Dear rss free blog,
There
were many political upheavals in American history between the Boston
Tea Party in the 18th century and the ones being backed by the far
right today.
Stimulated
by the recent TV bio of Woody Guthrie and the death of folklorist
Bess Lomax Hawes, both once part of the left-leaning Almanack
Singers, I recalled one of their well-known folksongs, dating back to
the very late 19th century.
It got sung first during an earlier economic crisis after William Jennings Bryan
delivered his powerful words, “You shall not press down upon the
brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind
upon a cross of gold,” in 1896 at the Chicago Democratic
National Convention.Of course we now have the Fed to create money.
Bryan
ran against Wall Street and his program went beyond the call for
monetarizing silver. The right to coin and issue money, he thundered,
is a function of government, and should not be decided by bankers.
So
too, he argued, is the taxation of income. It is up to the people to
bear the burden of the costs of government which protects the people.
Bryan
also backed term limits. He stoutly opposed protectionism. He aimed
to get support from what are now the red states. Midwestern voters
then were family farmers who wanted to export their food to the
world, who wanted looser currency than the East Coast bond market
favored, who wanted jobs and protection against foreclosure on their
farms and homes. Here is a key quote:
“There
are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the
well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on
those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to
make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and
through every class that rests upon it.”
The
song the Almanack Singers sang dates from that period. It was less
rhetorical but strong:
I
seen my brothers working, throughout this mighty land
And I
prayed we’d get together, and together take a stand.
Then we’d own
the banks of marble, with a guard at every door
And we’d share the vaults of silver
that the people sweated for.
No,
I am not suggesting storming the Bank of America or even buying silver or a silver ETF. I do not want to
own an ETF at net asset value when I can own a closed-end fund at a
discount. So my suggested new buy is below for paid subscribers.
