Inside Job – part 1
Inside Job – part 2
Inside Job – part 3
Inside Job – part 4
Inside Job – part 5
Inside Job – part 6
Inside Job – part 7
Inside Job – part 8

It’s a great film, but only a starting point for action. It helps people understand some of the basics of how the crisis came about, but it does not attack the problem of centralized banking itself. Early in the film, that tired old line, “too big to fail” is hauled out, but with absolutely no explanation as to why. Systemic risk is the reason, but that too is not explained, save for the specific relationships that caused the current crisis. But there are systemic risks within the current system regardless of the creative financial instruments that were created with the deregulation that has come about since the 1970s.

“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime”
lyrics by Yip Harburg, music by Jay Gorney (1931)

They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob,
When there was earth to plow, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead,
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it’s done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime;
Once I built a tower, now it’s done. Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging through Hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!

Say, don’t you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time.
Why don’t you remember, I’m your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell,
Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum,
Half a million boots went slogging through Hell,
And I was the kid with the drum!

Say, don’t you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time.
Say, don’t you remember, I’m your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?

I started a folder and just dumped ‘em in there – over 300 trax so far. No shortage of the subject where reggae & punk is concerned, I’ll tell ya that! I’ll definitely keep you apprised if/when I make some narrative sense of them.

BTW, picked up Live at George’s last week. I’ll be scanning the covers and labels for my archive and will send them your way in case you want to add them to your post. No need for me to re-rip since yours is damn good quality already!

Josiah Stamp’s quote is a fave of mine, so is Henry Ford’s. They say it all and as you mention in this post, we don’t need “money” at all. We need CURRENCY but as long as we use money and have bankers, that current will be siphoned by them off through INDUCTION. Hard to do justice to this huge issue in a blog post but I think it was a superb rant!!

Released exclusively as a promo to radio stations in 1993 to raise awareness (and funds) for The National Coalition for the Homeless, this is a fascinating compilation of renditions of the E. Yip Harburg/Jay Gorney depression-era classic “Brother, Can You Spare a Time?” The artists featured are a varied bunch that really run the gamut and cover nearly every time period since the track was composed: four tracks from the 30s, one from the 50s, four from the 60s, six from the 70s, two from the 80s and three from the 90s.

DIME ‘93 “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” Day:

1) Tom Waits [1992] (3:40)
2) Abbey Lincoln [1991] (6:42)
3) Bing Crosby & The Lenny Hayton Orchestra [1932] (3:11)
4) Judy Collins [1976] (3:14)
5) Al Jolson [1939] (3:12)
6) Mandy Patinkin [1988] (3:27)
7) Peter Yarrow [1976] (2:29)
Cathy Chamberlain [1976] (5:01)
9) Chad Mitchell [1966] (3:41)
10) Rudy Vallée [1932] (3:37)
11) Odetta & Dr. John [1992] (5:33)
12) The Weavers [1963] (2:38)
13) Pat Hervey and Orchestra [1962] (2:29)
14) Phil Harris and Orchestra [1933] (6:00)
15) Phil Alvin [1986] (4:10)
16) Barbra Streisand [1965] (1:07)
17) Yip Harburg [1970] (2:15)
18) Dave Brubeck [1954] (5:20)
19) Sonny Criss [1975] (2:58)
20) Soprano Summit [1976] (3:00)
21) Phil Donahue – Promo [1993] (0:39)
22) Sally Jessy Raphael – Promo [1993] (0:38)

There are probably several other songs from that era that I could also include, like say Dear Mrs. Roosevelt by Woody Guthrie:

He took his office on a crippled leg, he said to one and all: “You money changin’ racket boys have sure ’nuff got to fall”

Someone also sent me the song Tight Money by Reuben Wilson, and I may come across others, although I promised myself I would stay away from Money for Nothing (Dire Straits) and Take the Money and Run (Steve Miller Band).

You are right about material wealth. That’s why St. Francis gave away his gold fortune and took to being a pauper. He said that accumulation of wealth led to standing armies and all that goes with that. It’s hard to argue.

thank you for a highly informative and seemingly well researched dissertation on the lineage of currency, a brief explanation of our modern banking system, and ultimately, the evolution of the blues. i must admit that i am among those who continually fails to grasp the full complexity of our world banking system, seating me squarely in the circle that both the rothchild brothers and henry ford allude to in their quotes. perhaps having always recognized the inherent evil associated with money, i’ve simply refused to contemplate the system that governs it, for i also recognize that those organizations, along with any behemoth institution that fights to keep it’s self-serving interests in tact, does so through underhandedness and fear mongering.

your comments surrounding ‘community’ are also right on. as people amass material wealth, they then feel a need to protect that in which they’ve invested. in a world where your neighbors are all on a balanced economical playing field, trust, sharing, and camaraderie are the threads that hold them together, creating real ‘community.’ once the playing field becomes uneven, envy, resentment, fear, and paranoia begin to creep in to destroy any true sense of brotherhood.

now that i’ve digested your sermon, i look forward to listening to the music. but where’s the inclusion of the greatest of money/depression/community songs — ‘brother, can you spare a dime?’

The “history of the victors” has placed most of the blame of anti-Semitism on Nazi Germany, but it was everywhere, including the U.S. and Canada. Some people still falsely believe in some form or other of an internationalist Jewish conspiracy, despite how ridiculous it is.

The problem now is that the banking system has its tentacles everywhere, so even “players” who want to opt out don’t have many exits to choose from.

And banking is only one of a host of problems in the “perfect storm” scenario we are facing. The “peak” resource phenomenon (oil in particular, but soil, water, are also problematic, and food production is tied in to all of these), combined with climatic changes, a growing population, and so many other issues, makes for a more unstable world.

That’s why I brought up the whole business of community-building.

When I was growing up, people took community for granted. I mean I could go to the park and play or pick up my sister from school when I was 5 years old. If someone allowed their kids to do that now it would be called “child abandonment” or “abuse” or whatever. But when I was a kid, everyone in the neighbourhood knew who I was and we were all on a first-name basis. We had BBQ’s together, and community events, backyard parties, etc. Fences between yards were not very common.

Somewhere in the 1980s, things began to change. Consumerism was already well established, but it seemed to take on a whole new momentum in the 1980s. This was driven by the rise of the neoliberal global economy that exploded in part because of the final de-commodification of the U.S. dollar when Nixon closed the gold window. This changed the nature of home mortgages and consumer credit and debt. There is a reason they called it the decade of greed. The thing is, most people were not really getting any farther ahead, but they seemed to think they were.

Then in the 1990s it just got worse. I think this is in part where much of the grunge sound in music came from, this underlying angst towards the loss of a mythic “golden age” of post-WWII America. I grew up in Canada, but the situation was similar. We knew the consumerized world was destroying something that we had taken for granted for so long, we just didn’t put a name on it: COMMUNITY!

I moved to the suburbs in 1993 and have watched things get progressively worse. After 16 years in the same house I have had a relationship with only one neighbour. The other day I was sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to change and a car pulled up next to me. The driver smiled. I stared blankly. Then she started laughing and said, “I’m your neighbour.” It took me a few minutes to figure out which house she lived at. I had never seen her before, but I recognized her car.

Her CAR! I recognized her car. I suppose that says it all. We’d better get our shit together pretty quick or we’re going to find things getting a lot more complicated. I wish I could say I believed otherwise, but it seems to me that the financial “meltdown” has not even got going yet.