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How the Wounding of a Vet Who Dared to Dissent Has Stirred More Dissent
“We Are All Scott Olsen!” was the message of vigils held across the United States Thursday night, held in answer to a call from Iraq Veterans Against the War and Occupy Oakland for “occupations across America and around the world to hold solidarity vigils” recognizing Olsen, the former Marine and Iraq War veteran who activists say “sustained a skull fracture after being shot in the head on October 25 with a police projectile while peacefully participating in an Occupy Oakland protest.
In cities across the United States and around the world, "We Are Scott Olsen" vigils, rallies and marches were held. Thousands attended a candlelight vigil in Oakland. In Las Vegas, an image of Olsen was projected at the site of the Occupy encampment. In New York, Occupy Wall Street activist took to the streets chanting "New York is Oakland, Oakland is New York." As far away as London, images of Olsen were displayed at gatherings. The buzz about the wounding of the 24-year-old veteran seemed to be everywhere, and was perhaps best summed up by a message from an activist who had protested at Wisconsin's state Capitol with Olsen in February. It read: "He could be any one of us."
The Washington-insider website Politico speculated about whether the wounding of Olsen would be the Occupy movement's "Kent State moment," a reference to the 1970 killing of four students at an anti-war demonstration in Ohio. No one was killed in Oakland, and Olsen is now expected to recover, although he remains hospilized and is unable to speak. But the images of the young former Marine, standing peacefully in the frontlines of the protest in Oakland -- next to a Navy vet holding a "Veterans for Peace" flag -- and the images from just moments later of Olsen lying on the ground wounded as medics rush to his aid have both shocked and energized activists, in much the same way that violent responses to civil rights and anti-war demonstrations in the 1960s did -- and in much the way that official violence against anti-WTO activists in Seattle in 1999 shifted sentiment in favor of the protests.
photo: Timmy Caldwell
In Oakland, anger over the incident and the brutal crackdown on the demonstation has led to a call for a November 2 city-wide general strike.
The intensity of the response reflects the horror and anger at the wounding of Olsen, a native of the small town of Onalaska, Wisconsin, who after graduating high school in 2005 joined the US Marines and swore an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”
After Scott Olsen swore that oath, he served two tours of duty in Iraq before being discharged in 2010.
Olsen survived Iraq. But he was seriously wounded Tuesday when he joined an Oakland, California, protest against the removal of the Occupy Wall Street–inspired encampment in that Bay Area city. The clashes between activists and the Oakland Police turned violent late Tuesday, during what the San Francisco Chronicle described as “a protracted street confrontation between protesters and police officers, who set off tear gas and used shotguns to fire projectiles designed to inflict pain but not kill.”
The precise number of injuries is unclear. But Oakland’s Highland Hospital confirmed Thursday that Olsen, 24, was in fair condition with a skull fracture. Family members reported that his condition was improving, after having been unconscious for 12 hours following the Tuesday night incident..
Olsen, who went to work after leaving the Marines as a system administrator for a software firm, had joined the Oakland protests with fellow members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, an advocacy group that has long sought to draw attention to issues of homelessness and unemployment among Americans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Keith Shannon, who deployed with Olsen to Iraq, “Scott was marching with the 99 percent because he felt corporations and banks had too much control over our government, and that they weren’t being held accountable for their role in the economic downturn, which caused so many people to lose their jobs and their homes.”
IVAW’s reports from the scene—along with agonizing video footage that features cries of “medic!”— confirm that Olsen “sustained a skull fracture after being shot in the head with a police projectile while peacefully participating in an Occupy Oakland march.”
The video footage appears to show Olsen lying wounded when a police officer is seen throwing what looks to be a tear gas canister at protesters who are trying to help the former Marine.
That’s got Olsen’s uncle, George Nygaard, a Marine who served in Vietnam, unsettled and upset.
“It’s just so damn ironic,” says Nygaard, who like most of Olsen’s family still lives in rural Wisconsin. “To do two tours over there and not a scratch. All of a sudden he comes back here and a damn cop hits him with a projectile. It’s crap.”
That’s a common sentiment.
“It’s absolutely unconscionable that our citizens are going overseas to protect other citizens just to come back and have our own police hurt them,” Joshua Shepherd, a six-year Navy veteran and friend of Olsen’s, told reporters.
Iraq Veterans Against the War demanded that Oakland Mayor Jean Quan investigate the incident and allow peaceful protests to continue, and Quan did go to Olsen's hospital room Thursday, She has reportedly ordered an inquiry.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Nationa; Lawyers' Guild are pressing for police transparency. In particular, the groups have asked the Oakland Police Department "to immediately produce records about the use of force in responding to the early morning raid of the Occupy Oakland encampment and the evening demonstration."
Beyond the specific questions regarding the actions of the police, there is a broader debate about the official response to peaceful protests in a country where the Constitution guarantees a right to assemble, and to petition for the redress of grievances.
Iraq Veterans Against the War featured a statement on its website Wednesday night that read: “It’s ironic that days after Obama’s announcement of the end of the Iraq War, Scott faced a veritable war zone in the streets of Oakland last night. He and other protesters were surrounded by explosions and smoke (tear gas) going off around him as people nearby carried him injured while yelling for a medic. This disturbing video of the incident shows how veterans are now fighting a war at home.”
In fact, it’s not so ironic. Returning veterans who have sought to exercise their rights at home have, at many points in American history, been the victims of violence—especially when they have made demands of Wall Street. When a “Bonus Army” consisting of thousands of World War I veterans camped near the Capitol in Washington, DC, in the summer of 1932—demanding payment of bonuses they had been promised for their service, and that they needed to survive in those Depression Days—they were attacked first by the police and then by the US Army,
Two veterans were killed. One of them, Eric Carlson, was from Oakland, California.
The revulsion at the attacks on the veterans in 1932 would eventually lead to a decision by the Congress of $2 billion to pay immediate bonuses to the World War I veterans.
Retired Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, a two-time recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, joined the Bonus Army at its encampment and supported its demands. Bulter is today remembered for his epic denunciation of the military-industrial complex:
I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
But after the attack on the Bonus Army, he issued an even blunter declaration, announcing in 1933 that: “I believe in…taking Wall St. by the throat and shaking it up.”
Today’s Occupy Wall Street protests are, perhaps, less aggressive than those that came before. But the veterans who join today’s protests are being met with the same violence—and disrespect—that the Bonus Army experienced.
“I think it is a sad state of affairs when a Marine can’t assemble peacefully in the streets without getting injured,” says Jose Sanchez, the executive director of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Major General Smedley Butler would surely agree.
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50 Comments so far
Show All"Today’s Occupy Wall Street protests are, perhaps, less aggressive than those that came before."
Don't count on it staying that way. The "new and improved" tactics and subtrefuges of the oppressors do not equate to less aggression, as you'll find out quickly enough as soon as any increases in the threat levels are perceived over the longer term.
Warnings from insightful people like Butler, and even from past presidents like Dwight Eisenhower, have a long history of being ignored by everyone EXCEPT the "elite" establishment whose fear of revelation and opposition is augmented on each occasion. They have not been idle in devising countermeasures and, unlike some of their opponents, they are certainly not bound by any Gandhi-like constraints.
RV, you are exactly right.
Unfortunately, many do not understand the opposition --- and even what it must be called to successfully (and non-violently) confront it.
The following excellent article in WSWS by Bill Van Auken does the best job I have seen in "connecting the dots" and showing that there IS a national coordinated "chain of orders" to crack down and crack heads of the brave Occupy protestors by the ****ing global Empire and the ****ing shills, like Barack 'assassination czar' Obama in using the violent police-state forces of para-military and mercenary thugs in trying to break down this Occupy threat to the disguised EMPIRE.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/oct2011/wall-o28.shtml
As I have said repeatedly, Occupy is not facing merely a government which has exceeded its powers, but is still a 'government'.
The Occupy movement, whether it knows it or not, has started something that is threatening the disguised, violent, "Vichy" global EMPIRE that controls the carcass of our former country and several governments through-out the world.
This is not a confrontation with an aberrant, or even abusive, government --- but it is confronting the global Empire.
Most brave Occupiers may not understand this confrontation, but the global Empire sure as hell understands --- and it is playing hard-ball, whereas many in Occupy, and many web-sites like OEN, Nation, and others who think the Occupy movement is not facing a real Empire, don't have any idea how serious this coming Insurrection is "Against Empire".
This confrontation is not just against some bad politicians, and greedy Wall Streeters in nice suits, nor any other assortment of bad corporations, banks, etc. etc.
It's a confrontation "Against Empire" --- a global Empire that makes their polite and polished shills, hangers-on, greedy boys, and mouthpieces look like choir-boys.
This is a down and dirty confrontation with a disguised global Empire that will "do anything to win", and yet most, like Rob at OEN and John at the Nation, and many posters here at CD, fail to see it as such a serious/deadly battle, and don't think it necessary to call it a confrontation with 'Empire' --- and don't, for some strange reason, want to allow the endangered young, brave Occupiers to overtly use and "out" the Empire by calling it an Empire.
Unfortunately, the ONLY way to confront Empire without getting killed by Empire is to loudly, repeatedly, publicly, and overtly call it out as precisely the EMPIRE that it is and thus engender all the vast majority of the public citizens, the full 99%, to actively support the confrontation with EMPIRE, because the vast majority of Americans of all stripes hate EMPIRE and will join the fight only when they understand that the common foe is EMPIRE!
Have I said EMPIRE enough times? Don't want to be a pain. But any who do not yet understand that this confrontation of Occupy has to be overtly "Against Empire", articulate that they are Occupying Empire, and confront violent Empire non-violently is a danger to the brave young people who are in Empire's line of fire.
People who don't think that Empire is the issue, and that don't think that we have to shout out that this is a confrontation against a very violent and deadly Empire, are like a platoon leader in WWII fighting the Nazi Empire who say's, "don't worry guys, its just another civilian army like ours, they'll fight fair, so don't worry about poking your head up, because they're not an evil Empire and they'll respect non-violence."
This is not a fair fight. The opposition is not just a bunch of Wall Street crooks in suits. This is a confrontation with EMPIRE. And the only way to win this non-violently, and not to get blow away by the violent EMPIRE, is to call it an EMPIRE and get all the people/troops on the side of the 99%.
Thinking it is just a polite confrontation with oligarchy (whatever the f... that is) or Wall Street greed, or plutocracy (whatever the f ... that is), is only going to get alot of Occupiers crushed (literally) -------- AND also it's not going to work unless you identify and gather massive support by calling the opposition by it's real name, EMPIRE.
The Best advice I can give.
Best luck and love to Occupy,
Alan MacDonald
Liberty, democracy, and the "Multitude"
over
violent/Vichy
empire
"Occupy the Empire"
Yes, Occupy The Empire. I think people are catching on to this. I remember reading Parenti's "Against Empire" back in 1997. But it really isnt a secret since the neocons were joyfully - almost orgasmically - proclaiming that the US was an Empire not long after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Especially the incredibly egregious Bill Kristol
The US would have become as fascist as Germany, Italy and Spain in 1935 if General Smedley Butler hadn't foiled the plans of American fascists (including Henry Ford and Dubya's grandpa Prescott Bush) to assassinate FDR.
American fascism went underground after that and didn't become overt until Ronny Raygun moved in to the White House in 1981.
Ray, you obviously didn't live through the 50s. American fascism was alive a well when I was a child and a teen, during the "McCarthy era". As a gay boy having to avoid being put in a mental institution or worse, I can testify to that. FDR did die, and the fascists lost no time in taking over our government.
Actually, I think reference to the "Nazi Empire" is somewhat misguided. The real Empire for the past few hundred years has been extra-national. In some ways, states have been the pawns of the global financial elites pulling the strings behind the curtains.
Anthony Sutton wrote, "General Motors, Ford, General Electric, DuPont," and other "U.S. companies intimately involved with the development of Nazi Germany were ... controlled by the Wall Street elite," such as "the J.P. Morgan firm, the Rockefeller Chase Bank and to a lesser extent the Warburg Manhattan bank." Another major financier was Brown Brothers Harriman and Union Banking Corp. whose director was Prescott Bush (grandfather of G.W. Bush).
The "Caesars of Capital" stoked German Fascism in order to create yet another horrific war and thus extract a few billion dollars more from the poor schmucks of the world like us.
One more comment about fascism: Fascism is not just military dictatorship. It's not just the merging of State and Capital. Fascism is a MASS MOVEMENT that is orchestrated to imbue populations with with the internalized values of the State. Capitalists understand perfectly that in order to carry out their agenda, they need the willing participation of the working class. They know that a working class mobilized against the interests of the ruling class can shut down Capitalism, so they need a systematic program of propaganda, mind-control and psychological warfare in order to keep the train on the tracks.
To a large extent, the fascist program in the U. S. has been successful. Rightwing Christianity and rightwing media have played a huge role in bringing masses of people onboard with "U. S. Exceptionalism" (i.e. supremacy). HOWEVER, and it's a big HOWEVER, there is a history of political and cultural movements and tendencies within the belly of the beast that have, thankfully, provided serious braking action to counter the fascist march forward. The Occupy movement seems to me to be the latest "eruption" of CONSCIOUSNESS that is the indispensable foundation of all true liberation movements.
Occupy Wall Street is not just a protest; it's a liberation movement: perhaps the beginning of history's final war of liberation from the tyranny of Capital. A person can dream.
Alan, you should attend a few General Assemblies. You will discover that this movement is the best educated, most committed gathering of americans ever. We know very well what we are confronting. We also know that non violence is the ONLY way we can win. We veterans who are involved in this movement, Iraq Veterans Against War, Veterans For Peace, and others [even active duty military people] were trained in a very different kind of confrontation, training which we must and we will set aside for a far greater purpose. OWS in New York got a visit this week - from the activists who formulated and encouraged the Tahrir Square demonstration in Cairo. I saw an interview with Amy Goodman talking to this young woman, Ahwas Mafouz, perhaps the bravest young woman I have ever seen. I have seen posts on Occupy websites from Ireland, Spain, Egypt, Tunisia, Phillipines, etc, etc. It is a movement that is world wide. The corporate bosses should not have been so happy to create a 'global economy'. They are now seeing its outcome, as this revolution spreads across the globe - leaderless, except that every one of us, individually is his/her own leader. We know what we face, we know what is coming, we know we have no choice.
A. Michael Colfer, PhD
Veterans for Peace
Chapter 111
Bellingham, WA
Thanks much for your confirmation that the actual Occupy GA and folks know that Empire is an issue and that to confront it they must use non-violence.
I am also sure that folks like Asmaa Mahfouz from Egypt know that they are confronting Empire, including their own elite leaders, who are the pawns of the US centered HQ of the Empire. After all, it is the folks in the territories, like her, that get the "tip of the empire's spear in their face".
However, I am still concerned that many in the left progressive media are obstinate in their opposition to calling an empire, an empire.
As you know, all true Americans are against empire, since our original American Revolution was against an empire -- the British Empire.
Thanks for your, and all Veterans for Peace support of Occupy.
Best,
Alan
PS. In going to Occupy Maine (Portland) and Occupy Boston several times, talking with folks, and participating in 'teach-ins', I have been pleased with the informed and willingness of the actual Occupiers to understand the importance of recognizing empire as an important part of this whole movement.
"Thanks much for your confirmation that the actual Occupy GA and folks know that Empire is an issue and that to confront it they must use non-violence."
Alan,
Where is this confirmation?
Thomas Gilbert-
P.S. Perhaps you could reply to Cathy
Your theory about an empire being behind the ills of the world would get more traction if you would be more specific and give some evidence. What is this empire? Who are or is its leader(s)?
You cite an article that you claim “connects the dots” and shows there is a national “chain of orders” to crack down and crack heads of Occupy protesters. But the article does nothing of the kind. Here is the most specific text on a “chain of command” ordering the crackdowns.
“In most of the cities carrying out the repression, local governments are controlled by the Democratic Party, which is pursuing a two-track strategy in relation to the anti-Wall Street protests. On the one hand, it is using the trade unions and various middle class groups to try to co-opt the largely spontaneous movement and turn it into a vehicle for the Obama 2012 re-election campaign. On the other hand are the billy clubs, tear gas, pepper spray and the kind of police violence that nearly killed Scott Olsen in Oakland. Underneath it all, the Democrats, just like their Republican counterparts, are deeply hostile to this movement, which they see as cutting across their own intimate relations with Wall Street.”
Of course, NYC’s mayor is Republican Bloomberg. And to say the second track of the Democratic Party’s strategy are the billy clubs, tear gas, police violence, etc. is ridiculous and not credible. The Democratic Party doesn’t have the ability to direct that such a policy be implemented. The Democratic Party told Mayor Bloomberg, the NYPD and Tony Baloney to do their worst? Nonsense.
More:
“The Obama administration is implicitly backing the arrests, and Obama has said nothing about the violence. On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about the violence in Oakland. He responded by blaming the protesters, saying, “As to the violence, we obviously believe and insist that everyone behave in a lawful manner, even as they’re expressing, justifiably, their frustrations.” “
“Diane Feinstein questioned the purpose of the protests, saying that there were “all kind of agendas going on” and that it was “hard to figure out what people want.”
“Undoubtedly a major impediment to Feinstein being able to figure out what the demonstrators want is her status as one of the 10 richest people on Capitol Hill, with a personal fortune conservatively estimated at over $50 million and an investment banker husband.”
Does this suggest the workings of an imperially-directed force? Or does it suggest the actions and ideas of a coterie or class of people who have the same outlook, preoccupations, drives and tendencies – all oligarchic, anti-democratic, self-involved, greedy, etc. etc. DiFi is not claimed to be the operative of an evil empire but just a rich person.
I haven’t seen or heard any credible evidence that the police and city administration reaction to Occupy is any different from historic incidences of police violence against anti-draft rioters during the Civil War, against labor demonstrations during the Depression, against civil rights and anti-war marchers in the 60s, or against demonstrators in Grant Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. The antipathy of large, powerful governments like that of the US to large citizen protests against gov’t policy is more than enough to explain what we’re seeing. No need to have recourse to some hidden hand of Empire operating in disguise.
a good laugh from your referenced wsws.com article:
"In Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued a statement declaring that the occupation outside City Hall 'cannot continue indefinitely', claiming concern for the lawn."
lawn order.
I remember seeing some MSM news footage from another Veteran for Peace member, stating that VFP would be at EVERY Occupy site from now on, to protect and defend the protestors FROM the Police. He was quoted as saying "The cops are trained to shoot to wound. We weren't."
I think the cops in Oakland, following orders from the ELite, have touched off the very insurrection the Elite have feared for so long.
Now comes the waiting game. Do the LRADs (Long Range Acoustic Device), MADS (Microwave Area Denial System), Israeli tested Laser blinders, and other large scale 'less lethal' crowd control measures come out more often? Do the Halliburton/KBR built 'detention facilities' start to show their true draconian potential?
I have a bad feeling that 2012 is going to be a VERY interesting year.
It's going to be a very delicate balancing act for agents of the "elite" establishment. Successful suppression of their opponents without acting in ways that actually give greater impetus and attraction to that opposition is a bit of a conundrum. Quite like dilemmas attending the onging "war on terror" involving the same interests elsewhere in many ways.
"I think the cops in Oakland, following orders from the ELite, have touched off the very insurrection the Elite have feared for so long."
___________________________________________________________
Yes, my first reaction was, "Now theyve done it." If...if they lose the loyalty of the armed forces it's over for them. All those people who line up on the wrong side of this event, and OWS in general - I'm just waiting for Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck to start vilifying Scott Olsen - are going to be sorry they did. In many ways, this is a major turning point in American history. So, let's turn their game against them and proclaim, especially to the mainstream media: "Either you're with us, or you're with the financial terrorists who are robbing and destroying this country and the world." Put em on the spot and remind them: We wont forget where you stood.
_______________________________________________________
I say this because the vicious vilification of OWS by the MSM and most of all, by the Rightwing Propaganda Machine, is really pissing me off.
VFP at every Occupy site. Good. Get the word out: "attention veterans. Marine down, in Oakland. Fellow American down, in Oakland. Felled by soldier-of-empire. Respond accordingly". Maybe OUR "General Butler" will show up at one of the general assemblies. He will be OUR "General Washington".
It is true, Galenwainwright, that we were not trained to wound. It may be difficult to overcome that attitude, but overcoming it we are. We will remain non-violent. I share your concerns about what will be used against us, and I share your suspicion that 2012 will be a very 'interesting' year. There are several videos taken during the Oakland police riot that have already become iconic. One, of course, is of Scott Olson being carried off the field, bleeding from the head, unable to talk or focus. The other is of Josh from San Francisco standing in the clouds of tear gas, in full Navy uniform, waving a Veterans for Peace flag and holding up a copy of the Constitution, while a few feet away a young woman is sitting cross legged , her hands in meditative position, but occasionally crossing herself in prayer. The image brought me to tears. The cops [from several districts] may have ignited something bigger than their pissant minds can comprehend.
The fact the same issues were occurring in 1933 with an entirely different set of players in Congress and in the Office of the President of the United States should amply demonstrate this is a problem with the political and economic system.
Why was General Butler so upset at Wall Street?
Read his writings. It was because the people who owned wall Street were profiting off wars and were dictating policy to the Government of the day. It was because these people used their wealth and power to influence the Political decision making process . It was because compared to that accumulated Capital of the Capitalists the voice of the people was as nothing.
Many of those same Corporations and banks exist today with the "Full rights of Citizens" and are profiting off wars today and are demanding that their bought and owned representatives in Government slash social program spending and enact policies that shift even more wealth to Wall street.
This is a systems problem. Corrupt Politicians will happen in any system that puts the desire for profits above the needs of the people. Corrupt Politicians will occur in any system that sees the entire Earth as a commodity that can be bought and sold so as to enrich and empower a tiny few. They will occur in any system that claims that the competition for the resources of the world, wherein an ever greater share of the same is claimed to be owned by the few, is a GOOD thing when it in fact the very opposite.
The ownership society, wherein individuals can claim to own the very land we need to raise food on, the water we drink and even the Genetic material that makes up the stuff of life itself is the root of the problem and not whether the office of the President or Prime Minister or Dictator for life is occupied by a Liberal or a Conservative, a Republican or a Democrat a man or a woman.
Great post .
Certainly the US system of governing is flawed but the real root of today's myriad problems are found in three decades of Americans being duped by and voting for both Republican and conserva-Dems. The supply-side drivel of Reagan and the moralising BS of the christian right have been swallowed hook,line&sincker by a broad swath of Americans.
I must confess to being ashamed of my generation for handing this horror show to our children and grandchildren. We were supposed to be the enlightened generation but we have allowed our legacy of freedom to be trashed while we slept.
Yes, and at the root of it is the monetary system. In many ways, the history of this country has been the history of the banksters trying to take over the country. and they succeeded. We, the people, have the right to create our own non-debt currency and cut the bankers right out of the money creation game. Ellen Brown's book Web of Debt - featured in the documentary The Secret of Oz - shows possible solutions. I hope people on CD are beginning to realize that monetary reform is a progressive issue with progressive solutions.
From “The Web of Debt” by Ellen Brown:
“Our money system is not what we have been led to believe. The creation of money has been "privatized," or taken over by private money lenders. Thomas Jefferson called them “bold and bankrupt adventurers just pretending to have money.” Except for coins, all of our money is now created as loans advanced by private banking institutions — including the privately-owned Federal Reserve. Banks create the principal but not the interest to service their loans. To find the interest, new loans must continually be taken out, expanding the money supply, inflating prices — and robbing you of the value of your money.”
This description is astonishingly out of date. For much of the 19th century, yes, our money system was largely private. Individual banks issued notes of varying reliability, with limited geographic acceptance. And the national and international monetary system was based on gold, an entirely private and stateless standard. But this description hasn’t been true for almost a century. And in recent decades the picture has changed dramatically.
When the US went off the gold standard in 1971, the rules of the game of monetary policy were profoundly altered. No longer tied to a tangible hoard of gold bars in Fort Knox and elsewhere, dollars lost any material existence and became nothing more than numbers on a spreadsheet controlled by the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury. (These new understandings and more have been developed by Modern Monetary Theory [MMT]. A solid grounding in MMT may be gained by going to http://moslereconomics.com/)
Here is how Ellen Brown describes herself on her blog:
Ellen Brown developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles. In Web of Debt, her latest book, she turns those skills to an analysis of the Federal Reserve and “the money trust.”
Here is how economist James Galbraith describes Warren Mosler:
“Warren Mosler is a rare bird: a self-taught economist
who is not a crank; a successful investor who is not a blowhard;
a businessperson with a talent for teaching; a financier with a
true commitment to the public good.”
Warren Mosler offers a free download of his book, “The Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds”. Ellen Brown does not; you have to purchase her book to read it.
James Galbraith (son of John Kenneth Galbraith and a distinguished economist in his own right) explains how monetary policy is made like this: "When government spends or lends, it does so by adding numbers to private bank accounts. When it taxes, it marks those same accounts down. When it borrows, it shifts funds from a demand deposit (called a reserve account [in effect a checking account]) to [a kind of savings account] (called a securities account). And that for practical purposes is all there is. The money government spends doesn't come from anywhere and it doesn't cost anything to produce. The government therefore cannot run out.
“Money is created by government spending [which transfers funds to private checking accounts, say to the account of a highway contractor working for the government on a federal road project] (or by bank loans, which create deposits [in the accounts of the banks receiving the loans]). . . .
“A government borrowing in its own currency need never default on its debts; paying them is simply a matter of adding the interest [on the loans] to the bank accounts of the [Treasury] bond holders [plus the value of the government bonds, such as ten-year Treasury bonds, the holders had originally paid when buying them]."
Since all banks have reserve accounts at the Federal Reserve, paying back the bond holders is just a matter of having a data entry clerk change the numbers in securities accounts downward by the needed amount and changing the numbers in the bond holders' banks' reserve accounts at the Fed upward by the same amount. This amount is then reflected in the bond holders' personal checking accounts.
Why does the government tax or borrow? Not to get money - it always has the funds to do whatever it wants. It taxes and borrows for the same reason it spends: to manage the rate of economic activity in order to avoid inflation or deflation. Taxing and borrowing takes funds out of the economy so you don't have the problem of too much money chasing too few goods. But at present our problem is too few funds to buy too many goods. If goods and services languish unbought, unemployment rises since companies can't afford to employ people when what they produce isn't sold.
Point by Point
Brown: “The creation of money has been "privatized," or taken over by private money lenders.”
No, the Fed and only the Fed creates money by spending or lending.
Brown: “Except for coins, all of our money is now created as loans advanced by private banking institutions — including the privately-owned Federal Reserve.”
The Fed is not privately owned but is a creation of Congress; the Fed chairman is selected by the president and confirmed by Congress. And all private banks have reserve and securities accounts at the Fed, so that all private lending in dollars occurs under the Fed’s umbrella and is recorded on the Fed’s spreadsheet. When a private bank lends to individuals or businesses, what happens is that the bank’s reserve account at the Fed gets marked down by a data entry clerk, its securities account gets marked up by the same amount and the individual’s or business’s reserve account at the Fed also gets marked up by the same amount. Mosler saying: Lending creates deposits. When the individual repays the loan, numbers are shifted from the bank’s securities account to its reserve account plus interest and the individual’s reserve account is marked down by the original amount borrowed plus interest.
A large part of the money circulating in the economy was not created by loans at all, but by government spending, for example, to pay a highway contractor working on a Federal highway project.
Brown: “Banks create the principal but not the interest to service their loans. To find the interest, new loans must continually be taken out, expanding the money supply, inflating prices — and robbing you of the value of your money.”
The Fed is the ultimate source of ALL the money circulating in the economy, not banks. You pay the interest on your loans by funds you have earned or received in other ways. The Fed was created precisely to control the money supply. The money supply does not matter in itself one way or another but ONLY in relation to the amount of goods and services produced by the economy. If there are too few of these relative to the money supply, it creates the classic situation of too much money chasing too few goods. This is the opposite of the problem we have today which is too little money, too many goods and services, leading to unemployment and recession. Currently, the Fed is pumping money into the economy to counteract this – that is why we have a federal deficit. To be worrying about inflation right now in terms of monetary policy is daft. The inflation that is occurring in the economy is largely due to rising energy costs, that have nothing to do with Fed policy.
Ellen Brown is simply barking up the wrong tree.
This is a good analysis of just what are "The Powers That Be" (TPTB) so often invoked by those of us who see their actions and their consequences as dangerous and destructive. This is indeed a systems problem and a problem of fundamental philosophy and ethical outlook, not of the existence of some unitary imperial power that is directing everything behind the scenes. Many of the actors in leadership positions who implement the agendas of TPTB - like Mayor Bloomberg, the Oakland police - believe themselves to be to a great extent self-directed - doing what they think is right. IMO.
John Nichols makes a salient point and that is that veterans are being abused when they return to this country after having been in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Scott Olsen's uncle, a Vietnam veteran, also pointed this out. Unfortunately what Olsen's uncle did not say was that his nephew was lied to by his government just as I was lied to, and also Olsen's uncle as well as the hundreds of thousands of other poor bastards who, like myself, ended up in a place called Vietnam. It is long past the point when veterans who return from this country after having been in a war zone announce that since they were lied to by their government and the military, they will state, through their protesting in places like the OWS movement, that they are now protesting the domestic policies that their government has wrought upon the American people.
One also has to wonder what it will take for today's veterans to finally duplicate what took place on April 23, 1971 when over 800 Vietnam veterans, one by one, threw their medals, ribbons, discharge papers and other war mementos onto the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. in protest of what their government had done to them. Those Vietnam veterans are the unsung heroes of this country. Will today's military personnel finally realize that they have been used by their government in order to justify their less than noble cause? If they don't, then they fail to understand that their allegiance lies not with the 99 percent of this country but rather with the elites and the rich and powerful of this country.
Good point, and in making it, you are helping to create and actualize such an event. You could always email IVAW and tell them how you feel.
"veterans are being abused" from the moment they enlist.
As amacd points out, the people need to be educated to the fact that the War
On Terrorism is really just Empire doing what all
Empires do, use any pretext to dominate the rest of the world , gobble up all the resources and destroy all who stand in the way.
Too bad Howard Zinn isn't still with us, what's coming would possibly be the defining chapter in his " Peoples History Of The United States "
The demand to turn the myth of Of, By, and for The People, into reality, or expose it to be a farce, may be one of the undeclared missions of the OWS movement.
Yeah, Howard Zinn would probably be overjoyed to see this, though not to see the dire situation that has led to the desperation of so many. Zinn's book, though not as widely known as it should be - surprise, surprise - has probably contributed much to raising people's consciousness enough to bring them to engage in Occupation of what belongs to them in the first place.
General Butler was approached in the 1930s by a group of industrialists to help coordinate a military coup against the Roosevelt administration. He played along long enough to gather incriminating information, then blew the whistle on the plot. The coup was stopped, but no legal penalties ensued on the plotters. At the same time, on Wall Street, Brown Brothers Harriman were continuing an entrenched program of financial transactions with the corporate concerns of Nazi industrialist Fritz Thiessen which dated back to 1924. These ties continued into the war years, when charges were quietly placed in 1942 under the Trading With The Enemy Act (which closed some of this business but featured little personal accountability), but decades later it was discovered that the firm continued to help hide the Nazi money into 1951. Well known figures such as Averell Harriman, Prescott Bush, and the Dulles brothers were deeply involved
with Nazi corporations for over two decades. This information was confirmed and published in the small New Hampshire Gazette in 2003 - to the utter indifference of the MSM. Something to remember when the militarists bark their weak history lessons about "appeasement".
And let's not overlook IBM's significant contributions to the process of identifying and cataloging those destined for the "final solution" roundup.
After they failed to get Smedley Butler to go along with the coup the financial elites changed their ways and learned that Buying Off the politicians was much more effective -
And buying off political pundits by advertising in their supposedly leftwing magazines was also quite effective.
What the "hairpiece" is not telling you.
Mayor Jean Quan is a democrat. The increased aggressiveness of the police was not a spur of the moment action. It was planned.
Does the Oakland police department plan these aggressive actions without the mayor's consent?
Now we are told that the mayor is "going to investigate" what she endorsed - AFTER it happened.
If this had been a republican mayor, Nichols would have made That very clear, but since she belongs to his favored corrupt party, he ignores mentioning any party affiliation and wants us to accept the notion that Quan will "investigate".
This vicious attack is just more proof that the democrats and the republicans are not working for the people.
You may well have a point there, BA. The mayor and the police said they would investigate. Right. Olson's brother Marines analyzed the videos from the police attack, and in five hours had identified the perp as a deputy in the San Fran Co sheriff's dept, by name.
Another true hero of our times, Brian Willson was interviewed at length on Democracy Now today, October 28. Veteran of Vietnam and visionary activist for peace in all the years since. His new book, Blood on the Tracks, tells his story in vivid and fascinating detail. He is currently on a book tour. Do connect with him if he is anywhere in your area. When you hear him on DN, you will be convinced that this is a person worthy of deepest respect and honor. His dignity, grace and beauty as a person puts to shame the ruling elites of DC and Wall Street and their ilk across the globe. SALUD!!!! SHALOM!!! Brian Willson
Another true hero of our times, Brian Willson was interviewed at length on Democracy Now today, October 28. Veteran of Vietnam and visionary activist for peace in all the years since. His new book, Blood on the Tracks, tells his story in vivid and fascinating detail. He is currently on a book tour. Do connect with him if he is anywhere in your area. When you hear him on DN, you will be convinced that this is a person worthy of deepest respect and honor. His dignity, grace and beauty as a person puts to shame the ruling elites of DC and Wall Street and their ilk across the globe. SALUD!!!! SHALOM!!! Brian Willson
I agree. That interview of Brian Willson that I witnessed today on DN! was one of the most moving and profound interviews that I have ever seen
As a veteran, I will stand with the Occupier's, and when attacked I will stand more firmly. Veteran's, it is extremely important to show your support. It is especially important to show dramatic support when the Occupier's are attacked. Show up in large numbers to send the message that we support the 99%, not the 1%. Stop serving the 1% now !!!
"After Scott Olsen swore that oath, he served two tours of duty in Iraq before being discharged in 2010.
Olsen survived Iraq"
I wonder how many iraquis didnt survive him.
"fellow members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, an advocacy group that has long sought to draw attention to issues of homelessness and unemployment among Americans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan"
Do they protest against the CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY and WAR CRIMES being committed by people like him? "just following orders" doesnt cut it anymore does it? do they support the ICC having the right to held the grunts and those up in the "chain of command" to answer for their crimes in a WAR OF AGRESSION waged under false pretenses?
And then comes his uncle, yet another murderer pawn of the empire... killing runs in the family uh? since he didnt tell his nephew about the horrors of war and prevented him from enlisting I guess he is just another devil in uniform hiding like a coward under the flag of the united states of empire.
"“It’s absolutely unconscionable that our citizens are going overseas to protect other citizens just to come back and have our own police hurt them,” Joshua Shepherd, a six-year Navy veteran and friend of Olsen’s, told reporters."
This mad dog talks about consciousness deluding himself about the reasons the us of shit invaded a sovereign country to allegedly "protect other citizens"? the hypocrisy of it is astounding , well not really... to be a soldier especially a usa soldier you have to be well... either very "naive" or EVIL.
Making a poster boy outta a killer or accomplice of it all is a mistake, he is the enemy for all that I care, this is not a guy I would drink a beer with and now the movement revolves around him. Some people have no memory especially in the usa tv has zombified a large segment of the populace and rendered them incapable of using reason... even the ones who think and fight for whats right are still not grasping the whole picture.
Very informative posting by GwNorth Oct 28 2011 - 11:21am!
If shooting Scott Olsen in the head at point-blank range with a tear canister grenade were not proof enough of murderous intent on the part of some cops in Oakland, go to YouTube and watch, as medics and people gather around him to aid him, some uniformed scumbag tosses a flash-bang grenade (potentially fatal at short range) into their midst from just a few feet away. Where did the Oakland Police Department recruit this sick pile of shit to enforce their laws? OWS, I admire your bravery but be warned how quickly the situation can deteriorate to this level of ignorant savagery when laws are enforced by unaccountable militarized police departments. Good luck, people, you are fighting the good fight!
Tony Vodvarka
Yeah, Tony, it's only supposed to be those evil, wicked, mean, bad and nasty Terrorists who employ the vile, villainous one-two tactic of launching an attack, then following up with a second attack after a crowd gathers to assist or even just check out what happened.
It's the same logic as "if the Amerikan president does it, it's not a crime", i.e. "if the Amerikan police or military do it, it's not 'terrorism'".
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." -- First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
If it's legitimate for the police to hunt down and violently suppress those who peaceably assemble to petition the government for a redress of grievances, why not divert all the police to the nation's capitol? Turn them loose in Washington, D.C., where some 35,000 corporate lobbyists hang out. Why pick on the small, scattered numbers of the people's lobbyists, who represent the 99%, when you can go after big game in Washington, D.C.?
We finally have our 'tar baby'. No matter what the elite Brer Foxes do, it just won't go away. And when they put their hands on it, they just get more stuck. Uncle Remus would be proud.
The deliberate wounding of Scott Olsen and the continuing confusion about Occupy Wall Street by the 1% and their media lackeys and lapdogs is confirmation of the effectiveness of the asymetrical media warfare tactic that OWS is pursuing. The elite and their guards are justifiably scared, and their ham-handedness merely increases their difficulties. Just as Mohamed Bouazizi sparked a force beyond the control of Arab despots, so too does Scott Olsen have the potential to be the cause of a much kick up the backside of the likes of Jamie Dimon & Lloyd Blankfein.
John Nichols writes here that "As far away as London images of [Scott] Olsen were displayed at gatherings" -- but I've read in several places (including the Guardian UK, I think) that there were solidarity vigils for him held in Tahrir Square in Cairo as well! (see, for example, "Egyptians march in solidarity with ‘Occupy Oakland,’ " at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/28/egyptians-march-in-solidarity-with-occupy-oakland/ - - although this particular report doesn't specifically mention Olsen.)
There's no need for violence - www.occupyletters.com
The Oakland blueshirts have now joined their brethren whiteshirts at the NYPD. They too might appreciate singing this with gripping fervour while laying on against the innocent with their truncheons, pepper spray, rubber bullets, flash grenades and tear gas :
The Korporate Wall Street flag on high! The ranks closed tightly!
Oakland blueshirt marches with bold, firm steps.
Comrades, Socialist reactionary dissenters shot
March in spirit within our ranks.
Clear the streets for the blueshirts,
Clear the streets for the stormtrooper!
Millions already look to Korporate America full of hope,
The day of freedom and of bread and circuses is dawning!
The last sound to charge is blown!
We already stand prepared for the fight!
Soon Korporate flags will flutter above all streets.
Our servitude will last a thousand year Korporate Reich!
The Korporate Wall Street flag on high! The ranks closed tightly!
Oakland blueshirt marches with bold, firm steps.
Comrades, Socialist reactionary dissenters shot
March in spirit within our ranks.
"Olsen...remains hospilized and is unable to speak."
this was the message:
you have the right to remain silent - USE IT!
Olsen mistakenly thought he was fighting for freedom both at home and abroad. Unfortunately, he was an unwitting pawn in the hands of the American oligarchy, and he was taught a stunning lesson in the realities of imperialism.
Jim Shea