Our Money, Our Banks, Our Country

5 February 2018
from 8:00 Registration and Welcome Coffee
9:00 Conference Introduction and Overview 
Uli Kortsch, Author, Economist and Expert on Monetary Policy
9:20 Who’s in charge? Complexity, trust, hierarchy and networks
David Bosshart, CEO, Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI)
9:50 Panel Introduction: The Current Monetary System

  • Today’s source of money creation 
    Richard Werner, Chair in International Banking, University of Southampton, England
  • Banking instability due to investment structures and history of banking runs 
    Larry Kotlikoff, Professor of Economics, Boston University, former Snr. Economist, President’s Council of Economic Advisers, USA
  • Banking stabilization efforts: Basel III, Dodd-Frank, … 
    William White, former Chief Economist, Bank for International Settlements, Basel, Switzerland
  • Role of central banks: including QE, negative interest rates, … 
    William Dunkelberg, Chief Economist, National Federation of Independent Business, former Chair, Economics Dept., Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
10:45 Coffee Break
11:15 Panel: The Current Monetary System 
with Richard Werner, Larry Kotlikoff, William White, William Dunkelberg
moderated by Uli Kortsch
Q&A
11:50 Overview of Current Global Situation
Martin Wolf, Chief Economic Commentator, Financial Times
12:30 Lunch
13:45 Panel: The Chicago Plan (Vollgeld): YES 

  • Referendum overview 
    Sergio Rossi, Chair of Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Implementation 
    Joseph Huber, Chair of Economic and Environmental Sociology, Martin Luther University, Germany
  • Social results 
    Katharina Serafimova, Lecturer at the University of Zurich, Institute of Banking and Finance, Switzerland
14:30 Coffee break
15:00 Panel: The Chicago Plan (Vollgeld): NO 

  • Practitioner’s Outlook – Jürg Müller, Economics editor, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Switzerland
  • Academic’s Outlook – Aleksander Berentsen, Professor of Economic Theory, University of Basel, Switzerland
  • Politician’s Outlook –Ruedi Noser, Member of the Council of States, Switzerland
15:45 Panel of all speakers for an open discussion
17:15 Networking Apéro
17:30-18:30 Shuttle to Thalwil Railway Station
Language German/French/English (simultaneous interpretation)
The Conference «Our Money, Our Banks, Our Country» on 5 February in partnership with CFA Society Switzerland und GIC Global Interdependence Center is coming up soon. To help you plan your visit, we are sending you some useful information:

Venue
GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute
Langhaldenstrasse 21
8803 Rüschlikon
Directions

Hotel accommodation
If you have booked a room in one of our partner hotels, Belvoir or Sedartis, you should already have received a booking confirmation from the hotel. If not, please contact the hotel directly.

Transport
From Zurich airport
You can reach the GDI and partner hotels by taxi in around 45 minutes. The cost is approx. CHF 100, depending on traffic. Alternatively, the train is a fast and easy way of reaching Zurich and Thalwil station (online timetable).

Shuttle bus: Thalwil – GDI
The GDI shuttle bus runs from Thalwil station to the GDI. The bus will wait on the northern side of the station facing the lake. A staff member will be on site. Hotel Sedartis guests may also use this bus.

Timetable:
Monday, 5 February 2018
Thalwil station – GDI: 08:00 – 08:45, every 15 minutes
GDI – Thalwil station: 17:30 – 18:30, every 15 minutes

Hotel Belvoir is within walking distance of the GDI.

Luggage
You are welcome to leave your luggage in the GDI cloakroom.

Parking
If you arrive by car, please refer to the directions on our website. The car park is a five minute walk from the GDI on Zürcherstrasse 4, 8803 Rüschlikon. You will receive a ticket from the GDI to exit the car park free of charge.

Programme 
You will find the updated programme and the list of speakers on our website.

Attendees
A list of participants will be distributed at the conference.

Emergency numbers in Switzerland
Police: 117
Ambulance: 144

We look forward to seeing you and wish you an inspiring conference!

Best regards

Daniela Fässler
Event Administration
Email: daniela.faessler(at)gdi.ch
Phone: +41 44 724 62 13


CAMPAIGN FOR MONETARY REFORM – NEWS FROM SWITZERLAND

Contents
Summary – 3
Foreword by Hansruedi Weber – 4
The Swiss Sovereign Money Initiative in one diagram – 5
Swiss Direct Democracy – 6
The Sovereign Money Initiative text – 7
Technical details of the Swiss Sovereign Money Initiative – 8
Bibliography – 11
Appendix: The initiative text with explanatory notes – 12

OTHER REPORTS IN ENGLISH

Further reports about Sovereign Money and related ideas can be found on our website here. These are mostly international and do not refer to the Swiss Sovereign Money Initiative in particular. (Do not be put off by some of the summary texts being in German, the links are to texts in English).

INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN WOLF ABOUT SOVEREIGN MONEY

Martin Wolf is chief economics commentator at the Financial Times
Meeting at the Dolder Grand, Zürich, October 3rd 2016
from Martin Wolf, Financial Times
from Sam Gerrans (Russia Today)
from Vollgeld-Initiative

Switzerland is politically unique in this regard as the Swiss Constitution provides a political instrument known as the Volksinitiative (Peoples’ Initiative) which enables Swiss citizens to launch an initiative aimed at changing specific provisions within the Swiss Constitution. To do so requires first of all the collection within an 18 month period of 100’000 valid signatures in support of the initiative. Should this hurdle be surmounted, the initiative would then be put to a national vote.
In a nut shell, the proposal extends the Swiss Federation’s existing exclusive right to create coins and notes, to also include deposits. With the full power of new money creation exclusively in the hands of the Swiss National Bank, the commercial banks would no longer have the power to create money through lending. The Swiss National Bank’s primary role becomes the management of the money supply relative to the productive economy, while the decision concerning how new money is introduced debt free into the economy would reside with the government. As is evident from the foregoing, the MoMo monetary reform initiative is essentially based on the monetary reform advocated by PositiveMoney.
For those interested in following the developments of the campaign, or who would like to understand the detailed provisions, including those relating to the transition period,  please refer to the campaign website. The website is in German, French, and Italian, so language might present a limitation for many of you. Nevertheless, we do encourage you to visit the website and if you have specific questions, to leave a message in English. Someone from the team who speaks English will get back to you. The biggest challenge for the team at this stage of the campaign is to find the needed help and financing for signature collection. The minimum amount of funding required for a successful campaign is estimated to be 400’000 CHF or just over 270’000 GBP. Although, this is a non-UK initaitive, should the MoMo team succeed in putting such a fundamental reform proposal to a national vote, this would be a momentous achievement for the monetary reform movement in Europe and across the globe.  All eyes would be fixed on Switzerland, because success for this small but significant player in the financial arena would inevitably have a ripple effect in other countries.
Traduction »