Thanks to wonderful allies Nan Garrett (Georgia Green Party) and Katey Culver and Howard Switzer (Green Party of Tennessee) I had the opportunity to speak to the Green Party national convention in Reading, Pennsylvania in July. I spoke for two hours taking questions from the floor every 15 minutes or so. I felt something new and exciting — a deeper understanding emerging about money and using money in concert with political action. There is a willingness among diverse groups to look at and collaborate on real solutions. I can’t wait to get back out on the road to participate live in the continuing conversation.
Nan sent a follow up letter to the New York Times. I have her permission to share it with you. Thanks, Nan!
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Catherine,
I wanted to thank you again for such a riveting presentation yesterday in Reading. As kids say, you rule! you rock! By the way, I was reading an article in the NY Times, which caused me to respond as you see below….
Nan Garrett
Mon, 16 Jul 2007
From: Nan Garrett
Subject: Economic Populism
To: letters@nytimes.com
I read your article “A New Populism Spurs Democrats on the Economy” by Robin Toner with some skepticism.
The Democrats have talked populist notions decades, yet even when they have some modicum of governmental power, it never seems to translate to real economic power for the People of this nation. They are great at criticizing the
Republicans but their practices are just as elitist, just occasionally with different recipients of their largess.
If you want to check out real economic populism, check out Catherine Austin Fitts and wordpressdevurl.com. Fitts’ background includes Managing Director and member of the Board of Wall Street investment bank Dillon Read & Co. Inc., Assistant Secretary of Housing – Federal Housing Commissioner in the first Bush Administration and President of Hamilton Securities Group, a Washington DC investment bank. Fitts
works with investors who wish to improve the total economic returns of their assets — both their investment returns and the returns to the people, communities and environment impacted by their investments.
Fitts was one of the keynote speakers to the Green Party’s annual meeting this past weekend in Reading, PA, and the Greens seemed to really soak up what Fitts had to say.
Nan Garrett
Jeff:
Can you point me to an article about the situation that I could link to on the current page of the blog?
Thanks!
Catherine
The EPA is the problem, not the solution.
Go to ironmountainmine.com and click on “final report on value of extraction process” near the top of the page. It is the report John Hutchens and I we have been waiting for from Battelle Incorporated. Battelle is a non-profit corporation and one of the worlds premier developers of solvent extraction bio-remediation technologies for acid mine drainage.
The 150 page report spells out in technical terms that Battelle’s extraction process can turn the Acid Mine Drainage flowing out of the old mines on Iron Mountain into drinking water while extracting minerals worth around $17,000.00 dollar per day! Do the math!
We have been waiting over a year for this verification and the reason we (Artesian Mineral Development and Consolidated Sludge, AMD&CSI) are suing the EPA in every federal court. The water released from the EPA’s lime treatment plant is still poisonous and the metals are being stored as high density sludge in a toxic waste dump at the top of Iron Mountain between two earthquake faults. The EPA’s only published plan is to keep treating the AMD as a toxic waste product for the next 3000 years! The EPA is importing 30-40 tons of lime from New Mexico each year for the process.
Instead of allowing our mining partner Ted Arman of Iron Mountain Mines Incorporated to make a profit by cleaning up the Acid Mine Drainage on Iron Mountain near Redding California the EPA has instead slapped a $100 million dollar lean against IMMI even though the original miners ( Mountain Copper Corporation/ Bayer Crop Sciences ) have admitted to and funded all of the liability for the pollution left over from 160 years of low tech mining practices.
As you know Redding has one of the highest unemployment rates in the State. Yet many of the minerals that could be extracted from the AMD are being imported from China. Also many of the valuable minerals such as zinc that are being stored in a toxic dump on top of Iron Mountain could be used to manufacture low cost solar panels and advanced batteries for electric cars. AMD&CSI is also planning on producing enough low cost high tech fertilizer to supply all of the rice growers in Northern California as one of the many value added bi-products of cleaning up the AMD at the Richmond Portal and toxic waste dump at Brick Flats.
It is ironic and telling that the Environmental Protection Agency has decided to hire AIG to run its criminal operation on Iron Mountain instead of allowing local patient holders ( the original patients are signed by Abraham Lincoln ) to turn the green waters coming out of Iron Mountain into pristine water, give a needed boost to the local economy and produce essential green industries that will reduce our addiction to foreign oil while cooling off global warming.
It is also ironic that the only story that the press seems to think is worth reporting about Ted Arman and our legal battle with the EPA is Ted’s desire to construct a huge statue of Jesus on top of Iron Mountain.
Jeff Heaton of Lafayette California, Chief Financial Officer of AMD&CLI
Well, that is a great compliment! Thank you.
Sometimes I think that the history of America is the story of the tinkering class solving all problems and the Wall Street-Washington axis trying to cheat them out of it.
As force ultimately has its limits as a governance system, my money is on the tinkering class.
Financial markets bypass the innovative potetnial of rural America.
The Ethanol bubble aside, there is very little money available to support the kind of innovation that built America’s wealth. Automobiles, airplanes, tractors, washing machines and even paper bags and canning came about because of rural innovation. This innovation grew out of a tinkering class paying close attention to solving practical problems. There is little to support such innovation in rural America today.
From my view as a life-long tinkerer the financial markets no longer reflect wealth creation through practical problem solving. Rather it seems to me (with derivitives and hedge funds and stock buy backs) to be about manipulation of markets in which small percentage gains on huge sums makes a few manipulators very rich without supporting the fundamental innovation that is needed for sustainable wealth creation.
The last bit of hope for me is that there are still people like Cathrine Fitts around who command a place on the trading floor who can speak truth to the manipulators.