By Nancy Spannaus
Jan. 21, 2021—I am pleased to announce that I will be giving a talk on my book Hamilton Versus Wall Street this coming Saturday, Jan. 23, at 6 PM Central (7 PM Eastern) hosted by the College of Complexes. The event will be online and open to anyone, anywhere, who wants to tune in and participate.
The zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81216467150.
College of Complexes is a free speech group which hosts open, and often controversial, discussions weekly, and has done so since its founding in Chicago in 1951. The presentation and discussion are scheduled to last approximately two hours.
The promo put out by the College states: “If you are concerned about getting our economy out of its current crisis, this is the book for you. Spannaus argues that if Alexander Hamilton were alive today, he would be Wall Street’s biggest critic, and she proceeds to show how his principles for economic growth, later known as the American System of Economics, were the exact opposite of those speculative practices of today, how they were applied in our history, and how we might apply them now.”
My Talk
I plan to concentrate my talk on the basic conceptions and achievements of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton’s political economy, and that of those who took up his ideas to further elaborate the American System of Economics. Few topics could be more important in this period of dire social, health, and economic crisis in which we find ourselves at the beginning of the Biden Administration.
Hamilton’s economic principles were elaborated in his 1791 Report on Manufactures, a state paper prepared for Congress to address how the fledgling United States could deal with the lack of supplies vital for its survival. In characteristic fashion, Hamilton approached this topic by first elaborating on the question of how a nation achieves prosperity. A substantial “theoretical” section provides crucial insight into the basis for his economic thinking; it is then followed by extensive “practical” proposals for building the country in the face of the ongoing economic warfare being waged by Great Britain in the name of “free trade.”
In the recent period, many Americans have turned, almost in desperation, to studying “what went wrong” in our history to create the current crisis. This is shown by the popularity of books such as Kurt Anderson’s The Unmaking of America, and studies of the history of slavery.
Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics addresses this question from the standpoint that a Hamiltonian political economy is essential for our prosperity and unity. I addressed this question directly in Chapter 10, which is entitled “Hamilton’s Political Economy is Key to Saving our Constitutional Republic.”
Spread the word. And tune in Saturday evening at 7 PM Eastern (6 PM Central) at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81216467150
You can see other talks by Nancy Spannaus on the americansystemnow you-tube channel. Subscribe now.
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