PRESS RELEASE
Push for Glass-Steagall in the Farm Belt
Nov. 4, 2016 (EIRNS)—A number of initiatives to demand re-instatement of the Glass-Steagall banking separation law, and related action, are in play in the U.S. Midwest farm states, which are also being slammed by the cumulative impact of three years of low prices for farm output, and the general economic breakdown process.
Last weekend, the Kansas Cattlemen’s Association had a briefing to attendees at their annual state convention, on the urgency of Glass-Steagall, in a presentation on the world economic situation by EIR's Robert Baker. The KCA board had already concurred in support of Glass-Steagall.
Activists for this policy include even some longtime farmers who had driven in the tractorcade from Kansas to Washington, D.C., in the Winter of 1979, to protest the ruinous conditions at that time. One of them arranged for a meeting with a mayor of a small town in northern Kansas in the wheat belt, whose personal concern is to restore NASA. These men, custom grain harvesters, reported on the impossible low grain prices. Barley, for example, is getting only $2.26 for a bushel—as low as 30 years ago.
In Iowa, another tractorcade veteran from the American Agriculture Movement, a LaRouchePAC activist, had a posting in the Nov. 2 Marshalltown Times Republican, "Glass-Steagall for Better Day." It stated,
"Our economy is about to blow out. Glass-Steagall is the only thing that can help ’we the people’ or we will be forced to pay the national debt individually. Following Glass-Steagall the next step is to initiate the Hamiltonian policy. It is imperative to have Congress move and act on these policies as they return from recess. Call your Congressperson. These policies will help ’we the people.’ For a better day."
In Kansas and the other states, the most common reaction of ranchers and farmers, is that, they had not seen the ’big picture’ before. They had no idea of the size of the derivatives and bad debt crisis, nor of the great developments in Eurasia. They absolutely want to jail the Wall Street criminals.
Across the board, harvest-time reports show untenable losses per acre and per head, continuing for the third straight year. This is the "wipe-out" phase for family farming. An Iowa farm activist reports that pork producers are losing $35-$45 per head; beef producers are losing $500-$650 per head. Grain prices likewise are trending below production costs.
