UK Green Party signs up for monetary reform

Now here's some good news. The Green Party in the UK has just voted in favour of including monetary reform in their program. Here are the main proposals:

a)All national currency (both in cash and electronic form) will be created, free of any associated debt,by a National Monetary Authority (NMA) that is accountable to Parliament

b) The 1844 Bank Charter Act will be updated to prohibit banks from creating  national currency in the form of electronic credit. To finance their lending, investment or proprietary tradingactivities, banks will have to borrow or raise the necessary national currency from savers and investors;

c)The NMA will be mandated by law to manage the stock of national currency sothat it is sufficient to supportfull employment, while avoiding general inflation in prices, and taking into account the development of local currencies (Ref.paragraph EC 678);

d)Any new money created by the NMA will be credited to the account of the Government as additional revenue, to be spent into circulation in the economy in accordance with the budget approved by Parliament;

e)The members of the NMA will be appointed –for fixed terms -by a Select Committee of Parliament;
 
f)The independence and integrity of the NMA will be assured by law requiring NMA members and staff to be free of any conflict of interest; mandating full transparency of NMA decisions; and prohibiting lobbying or undue influence of NMAmembers or staffby government, financial institutions, corporations or any other private interest

This really is precisely the sort of move that we all need. They produced a nice background document that makes the case very nicely. You can download it here.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't make the rest of the mainstream press. Nothing so far in the Guardian or on the BBC for example.

I wondered whether the UK Green party was the first mainstream political party to include monetary reform as part of its program. But it turns out that the US Green Party beat them to it. Back in 2008, the US Green Party had already approved of the following elements that are part of their current platform.

15. Nationalize the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, reconstituting them and the Federal Reserve Systems Washington Board of Governors under a new Monetary Authority Board within the U.S. Treasury. The private creation of money or credit which substitutes for money, will cease and with it the reckless and fraudulent practices that have led to the present financial and economic crisis.

16. The Monetary Authority, with assistance from the FDIC, the SEC, the U.S. Treasury, the Congressional Budget Office, and others will redefine bank lending rules and procedures to end the privilege banks now have to create money when they extend their credit, by ending what's known as the fractional reserve system in an elegant, non disruptive manner. Banks will be encouraged to continue as profit making companies, extending loans of real money at interest; acting as intermediaries between those clients seeking a return on their savings and those clients ready and able to pay for borrowing the money; but banks will no longer be creators of what we are using for money.

17. The new money that must be regularly added to an improving system as population and commerce grow will be created and spent into circulation by the U. S. Government for infrastructure, including the "human infrastructure" of education and health care. This begins with the $2.2 trillion the American Society of Civil Engineers warns us is needed to bring existing infrastructure to safe levels over the next 5 years. Per capita guidelines will assure a fair distribution of such expenditures across the United States, creating good jobs, re-invigorating the local economies and re-funding government at all levels. As this money is paid out to various contractors, they in turn pay their suppliers and laborers who in turn pay for their living expenses and ultimately this money gets deposited into banks, which are then in a position to make loans of this money, according to the new regulations.

So, what will it take for more Green parties in Europe to include reforming the monetary system in their programs? Or even better, how about political parties of all persuasions signing up? For me, none of these ideas should be considered to be political. They are just good sense.

With Monnaie Honnête, the movement that we are in the process of launching in France,  I hope to be able to do my bit towards giving voters a real choice at next year's elections for the European Parliament.