PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
WHAT: Leadership Development Forum and Workshop on “Money, Power and Justice”
WHEN: April 28-29, 2017 POSTPONED
WHERE: Falls Church Marriott Fairview Park, 3111 Fairview Park Drive, Falls Church, Virginia 22042 (703-849-9400)
FOR MORE EVENT INFORMATION: Call CESJ at 703-243-5155 or email at info@cesj.org.
EVENT DESCRIPTION
A leadership development forum on “Money, Power and Justice” will be hosted on April 28-29, 2017 in the Washington, DC area by the Center for Economic and Social Justice, in collaboration with the Mansfield Institute for Public Policy and Social Change. Workshop sessions will bring together leaders from business, politics, academia, community development and student organizations to exchange ideas on building millennial leadership around a “just free market” paradigm for system change.
Presenters and participants will discuss principles and practical applications of social and economic justice that can address growing problems such as technological displacement of workers, systemic poverty, achieving sustainable and environmentally sound growth, and closing the growing wealth and power gap. A key focus will be on introducing models of citizen ownership of land and natural resources within a specified area through Citizens Land Banks/Cooperatives in two specific communities.
This forum aims to build consensus around a platform to unite Americans and a roadmap for system change that would extend equal future capital ownership opportunities to every child, woman and man. Panelists will explain the role of more globally just, democratic and effective money, capital credit and tax systems, consistent with property-based, non-monopolistic and free markets, in supporting the dignity, rights, equal opportunity and empowerment of each person.
This forum will present a legislative program called the “Capital Homestead Act.” Starting in the United States, it would change central bank (Federal Reserve) and tax policies to provide equal future access to the monetary means for every citizen, as a fundamental human right, to become empowered and earn a living both as a capital owner and as a worker.
A New Role for Money and Credit
By democratizing interest-free capital credit through local banks all citizens, from the poorest to the richest, could acquire ownership shares in well-managed companies with feasible projects needing new capital or acquiring existing productive assets.
In contrast to depending on the costly “past savings” of the rich, or forcing people to cut their current consumption in order to invest, private-sector growth would be financed with newly created “pure credit” (at no interest and charging only for the bank’s services). Made available on an annual basis to every citizen, and backed by capital credit insurance to cover the risk of default, such interest-free capital loans would be repaid using the full, pre-tax stream of projected future profits (“future savings”) from the growth assets purchased.
A key element of the proposed monetary system — an essential component of a more just free market system — is how new, asset-backed money can be created to bring about life-enhancing growth. Capital Homesteading would open up equal ownership opportunity for every person, with equal protection of everyone’s property rights, and without the need for government redistribution and subsidies.
A National Economic Agenda for Uniting America
The proposed reforms behind the Capital Homestead Act are based on the system principles of economic justice, particularly as they relate to global money, credit, taxation and ownership systems. A four-pronged communications strategy to be presented at the forum calls for a massive display of “people power” — an historic rally of at least 100,000 people at the Federal Reserve. The strategy also calls for political action to gain the support of “prime movers” needed to enact Capital Homestead legislation.
Along with the subsequent publication of papers presented at the conference, a summary statement will be developed by the participants of this conference. This statement will be disseminated and refined in subsequent leadership forums.