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International mobilization to restore Glass-Steagall
Panos Kammenos Calls Glass Steagall; New Deal and Marshall Plan for Greece and Europe
10 December 2013
(LPAC)—An impassioned call for the implementation of Glass Steagall in Greece, Europe and the United States was delivered by a major opposition leader in an address before the Greek Parliament. This call was made on 8 December by Mr. Panos Kammenos, leader of the Independent Greeks, who had just returned from Washington where he spent a day meeting Congressmen calling for the restoration of Glass Steagall in the United States as the best way of aiding Greece and Europe. Mr. Kammenos’s speech was on the occasion of the Greek Government submission of the 2014 national budget which narrowly passed with a majority of only three votes. Watch Mr. Kammenos Recent Statement to LPAC TV Denouncing the budget as serving the interest of the banks, Kammenos pointed to the fact that Greeks have to pay no less than 430 billion euros in new debt, pointing out that since the bailout began lenders have earned more than 50 billion euros in interest payments alone. National sovereignty, he charged, has been turned over the banks. He said that when Greece entered the European Economic Community in 1979, it was joining a community of nations based on free consent, equal partnership and mutual respect. It was a community of nations and not community banks. He called for the launching of a resistance movement across Europe and the United States. He referred to the crisis of the 1930’s when Americans were fortunate to have a very great leader, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who implemented the New Deal which pushed bankers to the side and supported the rights of the citizens. Despite being hindered by polio and in a wheel chair, Kammenos said, Roosevelt brought his vision to the country and through reasonable taxation, transformation of the pubic sector and acting for the benefit of the national sovereignty of the country and not for the benefit of the profits of the banks Referring to FDR’s famous four Freedoms, Kammenos said this New Deal served the four freedoms outlined in Franklin Roosevelt’s famous speech where he declared: The first is freedom of speech and expression everywhere in the world which is a freedom which is now being trampled. He then outlined the attack on himself for his outspoken attacks on the policies of the memorandum including the suspension of his parliamentary immunity. The second principle, was freedom from want, from poverty and the need to create worldwide economic conditions that will secure to every nation a healthy and peaceful life for its people. The state, as in most liberal societies, has an obligation to protect the poor, to nurse the sick who are unable to pay health insurance and to protect its citizens and their rights. The third principle is freedom from fear. He then pointed to his fellow parliamentarians, and other leaders including trade unionists who are attacked by the government and slandered in the pro government media. At the center of the New Deal was the implementation of the Glass Steagall Act to beat back the irresponsibility of the banks, referring directly to Senators Carter Glass and Henry Steagall who in 1933 brought legislation to President Roosevelt to separate operation of commercial banks with those banks which make transactions called casino capitalism. Referring to his December 3rd lobbying in Washington, Kammenos said that in the United States, many Congressman and Senators, some of who he was fortunate to meet, back legislation to restore Glass-Steagall, because if Greece explodes so will Italy, Spain , Portugal, France , Germany and the United States. He then declared that the policy of the Independent Greeks (the party to which is Kammenos is President), especially in the upcoming European elections is to implement Glass Steagall in Greece along with European parties and citizens and politicians to mobilize the citizens to vote in favor the logic of putting the interest of the people and society ahead of the interests of the banks. He then called for a New "Marshall Plan” for Europe, pointing to the fact that the Marshall Plan after World War II, unlike the current European Union, was a real alliance between the United States and 16 European nations which extended financial aid without consideration of interest so Europe was able to rebuild its economy. Such a policy is needed now for Greece and all of Europe. He said a Marshall Plan is what Greece needs to develop its natural resources which are now being sold to pay the debt. He called on Greece to hold discussions with both the United States and Russia in implementing a New Marshall Plan. |