Growing Recognition that Only Glass-Steagall Can Stop the Detroit Template of Fascist Economics

August 7, 2013 • 9:52AM

"Grotesque Plan for Detroit: Fleece Working People to Save the Banks" is the title of a useful article published Aug. 5 on AlterNet by Ellen Brown, a well-known financial writer, who is head of the Public Banking Institute and runs the website webofdebt.com.

Brown correctly notes that "the Detroit bankruptcy is looking suspiciously like the bail-in template originated by the G20's Financial Stability Board in 2011, which exploded on the scene in Cyprus in 2013." She reviews how derivatives are first in line for payment under the bail-in fraud, and are given "super-priority in bankruptcy" over "unsecured claimants" such as pensions. "Supposedly, the mega-banks pose a systemic risk and Detroit doesn't... The Detroit bankruptcy is establishing a template for wiping out government pensions everywhere. Chicago or New York could be next."

Brown concludes by presenting Glass-Steagall as the answer: "The super-priority of derivatives in bankruptcy needs to be repealed, and the protections of Glass-Steagall need to be restored."