Stories by Ellen Brown

Ellen Brown is an attorney, author, and president of the Public Banking Institute. She is the author of Web of Debt, and a sequel, The Public Bank Solution.

San Francisco Strikes Blow to Wall Street: City May Now Get Its Own Public Bank

Posted on: Jul 30, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

A city overcomes obstacles to protect citizens' money and to offer benefits big banks can't match.

What the Federal Reserve Could Do to Help Hard-working Americans

Posted on: Jul 23, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

The Fed could help with jobs, student debt, and bankruptcies like Detroit. So how abut it?

Think Your Money is Safe in an Insured Bank Account? Think Again.

Posted on: Jul 5, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

A trend to shift responsibility for bank losses onto blameless depositors lets banks gamble away your money.

Why Elizabeth Warren’s Plan For Student Debt is an Economic Breakthrough

Posted on: Jun 14, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s “Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act” has been denounced as populist demogoguery. Here's why it isn't.

Theft is Legal for Big Banks- and Your Money Will Never Be Safe

Posted on: Apr 29, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

The new rules for keeping too-big-to-fail alive: use creditor funds, including uninsured deposits, to recapitalize failing banks.

The Wall Street Ticking Time Bomb That Could Blow Up Your Bank Account

Posted on: Apr 9, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

Derivatives turn the financial system into a casino. And the House always wins.

Think Your Money is Safe? Think Again: The Confiscation Scheme Planned for US and UK Depositors

Posted on: Mar 28, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

Confiscating the customer deposits in Cyprus banks was not a one-off. It could happen here.

Cyprus: Could it Happen Here?

Posted on: Mar 21, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

Confiscation has been avoided for the moment. But the plan was long in the making, and it isn’t limited to Cyprus.

In Italy, A Bold New Populist Plan Led By a Comedian Fires Up a Country

Posted on: Mar 7, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

Default on the public debt, nationalization of the banks, and a citizen dividend could actually save the Italian economy.

How Congress Could Fix Its Budget Woes, Permanently

Posted on: Feb 13, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

The road to prosperity is paved with policies geared towards people, not banks.

The Trillion Dollar Coin: Joke or Game-changer?

Posted on: Jan 21, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

The coin actually represents one of the most important principles of popular prosperity: the creation of money by sovereign governments, debt-free.

Austerity Disaster: Hurricane Sandy Victims Thrown to Lending Sharks and Privatized "Relief"

Posted on: Jan 4, 2013, Source: Web of Debt blog

Disaster victims are now expected to shoulder relief expenses that used to be shared publicly.

Let’s Call Their Bluff on the Hyped-Up Fiscal Cliff!

Posted on: Dec 19, 2012, Source: Web of Debt blog

Congress is said to be held hostage to conservative demands. The real hostages are the debt slaves of our financial system.

Let's Take Back the Banks from Greedy Financiers

Posted on: Dec 11, 2012, Source: Web of Debt blog

From North Dakota to Scotland, the public bank option is winning support.

It’s the Interest, Stupid! Why Bankers Rule the World

Posted on: Nov 8, 2012, Source: Web of Debt blog

Banking and credit should become public utilities, feeding the economy rather than feeding off it.

Why the Fed's "QE3" Plan Won't Jumpstart the Economy - And What Would

Posted on: Sep 21, 2012, Source: Web of Debt blog

What the country needs is money in the pockets of consumers and a focus on employment.

A Timely Idea to Save the Post Office: Bring Back Postal Banking Services

Posted on: Aug 14, 2012, Source: Web of Debt blog

Letter carriers consider an idea that would generate revenue and provide vital services to the unbanked.

Why the U.S. Senate Sucks Up to Public Enemy Jamie Dimon

Posted on: Jun 20, 2012, Source: Web of Debt blog

Is Dimon coddled because JP Morgan derivatives are propping up U.S. debt?

Greece and the Euro: Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover

Posted on: Jun 7, 2012, Source: Web of Debt blog

Five creative alternatives to an ugly break-up.

12-Year-Old Girl Explains What Most Economists Can't About Money and Debt

Posted on: Jun 3, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Victoria Grant told a conference that governments, not banks, should create and lend a nation's money--and a video of her talk has gone viral on the Internet.

Cooperative Banking, the Exciting Wave of the Future

Posted on: May 22, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Rather than feeding off the community, banking can nourish the community and local economy.

Grandmothers' Social Security Garnished for Student Loans? Time to Fix the Broken Student Debt System

Posted on: May 13, 2012, Source: TruthOut.org

Congress has removed nearly every consumer protection from student loans, including bankruptcy protections, statutes of limitations and truth in lending requirements.

Toxic Student Debt Might Blow Up Our Economy -- Why the Fed Must Bail Out the Millions of Young People Crushed by Student Loans

Posted on: Oct 21, 2011, Source: TruthOut.org

To prevent another disaster like the one caused by the toxic debts on the books of Wall Street banks, we need to defuse the student debt bomb before it blows. But how?

What We Can Learn from Germany: How Countries With Publicly Owned Banks Do Better Than America

Posted on: Oct 18, 2011, Source: TruthOut.org

The public bank model remains a viable alternative to the private profiteering being protested on Wall Street today.

North Dakota Fights Wall Street's Influence With a State Bank

Posted on: Sep 4, 2011, Source: YES! Magazine

What can we learn from North Dakota's economy? Plenty, and it starts with its unique state bank.

Vision: Time for a New Theory of Money

Posted on: Dec 21, 2010, Source: YES! Magazine

We as a community can create our own credit, without having to engage in the sort of impossible pyramid scheme in which we're always borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.

Could a Legal Technicality Prevent Banks from Having the Right to Foreclose on 62 Million Homes?

Posted on: Aug 19, 2010, Source: YES! Magazine

A judge recently held that banks' electronic shortcut for recording mortgage information makes it impossible for banks to establish their rights to ownership.

The Growing Movement for Publicly Owned Banks

Posted on: Mar 28, 2010, Source: YES! Magazine

We the people have given away our sovereign money-creating power to private, for-profit lending institutions Some states are moving to take that power back.

California Doesn't Need to Borrow Billions from Washington -- It Can Create Its Own Money

Posted on: May 26, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Gov. Schwarzenegger thinks CA can only get credit from DC, but there's another way of doing it that the prosperous state of North Dakota figured out.

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