Founder of the Public Banking Institute, Ellen Brown developed her research skills as an attorney practicing civil litigation. In the first half, she talked about ways to reform finance and the banking system. Banks, Brown explained, create most of the nation's money supply when they issue loans-- monetizing people's credit in effect. If citizens and their states owned community or public banks themselves (as in North Dakota) it would democratize money, she said, and remove the predatory aspects of commercial banking. She also advocated for a universal basic income (similar to Andrew Yang's proposal of $1,000 a month) and suggested these funds could be mandated to help people pay off their debt.

The Federal Reserve itself could be turned into a public utility, a bank that serves public interest rather than the financial industry, she said, "and we could use that power, that deep pocket" to fund many needed projects. Many of today's banks (such as Deutsche) have placed themselves in risky situations, gambling with interlocking derivatives, Brown reported, and "if the banks go down, it's like a big domino effect," which could lead into a widespread crash.

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In the latter half, author and spiritual advisor, Denise Alvarado, born and raised in the Voodoo rich culture of New Orleans, discussed the practice of Creole Voodoo, and the life of the Voodoo queen of New Orleans, Marie Laveau. A free woman of color, Laveau lived in the 19th-century and combined her devout Catholicism with Voodoo practices, herbalism, and rootwook, all with the approval of the local Catholic church. Rather than a nefarious figure, she was a philanthropist and nurse, Alvarado reported. She helped many in her community who were struggling with epidemics of the era, gave slaves on the run a home, and buried people in her tomb who couldn't afford interment.

However, Laveau was not above putting curses on people, such as when a wealthy plantation owner named De Coucy enraged her by taking her favorite granddaughter as his mistress. On the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, she summoned the serpent deity of the Voodoo religion to curse De Coucy's family line so he would have no male heirs, and indeed this came to pass, Alvarado recounted. She also talked about how voodoo dolls can be magically "cursed" to impact a person or place in a negative way, or for "binding" (restraining or preventing an individual from doing something).

News segment guests: Mish Shedlock, John M. Curtis