By Nancy Spannaus April 5, 2018–National banking in the United States built us into an industrial giant. It derives specifically from Alexander Hamilton’s concept of the First Bank of the United States, a partially government-owned credit institution devised to unify and build the young nation. The fact that most Americans […]
March 20, 2018–Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal model is still relevant today, Rep. Marcy Kaptur recognizes with her 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act (H.R. 2206). Read about a part of that model below. March 18, 1933 began the second phase of FDR’s “Hundred Days” program, the one devoted explicitly to […]
By Angela Vullo March 4, 2018–When parents and grandparents are attending nonstop funerals for their children and grandchildren, something in our society has gone awry. As Shakespeare put it, “The time is out of joint.” It reflects some major dislocation in our country, and it’s time we got to […]
By Nancy Spannaus December 23, 2017—One of the most egregious aspects of the recently passed stop-gap Federal spending bill is its treatment of those whose lives have been brought to ruin by the recent hurricanes and wildfires. After having increased the proposed new appropriation for additional disaster relief to Florida, […]
By Nancy Spannaus Nov. 30, 2017–Those attacking President Trump’s efforts to achieve cooperation with Russia are not only reckless liars, putting our country and the world in danger; they are abandoning the noblest traditions of United States statecraft. From our fight for independence, through to the assassination of President Kennedy, […]
Nov. 29, 2017—“Are there any rules for the banking industry that should be made stronger?”, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) pressed Federal Reserve Chairman nominee Jerome Powell, during his confirmation hearing at the Senate Banking Committee on Nov. 28. “There are no places that we’re lacking,” he said. He supported rewriting […]
By Pamela Lowry On December 1, 1936, Franklin Roosevelt gave the keynote address at the opening of a major pan-American conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The world situation was grim, with fascism already in power in Italy and Germany, and threatening to take over Spain, through the conflict known […]
By Stuart Rosenblatt Nov. 18, 2017–The following report is a brief summary of potential transformative outputs of a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), as outlined in a Draft Bill for such a bank now circulating on Capitol Hill. This report compares the results projected from similar outlines of infrastructure projects produced […]
Nov. 8, 2017—Despite the significant measures which President Roosevelt had taken during his first six months in office, he was well aware that it was not enough to prevent horrible privation during the upcoming winter months. So, on Nov. 8, 1933 President Roosevelt signed the Executive Order establishing the Civil […]
By Nancy Spannaus May 20, 2019–George Washington’s “Grand Idea” of uniting the country through developing the Potomac River as the gateway to the West, was the subject of a lively book talk last night. Author Joel Achenbach spoke to a group of approximately 30 people about his book The Grand […]
By Nancy Spannaus May 15, 2019—On May 8, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, under Chairman Peter DeFazio, took a baby step toward increasing Federal spending on vital national infrastructure. It passed out of Committee HR 2440, a bill which would allow the Army Corps of Engineers to utilize the […]
FDR’s TVA Provides a Model for Development
By Nancy Spannaus April 10, 2018–If one had to pick one project initiated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) in his first 100 days which has had the most lasting success, the choice would clearly be the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). FDR announced his intention to procure legislation for the […]