Current News |
Town Hall Meeting in New
York Canceled Due to Death Threat
Against Monetary Reform Advocate Richard
C. Cook
February 7, 2009
Due to a death threat against monetary
reform advocate Richard C. Cook, a Town
Hall meeting scheduled to be held on
February 27, 2009, as part of President
Barack Obama’s “Organizing for Change”
initiative, has been canceled. Cook had
been asked to speak at the meeting and
present his program called “Bailout for
the People” that he has been advocating
as a solution to the economic crisis.
The meeting had been organized by New
York City activists to provide Cook a
forum at a time when the Obama/Biden
administration is soliciting ideas to
address the deepening recession where
over 1,500,000 people have lost their
jobs in the last three months. Over the
next several weeks, hundreds of Economic
Recovery Meetings will be held around
the country leading up to public
hearings by Vice President Joe Biden’s
economic recovery task force.
Cook has written prolifically on
economic and monetary reform since
retiring from the federal government as
a Treasury Department analyst in 2007.
During his 32-year government career he
also worked for NASA and the Carter
White House. Upon retirement he
published a book on the space shuttle
Challenger disaster entitled Challenger
Revealed. More recently, Tendril Press
has published his book, We Hold These
Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform.
Cook’s proposals are based on what he
calls “Dividend Economics.” He cites as
an example the annual citizens’ stipend
under the Alaska Permanent Fund. Through
what he is calling the “Cook Plan,” he
is advocating a tax-free per capita
payment of $1,000 per month through
vouchers to be used for the necessities
of life such as housing, food, and
transportation. The vouchers, once
redeemed, would be used to capitalize a
new national network of community
savings banks that would lend at low
interest rates to revitalize local and
regional economies.
Despite the threat, Cook spoke at
another Organizing for Change meeting in
Takoma Park, Maryland, on Saturday
February 7. On February 27th, when the
Town Hall meeting in New York had been
scheduled, he plans to keep his
appointment that afternoon to speak at
the 8th Congress of the U.S. Basic
Income Guarantee Network/Annual
Conference of the Eastern Economic
Association. At this conference he will
present a paper entitled: “Bailout for
the People: Dividend Economics and the
Basic Income Guarantee.” Further
details, along with a downloadable
version of the paper, are available at
his new website at
http://www.richardccook.com.
Regarding the cancellation of the Town
Hall meeting, a decision made jointly
with the organizers, Cook said: “I have
worked in the public eye my whole life
for the government, as a whistleblower
after the Challenger disaster, and as a
writer. These things don’t frighten me.
But in this instance, I cannot in good
conscience expose my supporters and
members of the public to the slight
chance of harm in a relatively
non-secure venue.” Cook also pointed out
that the perpetrator of the threat has
been identified and reported. He said
the person used "vicious language" and
called him a "traitor." |
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