#23. Ellen Brown banking on the people, democratizing money

#23. June 23, 2019.  Ellen Brown is the founder of the Public Banking Institute,  a Fellow at The Democracy Collaborative, and the author of a dozen books and hundreds of articles.  She developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles.  In the best-selling Web of Debt (2007, 2012), she turned those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and “the money trust,” showing how this private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves and how we the people can get it back. In The Public Bank Solution (2013) she traces the evolution of two banking models that have competed historically, public and private; and explores contemporary public banking systems globally.  Today most of our money is created, not by governments, but by banks when they make loans. Her new book Banking on the People published June 1, 2019 takes the reader step by step through the sausage factory of modern money creation, explores improvements made possible by advances in digital technology, and proposes upgrades that could transform our outmoded nineteenth century system into one that is democratic, sustainable, and serves the needs of the twenty-first century. Ellen joins me today from her home in Los Angeles to talk about the important role of public banking and explores why Alberta has such an important competitive advantage with North America’s largest public bank, the Alberta Treasury branch which was founded in 1938 by Alberta’s Social Credit government.