Back to Basics: Putting Returns Back on Capital
Or how to win when the casino goes bankrupt
Friday 6 June 2003
The Institute of Directors
116 Pall Mall
London
It has become fashionable to think of Washington as a new Rome. Most probably link the military glory of the Roman
Empire to the global pretensions of the world’s sole superpower. Not nearly enough attention has been focused on the
economic, fiscal and monetary underpinnings of that superpower. In our first conference, we examined the contrast
between rhetoric and reality. Far from being based on market capitalism, the contemporary world economic system is
dominated by a state capitalism whose power derives from the ability to concentrate and control the flow of money and
information.
The military-industrial-political complex of the US is the largest planned economy in the world. In our second
conference, we examined the structural logic of this system, and the implications to it of the approaching peak in world
oil production. In this, our third meeting, we will look at the reasons for the current war, and some of the more likely
outcomes. We will question the sustainability of the current international economic model and examine constructive ways
to move forward in presentations on public policy priorities, bringing industrial jobs back to the so-called service
economy, decentralisation and localisation of production, more efficient energy use. If you think that the next ten
years will be like the last twenty, think again. The intellectual underpinning of the long bull market in financial
assets enjoyed by the industrial world has been liberalisation of trade and capital flows, a reduction of state
ownership, and tax reduction. All of these are going to be challenged and in some cases reversed. Are you and your
business prepared for this? What are some of the alternatives? We will be asking these questions and more.
Speakers:
Chris Sanders is the principal of Sanders Research Associates. He has spent 23 years in international banking and finance and
lectures at the University of Göteborg.
Walter Cadette is a Senior Fellow at the Jerome Levy Economics Institute. A retired Vice President and Senior Economist of J.P. Morgan & Co. Inc., his areas of special interest include health care and regulation of financial institutions.
Franklin Spinney is a former United States Air Force officer and defence analyst. He is one of America’s most respected analysts of
military issues relating to finance, weapons design/performance, and 4th generation warfare. His web site,
www.d-n-i.net, is a leader in the publication and dissemination of analysis and resources on defence matters.
Catherine Austin Fitts is the President of Solari Inc. and the founder of Hamilton Securities. A former Assistant Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development and a partner at Dillon Read, she serves as a member of Sanders Research Associates’ Board of
Advisors.
David Fleming is the author of the forthcoming The Lean Economy which is an analysis of the drastic transformations likely to be
forced on the market economy in the early years of the new century.
James Turk is the writer of the Free Market Gold and Money Report. He is also the founder of GoldMoney, and electronic currency
used in e-commerce. Aformer banker and graduate of George Washington University, he has worked in the US, the UK and the
Middle East.
Seymour Melman has long-advocated the idea of “economic conversion”: the ordered transition of military industries to civilian
production. Aprolific author, he is also an honorary member of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and Professor
Emeritus of Industrial Engineering, Columbia University.
Ann Shankar coordinates the Natural Dye Development Plan which seeks an environmentally sustainable alternative to synthetic dyes
for the Indian textile industry which accounts for 20% of India’s industrial production and nearly 30% her foreign
exchange.
Program Outline:
08:15 Registration and coffee
08:45 Introductory Remarks
09:00 Chris Sanders on the causes of the present global conflict
09:50 Walter Cadette on the need to rethink public policy priorities
10:40 Break
11:00 Chuck Spinney - military reform
11:50 Catherine Austin Fitts on bringing information and profits back to communities
12:40 Lunch
13:40 David Fleming on the practical implications of the looming peak in global oil
production
14:30 James Turk on international monetary reform
15:20 Break
15:40 Seymour Melman will offer a plan for reindustrialising America
17:20 Ann Shankar on how to make money and not wreck the environment
18:00 Wrap up
18:15 Cocktails
19:30 Dinner
To register please return the section below with payment. Space is limited at the IOD so please reserve your place soon.
For further details call at +44 (0) 1442 842401 or send an email to esavage@sandersresearch.com.
Alternatively, you can register online at http://www.sandersresearch.com
SANDERS RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
P.O. BOX 221, HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, HERTS HP1 3TJ
TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 1442 842401
VAT Registration No: 697 8546 54
I/We would like to attend the SRA conference Back to Basics: putting returns back on capital at The Institute of
Directors (116 Pall Mall, London) on June 6th.
£600 + VAT (£705) — client
£800 + VAT (£940) — non-client
This will include the day’s conference as well as a buffet lunch and cocktails.
Name(s):
Address:
Email address:
SPONSORS:
The British Helsinki Human Rights Group
The Gold Antitrust Action Committee
School of Public Administration, University
of Göteborg