[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 466]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  WE HAVE TO PUT AMERICA BACK TO WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KUCINICH. We've heard the economic reports, over 10 million 
Americans out of work, 7.2 percent unemployment. Some say that 
unemployment could go to 10 percent. We could be looking at 12 million 
Americans out of work.
  The productive capacity of this Nation is not being used. It's 
withering. We have to put America back to work. Our program actually is 
pretty simple. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Put people back to work with good 
paying jobs.
  How do you do that?
  You go back to that old time religion of FDR reflected in the New 
Deal. He rebuilt America. There's over $1.6 trillion in infrastructure 
needs that are unmet, that can't be met by local or State governments. 
The stimulus package that we hear discussion about does want to do 
something about addressing infrastructure. That's significant. We 
should support that.
  But we also have to look at our experience, and we don't want to be 
TARPed again in this Congress; because this Congress voted for a $350 
billion bailout of banks. I didn't vote for it, but the House and the 
Senate voted for it. And it resulted in the banks using the money, not 
to help people stay in their homes, but in using the money to buy other 
banks, take over other banks. They hoarded the money.
  There is a credit freeze. We cannot--we must take notice of that. I 
know Chairman Frank, Barney Frank, is going to do that with the next 
tranche of TARP money, try to make sure money goes to keeping people in 
their homes. That's a positive step in the right direction. But 
Congress must take note of its experience in the bailout when we're 
fashioning a so-called stimulus package because we want to make sure 
that the money gets to the people who need it the most and it gets to 
people quickly.
  Now, some say that you can do that through tax cuts. Well, actually, 
with people being afraid of the economy getting worse, they're holding 
on to their money. Look at the Christmas retail returns. Sales are down 
dramatically. People don't want to spend if they have it.
  So how do you get the economy moving again?
  Tax cuts, tax carry forwards, giving businesses that made bad choices 
a chance to get more money so they can hold on to it?
  No, we have to prime the pump of the economy. And the way you prime 
the pump of the economy is that you create millions of jobs. Putting 
people back to work, rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our water 
systems, our sewer system, that's infrastructure. But there are some 
broader issues here we have to look at.
  The banks have shown that they can't be trusted with the American 
economy. That's generally been the case, but now it's out in the open, 
$350 billion later.
  In 1913, the money power of the country was taken away from the 
people. By constitutional privilege it belongs with the Congress, but 
it was given up in the Federal Reserve Act. The Federal Reserve is no 
more Federal than Federal Express. But yet it has the power to 
determine the direction and use of money in our economy. If we could 
take that power back and put the Federal Reserve under Treasury, we 
start to be in a position of being able to control monetary policy on 
behalf of the United States people.
  We also have to address the issue of the fractional reserve system, 
which is how banks create money out of thin air. And then, as they do 
that, they've created the conditions where we've had this kind of Ponzi 
scheme collapsing, banks and the hedge funds working together. So we 
have to halt the banks' privilege to create money by ending the 
fractional reserve system. Past monetized credit would be converted 
into U.S. government money, and banks would act as intermediaries, 
accepting deposits and loaning them out to borrowers. Fine.
  But then, with the ability to control our fortunes, we then, once we 
control money again, we spend the money into circulation on 
infrastructure; not just the fiscal infrastructure, but also on health 
care. We not only can address housing needs, rebuilding America's 
infrastructure, but we can also get people the health care they need in 
this country. We can enable children to stay in school or to go back to 
school.
  We really have the opportunity to take control of our own destiny 
again. But we can't go back to the same old same old. Trickle-down 
economics, the trickle never gets down. The invisible hand of the 
marketplace is in the pockets of the American taxpayers.

                              {time}  1430

  The invisible hand in the marketplace is in the pockets of the 
American taxpayers. Let's rebuild America. Let's reclaim our economic 
destiny, and let's do it as a Congress--united, working with the new 
administration.

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