"Rebuild the Nation with a New Reconstruction Finance Corporation" Zoom Town Hall Oct 19, 2022
Channel: Coalition for a National Infrastructure Bank
Date: 2022-10-21

Emmy Award-winning author Steven Fenberg, Public Banking  Institute chair and author Ellen Brown, and macroeconomist Alphecca Muttardy addressed a timely NIB Zoom presentation on October 19, 2022. 

“Rebuild the Nation with a New Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

This compelling forum examined the primary role the Roosevelt era Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) played in rescuing the nation from  the Great Depression and transforming industry to win WWII. Today, our industrial supply chains are broken and the nation’s infrastructure is antiquated  and in disrepair. 

Just two apparent symptoms are inflation from insufficient supplies and the collapsed Jackson, Mississippi, water system. Congress recently  passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but the legislation is inadequate to fix  everything that’s needed. Inspired by RFC strategies to halt the Great  Depression and win World War II, new legislation to create a $5 trillion National  Infrastructure Bank—HR3339—is gaining support in Congress.  

Steven Fenberg is the author of “Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism  and the Common Good,” the informative story of the RFC’s chair. Fenberg was  also the executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary  “Brother, Can you Spare a Billion?,” which offers an in-depth look into the RFC’s  vital contributions. 

Public Banking Institute Chair Ellen Brown, who is the author  of “Web of Debt,” will compare the RFC and the proposed National Infrastructure  Bank (NIB). 

Alphecca Muttardy, former International Monetary Fund senior  economist, will describe how the NIB works. 

The three experts will show how a  new infrastructure bank modeled on the RFC can with no new federal taxes or  debt rebuild infrastructure and supply chains and respond to inflation and  recessions. 

A lively dialogue among the speakers, engaged the listeners into a riveting discussion overall.

Speakers: 
Alphecca Muttardy, professional economist, former International Monetary  Fund Senior Economist—Fairfax, Virginia 
Steven Fenberg, author of “Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones, Capitalism  and the Common Good” and executive producer of “Brother, Can you Spare  a Billion?”—Houston, Texas 
Ellen Brown, author of “Web of Debt” and other books and articles; Founder  and Chair of the Public Banking Institute—Los Angeles, California. 
Moderator: Julie Olsen, MBA, small business operator—Anchorage, Alaska