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  • Home
  • About Money
    • How Money Works
      • What is Money?
      • How is Money Created Today?
      • How Bank Account Money Works
      • History of U.S. Money Creation
    • Why We Need to Change Money
      • High Levels of Debt
      • Inequality and Concentration of Wealth
      • An Unstable Economy
      • Infinite Growth on a Finite Planet
    • The Just Money Solution
    • The Just Money Benefits
  • About Us
    • Why We’re Here
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • AFJM Committees
  • Blog
  • News
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Outreach Toolkit
    • Articles
    • Videos
    • Archive
    • Allies and Neighbors
    • Bibliography – Introductory
    • Bibliography – Intermediary
    • Bibliography – Extensive
  • Get Involved
  • Contact Us
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Subscribe
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  • Home
  • About Money
    • How Money Works
      • What is Money?
      • How is Money Created Today?
      • How Bank Account Money Works
      • History of U.S. Money Creation
    • Why We Need to Change Money
      • High Levels of Debt
      • Inequality and Concentration of Wealth
      • An Unstable Economy
      • Infinite Growth on a Finite Planet
    • The Just Money Solution
    • The Just Money Benefits
  • About Us
    • Why We’re Here
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • AFJM Committees
  • Blog
  • News
  • Events
  • Resources
    • Outreach Toolkit
    • Articles
    • Videos
    • Archive
    • Allies and Neighbors
    • Bibliography – Introductory
    • Bibliography – Intermediary
    • Bibliography – Extensive
  • Get Involved
  • Contact Us

Events

An Economy Built on Debt — Is There a Way Out? with Michael Kumhof

Global debt just reached a historic record of $348.3 trillion — more than three times the size of the world economy. Mortgages, consumer loans, corporate debt, and government deficits continue to grow at extraordinary speed. Why?

There is an explanation that is rarely discussed in public debate. In today’s system, money itself is created as debt. This means the money supply can only grow as debt grows. Is there a way out from under the ever-growing mountain of debt?

Hosted by IMMR and co-hosted by AFJM and a growing number of other organizations
Thursday, May 28th at 12:30PM ET / 11:30AM CT / 10:30AM MT / 9:30AM PT
Duration: 90 mins
Register in advance

Spaceship Earth 101: A Dialogue with Nick Egnatz on People, Planet, and the Power of Money

Almost a year ago, longtime AMI and AFJM member and Veterans for Peace activist Nick Egnatz launched Spaceship Earth 101, the final book in his 3-part series on People, Planet, and the Power of Money. Join us for this monetary reform coffeehouse on Monday, April 27th at 8PM ET / 7PM CT / 6PM MT / 5PM PT when Nick will share about his journey to Spaceship Earth 101 and discuss its contents with us.

Restructuring Activation: Introducing Campaigns!

Join AFJM on May 19, 2025 at 5PM PT / 8PM ET for a special meeting to learn about the restructuring process and and introduction to our campaigns. We will share a bit about the restructuring process and why we chose to do it. We will then split into breakout rooms to discuss this new structure and the campaigns we will focus on. We look forward to hearing from you and hopefully getting you involved in AFJMs work!

Monetary Reform 101: How We Democratize Money

Monetary Reform 101 is back, invite your friends and fellow activists! Join us Tuesday, April 29th at 5 PM PST / 8 PM EST.

This interactive session will provide an overview of the current monetary system and explore how monetary reform can promote economic justice, sustainability, and democracy. This is ideal for newcomers, each session explains the basics of money creation, its impact on society, and AFJM's vision for a more fair monetary system where we #DemocratizeMoney and have a #JustMoney system. Participants will gain foundational knowledge and insights into the movement and your part in it!

Special AFJM Supporter Input Call

Your input is vital and much needed. We want to hear from you as we develop new pathways forward during these uncertain times. How can we make our efforts on monetary reform more relevant and effective?

Join us to share your ideas for the future of the Alliance For Just Money on Monday, April 7, 2025 at 7:30pm ET. We would appreciate you completing our survey by April 4 prior to the special meeting.

We look forward to collaborating with and strengthening our community for a better society for all!

Introductory Session: Monetary Reform 101

Coming quarterly in 2025! Alliance For Just Money will be hosting Monetary Reform 101, introductory sessions to introduce the public to Monetary Reform. The first session will be on Monday, January 27 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. These interactive sessions will provide an overview of the current monetary system and explore how monetary reform can promote economic justice, sustainability, and democracy. Ideal for newcomers, each session explains the basics of money creation, its impact on society, and the AFJM's vision for a more fair monetary system where we #DemocratizeMoney and have a #JustMoney system, not debt money. Participants will gain foundational knowledge and insights into the movement and your part in it!

YouTube recording.

Holiday Social: Art and music in the movement!

Join the Alliance For Just Money for a festive evening of creativity and collaboration! We'll enjoy a quiz about monetary reform, hear songs, and work together on art projects that express our vision for a just financial system. This unique event combines holiday cheer with our passion for economic justice. Come ready to sing, create, and connect with fellow AFJM members as we celebrate our shared goals in a fun and inspiring atmosphere.

Economic Systems Change: What System Dynamics Can Tell Us About Economic Reform

Join AFJM and Gwendolyn Hallsmith for a deep dive into how systems, and economic systems in particular, work to keep undesirable conditions in place. How do we find leverage points for change? How do we know what kinds of strategies will be effective? Learn about stocks, flows, and system archetypes that help us recognize patterns and paths forward.

YouTube Recording

Capitalism and the Market Economy Summer Reading Circle

This past summer AFJM and Positiva Pengar hosted a book club on Jonathan McMillan’s 2024 book, Capitalism and the Market Economy: Bringing Back Together What Banking Pulls Apart. Two times for reading circles were offered, with each group meeting for 3,  90 minute sessions discussing the book.

Capitalism and the Market Economy (2024) identifies and critiques the systemic flaw in today’s market economy—namely, banking corporations’ legalized power to create money out of credit. The book provides a concrete action plan to create a more sustainable, democratic, and fair economic system.

A webinar with one of the authors was hosted following the book club, the recording of that is below.

YouTube Recording

Mayday for Money: Celebration and Debrief

Join us in celebration of our debut on the national stage! Mayday for Money was a jam-packed weekend on May 17th-19th that brought together organizers from across the Americas through music, art, march and rally, and teach-ins. It brought AFJM's message of working to seed a future Money that works For The People, By The People to the wider public. We declared that money at it is, doesn't work for us, people or the planet. We will use this time to celebrate and debrief what we can replicate and expand on from the momentum of Mayday for Money.

YouTube Recording

What’s Next for Monetary Reform? (In-Person)

Experience food and fellowship with the Alliance For Just Money and our allies who work to build a better economy for the people and planet! How do we continue to develop an economy that builds peace, trust and community? Come learn and share your vision for justice and democracy in our management of our common home, and the design of our unit of exchange, the currency we use to facilitate trade. Learn more about our current legislation and the political pathway to have it become law, and the cultural transition needed to support a sustainable economy.

Be green and bring your own container and silverware for food! We are excited to meet all the people who bring their unique selves to economic reform!

Fantopia: A Parable About Money (In-Person)

Fantopia is a wild ride through the world of monetary reform, where the parable challenges us to rethink our relationship with money.

Come join us for pizza and a staged reading of Fantopia: A Parable About Money at HI Chicago. Dive into the world of monetary reform in this captivating parable. Explore the complexities of our financial systems in a unique and engaging way. Following the staged reading there will be a Q&A with the creative team behind the production.

Mayday for Money March and Rally (In-Person)

AFJM advocates for a transition away from our current debt money system to a just system of publicly created money. We invite you to join us in Chicago on Saturday, May 18th, 2024, for “Mayday for Money!” We’ll begin gathering at 11:30am at the Alexander Calder's Flamingo Sculpture (210 S Dearborn St, Chicago, IL 60604) and march at 12pm to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. We will march back to the Flamingo Scultpure for a rally to hear the many perspectives of monetary reform. We hope to see you there!

Outgrow the System – Screening and Q&A (In-Person and Online)

Outgrow the System - Screening and Q&A will be hosted at the Climate Action Museum in Chicago! Join us for an eye-opening event where we'll explore the impacts of our current economic and monetary systems on the environment. This in-person screening will showcase a thought-provoking documentary and spark meaningful discussion about how we can make transformative ideas in economics come to life. Learn, connect, and be inspired to take action. See you there!

"Change the system, not the climate" begins with learning new economic perspectives that have the potential to change the world at its core. This documentary is about transitioning to a sustainable economic and monetary systems. The Mayday for Money Coalition believes we can do that with Just Money! Change the money, Change the world!

Many Reasons for Mayday for Money Teach-In

Join us for a special livestream panel discussion in collaboration with Move to Amend. This event serves as a TEACH-in leading up to the Mayday for Money March and Rally taking place in Chicago, IL.

AFJM has issued a distress call for our current monetary system, which is structurally incapable of serving our people and planet. As Earth faces environmental crises and wealth inequity grows, it's clear our monetary system is failing us. The Mayday for Money March and Rally seeks to address these issues and advocate for Just Money for Just Democracy!

We invite all movements concerned about economic and ecological chaos to come together and advocate for change. Let's build a future with Just Money for a Healing Future!

YouTube Recording.

Final Session for a Singing Tree of a Just and Democratic Economy Project

Throughout the open to the public sessions, we explored the process of creative collaboration that emerges in Singing Tree Murals  and shared our views on money, challenges in economics, and even our life story engaging in this debt-based economic system. Each session includes creative time where participants tap into their free-flowing and non-judgmental creativity to create a shared vision. Join us in exploring how these units of exchange we call money can have implications for human and planetary life. Our final design includes gears of collaboration, spirals of growth, and liberation from the oppressive coin designs of the past.

DEGROWTH by Monetary Reform: Money for the People, By the People!

People are drowning in debt and suffering from inadequate health care, rising inflation, and endless wars. We must degrow the destructive economic system that enriches a financial elite at the expense of people, planet, and peace. The privatized money system is unstable and wreaks havoc as it grows exponentially. The Green Party's "Greening the Dollar" initiative outlines how to scrap the Fed for a Constitutional system that circulates permanent, stable, and debt-free sovereign public money. This will allow us to grow a caring economy that nurtures what we hold dear.

You will hear from Greg Coleridge, Richard C. Cook, Mark Young, Fernanda Lugo, and Howard Switzer.

YouTube Recording.

The Singing Tree of a Just and Democratic Economy Part III

In the next session, We will dive deeper into the power of these units of exchange we call money, and their implications for human and planetary life. Our creative session will be doing the River of Life activity, encouraging participants to come to the exploration of what their lifespan journey with money has been like. Institutions of money will be questioned, as will our philosophy around keeping money vs giving money; and keeping vs gifting other resources. We will name symbols that help bring our vision forward, such as gears of collaboration in a system, or spirals of growth. Our participants will continue to work on their sketches and newcomers will be able to add their vision into a Singing Tree of a Just and Democratic Economy!

The Singing Tree Part II

In the first session, we explored the economy as a series of exchanges that happen in nature with the theme of generosity. During our creative time, we did the 5 shapes activity where we experimented with spirals, circles, squares, triangles, and crosses as a composition, acknowledging the meaning behind each shape preference. This allowed our blossoming creative core team to tap into their free-flowing and non-judgmental creativity, and allowed us to create some sketches of what a singing tree would look like.

In the next session, we will be diving deeper into the power of these units of exchange we call money, and their implications for human and planetary life. Our creative session will be doing the "River of Life" activity, and encouraging participants to explore what their lifespan journey with money has been like. Our participants will continue to work on their sketches and newcomers will be able to add their vision into a Singing Tree of a Just Economy! Join us and bring your friends and family!

Just Money for the Just Transition

#Just Money for the #Just Transition is a new campaign by the Alliance For Just Money, in collaboration with the American Monetary Institute, to bring awareness to the common threads between climate action, social justice, and monetary reform, transitioning our economy away from extractive and growth-driven capitalism to a sustainable economy with abundant green jobs, a stable flourishing economy, sovereign money and significant overall debt reduction.

Our Just Money reform ascertains that governments can responsibly manage the money supply without causing inflation, and that governments should use money sovereignty to meet the needs of our civilization, in this case to shift equitably to a renewable energy economy with abundant education, healthcare, clean air, clean water, and sanitation, and housing as human rights. In order to realign ourselves with planetary boundaries, we also need to redistribute wealth and resources to underrepresented groups, people of color and in poverty as well as our family in the Global South. The Just Transition should make sure that all humanity can live equitably not surpassing planetary limits, and achieving to meet the needs of society.

In this presentation you’ll learn about how to inform fellow earthlings about the monetary dimension of climate change, and build solidarity within the movement understanding some of the deeper upstream causes of our climate chaos, seldom discussed.

YouTube Recording.

Info and Creative Session: Singing Tree of a Just and Democratic Economy

You are invited to learn and participate in the next Singing Tree Project, The Singing Tree of a Just and Democratic Economy. This collaborative mural methodology, inspired by trees, is part of an international invitation for the whole world to create together. The process is artistic creation accompanies by nonviolent leadership training process that envisions success to community challenges, often around a central topic. So far, 118 murals have been created by over 21,000 people from 52 countries. The project mimics the creativity and diversity of Nature.

Alliance For Just Money and Unity Through Creativity are teaming up to create a Singing Tree of a Just and Democratic Economy, and the large collaborative visual will be unveiled and presented at Mayday for Money! a march and demonstration in Chicago 2024! Please join us for a short information session on December 5th, 5pm PT / 8pm ET. We are actively recruiting individuals to join the Core Design Team!

Screening & Discussion- The Waterworks of Money: Private Profits, Public Costs

You are invited to a fun interactive evening centered around a short video called "The Waterworks of Money: Private Profits, Public Costs" (18 min video), a follow-up to "The Waterworks of Money." This video explores how new money is created, shows where our pension savings end up, and discovers how the financial system is boosting inequality in various ways. While the costs of keeping the financial system up and running are borne by society, most profits that arise from it are not. Instead, those end up in the pockets of a small group of large multinationals and their shareholders, at the expense of everyone else. Growing inequality, the slow progress in making our economy sustainable, and recurring financial crises cannot be seen in isolation: they are intricately connected to the structure of our financial and monetary system.

YouTube Recording

From the Frontlines: Organizing Mayday for Money

Direct action is a necessary next step to make any movement get public attention. Some of our members and allies with Move to Amend recently participated in direct action for the End of Fossil Fuels NYC march and in several demonstrations in DC.

Join us for this discussion on key takeaways and advice for those looking to do similar demonstrations, like ourselves at the Alliance For Just Money. Learn more about our planning for Mayday for Money, as we bring Just Money to the mainstream!

Also learn about the Singing Tree Project with Unity Through Creativity, and how you can be part of developing a Singing Tree Of a Just and Democratically Managed Economy.

YouTube Recording

Screening & Discussion: The Waterworks of Money

You are invited to a fun interactive evening centered around a short video called "The Waterworks of Money" (22 min video). It's a stunning collaborative creation of a Dutch monetary reformer, a journalist, and a visual artist that got 200,000+ viewings in the Netherlands. It attempts to map out the world of money, tracing the money flows and exposing the hidden powers. It's made for the ordinary person. We'll watch, talk, explore and learn. Bring a friend who might want to learn more about this thing you do.  And don't forget the popcorn!

YouTube Recording

Banks Creating Money – A Serious Climate Threat?

Presented by Positiva Pengar, Greenpeace, AFJM, IMMR, and Other IMMR Organizations More and more people are recognizing that money creation has been outsourced to private banks. But few know the devastating consequences for the environment and climate. To learn more about this, we invited Professor Peter Dietsch from the University of Victoria. Professor Dietsch is a brilliant lecturer who will explain in a simple and clear way how the banks create money for activities that destroy the environment and the climate. This is a serious obstacle to change. But he also has a positive message: we can save the planet - if we change the way money is created.

YouTube Recording

State Issued Digital Currencies: A Risky Social Experiment or a Path to a Thriving Economy?

Presented by Positiva Pengar and Co-sponsored by AFJM and Other IMMR Organizations

The private banks' monopoly to create the digital money we use on a daily basis may be challenged in the coming years. Central banks all over the world are investigating if they should issue CBDCs in competition with the private banks' means of payments. As always when money and power are at stake, this has led to a heated debate between defenders and challengers of the existing banking regime. This debate includes bankers, neoliberal economists, central bankers, independent researchers, and activists who are all either trying to salvage or supersede the status quo. Dr. Michael Kumhof from the Bank of England joined us to present his latest research on state-issued digital money.

YouTube Recording

How Government Financing Works: Taxes and Borrowing Precede Government Spending

When taxes and other federal government revenue are not enough to cover a projected budget the government will issue securities (bonds and treasury bills). New money is created when the federal government issue these securities. This newly created money then enters the government's account at the central bank for government spending. Jeff will explain how he knows this to be true and field any questions related to the process.

YouTube Recording
Transcript and References

Local Money Systems: Lessons from the World Applied in Amsterdam

Thomas is a researcher and projectmanager for the City of Amsterdam, with a keen interest in complementary currencies and their potential to enable and stimulate economic change. Whilst attempting to realize and implement such a system in Amsterdam, he's a PhD candidate investigating this very topic, always on the lookout for new, inspiring ideas that could form 'system-bridges' towards an economy that is more in tune with our ecology.

YouTube Recording

The Monetary Power Struggle: Banks vs. Crypto vs. the State

Presented by Positiva Pengar and Co-sponsored by AFJM and Other IMMR Organizations

Private banks' privilege to create money is being challenged by new types of digital money. Who will win the competition: the nation-state, private banks, or new financial companies issuing cryptocurrencies? What is really at stake here, and what can you do to make sure democracy wins over private profit interests? To help you understand this power struggle, we have invited Professor Joseph Huber who has just released a brand new book on the topic, The Monetary Turning Point: From Bank Money to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

YouTube Recording

Regenerative Currencies and Positive Change: Exploring How Changing Our Currencies Can Change Our Economies

This was an interactive presentation and open discussion exploring how we can leverage alternative currencies as tools for the common good. This presentation explored the possibility of changing some fundamental properties of our currencies as a way to halt inflation, to fund the complete and equitable elimination of poverty, and to prioritize the well-being of our planet.

This presentation introduced "Regenerative Currency Systems", an open-source, free, and modifiable framework for using electronic currencies as community-governed tools for funding the protection of people and the planet, discussing this approach as it relates with existing monetary reform work. These scalable systemic platforms are intended to facilitate universal basic access to all components of basic well-being without cost, without inflation, and without requiring any participation from non-interested groups.

Alex prepared this packet for interested readers who would like to explore these ideas before and after the presentation.

YouTube Recording
Interactive PowerPoint Presentation

The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap

The Color of Money examines why black banking could not overcome discrimination and segregation but bled black capital into white banks via loans and deposits. Mehrsa Baradaran challenges the myth that black communities could ever accumulate wealth in a segregated economy. AFJM's Next Generation (formerly known as Youth Caucus) read and discussed The Color of Money! To access the book you can check your local library, order it online, listen to the audiobook, or purchase it at a local bookstore.

The Future In Our Pockets

The Future in Our Pockets Zoom meeting was cosponsored by the Alliance For Just Money and our ally WILPF US Women, Money & Democracy (W$D) Committee. For over three centuries banks have been consolidating their power by extracting interest from people, businesses, governments, and the planet. This power helps to explain why politicians and governments bend to their will. The Future in Our Pockets Zoom meeting on February 23rd examined how the bank credit system undermines our efforts to build peace and a sustainable environment every minute of every day and what we can do about it. Virginia Hammon and Lucille Eckrich presented this brave and necessary conversation.

YouTube Recording

Money as a “Common” for the People

In most, if not all, countries, the creation of money and credit is controlled by the Law, as determined "by the people, for the people." Sovereign money is unique because its exchange value is guaranteed by the Government. Thus the Government should recover the value for the use of money, and for its provision as a common of the people. All of the systems in any society depend on the money system. As the most crucial common of the people, it should assure that all money is created equally for all citizens. Money can be used for the benefit of both the individual and the society.

Review Edward's work, Money as a Common.
Youtube Recording

AFJM Holiday Social

Join our holiday social with fellow Just Money reformers to mingle and jingle! We have prepared a sing-a-long with tunes all about money. Participants will have a chance to showcase their money knowledge with a game of trivia on the history of money. We will also invite you to take part in our secret angels game!

Let's come together to strengthen our community and get to know our comrades. The holidays are a bustling time and we want to take this social as an opportunity to spread some holiday love and cheer to the AFJM community.

An Open Mic on Election Reflections

How do you feel post-election? AFJM hosted an Open Mic for folks to share their thoughts! We wanted to hear from monetary reformers new and old on their Election Reflections. This open forum is meant for us to decompress and digest the results. At AFJM's September Coffeehouse, Educating Legislators, Candidates, and Voters on Monetary Reform, we introduced the American Monetary Reform Act (AMRA). At this Open Mic, we hoped to assess our legislators and discuss who would be good candidates to introduce AMRA too.

YouTube Recording

Educating Legislators, Candidates, and Voters on Monetary Reform

The American Monetary Reform Act (AMRA) is an updated version of the National Emergency Employment Defense Act (NEED Act), previously introduced in Congress by former Representative Dennis Kucinich. With monetary reform urgently needed to address many of our current economic, political, and ecological problems, it's time for us to strategize and develop the knowledge and skills required to introduce AMRA in Congress and move it forward. Attend this special Coffeehouse to:
• Learn what's in AMRA (Please review beforehand our 23-minute overview of AMRA. If possible, read AMRA itself at the link above. If not, read the fact sheet on it.)
• Hear and discuss the steps and stages of educating and lobbying your Congressperson
• Hear personal experiences from those who've contacted political candidates and legislators on monetary reform
• Engage in Q&A on the above contents
• Walk away with some resources for and clarity on what we can do individually and collectively to advance Just Money reform legislation this election season and in the new Congress

YouTube Recording

Design Sprint Reflections

In May, the Youth Caucus experimented with using a "design sprint" process to quickly develop ideas for bridging the climate and monetary reform movements. During six co-working meetings in May, Youth Caucus members and new recruits worked together to research what the climate movement was saying about banking. We prepared talking points and resources for engaging climate activists around monetary system reform and have begun reaching out to climate campaigners for conversations. In this Coffeehouse, the Youth Caucus will share their experience using the design sprint process and the many valuable things they created during the project.

YouTube Recording

Swiss Vollgeld’s Media and Public Relations Strategy in 2018 People’s Referendum

On June 10, 2018, Switzerland had a national people's referendum on adopting a Sovereign Money system. The Swiss monetary reform group, MoMo (short for monetary modernization), set out a nation-wide initiative, the Vollgeld-Initiative (Vollgeld is the German word for Sovereign Money), to raise people's awareness of private money creation and the need for Sovereign Money. Although the resolution did not pass, they did manage to garner national and International media attention. For this Coffeehouse on August 6th, Maurizio Degiacomi will focus specifically on the Vollgeld's media and public relations strategy. What worked? What didn't work? How did this small group manage to get the world's attention on the monetary issue? How can other monetary groups learn from Vollgeld's direct campaigning experience?

YouTube Recording
Study Stack

A Radical Gathering: Cultivating the World We Deserve

A Radical Gathering: Cultivating the World We Deserve took place online the weekend of June 24-26, 2022 and included a series of teach-ins, panels, and presentations that covered a myriad of revolutionary and visionary topics. Aimed for people who understand the severity of the economic, political, social, and ecological crises we face and want to think radically about solutions to build a better world for our planet and all life forms.

Sessions and Recordings

Artwork by Sam Kirk @IAmSamKirk

How to Relate Monetary Reform to CBDC?

Dutch monetary reformer, Edgar Wortmann, got his kick-start at American Monetary Institute's Chicago 2013 conference. Steven Zarlenga, Michael Kumhof and Steve Keen provided him with essential information to co-create the monetary reform movement in The Netherlands. This movement, Ons Geld (Our Money),  was inspired by digitization of money. It considers digitization essential to providing sound money, outside the credit system. But digital money, such as Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or a digital euro, can do harm too. In 2017 Ons Geld raised the issue of a digital euro in a letter to the European Commission. In this letter Ons Geld exposed the relationship between the bank's balance sheets and the nation's currency and how it makes our money prone to runs and risks. Ons Geld suggested that digital technology can help to address this and stated, "The key is adoption of a virtual euro that does not represent a claim on the issuing entity." The European Commission replied and showed it understood Ons Geld's proposal; however, it was concluded that it was not considering the creation of a digital euro as a measure to enhance the stability of the financial and monetary system. Some years later the European Central Bank (ECB) entered the discussion, and claimed it already provides safe money. The ECB made clear the risky nature of the bank money system is not on the table, as the main purpose for 'CBDC'. Moreover, the ECB has one design requirement which positions it directly against Ons Geld: the digital euro is a central bank liability.

YouTube Recording

AFJM and AMI’s Public Comments to the Fed on CBDC

On January 20, 2022, the Federal Reserve issued and invited public comments on their white paper, Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation, which discussed potential benefits and risks of a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The purpose of our May 23rd Coffeehouse was threefold: first, to share the public comments that AFJM and AMI each submitted with those interested in Just Money reform; second, to celebrate all among us who submitted comments as individuals; and finally, to discuss the threats and potential opportunities that adoption of CBDC poses for achieving Just Money reform. Whether we like it or not, CBDC is on the horizon in the larger worlds of money and banking, cryptocurrencies, and so-called "fintech" and "stablecoins." This was not AFJM's first and surely will not be our last Coffeehouse on CBDCs. Monetary reformers in the US and globally (through IMMR) need to discuss CBDC openly and critically to have a unified voice. Monetary reformers need to seize this moment in history to make Just Money the law of our lands. We need Just Money now before it's too late. Our children and theirs demand nothing less of us.

YouTube Recording

CBDC: Why Not?

Virtuality in Money and Banking – Public innovation or an ultimate con? Joe Bongiovanni will relate his father’s teachings on the frailties and failures of debt-based money by private issue, and opine on how that failure provides the financial-monetary 'necessity’ for new central banking foci today. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) cannot proceed under the existing legal framework of our national money statutes. Our money system MUST be changed, but in the direction of more clarity and stability through lawful authority for government issuance of our money without debt. CBDC is untimely. Today we are experiencing increased instability in the world of global finance with lasting COVID Pandemic-induced economic dislocations, and growing debt-saturation that is rampant in our communities. There’s no money available for paying those debts, the hallmark of today’s finance-capitalism. What we need is less of what CBDC claims to offer, and a more focused public policy strategy that preserves and enhances the monetary reform movement. Needed now more than ever.

YouTube Recording  

Why Do We Need CBDCs: Comparing the Different Perspectives

Ronnie Phillips will focus on the varying viewpoints on why we need Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The discussion will begin with President Biden's recent Executive Order on ensuring responsible development of digital assets. Ronnie's starting point will be through Henry Simons' "financial good society" and how CBDCs fit in this framework.

Additional Readings
YouTube Recording
Study Stack

The LWVAC Question: What Features of a Monetary System Would Support Our Values

This Coffeehouse (CH) is a continuation from January's CH in which John Howell and members of the Monetary Committee of the Athens County League of Women Voters (LWV) presented the monetary proposal, which they are advocating for the national LWV to take on. Their proposal can be found on LWVAC website. The CH focused on fundamental values that bring us to monetary reform. The project with the League started with stated League values and how those values, and the political positions arising from them, are either served by or thwarted by the present monetary system. In this CH we asked participants in breakout sessions to articulate the values they hold which are affected by the monetary system. We also asked participants to think critically about the desired features of a monetary system listed in our proposal.

YouTube Recording
Study Stack

Monetary Reform Efforts with the League of Women Voters (LWV) with John Howell

In this Coffeehouse, John Howell, along with two or three other members of the LWVAC Committee, will describe the educational efforts toward monetary reform made over the past year in Athens, OH. These efforts have resulted in a proposal now endorsed by the Athens County Chapter of the LWV. The Proposal is for the National LWV to consider the fundamentals of our present monetary system as well as alternatives and develop a position statement that can be used for advocacy purposes. The Committee’s proposal includes a list of features a monetary system needs in order to be supportive of the League’s values and the positions it takes on other issues. It also contains a study guide to help other League chapters address the need for monetary reform. The Proposal can be found here.

YouTube Recording
Study Stack

Simplifying Our Just Money Stories with the AFJM Youth Caucus

We are often faced with this notion that money is hard to talk about and the subject of Just Money reform is a quick way to end a conversation. The Youth Caucus walked us through how to share our stories in a simplified way using “And, But, Therefore (ABT) Framework.” They used the “ABT Framework” in breakout rooms to do role playing and skits to help us develop our storytelling skills.

YouTube Recording

What Henry George’s analysis of political economy offers to proponents of Just Money Reform with Ed Dodson

The 19th-century political economist Henry George tackled what many of his predecessors and contemporaries argued was the great inequity of all time: the private appropriation of rent (i.e., that portion of wealth we produce that comes from the fact that not all of nature has the same potential to yield wealth with the same input of labor and capital goods). At the same time, George provided a similar analysis of the roles of money, banking and credit played in fostering or thwarting a just distribution of wealth in any society. While his solution to "the land question" came to be called "the Single Tax," his contributions to monetary theory recognized the strong relation between the land and money questions.

YouTube Recording
Study Stack

building-bridges

Building Bridges: Can MMT and Just Money be friends? with Virginia Hammon

Is MMT a solution, a step in the right direction, or a swizzle? Can MMT and Just Money be friends? Virginia Hammon, author of US Money: What is it? Why we must change, How we can (2018), and (with Mark Pash), How We Pay for a Better World (2019) will explore the similarities and differences in the goals, values, definitions, and worldview of Modern Money Theory and Just Money.

YouTube Recording
Study Stack

patriarchy-and-capitalism-in-the-cases-of-cuomo

Patriarchy and Capitalism in the cases of Cuomo, Weinstein, Cosby, Epstein and R. Kelly with Dr. Harriet Fraad

Capitalism is a profit system with roughly two classes of employers and employees. It mutually shapes and is shaped by patriarchy in which women are not fully human, but lesser creatures designed to fill men’s needs. Both men and women are imprisoned by their roles in patriarchy and capitalism.

YouTube Recording
Study Stack

safe-and-stable-banking

Safe and Stable Banking: Lessons from U.S. History with Ronnie Phillips

A brief discussion of U.S. banking history and how we have achieved safe and stable banking in the past. This will include a review of the National Banking Act and the Federal Reserve Act. The talk will conclude with a discussion of the future prospects for safe and stable banking.

YouTube Recording
Study Stack

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