Money Unit.
52. Emry, Sheldon / Title "Billions for Bankers ... " Billions for bankers and debts for you (An indictment of the Federal Reserve System)
53. Federal Budget: A reduction of 33% in the federal budget is proposed. We think it sounds reasonable.
54. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis / 9/26/08 / Statistics on Real Estate Loans at All Commercial Banks -- This is related to the article by Higgs (scroll down) ...
55. Feinstein, Dianne U.S. Senator writes about economics 10/1/08
56. George, Henry / 1897 / Progress and Poverty / Progress and Poverty -- The entire book -- online. An important book on economics. It attempts to explain why poverty is virtually unknown in primitive societies but widespread wherever there is great wealth. George's logic is extremely powerful. Although everything he says may or may not be precisely accurate, it is difficult to find a flaw in his reasoning. This edition has been re-written in modern English. It is relatively easy to understand. Henry George might have been the third most well known man in the United States (behind Thomas Edison and Mark Twain)? / A classic
57. Glossaries:
    Glossary & Index from "Web Of Debt"
    Glossary of Economic Terms (a work in progress)
    Glossary of Economic Terms from about.com
    Glossary of Economic Terms from economist.com
    Glossary of Political Economy Terms / by Paul M. Johnson /
58. Gouge, William / 1833 / Money system: "On The Principles Of The Money System" -- William Gouge was an advisor to President Jackson / 1833 / A 93 page .pdf -- presented here to add historical perspective. This is a very dense and convoluted report -- practically impossible for an average person to understand. Note that it was written less than 50 years after the formation of the U.S.A. and is probably a good example of the less-than-clear understanding of the general understanding of "the principles of the money system" at that time (and perhaps today?).
59. Greenspan, Alan / 8/19/96 / Gold and Economic Freedom: He of great renown as the recent leader of the Federal Reserve System speaks his mind and we offer criticism.
60. Harburg, Yip (1931) Brother, can you spare a dime? / Sad memories (10/20/08)
61. Higgs, Robert / 9/23/08 / Title: Credit Is Flowing, The sky is not falling -- Do not panic ... A good argument that our current "financial meltdown" is phony and in reality, it is a government grab for more power. / Atmosphere of fear ... fear-mongering ... Statistics on loans ... " If people panic and allow Congress to exploit the hyped-up fears of the moment, however, much worse outcomes may be brought about, not the least of which is another giant leap in the size, scope, and power of the federal government—a direct threat to our economy and our liberties.
62. Hitler, Adolph / "Mein Kampf" / A classic
63. Jefferson, President Thomas / Jefferson's prophecy
    
64. Jefferson, President Thomas / Jefferson quotations: -- From a collection at the University of Virginia.
65. Kaye, David / 9/19/08 / "The Federal Reserve has done remarkably well in managing the dollar these past 100 years, making it the second-most stable currency in the world. I think we will see in the coming months that the Fed will keep the American economic system from collapsing. Any other country in such similar straits would likely have collapsed into banana republic status by now.
66. Louis Kelso (1913 - 1991) and Adler, Mortimer (1902 - 2001) Binary Economics / The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) download at <<http://www.kelsoinstitute.org/>>
67. Krugman, Paul / NY Times / 9/22/08 / Title: Cash For Trash / Henry Paulson ... $700 billion ... Rescue plan ... Housing bubble ... Capital to debt ratio ... Mortgage-backed securities ... "Paradox of deleveraging" ... Savings and Loan crisis ... Fannie and Freddie ... Dictatorial authority ... "Don't be railroaded" ...
68. Krugman, Paul / Economic Inequality in the U.S.A.: From an article in the NY Times ... Is the Golden Age of middle class America over forever?
69. Krugman, Paul / Will Congress Rubber-Stamp Bush's plan to stop the financial meltdown of September 2008 -- or will they show some courage? Read what Paul Krugman suggests. He says it is time for careful thought.
70. K rugman, Paul / Deficits and the Future / by Paul Krugman -- He discusses national budget deficits 12/1/th
71. Krugman, Paul / Let's fix the system for good -- We don't need no stinkin patches / November 28, 2008 / Op-Ed Columnist / NY Times / He makes suggestions, we comment on htose suggestions.
72. Kurland, Norman G. / A New Look at Prices and Money: The Kelsonian Binary Model for Achieving Rapid Growth Without Inflation
73. Laws:
    Banking: General Requirements to start a bank in California
    Banking: Detailed Summary of laws regarding the starting of a California bank.
    Constitution of the United States of America
    Federal Banking Laws / FDIC and FRB law /This is a link to the actual current (early 2008)
    Money and finance laws -- the U.S. Code
74. Liebowitz, Stan J. / 10/3/08 / Title: Anatomy of a Train Wreck: Causes of the Mortgage Meltdown (a .pdf) / Government attack on underwriting standards ... Housing price bubble ... Speculators ... "Nasty sub-prime lenders" ...
75. Lincoln, President Abraham / 1865 / Lincoln's Monetary Policy ... He was a smart, courageous guy. It may have cost him his life.
76. Lowenstein, Roger / NY Times / 9/7/08 / Title: "Long-Term Captal:It's a Short-Term Memory" / Financial Models ... "Long-Term Capital Management" collapse of 1998 ... Bear Stearns ... Leverage ... Equity to assets ratio ... Hedge fund ... Risk ... Risk management ... Black-Scholes formula ... Option Pricing ... Random markets ... Liquidity ... Alan Greenspan ... "Too-big-to fail" ... Derivatives ... Derivative regulation ... Error by Greenspan ... Credit-default swap ... Esoteric securities ...
77. Marx & Engels / "The Communist Manifesto" / A classic
78. McElroy, Wendy / "Individualist Anarchism v. Communist Anarchism and Libertarianism" / A classic
79. Mitchell, Rodger Malcolm / Current as of 10/08 / "Free Money: A plan For Prosperity" / http://www.rodgermitchell.com/ ... This is from a very interesting website ... Mitchell has lots of ideas on money and related issues, such as the Federal Budget ... Offhand, it seems as though his ideas are, in general, worthwhile ...
80. NY Times -- articles on Derivatives -- the cause of the Meltdown? / http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/derivatives/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
81. Norris, Floyd -- Hold on -- we are on a roller-coaster ride / Another Crisis, Another Guarantee
82. Orwell, George / "1984" / A classic
    
83. Orwell, George / "Animal Farm" / A classic
84. Paine, Tom / On Economics / "Paine grasped an essential truth underlying the science of political economy: 'Lands are the real riches of the habitable world, and the natural funds of America ... "
85. Paine, Tom / "Common Sense" / A classic
86. Partnoy, Frank / NY Times / 9/2708 / Just Buy the Loans ... Bailout proposal stalled ... Overbroad definition ... Complex derivatives ... Directly purchasing actual mortgage loans ... Securitized loans ... Derivative bets ... Complex slicing and dicing ... Explanation makes no sense ... Congess should keep it simple ... Buy only mortgage loans, not derivatives.
87. Patman, Wright / August, 1964
    (a) Patman's "Money Facts -- 169 Questions and Answers on Money" -- A Supplement to "A Primer on Money" (see entry "c" below). This 30 page report explains in relatively plain English what the "Primer ... " is about. An average person should be able to understand this report. If you read only one of these reports -- this should be it. See annotated version -- (d) below
88. Patman, Wright / August, 1964
    (b) Patman's Speech to Congress by Wright Patman, introducing the "Primer on Money" This speech basically covers the same ground as the above-mentioned "Primer ...". It is easier to understand than the "Primer ...". It also has the advantage of being in .html.
89. Patman, Wright / August 5, 1964
    (c) Patman's "A Primer on Money" -- By Congressman Wright Patman / For the House Committee on Banking and Currency / a 141 page .pdf / A classic
90. Patman, Wright / August, 1964
    (d) Patman's ABCs of Money: an annotated version of (a) above.
91. Paul, Ron speaks -- But he is not convincing -- 12/1/08
92. Paxton, Tom / (1931) What did you learn in school today? / Shame on us (10/20/08)
93. Paulson speaks -- On the 2007-2008 meltdown
94. Paulson again / Fighting the Financial Crisis, One Challenge at a Time / By HENRY M. PAULSON Jr. / Washington
95. Petter, Andrew / "Federalism and the Myth of the Federal Spending Power" / A classic
96. Proudhon, Pierre Joseph / "What is Property?: An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government" / A classic
97. Quotations: Quotations on Money subjects from prominent men (added 8/18/08)
98. Quotations: A quotation a week on and about money.
99. Reich, Robert B. / 2/13/08 / We are sliding into a Recession ... How to stop it / also by Reich ... both from the NY Times
100. Rockwell, Llewellyn H. Jr. / 9/13/08 / The Social Imperative of Sound Money A justified attack on our system. Very well written.
101. Rothbard, Murray N. / 1983 / Banking, The Mystery of / A quite important book that is aligned with the Austrian School of economic thought. Download the book here. This writer, Martin R. Carbone, finds the book and the Austrian School wide but shallow: they cover lots of ground but often skip details. I find the arguments that (paraphrasing) "an increase in the money supply (their main concern?) will always lead to inflation" very unconvincing. If new money is introduced into the system in such a way as to increase true wealth, that new money should not lead to inflation. I don't think they allow for that possibility of "wealth creating" money. The book is dedicated to, among others, Thomas Jefferson. You can find various quotations from Jefferson here. Note that at 1.3 of these quotations, Jefferson writes "It would be best that our medium should be so proportioned to our produce". That statement seems to acknowledge that our money supply can be kept in balance with our "produce". That acknowledgment seems to be at odds with most of the Austrian school of thought.Austrian School of Economics: Exponents of the Austrian School hold that the only valid economic theory is logically derived from basic principles of human action. (from wikipedia)
102. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques / "The Social Contract" / A classic
103. Schumer, Senator Charles / Free Trade: Second thoughts on the subject.
104. Simmons, Gene / current as of 10/08 / See <<http://www.federalbudget.com/> ... it is about the Federal Budget: It has all sorts of good information about how our government spends money ...
105. Smith, Adam / A brief look at Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations". This is an important book on economics. The complete book is here -- http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/wealthofnations/mpintro.htm
106. Smith, Adam / "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" / A classic
107. Soddy, Frederick / 1926 / Nobel prizewinner in Chemistry and author of "Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt". Its subtitle - 'The Solution to the Economic Paradox'. Another theory, another book and another branch on the tree of economic theory. This is a 1988 article about Soddy and his "Doctrine of Virtual Wealth" by J. MARTIN HATTERSLEY. <<http://nesara.org/articles/soddy88.htm>>
108. Thayer, Prof. Frederick of George Washington University / 2008 / Money System Management: Debt reduction causes depressions ... an interesting analysis ... from a letter to the editor of the Christian Science Monitor.
109. United States Government / Constitution of the United States of America
     
110. United States Government / Federal Banking Laws / FDIC and FRB law /This is a link to the actual current (early 2008)
     
111. United States Government / The coinage act -- The actual law establishing rules for the coining of money. (added 8/19/08)
112. Unknown Author / Economics: Another view of Economics / Beware of this hodge-podge ... we are putting it on our website as a curiousity ...
113. Unknown Authors -- President Kennedy tried to take control of the money supply by issuing an Executive Order????
114. Various Authors / Great, Classic Books on Economics and Politics / Full Text / <<http://www.mondopolitico.com/library/>> Find links to the full text of various books.
     
115. Wikipedia / 2008 / History of Money / You can't rely on Wikipedia as being authoritative -- so be sure not to swallow the information whole.
116. Wikipedia / 2008 / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson / President Jackson and his Opposition to an Elite National Bank
117. Zarlenga, Stephen / 2002 / American Monetary Institute / U.S. Constitution:
     Drafting the Constitution / (c) 2002, Also titled History of Money in the United States: A well written presentation that explains the evolution of money at the start of the U.S. The explanation of how paper money worked then (and still does) is unique, easily understood and logical. Contains this important observation, "But why did the framers of a document (The Constitution), so far advanced in its day regarding the balance between legislative, judicial and executive power, not realize that the monetary power if left unchecked, could endanger and ultimately overwhelm the whole edifice?". From The Lost Science of Money by Stephen Zarlenga. Unfortunately Zarlenga seem to have been bitten by the conspiracy bug before he penned his "Act" -- see below.
     
118. Zarlenga, Stephen / 2/21/06 / The American Monetary Act / © 2006, VERSION 10, / American Monetary Institute (AMI) , P.O. Box 601, Valatie, NY 12184 / <<ami@taconic.net>> This is a blustery Act which the AMI plans to try to have enacted by Congress. Their 10th version of the Act is in black type -- our comments are in blue. It needs help.
     
     
     

1. Food Costs: Food costs around the world in 2007.
   
2. Lectures: Lectures you can buy on "Legacies of The Great Economists"
   
3. Money proverbs from 1857 -- 12/1/08
4. "What the hell is an Economist?" 12/1/08 / “/ by James Raider, in the NY Times / He thoughtfully discusses economists and the problems trying to follow their thinking. Worth reading. ABSTRACT: "Staggering egos ... rooted in analytical methods far from the disturbing notion of public discourse and sensibilities ... readily capable of pontification ... interminably scrutinize the minutiae of fractions ... macroeconomically dissecting our lives ... creating hypotheses felicitous of one theory, or another ... all struggle to be heard in one way or another ... a few get lucky ... they either specialize, or they really don’t know anything, and become really, really dangerous ... they deal with yesterday ... as to what will occur tomorrow, or even later today, our seers are particularly inept ... they have perceptibly limited understanding of the nature that is human ... Nowhere can we find morality in their computational gyrations ... human nature is not in their catalogue of, 'Things I’m An Expert In.' "
   

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