Garda Ghista, head of the World Prout Assembly, asked me to draft an open letter on economic democracy to the leaders who will be attending the November 15 Summit. Please review and get any comments to her. I think it would be good to get this done in the next 24-hours so the draft can be circulated on the internet for publication and signatures. Garda's email address is on the CC line.

Following is an Open Letter to the Political Leaders Gathered at the November 15 Washington, D.C., “Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy”:

The International Monetary System

Should Serve the People of the World, Not Enslave Them.

We congratulate the leaders of the G-20 who will gather in Washington, D.C., on November 15 for the “Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy.” The future of mankind and planet Earth depend on your decisions.

Such a summit is surely needed, but not just to fix the catastrophically failing world financial system. No matter how much tinkering around the edges the leaders might engage in, we all recognize that nothing worthwhile will have been accomplished without a paradigm shift in the relationship between finance and the daily lives of the citizens of the globe.

The world today is suffering under the crushing burden of a debt-based monetary system operated by privately-owned banks. The system’s main characteristic is to channel wealth upward from those who work for a living into the hands of those who lend money. Financial profits are then supposed to work themselves downward through investment and spending. It’s known as “trickle-down” economics, and it has failed. This is the root cause of today’s crisis.  

We demand that this system be changed into one that reflects real economic democracy. In the words of President Abraham Lincoln in his December 3, 1861, address to Congress: “Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” The monetary system should reflect these truths through the following characteristics:

• Monetary systems should be controlled by sovereign national governments whose main economic function is to assure adequate purchasing power to consume an optimal level of production whereby the basic needs of every person in the world community are satisfactorily met;
• Income security, including a basic income guarantee, should be a primary responsibility of national governments in the economic sphere;
• The primary function of international finance should be to assure fair transferability of value among national economic systems, utilizing, to the extent possible, fixed and transparent exchange rates. Speculative attacks on sovereign currencies should be outlawed forever;
• Private creation of credit for speculative purposes should also be abolished, and capital markets should be regulated to assure fairness, openness, and freedom from predatory practices;
• Every national government should have the right to spend low-cost credit directly into existence for public purposes—including infrastructure, environmental protection, education, and health care—without incurring new debt;
• The physical backing for every currency in existence should be the actual production of national economies;
• National government should treat credit as a public utility—like clean air, water, or electricity—and should assure its availability to all citizens as their social heritage and as a basic human right;
• National credit policies should favor the development of sustainable local and regional economies, of small business, and of family farming;
• Credit should be regulated in order to encourage maximum ownership of property by individuals without artificially inflating its price;
• The private banking system should be utilized to provide liquidity for business operations but would not be needed in a properly-constituted system to finance consumption or capital formation;
• An International Bankruptcy Commission should be formed and charged with producing a clean financial slate by reviewing all existing debt and determining what can reasonably be repaid, restructured, or forgiven.

It is time to assure that the world financial system cease being operated for the benefit of the few over the many and begin to reflect the spiritual principle that the Earth is equally free for all of God’s creation.

The undersigned persons subscribe to these principles:

Richard C. Cook

 up today.