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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The prices of commodities - from oil and copper to
3coffee and corn - have declined by 10-70% per commodity over
4the past year as measured in the Dow Jones and Bloomberg
5Commodity Indices; the price of oil has fallen 70%; this price
6collapse is now creating a new crisis; and
 
7    WHEREAS, The collapse of commodity prices is the new
8"subprime mortgage" crisis of 2016; the commodities and their
9related financial paper are tied to a $300 trillion derivatives
10bubble in the major banks and other companies in the U.S., and
11far more internationally; it was the derivatives meltdown that
12set off the 2008 financial collapse; and
 
13    WHEREAS, This new financial crisis is being driven by a
14collapse of our industry and infrastructure; November and
15December, 2015, U.S. Commerce Department durable goods orders
16fell by 1.1% and 5.1% respectively; mass layoffs are
17increasing, highlighted by the announcement of 10,000 layoffs
18at Caterpillar and 200,000 layoffs in the oil fields; the
19Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Index has
20contracted for 4 straight months nationwide; and
 
21    WHEREAS, A return to a durable recovery will require
22adoption of national credit and national banking policies as

 

 

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1was done by Alexander Hamilton, John Quincy Adams, Abraham
2Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F.
3Kennedy; the program of federal credit to industry, states and
4cities built the industry and agriculture of our nation; and
 
5    WHEREAS, National credit, under this Constitutional
6program, can be made available for the creation of productive
7jobs in infrastructure, manufacturing, and high technology
8projects, thus creating mass employment for our now heavily
9unemployed and underemployed workforce, especially young
10people; therefore, be it
 
11    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
12ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the United
13States Congress to immediately adopt the "American Recovery"
14program by doing the following:
 
15    1) Restore the provisions of the Glass Steagall Act, and
16    pass HR. 381 in the U.S. House of Representatives and S.
17    1709 in the U.S. Senate, which aim to immediately restore
18    the separation of investment and commercial banking;
19    Glass-Steagall in the U.S. House has 4 Illinois
20    Congresspersons co-sponsoring, and was law for 66 years; it
21    prevented banking crises like the one experienced in 2008;
 
22    2) Return to a national banking and a federal credit

 

 

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1    system, modeled on the principles of Alexander Hamilton's
2    First Bank of the United States, which built all the
3    infrastructure of the nation for the first 40 years; it was
4    reinstituted as Illinois native son Abraham Lincoln's
5    National Banking-Greenback policy that built everything
6    from railroads to steel mills; Lincoln was the architect of
7    the Transcontinental Rail System that built America, and as
8    a State Legislator he was a leading sponsor of internal
9    improvements and water projects here in Illinois;
10    nationally, Lincoln was a leading advocate for a new
11    National Bank; the same credit policy was embodied in
12    Franklin Roosevelt's Reconstruction Finance Corporation,
13    which financed the New Deal infrastructure program; for
14    example the Works Progress Administration was financed by
15    RFC and employed tens of thousands of Chicagoans of all
16    ethnic backgrounds in productive jobs; Ronald Reagan's
17    father, Jack, was the director of the Works Progress
18    Administration in Peoria;
 
19    3) Use the federal credit system to build a modern network
20    of high speed rail, power generating systems, water
21    projects, such as those urgently needed in the Southwest
22    and cities like Flint, Michigan; Chicago; Philadelphia;
23    and others nationwide; and other critical programs; and
 
24    4) Launch a program to rebuild our space program to put a

 

 

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1    permanent manned colony on the Moon and explore the solar
2    system, and develop a program to create nuclear fusion, to
3    finally solve the energy needs of the nation and the
4    planet; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is
5    actively involved in fusion research; and be it further
 
6    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
7delivered to President Barack Obama, U.S. Speaker of the House
8Paul Ryan, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and all
9members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation.