Critical of the burden of debt on an individual and corporate level, both private and public, EDM 1515 proposes the creation of money for public infrastructure projects such as schools, hospitals or transport.

EDM 1515 states that the share of interest-free money (cash and coin or M0) has fallen dramatically compared to the total amount of money in circulation as a proportion of GDP.� This means that the power to issue credit has effectively been privatised to the advantage of the banks but to the detriment of the economy.

EDM 1515 also suggests that the Treasury monitor the proposed process of creating public money to see whether it provides a viable alternative to privatisation.

Austin Mitchell MP has been a long standing advocate of monetary reforms which he publishes on http://www.austinmitchell.co.uk/new/index.htm

The EDM has a remarkable precedence in Captain Henry Kerby MP's Motion of December 22nd 1964 that proposed to restore the power to issue money to the Crown.� The document can be found on http://www.intraforum.net/money/forum/actions/precedence.htm

Financing public sector investment with the creation of interest-free money (M0) has been the concern of an increasing number of groups and individuals who have come together at meetings of the Forum for Stable Currencies at the House of Lords.� One such meeting initiated a report entitled New Money Amendment published by the New Economics Foundation which served as a basis for EDM 1515.� This report is available on http://www.intraforum.net/money/forum/actions/new_money.htm

At the time of increasing anti-globalisation protests, where the Government is planning to give up the sovereignty to issue its currency altogether, EDM 1515 serves also as a reminder that 'Britain plc' has a unique role to play between American shareholder values and EuroLand under the unaccountable control of the European Central Bank.

EDM 1515 could be the beginning of monetary reform throughout Europe.

This house, recognising that the huge expansion of bank lending and the decline of the note issue as a proportion of available money has meant that the seigniorage return to government and the proportion of debt free money have both fallen heavily as proportions of GDP ensuring that credit has effectively been privatised, to the enormous benefit and profit of the banks and the increase in the debt burden on every individual and urges the Government to redress the balance back to the people by instructing the Bank of England to create credit to be used, exclusively to finance necessary public investment in schools, hospitals, transport, police, social services and defence so that the People�s Credit can be used for the People�s Purposes not for private enrichment and bank profit and to ensure that the heavy extra costs of financing public projects by the Public Finance Initiative or Public Private Partnerships is massively reduced, while enabling more public sector investment to be embarked on to stimulate employment and economic growth, and further urges the Treasury to review and report on the benefits and procedures of increasing the proportion of debt free money and of using the public credit to achieve the public purposes of high economic growth and full employment in an economy where both have suffered as the burden of debt, private and public, have increased.

http://edm.ais.co.uk/

http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=1515

http://www.intraforum.net/money/forum/actions/precedence.htm

FINANCE FOR PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE

Bill Powell [email protected] (5th December, 2001.)

Introduction - The Problem

Government finds it very difficult to finance the construction of public infrastructure. A classic case is the Jubilee Line (and its extension to Canary Wharf) that suffered years of stop-start delays, muddle and cost over-run. Yet Don Riley shows in his book 'Taken For a Ride' that the effect of building the line has been to increase property values several times the cost of its construction.

The presence of the line improves economic activity in the vicinity, as does any investment that improves the exchange of goods, skills, or best practice. There is a continuous improvement in prosperity of the neighbourhood so long as the new tube line serves its community. The problem for government is to recognise this and to capture enough of this benefit to build and maintain the line.

The Conventional Solution - Bonds & Taxes

The usual solution is for government to raise the money from the public by selling bonds on which it pays interest. The money raised from the sale of the bond comes from that which is already in circulation. The economic benefit of the line should increase the tax revenues that flow into the treasury sufficiently to cover the interest and repayments due on the bond.