#45. Ellen Brown and Walt McCree: Could public banks create money without cost after the Covid economic crisis has waned?

#45. May 4, 2020.  Ellen Brown, a public banking expert, author and founder of the Public Banking Institute, joins Walt McCree of the Public Bank Associates today (May 4, 2020) to discuss their ideas of what role a renewed Bank of Canada and public banks (like ATB Financial in Alberta) might play in creating interest-free money, ensuring a Universal Basic Income and slowly extinguishing mountains of unrepayable debt of governments and households. In last 11 minutes of this program I discuss the historical role of the Bank of Canada that prior to 1974 created interest-free debt money for the federal and provincial government. Today that mountain of debt exceeds $1.4 trillion for both provincial and federal governments with interest charges consuming large portions of government operating budgets. Could the Covid-19 crisis and the economic emergency Canada finds itself in be a catalyst for restoring the original mandate of the Bank of Canada along with the mandate of provincial (or state) public banks like Alberta Treasury Branches to create the necessary money to cover government operating deficits and reduce the burden of hidden interest charges in the costs of living (including taxes) of Canadian households? The cost savings to Canadian households of eliminating interest charges on public debt sold to private markets would be tremendous, effectively reducing the number of hours we currently have to work to pay for these interest charges. Could the creation of money by a renewed public central bank become a public utility without the unnecessary cost of interest charges? I believe so. Consider, for example, that for every $1.00 of the average American household income, roughly $0.45 is currently going to pay for hidden interest charges in all goods, services and government programs (taxers) that are associated with over $73 trillion in outstanding government, household, and business debts. This total debt continues to growth doubling roughly 7-8 years through the power of compound interest.