20th Annual AMI Monetary Reform Conference, 2024

Thursday, 26th of September 2024
10:00 AM CDT
Speakers

Conference video playlist

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The Canadian Monetary Reform Movement and its Connection to the American Monetary Movement
Oct 21, 2024
Joe Polito describes the overlapping forces for monetary reform in Canada and the United States. John Hotson and William Krehm started Canada's Committee on Money and Economic Reform (COMER). John Hotson covers monetary reform fundamentals to worldwide hunger. In the United States, Polito similarly compares the common sense of Benjamin Franklin, who espoused paper money used in the colonies, and Lincoln, creating the Greenbacks for the Civil War. During the mid-20th century, Canadian Gerald McGeer expressed this common sense logic, pointing out that if the government is the issuer of a nation's money, it should not have to borrow that money from creditors at interest and push itself toward bankruptcy.
Privatized Money-Capital to Public Planetary-Capital - A Monetary Reform Strategy In Three Acts
Oct 21, 2024
Bruce Woll, a long-time student of modern Western forms of idolatrous religion, especially market fundamentalism, and an advocate for a new birth of democracy, a demogenesis, approaches monetary reform through the lens of what we revere. Today, we are faced with a stark choice: Either reverence for the mad fantasy of unlimited wealth supremacy for the private few. Or a public mindset of reverence and care for the gift of planetary life. Monetary reform requires a public mindset rooted in reverence for the gift of life and its planetary sources. In his talk, Woll invokes what Marjorie Kelly calls the world-shaping force, for better or worse, of the collective human mind to bring about new ways of being human that embody a new way of using money, for connection, belonging, and healing. Other thinkers Woll references include Amitav Ghosh, Bruno Latour, Naomi Klein, Danielle Allen, and George Lakoff.
Finance and the Tyranny of the Rate of Return
Oct 21, 2024
Robbins describes how our financial system has tried to give investors the highest possible rate of return on investment. Finding the maximum rate of return has squeezed people into two tiers, those who have and those who haven't, and the latter group by percentage of the population is growing. What can be done? A debt out! That is our way forward for action and bringing awareness to this injustice.
The Future of Central Civilization: Historical Cycles and the Path Forward
Oct 20, 2024
Govert Schuller's presentation aims to connect research from different fields to develop a coherent narrative linking psychological, socioeconomic, and political-historical shifts from the Bronze to Iron Age and beyond, till modernity. The goal is to use this deep history to better understand the forecast that our current global system is unsustainable. Historically, shifts to new mentalities and political-economic systems often are accompanied by Dark Ages lasting for centuries. It is suggested that the next transition to a sustainable system may not occur until the collapse of the current one, potentially triggering another Dark Age where new mentalities can emerge.
Hard Talk to Monetary Reformers: Of Public Banking & Sovereign Money and Getting it Done
Oct 17, 2024
Zahid Aziz uses common sense and morality to show the suffering and unfairness of our monetary/banking system. Aziz shares present-day photos of people experiencing homelessness in Singapore, Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, the United States, and other parts of the Western World to show the inhumanity, and he pushes us monetary reformers for not being outspoken enough. The fact that China got it right should stand as an example for all of us and our countries to get it right.
The Capital Order - How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism
Oct 15, 2024
Professor Mattei shares a powerful historical analysis that starts with labor's wages versus owner's profits during and after World War I. Many first-hand resources are shared from Italy and England, showing a collaboration of the financial, monetary, and industrial powers who challenge and use false ideas of economic austerity to overcome the labor movement. Instead of a more equal society, we end with a more top-down society heading to fascism. Mattei also reviews events since WWI with an emphasis on recent U.S. history.
The Fall and Rise of American Finance
Oct 15, 2024
Professors Maher and Aquanno share a deep look at the American Financial System, historically and with a present-day analysis. With the Mattei and the Maher/Aquanno presentations this year, it becomes abundantly clear that in addition to focusing on banking reform, AMI will have to give equal attention to economic colonialism committed by the elite integrating the powers of corporate banking, financial institutions, industrial corporations, and central banks. The presentation ends with a Q & A session on how we might and should progress as a society.
Myths and truths about inflation and hyperinflation
Oct 12, 2024
Hummel continues from last year's AMI Conference, explaining how money flows in the banking system. This talk goes further to cover the causes of inflation and hyperinflation and the role that the government and central bank actions can play in preventing or stopping it.
Temples of Enterprise - Creating Economic Order in the Bronze Age Near East, Part 2
Oct 10, 2024
This presentation/interview follows up on the 2023 Hudson interview at last year's AMI Conference. This presentation focuses on the evolution from early urbanization to full Mesopotamian civilization in the Bronze Age.
The Governance, the Means and Ends of the Ideal Central Bank
Oct 9, 2024
Samuel Fardow Kazen describes how central banks work. He then outlines a scale of governance from being independent to being more politically controlled. Second, he outlines a scale of objectives on whether the central bank mandate is broad or narrow. Third, he outlines a scale of tools that are also narrow or broad in carrying out policy objectives. Kazen further describes these scales, places McMillan, the Riksbanken, Omarova, and MMT on each scale, and then considers the best option.
Capitalism and the Market Economy: Bringing Back Together What Banking Pulls Apart
Oct 9, 2024
Capitalism and the Market Economy—Bringing Back Together What Banking Pulls Apart gives a history of central banks and banking from the time the Bank of England came into existence to the present. Regarding monetary policy, the banker Jonathan McMillan argues that a solvency rule needs to be implemented gradually but with certainty over time for the entire banking system.
An Introduction to the 2024 AMI Conference and Monetary Reform
Oct 22, 2024
00:00:00 - Monetary Detective Introduction 00:01:40 - Joe Polito gives a historical Intro to monetary reform 00:20:42 - Gwen Hallsmith's video on Public Banking: Baking (Banking) for a Better Vermont 00:26:50 - Joe Polito continues, followed by Q&A 00:55:17 - Nick Egnatz on learning about our Monetary system and ideas for change 01:26:21 - Steven Walsh's Intro to AMI Conf. 2024 Speakers and their Presentations 02:00:59 - Howard Switzer blends history with changing our monetary system today and sings, "Change the Money" 02:18:13 - End
Past, Present, and Future Money: Complimentary Currency in the United States
Oct 22, 2024
Gwendolyn Hallsmith gives a tour-de-force review of complementary currencies in the United States from colonial times to the present. Hallsmith defines a complementary currency as a monetary innovation designed to fill a gap when other forms of money and currency have been inadequate. Hallsmith worked with Bernard Lietaer to find unmet needs in the world and match them to underutilized assets. A wide variety of examples are given, from script money to company money to time money and many more.
The Greenback Restoration Act
Oct 23, 2024
Richard DiMare revisits the Need Act and its antecedent history in the 1930s. At that point, there were two versions, one fostered by Irving Fisher in the late 1930s and one by Henry Simons in the early 1930s. DiMare argues that Simon's version was better designed to reach the actual goals of monetary reform. DiMare's work and other similar efforts today are crucial in designing improved and up-to-date legislation.
The Evolution of AMRA: the American Monetary Reform Act of 2024 - Legislation proposed by the AFJM
Oct 23, 2024
John Howell covers the fine details of grooming the Need Act into updated versions of the American Monetary Reform Act, making the latest version more polished, understandable, and usable as legislation ready to be introduced into the U.S. Congress.

2024 International Monetary Reform Conference

The American Monetary Institute’s 20th Conference was a Zoom Conference from Thursday through Sunday, September 26 – 29, 2024. Also, there was a special day, Saturday, September 21, 2024, for new and relatively new people to monetary reform.

Dear Friends,

We proudly announce our 20th Annual AMI Monetary Reform Conference, bringing the world’s leading experts on monetary history and theory together with the world’s most serious advocates of achievable monetary reforms.

The 20th annual AMI Conference will be held on the Zoom platform, which has many advantages over an in-person conference. The dates and (approximate) times will be:

Saturday, September 21: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm Central Time (USA)

Thursday, September 26: 5:30 pm – 10:00 pm Central Time (USA)

Friday, September 27:  5:30 pm – 9:30 pm Central Time (USA)

Saturday, September 28:   8:30 am – 4:40 pm Central Time (USA)

Sunday, September 29:  8:30 am – 6:30 pm Central Time (USA)

The conference will focus on exploring the immoral dimension of the global monetary system and the ethics of reform. We’ll listen to voices from our own and other nations on their monetary circumstances, including suggestions for reform.

The presenters will cover a variety of essential topics:
– how monetary systems have worked in the ancient past and near past to recent times;
– how financial/political systems have worked in the past to create severe problems for society;
– how a fair monetary system might be set up in the future;
– how can you continue learning about this financial and banking situation?

The Registration Donation

The requested donation for the AMI Conference is $35. All monies received go to tech support while the Conference is in session, to meet website and Zoom costs, and a little for advertising. Please be generous, but it is fine if you can’t donate. Whatever your situation, your registration will be valid.

Thanks and warmest regards, hoping to see you on Zoom,

The 2024 AMI Conference  Team
Joe P., Patrick L.R., Govert S., Bruce W., Oscar G.S., Georg S., Mary S., Young K., Janis R., Richard D., Nick E., Elisabeth E., Mike H., Tabitha E., Wisevu Team, Lucille E., Alfonso S., Fernanda L., Gwendolyn H., Steven W.

Conference Schedule

All times Chicago, Central Daylight Time (CDT / UTC -5) (Time Zone Info)

Saturday, September 21
Time Title or Topic Speakers
10:00 am

The University of Money – Detective Wanted

 Steven Walsh
10:10 am First year: This course covers what monetary reform would mean for the government budget, debt, and the role of taxes. Joe Polito is the instructor and will use a Gwendolyn Hallsworth video. Joe Polito
11:05 am Sophomore year covers developing a caring society that includes the individual, community, and earth.   Nick Egnatz
11:35 am Break
11:50 am Junior Year: We learn that other detectives have been working on this mystery. There is gossip on what these detectives will present at the University of Money’s Magical Mystery Tour over the coming long weekend, Sept 26 – 29. Steven Walsh
12:20 pm Senior Year:  Blends monetary reform topics with going for a drink and singing. After all, seniors need some fun along the way.   Howard Switzer 
12:50 pm Closing Q&A
1:00 pm Official Session Over Post Q&A and possible Fantopia showing
Thursday, September 26
Time Title or Topic Thursday Speakers
5:30 pm Open Room, Splash Screen & Music
5:45 pm AMI Report Steven Walsh
6:10 pm Song
6:15 pm AMRA 2024 John Howell
7:45 pm Break
8:00 pm Greenback Restoration Act (GRA) Richard DiMare
9:30 pm Wrap-Up
10:00 pm Session Over
Friday, September 27
Time Title or Topic Friday Speakers
5:30 pm Open Room Conversation
5:38 pm Opening Remarks Steven Walsh
5:45 pm Temples of Enterprise Part 2 Michael Hudson
Breakout Room
7:15 pm Break
7:30 pm Hard Talk – By a Monetary Reformer to Monetary Reformers. Of Public Banking & Sovereign Money and Getting it Done. Zahid Aziz
Breakout Room
9:00 pm Wrap-Up
9:30 pm Session Over
Saturday, September 28
Time Title or Topic Saturday Speakers
8:30 am Open Room Conversation
8:45 am Introduction
8:55 am Song
9:00 am Capitalism and the Market Economy-Bringing Back Together What Banking Pulls Apart (How to Implement a Solvency Rule for Banking) Jonathan McMillan
10:30 am Break
10:40 am The Governance, Means and Ends of the Ideal Central Bank Samuel Kazen
11:40 am Break
11:50 am Analysis of Currency Federations – built upon successful patterns, and often found in history Samuel Hummel
12:50 pm Lunch
2:00 pm The Capital Order – How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism Clara Mattei
3:00 pm Break
3:10 am The Fall and Rise of American Finance Stephen Maher and Scott Aquanno
4:40 pm Song and Wrap-Up
5:20 pm Session over
Sunday, September 29
Time Title or Topic Sunday Speakers
8:30 am Open Room Conversation
8:40 am Song
8:45 am Introduction
9:00 am The Future of Civilization and Money Govert Schuller
10:30 am Break
10:40 am Sovereign Money and the Tyranny of the Rate of Return Richard Robbins
12:10 pm Lunch
1:10 pm Song
1:15 pm From Privatized Money-Capital to Public, Planetary Capital: The Question of Monetary Reform Strategy, in Three Acts Bruce Woll
2:25 pm Break
2:35 pm The Canadian Banking System History & Monetary Reform Joe Polito
3:50 pm Break
4:00 pm History of Complimentary Currencies in the United States Gwendolyn Hallsmith
5:00 pm Song and Wrap-Up
6:30 pm End

Conference materials shared by presenters:

Bruce Woll: Review Essay / Strategy Proposal

Zahid Aziz: PowerPoint of Presentation

Govert Schuller: PowerPoint of Presentation / Extended Text

 

Previous publications and presentations by this years’ presenters:

Aziz, Zahid. 2022. “Sovereign Monetary Reform with Public Banking”. Presentation at AMI Conference, 7 Oct 2022. AMI YouTube Channel. (Link)

Egnatz, Nick. 2023. Money Creation 101: Change Our Money – Change Our World. (Amazon)

Hallsmith, Gwendolyn & Lietaer, Bernard. 2011. Creating Wealth: Growing Local Economies with Local Currencies. Gabriola Island BC, Canada: New Society Publishers. (Amazon)

Howell, John. 2017a. “Who creates money and where does it go?” The Athens Messenger, 25 Jan 2017. (Link)

—–, —–. 2017b. “Why money creation is central to most of the problems faced by society”. Athens, OH: Democracy over Corporations.

Hudson, Michael. 2024. Temples of Enterprise: Creating Economic Order in the Bronze Age Near East. Dresden, Germany: ISLET Press. (Amazon / Review)

Hummel, Samuel. 2023. “AMI Monetary Crosswalk”. Presentation at AMI Conference, 1 Oct 2023. AMI YouTube Channel. (Link) 

Kazen, Samuel. 2023. “The Governance, Means and Ends of the Ideal Central Bank”. Presentation at AMI Conference, 30 Sept 2023. AMI YouTube Channel. (Link)

Maher, Stephen and Scott Aquanno. 2024. The Fall and Rise of American Finance: From JP Morgan to Blackrock. London & New York; Verso. (Amazon)

Mattei, Clara. 2022. The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Amazon)

McMillan, Jonathan. 2015. The End of Banking: Money, Credit, and the Digital Revolution. Zurich, Switzerland: Zero/One Economics. (Amazon)

McMillan, Jonathan. 2024. Capitalism and the Market Economy: Bringing back together what Banking Pulls apart. Zurich, Switzerland: Zero/One Economics. (Amazon)

Polito, Joe. 2022. “Survey of Monetary Reform Groups, Their Accomplishments, And Options For Making Progress”. Presentation at the AMI Conference, 9 Oct 2022. AMI YouTube Channel. (Link)

Robbins, Richard H. & Dowty, Rachel. 2008 (1999). Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism. 7th Edition. New York: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon. (Amazon)

Robbins, Richard. N.d. “Reconceptualizing Money, Debt and Economic Growth”. Academia.edu. (Link)

Robbins, Richard H. 2019. “Confronting the Tyranny of the Rate of Return“. Academia.edu. (Link)

Di Muzio, Tim & Robbins, Richard. 2016. Debt as Power: Theory for a Global Age. Manchester, UK: Manchester UP. (Amazon)

—–, —– & —–, —–. 2017. An Anthropology of Money: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge. (Amazon)

Schuller, Govert. 2020. “Talk About Borders”. Blog, Alliance For Just Money, 23 May 2020. (Link) 

Walsh, Steven & Eckrich, Lucille. 2017. “Money, Schooling and Educators: Creating a Critically-Informed Movement for Monetary Reform and Ecojustice“. Presentation at the 2017 Democracy Convention, Minneapolis, MS. AMI on YouTube. 9 Aug 2017. (Link)

Woll, Bruce. 2022. “Monetary Reform Requires a New Birth of Democracy“. Presentation at AMI Conference, 9 Oct 2022. AMI YouTube Channel. (Link)

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Hosted By: AMI
Date & Start Time: Thursday, Sep 26, 2024 10:00 AM
Duration: 24 hours 0 minutes
Timezone: CDT

Conference Speakers

Bruce Woll
Bruce Woll

Bruce Woll spent 27 years in the exploding computer and information technology industry as a trainer and consultant, from 1984 until his retirement in 2011. During that time he earned a D.Ed. from Northern Illinois University (1997). Bruce has also been a lifelong student of religion, earning a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1978 writing...

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Clara Mattei
Clara Mattei

Clara E. Mattei is Professor of Economics and Director of the CHE, Center for Heterodox Economics, of The University of Tulsa Oklahoma that will be inaugurated in February 2025. She previously taught at the The New School for Social Research Economics Department and has been a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton. Her...

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Dr Stephen Maher
Dr Stephen Maher

Dr. Stephen Maher is an Assistant Professor of Economics at SUNY Cortland and co-editor of The Socialist Register. He earned his PhD from York University in Toronto, Canada, in 2020, and an MA from American University in Washington, D.C., in 2011. Additionally, he holds an appointment as an Adjunct Research Professor at the Institute of Political...

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Dr. Scott Aquanno
Dr. Scott Aquanno

Dr. Scott Aquanno joined Ontario Tech University in 2013. He previously taught in the Political Science/Public Policy Department at the University of Toronto and at the Ross School of Politics at York University in Toronto, Ontario. He holds a PhD in Political Science from York University (2011). He developed his dissertation based on his...

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Govert Schuller
Govert Schuller

Govert Schuller is a Dutch-American author who writes about Jiddu Krishnamurti and Theosophy. He studied philosophy in the Netherlands and studied under the Heidegger scholar Theodore Kisiel at Northern Illinois University. He finished his masters degree at the University of Wales on the topic of narrative identity theory. For 25 years he has been...

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Gwendolyn Hallsmith
Gwendolyn Hallsmith

Gwendolyn Hallsmith is the Executive Director of Global Community Initiatives, a non-profit organization she founded in 2002, and has just celebrated their 20th anniversary. She is the author of six books on sustainable community and economic development and has worked with communities all over the world to foster caring communities, vibrant local...

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Howard Switzer
Howard Switzer

Howard Switzer is a Tennessee architect working in eco-friendly building methods and builds energy efficient, healthy, homes and has presented at the International Materials Research Congress. He is a founding member and was co-chair of the Green Party of Tennessee 2002-2003, serving many terms on the Green Party’s National Committee as a...

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Joe Polito
Joe Polito

Joe Polito has a post-grad degree majoring in Economics, Finance, and Human Resources. In 40 years of teaching, one of his subjects was Economics. In the 80's he was a fan of COMER and its promotion of debt-free money. After the Great Recession, Joe took a deeper dive, and after Kumhof's "

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John Howell
John Howell

John Howell (Ph.D., UCLA, 1968) is a retired physiologist from Ohio University, where he was the recipient of numerous awards for research and for teaching and served as director of the Interdisciplinary Institute for Musculoskeletal Research. He currently serves as a teaching assistant in the Ohio University Department of Classics and World...

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Jürg Müller
Jürg Müller

The Banker and not Jurg Muller will be presenting. The Banker has degrees in Economics and has worked for global banks in Zurich, New York, and London, where he has gained deep insights into banking. Because of this author’s position, Capitalism and the Market Economy is published under a...

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Michael Hudson
Michael Hudson

Michael Hudson is one of the world’s leading financial analysts and is a critic of capitalism, especially in its present form of rampant greed economics. One of Hudson’s specialties is to analyze and explain how the world is dominated by the FIRE sector - Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate. Besides being a present-day scholar, Professor...

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Nick Egnatz
Nick Egnatz

When I first read that our money was created out of thin air by banks when they made loans, I began a desperate search to find out if this could possibly be true. As a Vietnam vet, turned into a peace, social justice and environmental activist, I needed answers. It was probably about fourteen years ago that I fortuitously came across the American...

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Richard DiMare
Richard DiMare

Country: US

Richard DiMare is a graduate of Boston College (1988) and the Massachusetts School of Law (2002), and has been a licensed Massachusetts attorney since 2006. He is interested in only one area of law, that which helps wage-earners, both white and blue-collar, to claim a property right in their wages, thus beginning the long-overdue process of...

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Richard Robins
Richard Robins

Richard Robbins is Distinguished Teaching Professor at the Department of Anthropology at SUNY, Plattsburgh. His books include

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Sam Hummel
Sam Hummel

Sam researches monetary system transformations (past, present, and proposed) with a focus on social, ecological, and economic sustainability. Sam brings strategic lessons from past monetary reform victories into the service of progressive monetary reform today. In addition to leading research for the Money Justice Collaborative, Sam is a...

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Samuel Färdow Kazen
Samuel Färdow Kazen

Samuel Färdow Kazen is the chairman of the association for Digital Democracy and works for Positiva Pengar in Sweden. He has a master's degree in practical philosophy, but has studied cognitive science, psychology, statistics, philosophy, political science and anthropology as well. Samuel has written a report about the monetary system for the...

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Steven Walsh
Steven Walsh

Steven Walsh’s background is primarily in anthropology and education. He has a working knowledge of Spanish and has lived with indigenous people of Alaska. In Alaska, he taught and wrote Alaskan heritage curriculum. In 1985 he came back to Chicago and spent the next 30 years as a curriculum coordinator for Chicago Public Schools and as a School...

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Zahid Aziz
Zahid Aziz

Muhammad Zahid Abdul Aziz, BA Econs (Exeter), MSc IBF (IIUM), is an Islamic Monetary Reformist who wants to assist the world humanity in an age where humanity is drowning in the common problems of life that afflict all human beings without many understanding what is befalling them. Armed with 30 years of experience in the Islamic Muamalat...

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