Author: Alicia

A local debate in Alba (Piedmont) organized by a Movisol supporter on Saturday, Nov. 12 turned into a national political debate on Glass-Steagall and American statesman Lyndon LaRouche’s “Four Laws,” and on the paradigm shift after the U.S. elections. The main speaker at the conference on Glass-Steagall was Liliana Gorini, Chairwoman of Movisol, LaRouche’s movement in Italy. She explained to the audience, and the many parliamentarians and state legislators attending, that it was thanks to the LaRouche PAC mobilization since 2008 that Glass-Steagall was introduced in many U.S. state legislatures; in the U.S. Congress; included in both the Republican and Democratic Party Election Platforms, and was also endorsed by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump, Gorini told the assembled Italian political leaders, was elected for two reasons, expressed in his Charlotte, North Carolina speech October 26th. First, because Hillary Clinton would have led to World War III, by imposing a no-fly zone in Syria, and second, because 90 percent of the U.S. population is sick and tired of Wall Street and the existing establishment, and wants Glass-Steagall and a new credit system to revitalize the real economy.

“I happened to be in the U.S., in Boston, when the crisis exploded in 2008, and I saw on the news on TV how many citizens were calling their congressman with this message: ‘If you bail out the speculators, we will not vote for you,'” Gorini said, adding that, “It should be no surprise to anybody that Hillary was voted out; she was paid by Wall Street; endorsed Wall Street openly, and vehemently opposed Glass-Steagall.”

Gorini also quoted U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s speech at the AFL-CIO, where she rejected very clearly Trump’s racist statements, but also said that she is ready to cooperate with him on Glass-Steagall, and against free market treaties.

“Glass-Steagall is the only way to get that unity of the country everyone calls for, after such an harsh campaign, and the same is true for Italy, where there are eight bills for Glass-Steagall at the Italian Parliament, introduced by all parties, from left to right, including the Italian Democratic Party. It is high time to vote for them,” Gorini said.

All the speakers who followed Gorini responded to this, and were speaking to Gorini’s remarks, starting with a state legislator of the Democratic Party, Paolo Allemano, who said, “I did not know Movisol, but I have learned a lot today, particularly about the U.S. I caught the polemical reference to the many bills on Glass-Steagall and the Parliament, including one by the Democratic Party. I believe the timing is right to discuss them.”

Next to speak was a member of Parliament of the Five Star Party, Laura Castelli, who is a member of the Finance Committee at the Parliament, and who turned to Gorini and said, “I have good news: the Five Star Party has introduced an amendment on Glass-Steagall to the debate on the Italian budget, and it will be discussed in three days. We worked a lot on derivatives in the Budget Committee, and when we asked for figures about the derivatives exposure in Italy, we were told that we are not allowed to get them. This gives you the clear picture of how the system is collapsing. We not only demand Glass-Steagall, but also a national bank, nationalizing the Banca d’Italia. The clause added to the Italian Constitution about a balanced budget (Article 81), imposed on us by Europe, cannot possibly be respected, and even the Renzi government had to admit it. We do hope that this debate will go on and lead to change.”

Marta Giovannini, also a member of the national executive committee of the Italian Democratic Party, sent a message from Rome in support of Glass-Steagall. After the conference all politicians, and also the non-elected citizens attending the conference, thanked Gorini for the valuable information on the LaRouchePAC campaign, and said they appreciated very much what she said at the end, calling on each citizen to mobilize for Glass-Steagall, as citizens in the U.S. did also on the JASTA (Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act) law, and to start kicking ass and calling politicians and mayors instead of complaining about the situation in coffee shops.

As Roosevelt said in his Fireside Chat, “Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work.” The conference was covered in the glossy weekly IDEA, in the Gazzetta d’Alba and Targato Cuneo, which has a large readership. 

Stunned press coverage of President-Elect Donald Trump’s support for Glass-Steagall piles on:

* morningconsult.com ran a Nov. 9 article titled, “Where Trump Agrees and Disagrees with Republicans on the Economy.” It starts, “On trade and some banking regulations, however, Trump’s views will be a test for traditionally conservative members of Congress.

“In a speech on urban renewal, Trump called Dodd-Frank a ‘disaster’ but also doubled down on his support on Glass-Steagall, the mothballed law that limited the securities actions of commercial banks. Former President Bill Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed Glass-Steagall. The Republican platform this year endorsed the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall… House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) met with Trump during the general election campaign but stayed mum on the party’s embrace of Glass-Steagall. Other Republicans acknowledged that Trump position runs counter to typical GOP views.

“‘Dodd-Frank has been a disaster, making it harder for small businesses to get the credit they need,’ Trump said in an Oct. 26 speech. “‘The policies of the Clintons brought us the financial recession — through lifting Glass-Steagall, pushing subprime lending, and blocking reforms to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It’s time for a 21st Century Glass-Steagall and, as part of that, a priority on helping African American businesses get the credit they need.'”

* Bloomberg News, Financial Post features on Nov. 9, “‘A Monster in the White House’: Why Donald Trump is a wild card for wary Wall Street,” by Jesse Hamilton and Elizabeth Dexheimer. It reports that Trump said in August he’d issue a temporary moratorium on new regulations… He’s also said he’ll bring back the Glass-Steagall Act’s wall between commercial and investment banking… A series of bewildered questions follows, such as “Wall Street has spent billions complying with Dodd-Frank… having battled over virtually every inch of its terrain during the last six years. What does it mean when Trump says he wants to dump it? … Then continues, “One of the financial initiatives Trump has called for — reinstating the Glass-Steagall separation between bank lending and securities underwriting — would need congressional backing. But Wall Street has been befuddled by Trump’s bashing of rules, while pushing for a regulation that would completely change the banking industry. And bringing back Glass-Steagall hasn’t traditionally been a policy Republicans support.

“It’s time for a 21st Century Glass-Steagall,” Trump says on his website. That phrase, a ’21st Century Glass-Stagall Act,’ also happens to be the actual title of the bill pushed by one of his chief antagonists: [elizabeth] Warren, a Democratic Senator from Massachusetts.”

The article concludes: “‘No one is prepared for a Trump presidency,'” said Tony Fratto, a former assistant Treasury secretary in President George W. Bush’s administration, who now works for banking clients at Hamilton Place Strategies,” who added that Trump’s presidency will bring so many problems that a question like ‘Who is named SEC Chair?’ doesn’t matter as much. We’ll be putting a monster in the White House.”

Grace Macaluso reports for Canada’s Windsor Star on the steel industry’s enthusiasm for Trump’s anti-free trade agenda, quoting Barry Zekelman, CEO of Atlas Tube, who said of Trump’s anti-free trade policy, ‘I think it’s excellent for the steel industry. Finally after decades of abuse and cheating from many foreign companies, we may finally have an avenue to level the playing field.’ Matt Marchard, CEO of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, also welcomed the demise of the TPP. 

Some leading progressive Democrats who either fought Hillary Clinton or backed her out of pragmatic motives, have signaled publicly that they are ready to work with Donald Trump — under certain conditions.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren delivered a speech to the AFL-CIO this afternoon, in which she continued her take-no-prisoners attacks on some of Donald Trump’s actions and attitudes, but at the same time, she acknowledged that “There are millions of people who did not vote for Donald Trump because of the bigotry and hate that fueled his campaign rallies. They voted for him despite hate. They voted for him out of frustration and anger and also out of hope that he would bring change.”

She returned to that same theme later in her remarks, telling the labor leaders that “When President-elect Trump wants to take on these issues, when his goal is to increase the economic security of the middle-class families, then count me in. I will put aside our differences and I will work with him to accomplish that goal,” she said. “I offer to work as hard as I can and to pull as many people as I can into this effort.”

Rep. Keith Ellison, co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, made the same point in an interview with USA Today: “If the Democratic Party is not clear as crystal on the side of the working man and woman of America, some opportunistic politician is going to pick up that mantle and create confusion. I don’t think anyone can deny that Trump tried to sound like an economic populist… We need to address the needs of people who have been living in stagnation.”

USA Today quoted Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, who emphasized that progressive Democrats have repeatedly warned that Republicans could outflank Democrats on trade, jobs, Wall Street reform, and corporate greed.

“This race should not have been so close,” she complained, “and Democrats will lose in the future  over and over if they don’t go through a serious ideological shift and follow Elizabeth Warren’s lead, fighting against the rigged economy in a truly authentic and real way.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders joined Warren and Ellison in pledging to work with Trump so long as he sticks to his campaign promises to create jobs, build infrastructure, and boost wages. 

After being informed of the results of the U.S. Presidential election, Jacques Cheminade, a French presidential candidate for 2017, made a short video statement on Nov. 9. A transcript of his remarks are below.

“The result of the U.S. election is a groundswell. It marks the rejection of the policy of Washington and Wall Streets, and of their incompetence and their constant social injustice.

“The voters therefore chose Trump, for want of a better candidate. They don’t believe he has the leadership qualities and the character to lead the United States, but they were given no other choice to express their rejection. Hillary Clinton self-destroyed by appearing as the candidate of Wall Street and of the corrupt circles in Washington, and as a warmonger supported by the neocons.

“In this situation, our American friends will tell the President elect: ‘Both the Republican and the Democratic parties decided to implement Glass-Steagall, (that is, the banking separation which François Hollande did not applied in France). You said you would do it. We call upon you to keep your promise.’ That’s what they will have to say to the President elect. And then, drawing upon the profound discontent of the American people, they will demand a different policy, one consistent with the Founding Fathers of the United States and with the dialogue of nations, with detente and understanding and cooperation among nations and peoples.

“In France, I can think I can be the catalyst of this discontent, provided you support me. We must not seek a Donald Trump, or a Marine Le Pen in France, to express this discontent. We need a National Unity, but one that embodies the spirit of the National Resistance Council, of Gaullism (of the Free French), of social Christianity, the spirit of Jaurès’ socialism which the socialists of today no longer represent.

“I shall fight to make that happen in France, at a time when the international situation affords us the extraordinary opportunity to finally be ourselves, to rediscover our memory and represent the party of the future, not one which says: things were better yesterday, but which says: it must be better tomorrow.”

In statements on the election victory of Donald Trump, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Member of the European Parliament for the Italian Five Star Movement (M5S) Marco Zanni both attribute it to a rejection of the political establishment, most especially its failed economic policy.

Corbyn wrote: “Many in Britain and elsewhere will be understandably shocked by Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. Presidential election, the rhetoric around it and what the election result means for the rest of the world, as well as America. Trump’s election is an unmistakable rejection of a political establishment and an economic system that simply isn’t working for most people. It is one that has delivered escalating inequality and stagnating or falling living standards for the majority, both in the U.S. and Britain. This is a rejection of a failed economic consensus and a governing elite that has been seen not to have listened. And the public anger that has propelled Donald Trump to office has been reflected in political upheavals across the world.

“But some of Trump’s answers to the big questions facing America, and the divisive rhetoric around them, are clearly wrong. I have no doubt, however, that the decency and common sense of the American people will prevail, and we send our solidarity to a nation of migrants, innovators and democrats. After this latest global wake-up call, the need for a real alternative to a failed economic and political system could not be clearer. That alternative must be based on working together, social justice and economic renewal, rather than sowing fear and division. And the solutions we offer have to improve the lives of everyone, not pit one group of people against another. Americans have made their choice. The urgent necessity is now for us all to work across continents to tackle our common global challenges: to secure peace, take action on climate change and deliver economic prosperity and justice.”

In a message posted on his Facebook page and his Euro Parliament page, Zanni wrote, “last night another strong slap in the face of the global elites — which the U.S.A. is the cradle and headquarters of — took place. I already see comments by scribblers … on the consequences of this vote, loudly asking for the suspension of democracy because American citizens are not able to understand and did not vote for the right thing. Once again, they don’t want to understand that the disasters of our time are not consequences of such events but they are due to policies and designs which they have supported and have led to widespread poverty, inequality, destruction. For the umpteenth time they won’t understand the strong message delivered by voters, by normal people, those who live in their skin with everyday problems and who want a change. Let us wait for the referendum in Italy, the elections in France and Germany and eventually in our country. And more slaps in the face will come.”

Zanni spoke at the June 25-26 Schiller Institute Conference in Berlin where he called for implementing Glass-Steagall banking separation in Europe. 

In statements on the election victory of Donald Trump, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Member of the European Parliament for the Italian Five Star Movement (M5S) Marco Zanni both attribute it to a rejection of the political establishment, most especially its failed economic policy.

Corbyn wrote: “Many in Britain and elsewhere will be understandably shocked by Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. Presidential election, the rhetoric around it and what the election result means for the rest of the world, as well as America. Trump’s election is an unmistakable rejection of a political establishment and an economic system that simply isn’t working for most people. It is one that has delivered escalating inequality and stagnating or falling living standards for the majority, both in the U.S. and Britain. This is a rejection of a failed economic consensus and a governing elite that has been seen not to have listened. And the public anger that has propelled Donald Trump to office has been reflected in political upheavals across the world.

“But some of Trump’s answers to the big questions facing America, and the divisive rhetoric around them, are clearly wrong. I have no doubt, however, that the decency and common sense of the American people will prevail, and we send our solidarity to a nation of migrants, innovators and democrats. After this latest global wake-up call, the need for a real alternative to a failed economic and political system could not be clearer. That alternative must be based on working together, social justice and economic renewal, rather than sowing fear and division. And the solutions we offer have to improve the lives of everyone, not pit one group of people against another. Americans have made their choice. The urgent necessity is now for us all to work across continents to tackle our common global challenges: to secure peace, take action on climate change and deliver economic prosperity and justice.”

In a message posted on his Facebook page and his Euro Parliament page, Zanni wrote, “last night another strong slap in the face of the global elites — which the U.S.A. is the cradle and headquarters of — took place. I already see comments by scribblers … on the consequences of this vote, loudly asking for the suspension of democracy because American citizens are not able to understand and did not vote for the right thing. Once again, they don’t want to understand that the disasters of our time are not consequences of such events but they are due to policies and designs which they have supported and have led to widespread poverty, inequality, destruction. For the umpteenth time they won’t understand the strong message delivered by voters, by normal people, those who live in their skin with everyday problems and who want a change. Let us wait for the referendum in Italy, the elections in France and Germany and eventually in our country. And more slaps in the face will come.”

Zanni spoke at the June 25-26 Schiller Institute Conference in Berlin where he called for implementing Glass-Steagall banking separation in Europe. 

BRICS leaders have felicitated the Nov. 8 US presidential election victory of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Congratulating Trump over the phone, China’s President Xi Jinping told him [qutoe]”the two biggest economies in the world share responsibility for promoting global development and prosperity.” He said: “I place great importance on the China-U.S. relationship, and look forward to working with you to uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, with differences controlled in a constructive manner, so as to push China-US relations further forward from a new starting point, better benefiting the peoples of the countries and other countries.”

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted to Trump, saying, “India looks forward to working closely with Trump to take India-US bilateral ties to a new height.””We appreciate the friendship you have articulated towards India during your campaign,” he added, the BRICS Post reported.

Another BRICS leader, South African President Jacob Zuma, felicitating Trump, wrote that “South Africa further looked forward to working closely with the new Administration in the United States in promoting peace, security and prosperity around the world, especially on the African continent,” the BRICS Post reported. 

The stunning election victory of Donald Trump on Tuesday can only be properly understood in the context of global developments that all reflect a powerful popular repudiation of the system of war and usury that has dominated the trans-Atlantic region for the past sixteen years of the Bush and Obama presidencies. This revolt is international in character, and was reflected in June of this year when British voters rejected the European Union in the Brexit referendum. There are reflections of this revolt in Germany, where the Merkel government’s anti-Russia policies are running up against a wall of opposition, including from leading German industrial circles that see trade and cooperation with Russia as an existential requirement.

The pattern extends beyond the significance of the U.S. events alone, which is not to diminish in the least the significance of the revolt of the American electorate against the Wall Street-Washington Establishment. A sizable number of American voters saw Hillary Clinton as a continuity of the bad old policies of the past 16 years, and they furthermore saw her as someone who would bring about a war with Russia that could mean the end of life on this planet as we know it.

The Trump vote was a vote against the danger of war, which came increasingly to be associated with Hillary Clinton’s anti-Putin diatribes throughout the campaign. It was a vote for an overhaul of U.S. economic policies, starting with the reinstatement of Glass Steagall bank separation, which Trump openly embraced during a major campaign speech in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he also warned that Hillary Clinton would start World War III if elected.

The mandate from November 8 is for a renewal of traditional American policies and values, starting with a revival of the real economy, through capital investment in infrastructure and industrial reconstruction.

LaRouchePAC’s special, post-election webcast from November 9, featuring remarks from Lyndon and Helga Zepp-LaRouche.

Lyndon and Helga LaRouche delivered a strong message in a dialogue with colleagues on Nov. 9, which was broadcast on LPAC-TV as a special post-election webcast. Mr. LaRouche called for a New Deal for the Universe, which involves a revival of the U.S. space program, in partnership with nations like China, which have continued with mankind’s extra-terrestrial imperative, as the United States, under President Barack Obama, effectively shut down the once great U.S. space program. Both Lyndon and Helga LaRouche emphasized that the moment has arrived, where mankind must look beyond mere national interests to the interests of mankind as a whole. “We need to reach out to see mankind in a broader light, by extending the power of mankind into the universe,” Mr. LaRouche declared.

There is a global movement in the direction of such profound ideas and challenges. It is reflected in the Chinese leadership in space exploration, and in the growing Chinese-Russian-Indian collaboration on the development of the Eurasian region through great infrastructure projects. It is only in the context of those global, profound changes that the full import of Tuesday’s vote can be properly situated. The repudiation of the old, dying system by an outpouring of American voters is a starting point, but no guarantee. That will take work, but the path has been launched.

Meeting yesterday in St. Petersburg for the 21st Regular Meeting of Russian and Chinese Heads of Government, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev laid out a vision of “win-win” cooperation, to strengthen their strategic partnership through a stunning array of bilateral cooperation agreements.

Following their private discussions, the two leaders were joined by cabinet-level ministers and deputy ministers, as well as CEOs of major Russian firms, who signed agreements with Chinese government officials. Energy (including nuclear), trade and investment, science and technology, culture, infrastructure building, and security/anti-terrorism cooperation were just some of the areas in which cooperation agreements were signed.

“We have discussed practically all key issues of economic, investment, and social cooperation between our countries,” Medvedev said in the press conference following the bilateral meeting. “Russia and China are bound by strategic partnership and cooperation. We are truly friends. We share a common approach to many global issues,” work together in many multilateral organizations—the United Nations, G20, BRICS, and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), “and [we] implement large projects, including the alignment of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road Economic Belt.”

The regular meetings held between the two heads of government, Medvedev said, “are really quite original, in the sense that we have no such mechanism in place with any other country. They fulfill the very important function of giving concrete substance to our relations and offer us the opportunity to discuss promising projects as part of our comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.”

In an interview with TASS published Nov. 6, Li Keqiang echoed Medvedev’s sentiment, emphasizing that China’s and Russia’s collaboration in organizations such as APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation), BRICS, and G-20, “has major importance in promoting sustainable recovery of the global economy, improving global economic management, and building an innovation-based, dynamic, interdependent, and inclusive global economy.” As members of the UN Security Council, he added, both are making major efforts to ensure that the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and “basic rules of international relations” are respected, “to find political solutions to the pressing international and regional problems, and to promote a more fair and balanced world order.”

As a sign of the depth of their cooperation, the Russian Prime Minister announced that he and Li agreed to set up a fifth inter-governmental commission that will deal with cooperation between Russia’s Far East and China’s northeastern region. In his remarks to TASS, Li had emphasized the importance of going beyond the governmental level to expanding cooperation at the interregional level. The establishment of this new commission, Medvedev said, “is evidence of the extent of our practical cooperation. The global economic situation is far from straightforward today, and this has affected our bilateal balance too. We have prepared a large package of documents that reflect the current state of relations in our partnership and signal new stages in developing the trade, economic, social, and humanitarian ties between our countries.”

Li affirmed that trade and economic cooperation between the two governments will be “comprehensively developed. It is necessary to take measures to restore and expand bilateral trade, and at the same time encourage mutual investments and production cooperation.” China welcomes, he said, investments of “strong enterprises from Russia… It is important to establish the guiding role of major strategic projects,” and at the same time support participation of small and medium-sized companies.

With only a few hours remaining before the Presidential election in the United States, the cover of the current Time Magazine captures the mood in the country about the election process: Hillary and Trump are shown holding a sign reading “The End Is Near.”        

November 14, 2016 cover image of Time magazine.

But all things are not equal in this election. Nearly everyone is trying to figure out who is the lesser of two evils, as the press harps on the “totally divided nation.” But Lyndon LaRouche has made clear in the past weeks that the nation is in fact not divided — there is near unanimity in the hatred of Wall Street; the demand for Glass Steagall to crush the “too-big-to-fail” speculative monsters on Wall Street; hatred of the perpetual wars we have fought under Bush and Obama; hatred of the open planning for a nuclear confrontation with Russia and China; hatred for the disintegration of the US productive economy and the nation’s infrastructure; hatred for the drug epidemic which has torn families apart and destroyed the lives of millions of Americans, even while Obama preaches drug legalization; and, most of all, hatred for Obama. What is missing is a positive vision of what America can be, for itself and for the world.        

It is this gap in people’s vision which the program presented by LaRouche, his Four Laws, is designed to fill, to restore optimism to a demoralized nation. And there are signs across the country that this concept is awakening the American people to this great task, at a great moment in history. The majority of the American people want Glass Steagall; the leaders of industry want access to credit, to produce and to create jobs; the scientific leaders of the nation are prepared to restore American leadership in space, in fusion power development, and to teach a new generation of scientists. This is the inspiration the nation needs to rise above the degenerate political leadership and degenerate culture which has descended upon the country, and to restore the Hamiltonian policies which made this a great nation. We can, and must, restore that role today. With truly great leaders now running Russia and China, who are already building the rest of the world through win-win cooperation in science and development, the U.S. simply needs to join this new paradigm, and drive it forward, rather than threatening to blow it up.        

Any effort to achieve this revolutionary shift in America must begin with the defeat of Barack Obama and his clone (or worse), Hillary Clinton. Even today, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announced that 300,000 troops in Europe are to be placed on “high alert” to prepare for a war with Russia, while Hillary continues to rant that Russia and the KGB are threatening the western world, and are the cause of her potential loss in the presidential race. Even the Green candidate for President, Jill Stein, who opposes Trump on nearly everything, agrees with him that Hillary’s announced plans for no-fly-zones in Syria “amounts to a declaration of war against Russia,” and warned citizens that “in this election, we are not only deciding what kind of world we will have, but whether we will have a world or not going forward.” This is, of course, the warning that Lyndon LaRouche has been making since the systemic and escalating takeover of government policy by London and Wall Street following the assassination of John Kennedy.        

There will be no pause, no “honeymoon” for whoever gets elected on Tuesday. LaRouche today emphasized that “we are heading into a big crisis – a very big crisis.”  The population is enraged at the collapse of the nation and will demand real solutions immediately. Ending Obama’s criminal warfare, implementing Glass Steagall, cannot wait for the new government in January. The population is ready to act, and must act, immediately