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Hi I'm Buck, your personal tour-guide
to the Federal Reserve.
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I'm here to introduce you to one of the most complex,
but effective institutions in the United States.
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But don't worry, I'll explain it all
in plain English.
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Just beside me is a road map
of where we're going.
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Together we'll walk through the
Federal Reserve System.
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Literally.
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And along the way, I'll show you
just what goes on around here,
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and why it's important.
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By the end of this tour you too will be able to
explain the Federal Reserve in plain English.
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There is no other agency of government
which can overrule actions that we take.
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That would effectively be a takeover of
monetary policy by the congress.
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A repudiation of the independence of the Federal
Reserve, which would be highly disruptive
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to the stability of the financial system, the dollar
and our national economic situation.
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We don't, the Federal Reserve
does not own any gold at all.
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We have not owned gold since 1934.
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[crowd cheering: "End the FED"]
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All our lives we've been told that
economics is boring. It's dull.
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It’s not worth the time it takes
to understand it.
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And all our lives, we have been lied to.
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[alarm bells]
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War. Poverty.
Revolution.
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They all hinge on economics. And economics
all rests on one key concept:
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Money.
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Money.It is the economic water
in which we live our lives.
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We even call it ‘currency’; it flows
around us, carries us in its wake.
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Drowns those who are not careful.
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We use it every day in nearly
every transaction we conduct.
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We spend our lives working
for it, worrying about it,
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saving it, spending it,
pinching it.
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It defines our social status.
It compromises our morals.
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People are willing to fight,
die and kill for it.
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But what is it. Where does it come from?
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How is it created? Who controls it?
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It is a remarkable fact that, given its
central importance in our lives,
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not one person in a hundred could answer such
basic questions about money as these.
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Interviewer: So if you were planning a family,
you'd want to know where babies come from.
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And this is a lot about banking.
So let me ask you:
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Where does money come from?
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Interviewee 1: Where does
the money come from?
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The government prints it.
It's printed off.
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Where does money come from?
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Interviewer: How is new money created?
Interviewee 2: By labor.
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People work and produce wealth, and the money
is supposed to match that wealth.
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Interviewer: Where does money come from?
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Interviewee 3: Well I have a pretty
different outlook on money.
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It actually comes from, like, trees, right?
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But why is this?
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How could we be so ignorant about
a topic of such importance?
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“Where does money come from?”
is a basic, childlike question.
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So why is our only response the childlike
answer, meant as a joke:
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“It grows on trees”?
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Such a profound state of ignorance
could not come about naturally.
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From the time we are children,
we are curious about the world
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and eager to learn about the way it works.
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And what could lead to a better understanding
of the way the world works
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than a knowledge of money,
its creation and destruction.
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Yet discussion of this topic is fastidiously avoided
in our school years and ignored in our daily life.
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Our monetary ignorance is artificial, a smokescreen
that has been erected on purpose
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and perpetrated with the help of complicated systems
and insufferable economic jargon.
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But it doesn’t take an economist to understand
the importance of money.
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Deep down we all know that the wars, the poverty,
the violence we see around us
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hinges on this question of money.
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It seems like a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle
just waiting to be solved. And it is.
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The puzzle pieces, taken together,create
an image of the Federal Reserve,
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America’s central bank and the heart
of the country’s banking system.
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Despite its central importance to the economy,
relatively few have heard of it,
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and fewer still know what it is, despite the bank's
attempts at self-description:
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Our economy runs on a complex system
of exchange of goods and services
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in which money plays a key part. Coin, currency,
savings, and checking accounts;
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the overall supply of money is managed
by the Federal Reserve.
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Money is the medium through which
economic exchanges take place,
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and money as a standard of value helps us
to set prices for goods and services.
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The job of managing money 'monetary policy' is
to preserve the purchasing power of the dollar
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while ensuring that a sufficient amount of money
is available to promote economic growth.
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The Federal Reserve also promotes
the safety and soundness
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of the institutions where we do our banking.
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It ensures that the mechanisms by which we
make payments,whether by cash, cheque,
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or electronic means, operates
smoothly and efficiently.
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And in its fiscal role acts as the banker
for the United States government.
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Now these duties comprise the major
responsibilities of our central bank.
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But in order to really understand the Federal Reserve,
we must first understand its origins and context.
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We must deconstruct the puzzle.
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The first piece of that puzzle lies here,
in the White House.
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This is where the Federal Reserve Act,
then known as the Currency Bill,
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was signed into law after passing the House
and Senate in late December, 1913.
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The New York Times of Christmas Eve, 1913,
described the festive scene:
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The Christmas spirit pervaded the gathering. While
the ceremony was a little less impressive
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than that of the signing of the Tarriff act
on Oct. 3 last in the same room,
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the spectators were much more enthusiastic
and seized every occasion to applaud.
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There in the White House that
fateful December evening,
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President Wilson signed away the last veneer of control
over the American money supply to a cartel;
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a well-organized gang of crooks so successful,
so cunning, so well-hidden
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that even now, a century later,
few know of its existence,
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let alone the details of its operations.
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But those details have been
openly admitted for decades.
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Of course, just as we have been taught
to find economics boring,
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we have been taught that this story is boring.
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This is the way the Federal Reserve
itself tells it:
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The United States was facing
severe financial problems.
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At the turn of the century, most banks were issuing
their own currency called “bank notes.”
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The trouble was, currency that was good in one
state was sometimes worthless in another.
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People began to lose confidence in their money,
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since it was only as sound
as the bank that issued it.
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Fearful that their bank might go out of business, they rushed
to exchange their bank notes for gold or silver.
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By attempting to do so, they
created the panic of 1907.
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During the panic, people streamed to the banks
and demanded their deposits.
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The banks could not meet the demand.
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They simply did not have enough gold
and silver coin available.
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Many banks went under.
People lost millions of dollars,
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businesses suffered, unemployment rose,and the stability
of our economic system was again threatened.
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Well, this couldn't go on. If the country
was going to grow and prosper
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some means would have to be found to achieve
financial and economic stability.
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To prevent financial panics like the one in 1907,
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President Woodrow Wilson signed
The Federal Reserve Act into law in 1913.
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But this is history as told by the victors:
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a revisionist vision in which the creation of a central
bank to control the nation’s money supply
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is merely a boring historical footnote, about
as important as the invention of the zipper
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or an early 20th century hoola-hoop craze.
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The truth is that the story of the secret banking conclave
that gave birth to that Federal Reserve Act
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is as exciting and dramatic as any Hollywood
screenplay or detective novel yarn,
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and all the more remarkable,
for the fact that it is all true.
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We pick up the story, appropriately enough,
under cover of darkness.
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It was the night of November 22, 1910, and a group
of the richest and most powerful men in America
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were boarding a private rail car at an unassuming
railroad station n Hoboken, New Jersey.
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The car, waiting with shades drawn to
keep onlookers from seeing inside,
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belonged to Senator Nelson Aldrich, the father-in-law
of billionaire heir to the Rockefeller dynasty,
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John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
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A central figure on the influential Senate Finance Committee
where he oversaw the nation's monetary policy,
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Aldrich was referred to in the press as
the “General Manager of the Nation.”
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Joining him that evening was
his private secretary Shelton,
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and a who's who of the nation's
banking and financial elite.
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A. Piatt Andrew, the Assistant Treasury Secretary;
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Frank Vanderlip, President of the
National City Bank of New York;
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Henry P. Davison, a senior partner
of J.P. Morgan Company;
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Benjamin Strong, Jr., an associate of J.P. Morgan
and President of Bankers Trust Co.
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and Paul Warburg, heir of the Warburg banking family
and son-in-law of Solomon Loeb
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of the famed New York investment firm,
Kuhn, Loeb & Company.
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The men had been told to arrive one by one after sunset
to attract as little attention as possible.
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Indeed, secrecy was so important to their mission
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that the group did not use anything but their first names throughout the journey
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so as to keep their true identities secret even
from their own servants and wait staff.
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The movements of any one of them would have
been reason enough to attract the attention
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of New York’s voracious press,
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especially in an era where banking and monetary reform
was seen as a key issue for the future of the nation;
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a meeting of all of them, now that would surely
have been the story of the century.
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And it was.
Their destination?
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The secluded Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia,
home to the prestigious Jekyll Island Club
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whose members included the Morgans, Rockefellers,
Warburgs and Rothschilds. Their purpose?
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Davison told intrepid local newspaper reporters
who had caught wind of the meeting
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that they were going duck hunting.
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But in reality, they were going to draft a reform of
the nation’s banking industry in complete secrecy.
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G. Edward Griffin, the author of the bestselling
The Creature from Jekyll Island
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and a long-time Federal Reserve researcher,
explains:
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What happened is the banks decided that since
there was going to be legislation anyway
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to control their industry, that they wouldn't just sit back
and wait and see what happened
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and cross their fingers that it would be OK.
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They decided to do what so many cartels do today:
they decided to take the lead.
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And they would be the ones calling for regulations
and reform.
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They like the word “reform.” The American people
are suckers for the word “reform.”
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You just put that into any corrupt piece of legislation,
call it “reform”
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and people say “Oh, I’m all for ‘reform’,”
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and so they vote for it or accept it.
So that’s what they were doing.
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They decided, “We will ‘reform’ our own industry.”
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In other words, “We will create a cartel and we
will give the cartel the power of government.
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We'll take our cartel agreement so we can
self-regulate to our advantage
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and we'll call it ‘The Federal Reserve Act.’
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And then we’ll take this cartel agreement to Washington
and convince those idiots there to pass it into law.”
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And that basically was the strategy.
It was a brilliant strategy.
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Of course we see it happening all the time,
certainly in our own day today
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we see the same thing happened
in other cartelized industries.
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Right now we're watching it unfold
in the field of health care,
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but at that time it was banking, alright?
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And so the banking cartel wrote their own rules
and regulations,
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called it “The Federal Reserve Act,”
got it passed into law,
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and it was very much to their liking
because they wrote it.
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And in essence what they had created was a set of
rules which made it possible for themselves
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to regulate their industry, but
they went even beyond that.
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In fact, it's clear to me when I was reading their letters
and their conversation at the time, and the debates,
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that they never dreamed that Congress would go along
and also give them the right
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to issue the nation’s money supply.
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Not only were they now going to regulate their own industry,
which is what they started out as wanting to do,
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but they got this incredible gift that they
didn't dream would be given to them
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although they were negotiating for it,
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and that was that Congress gave them the
authority to issue the nation’s money.
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Congress gave away the sovereign right to issue
the nation’s money to the private banks.
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And so all of this was in The Federal Reserve Act,
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and the American people were joyous because
they were told, and they were convinced,
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that this was finally a means of controlling
this big creature from Jekyll Island.
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Amazingly enough, they were successful,
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not just in conspiring to write the legislation that would
eventually become the Federal Reserve Act,
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but in keeping that conspiracy a secret
from the public for decades.
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It was first reported on in 1916 by Bertie Charles Forbes, the financial
writer who would later go on to found Forbes magazine,
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but it was never fully admitted until a full quarter
century later, when Frank Vanderlip wrote
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a casual admission of the meeting in the February 9,
1935 edition of The Saturday Evening Post:
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“I was as secretive -indeed, as furtive-
as any conspirator.
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I do not feel it is any exaggeration to speak
of our secret expedition to Jekyll Island
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as the occasion of the actual conception of what
eventually became the Federal Reserve System.”
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Over the course of their nine days of
deliberation at the Jekyll Island club,
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they devised a plan so overarching, so ambitious,
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that even they could scarcely imagine that it would
ever be passed by congress. As Vanderlip put it,
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“Discovery [of our plan], we knew, simply must not happen,
or else all our time and effort would be wasted.
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If it were to be exposed publicly that our particular group
had got together and written a banking bill,
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that bill would have no chance whatever
of passage by Congress.”
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So what, precisely, did this conclave of conspirators
devise at their Jekyll Island meeting?
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A plan for a central banking system to
be owned by the banks themselves,
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a system which would organize the nation’s banks
into a private cartel
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that would have sole control over
the money supply itself.
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At the end of their nine day meeting, the bankers and
financiers went back to their respective offices
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content in what they had accomplished.
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The details of the plan changed between its 1910 drafting
and the eventual passage of the Federal Reserve Act,
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but the essential ideas were there.
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But ultimately, this scene on Jekyll Island, too,
is just one piece of a larger puzzle.
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And like any other puzzle piece,
it has to be seen in its wider context
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00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,000
for the bigger picture to become visible.
215
00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:48,010
To understand the other pieces of the puzzle and their
importance in the creation of the Federal Reserve,
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00:16:48,010 --> 00:16:51,500
we have to travel backward in time.
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00:16:51,500 --> 00:16:54,830
The story begins in late 17th century Europe.
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00:16:54,830 --> 00:16:59,620
The Nine Years’ War is raging across the continent
as Louis XIV of France finds himself pitted
219
00:16:59,620 --> 00:17:04,420
pitted against much of the rest of the continent
over his territorial and dynastic claims.
220
00:17:04,420 --> 00:17:11,060
King William III of England, devastated by a stunning naval defeat,
commits his court to rebuilding the English navy.
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00:17:11,060 --> 00:17:14,130
There's only one problem:
money.
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00:17:14,130 --> 00:17:17,340
The government’s coffers have been exhausted
by the waging of the war
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00:17:17,340 --> 00:17:20,050
and Williams credit is drying up.
224
00:17:20,050 --> 00:17:24,340
A Scottish banker, William Paterson,
has a banker’s solution:
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00:17:24,340 --> 00:17:29,210
a proposal “to form a company to lend a million pounds
to the Government at six percent
226
00:17:29,210 --> 00:17:33,720
(plus 5,000 “management fee”)
with the right of note issue.”
227
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:39,860
By 1694 the idea has been slightly revised (a 1.2 million pound loan at 8 percent
228
00:17:39,860 --> 00:17:43,740
plus 4000 for management expenses),
but it goes ahead.
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00:17:43,740 --> 00:17:47,760
the magnanimously titled Bank of England
is created.
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00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:53,000
The name is a carefully constructed lie, designed to make
the bank appear to be a government entity.
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00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,300
But it is not.
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00:17:54,300 --> 00:17:59,920
It is a private bank owned by private shareholders
for their private profit with a charter from the king
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00:17:59,920 --> 00:18:05,430
that allows them to print the public's money out of thin air
and lend it to the crown.
234
00:18:05,430 --> 00:18:09,310
What happens here at the birth
of the Bank of England in 1694
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00:18:09,310 --> 00:18:14,430
is the creation of a template that will be repeated
in country after country around the world:
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00:18:14,430 --> 00:18:19,140
a privately controlled central bank lending money
to the government at interest,
237
00:18:19,140 --> 00:18:21,780
money that it prints out of nothing.
238
00:18:21,780 --> 00:18:25,650
And the jewel in the crown for the international bankers
that creates this system
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00:18:25,650 --> 00:18:31,090
is the future economic powerhouse of the world,
the United States.
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00:18:31,090 --> 00:18:34,150
In many important respects, the history
of the United States
241
00:18:34,150 --> 00:18:39,760
is the history of the struggle of the American people against
the bankers that wish to control their money.
242
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:44,140
By the 1780's, with colonies still fighting
for independence from the crown,
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00:18:44,140 --> 00:18:46,620
the bankers will get their wish.
244
00:18:46,620 --> 00:18:50,540
In 1781 the United States is in financial turmoil.
245
00:18:50,540 --> 00:18:55,140
The Continental, the paper currency issued by
the Continental Congress to pay for the war,
246
00:18:55,140 --> 00:18:58,480
has collapsed from overissue and British counterfeiting.
247
00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:03,330
Desperate to find a way to finance the end stages of the war,
Congress turns to Robert Morris,
248
00:19:03,330 --> 00:19:08,640
a wealthy shipping merchant who was investigated
for war profiteering just two years earlier.
249
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:14,440
Now as “Superintendent of Finance” of the United States
from 1781 to 1784
250
00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:19,660
he is regarded as the most powerful man in America
next to General Washington.
251
00:19:19,660 --> 00:19:25,700
In his capacity as Superintendent of Finance, Morris argues
for the creation of a privately-owned central bank
252
00:19:25,700 --> 00:19:30,890
deliberately modeled on the Bank of England that
the colonies were supposedly fighting against.
253
00:19:30,890 --> 00:19:35,150
Congress, backed into a corner by war obligations
and forced to do business with the bankers
254
00:19:35,150 --> 00:19:37,680
just like King William in the 1690s,
255
00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:42,850
acquiesces and charters the Bank of North America
as the nation’s first central bank.
256
00:19:42,850 --> 00:19:48,360
And exactly as the Bank of England came into existence
loaning the British crown 1.2 million pounds,
257
00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:53,320
the B.N.A. started business by loaning
$1.2 million to Congress.
258
00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,290
By the end of the war, Morris has fallen
out of political favor
259
00:19:56,290 --> 00:20:00,500
and the Bank of North America's currency has failed
to win over a skeptical public.
260
00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:03,370
The B.N.A. is downgraded from a national central bank
261
00:20:03,370 --> 00:20:07,450
to a private commercial bank chartered by the State of Pennsylvania.
262
00:20:07,450 --> 00:20:09,760
But the bankers have not given up yet.
263
00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:12,400
Before the ink is even dry on the constitution,
264
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:17,330
a group led by Alexander Hamilton is already working
on the next privately-owned central bank
265
00:20:17,330 --> 00:20:20,310
for the newly formed United States of America.
266
00:20:20,310 --> 00:20:25,320
So brazen is Hamilton in the forwarding of this agenda
that he makes no attempt to hide his aims
267
00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,500
or those of the banking interests he serves:
268
00:20:28,500 --> 00:20:32,650
“A national debt, if it is not excessive,
will be to us a national blessing,”
269
00:20:32,650 --> 00:20:35,980
he wrote in a letter to James Duane in 1781.
270
00:20:35,980 --> 00:20:38,460
“It will be a powerful cement of our Union.
271
00:20:38,460 --> 00:20:43,820
It will also create a necessity for keeping up taxation
to a degree which, without being oppressive,
272
00:20:43,820 --> 00:20:46,730
will be a spur to industry.”
273
00:20:46,730 --> 00:20:52,230
Opposition to Hamilton and his debt-based system
for establishing the finances of the US is fierce.
274
00:20:52,230 --> 00:20:55,930
Led by Jefferson and Madison, the bankers
and their system of debt-enslavement
275
00:20:55,930 --> 00:20:58,620
is called out for the force of destruction
that it is.
276
00:20:58,620 --> 00:21:00,560
With Thomas Jefferson writing:
277
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:05,400
“The spirit of war and indictment, […] since the
modern theory of the perpetuation of debt,
278
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:11,540
has drenched the earth with blood, and crushed
its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating.”
279
00:21:11,540 --> 00:21:18,050
Still, Hamilton proves victorious. The First Bank
of the United States is chartered in 1791
280
00:21:18,050 --> 00:21:23,250
and follows the pattern of the Bank of England
and the Bank of North America almost exactly;
281
00:21:23,250 --> 00:21:25,060
a privately-owned central bank
282
00:21:25,060 --> 00:21:29,280
with the authority to loan money, that it creates
out of nothing, to the government.
283
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:35,270
In fact, it is the very same people behind the new bank
as were behind the old Bank of North America.
284
00:21:35,270 --> 00:21:38,730
It was Alexander Hamilton,
Robert Morris’ former aide,
285
00:21:38,730 --> 00:21:42,210
who first proposed Morris for the position
of Financial Superintendent,
286
00:21:42,210 --> 00:21:45,490
and the director of the old Bank of North America,
Thomas Willing,
287
00:21:45,490 --> 00:21:50,050
is brought in to serve as the first director
of the First Bank of the United States.
288
00:21:50,050 --> 00:21:54,320
Meet the new banking bosses, same
as the old banking bosses.
289
00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:56,710
In the first five years of the banks’ existence,
290
00:21:56,710 --> 00:22:03,480
the US government borrows 8.2 million dollars
from the bank and prices rise 72%.
291
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,570
By 1795, when Hamilton leaves office,
292
00:22:06,570 --> 00:22:10,640
the incoming Treasury Secretary announces that
the government needs even more money
293
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:16,810
and sells off the government’s meager 20% share
in the bank, making it a fully private corporation.
294
00:22:16,810 --> 00:22:21,520
Once again, the US economy is plundered
while the private banking cartel laughs
295
00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,890
all the way to the bank that they created.
296
00:22:24,890 --> 00:22:28,160
By the time the bank’s charter comes
due for renewal in 1811,
297
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,520
the tide has changed for the money interests
behind the bank.
298
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:35,490
Hamilton is dead, shot to death
in a duel with Aaron Burr.
299
00:22:35,490 --> 00:22:38,420
The bank-supporting Federalist party
is out of power.
300
00:22:38,420 --> 00:22:42,210
The public are wary of foreign ownership
of the central bank, and what’s more
301
00:22:42,210 --> 00:22:45,440
don’t see the point of a central bank
in time of peace.
302
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:51,020
Accordingly, the charter renewal is voted down
in the Senate and the bank is closed in 1811.
303
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,460
Less than a year later, the US is
once again at war with England.
304
00:22:56,460 --> 00:23:00,160
After 2 years of bitter struggle the public debt
of the US has nearly tripled
305
00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:05,260
from $45.2 million to $119.2 million.
306
00:23:05,260 --> 00:23:10,570
With trade at a standstill, prices soaring,
inflation rising and debt mounting,
307
00:23:10,570 --> 00:23:14,240
President Madison signs the charter for
the creation of another central bank,
308
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:18,120
the Second Bank of the United States, in 1816.
309
00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:22,060
Just like the two central banks before it,
it is majority privately-owned
310
00:23:22,060 --> 00:23:27,100
and is granted the power to loan money, that
it creates out of thin air, to the government.
311
00:23:27,100 --> 00:23:32,570
The 20 year bank charter is due to expire
in 1836, but still in his first term
312
00:23:32,570 --> 00:23:36,880
President Jackson has already vowed
to let it die prior to renewal.
313
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:41,300
Believing that Jackson won’t risk his chance
for reelection in 1832 on the issue,
314
00:23:41,300 --> 00:23:47,020
the bankers forward a bill to renew the bank’s charter
in July of that year, 4 years ahead of schedule.
315
00:23:47,020 --> 00:23:53,720
Remarkably, Jackson vetoes the renewal charter and stakes
his reelection on the people’s support of his move.
316
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:59,940
In his veto message, Jackson writes in no uncertain terms
about his opposition to the bank:
317
00:23:59,940 --> 00:24:04,920
“Whatever interest or influence, whether public
or private, has given birth to this act,
318
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:09,160
it can not be found either in the wishes or
necessities of the executive department,
319
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,810
by which present action is deemed premature,
320
00:24:11,810 --> 00:24:18,250
and the powers conferred upon its agent not only unnecessary,
but dangerous to the Government and country.
321
00:24:18,250 --> 00:24:24,520
It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often
bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.
322
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:29,200
If we can not at once, in justice to interests
vested under improvident legislation,
323
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,310
make our Government what it ought to be,
324
00:24:31,310 --> 00:24:35,980
we can at least take a stand against all new grants
of monopolies and exclusive privileges,
325
00:24:35,980 --> 00:24:39,620
against any prostitution of our Government
to the advancement of the few
326
00:24:39,620 --> 00:24:43,680
at the expense of the many, and in favor
of compromise and gradual reform
327
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:48,110
in our code of laws and systems
of political economy.”
328
00:24:48,110 --> 00:24:51,780
The people side with Jackson and he’s reelected
on the back of his slogan,
329
00:24:51,780 --> 00:24:56,170
“Jackson and No Bank!”The President
makes good on his pledge.
330
00:24:56,170 --> 00:25:01,680
In 1833 he announces that the government will
stop using the bank and will pay off its debt.
331
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:07,660
The bankers retaliate in 1834 by staging a financial crisis
and attempting to pin the blame on Jackson,
332
00:25:07,660 --> 00:25:09,360
but it’s no use.
333
00:25:09,370 --> 00:25:14,080
On January 8, 1835, President Jackson
succeeds in paying off the debt,
334
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:19,600
and for the first and only time in its history the United
States is free from the debt chain of the bankers.
335
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:28,250
In 1836 the Second Bank of the United States’ charter expires
and the bank loses its status as America’s central bank.
336
00:25:28,250 --> 00:25:32,690
It is 77 years before the bankers can
regain the jewel in their crown.
337
00:25:32,690 --> 00:25:34,840
But it is not for lack of trying.
338
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:40,150
Immediately upon the death of the bank, the banking
oligarchs in England react by contracting trade,
339
00:25:40,150 --> 00:25:47,040
removing capital from the U.S., demanding payment in
hard currency for all exports, and tightening credit.
340
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,720
This results in a financial crisis
known as the Panic of 1837,
341
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:55,640
and once again Jackson’s campaign to kill the bank
is blamed for the crisis.
342
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,490
Throughout the late 19th century the United States
is rocked by banking panics
343
00:25:59,490 --> 00:26:04,070
brought about by wild banking speculation
and sharp contractions in credit.
344
00:26:04,070 --> 00:26:07,980
By the dawn of the 20th century, the bulk
of the money in the American economy
345
00:26:07,980 --> 00:26:11,730
has been centralized in the hands of
a small clique of industrial magnates,
346
00:26:11,730 --> 00:26:15,320
each with a near monopoly on
a sector of the economy.
347
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:20,240
There are the Astors in real estate, the Carnegies
and the Schwabs in steel,
348
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:26,440
the Harrimans, Stanfords and Vanderbilts in railroads,
the Mellons and the Rockefellers in oil.
349
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:32,420
As all of these families start to consolidate their fortunes,
they gravitate naturally to the banking sector.
350
00:26:32,420 --> 00:26:39,020
And in this capacity, they form a network of financial interests
and institutions that centered largely around one man,
351
00:26:39,020 --> 00:26:44,650
banking scion and increasingly America’s informal central banker
in the absence of a central bank,
352
00:26:44,650 --> 00:26:47,290
John Pierpont Morgan.
353
00:26:47,290 --> 00:26:50,640
John Pierpont Morgan, or “Pierpont”
as he prefers to be called,
354
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:57,140
is born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1837 to Junius Spencer
Morgan, a successful banker and financier.
355
00:26:57,140 --> 00:27:02,860
Morgan rides his father’s coattails into the banking business
and by 1871 is partnered in his own firm,
356
00:27:02,860 --> 00:27:06,880
the firm that was eventually to become
J.P. Morgan and Company.
357
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:11,370
It is Morgan who finances Cornelius Vanderbilt’s
New York Central Railroad.
358
00:27:11,370 --> 00:27:15,640
It is Morgan that finances the launch of nearly
every major corporation of the period,
359
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:20,500
from AT&T to General Electric
to General Motors to Dupont.
360
00:27:20,500 --> 00:27:24,680
It is Morgan who buys out Carnegie and creates
the United States Steel Corporation,
361
00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,390
America’s first billion dollar company.
362
00:27:27,390 --> 00:27:31,990
It is Morgan who brokers a deal with President Grover Cleveland
to “save” the nation’s gold reserves
363
00:27:31,990 --> 00:27:37,370
by selling 62 million dollars worth of gold to the Treasury
in return for government bonds.
364
00:27:37,370 --> 00:27:44,740
And it is Morgan, who, in 1907, sets in motion the crisis
that leads to the creation of the Federal Reserve.
365
00:27:44,740 --> 00:27:50,320
That year, Morgan begins spreading rumors about the precarious
finances of the Knickerbocker Trust Company,
366
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:55,720
a Morgan competitor and one of the largest financial
institutions in the United States at the time.
367
00:27:55,720 --> 00:28:02,270
The resulting crisis, dubbed the Panic of 1907,
shakes the U.S. financial system to its core.
368
00:28:02,270 --> 00:28:07,250
Morgan puts himself forward as a hero, boldly offering
to help underwrite some of the faltering banks
369
00:28:07,250 --> 00:28:10,300
and brokerage houses to keep them
from going under.
370
00:28:10,300 --> 00:28:14,590
After a bout of hand-wringing over the nation’s finances,
a Congressional Committee is assembled
371
00:28:14,590 --> 00:28:16,570
to investigate the “money trust,”
372
00:28:16,570 --> 00:28:20,220
the bankers and financiers who brought
the nation so close to financial ruin
373
00:28:20,220 --> 00:28:23,610
and that wield such power
over the nation’s finances.
374
00:28:23,610 --> 00:28:27,560
The public follows the issue closely, and in the end
a handful of bankers are identified
375
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,060
as key players in the money trust’s operations,
376
00:28:30,060 --> 00:28:34,530
including Paul Warburg, Benjamin Strong, Jr.,
and J.P. Morgan.
377
00:28:34,530 --> 00:28:39,250
Andrew Gavin Marshall, editor of
The People’s Book Project, explains:
378
00:28:39,250 --> 00:28:45,620
At the beginning of the 20th century there was an investigation
following the greatest of these financial panics,
379
00:28:45,620 --> 00:28:50,240
which was in 1907, and this investigation
was on “the money trust.”
380
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:59,250
Which found that three banking interests: J.P. Morgan,
National City Bank, and the City Bank of New York
381
00:28:59,250 --> 00:29:04,330
basically controlled the entire financial system.
Three banks.
382
00:29:04,330 --> 00:29:10,880
The public hatred toward these institutions
was unprecedented.
383
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:17,130
There was an overwhelming consensus in the country
for establishing a central bank,
384
00:29:17,130 --> 00:29:20,510
but there were many different interests
in pushing this
385
00:29:20,510 --> 00:29:26,620
and everyone had their own purpose
behind advocating for a central bank.
386
00:29:26,620 --> 00:29:35,610
So to represent most people, you had farmer interests,
populists, progressives,
387
00:29:35,610 --> 00:29:39,200
who were advocating a central bank because
they couldn’t take the recurring panics,
388
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,240
but they wanted government control
of the central bank.
389
00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:49,270
They wanted it to be exclusively under the public control
because they despised and feared the New York banks
390
00:29:49,270 --> 00:29:51,540
as wielding too much influence,
391
00:29:51,540 --> 00:29:58,990
so for them a central bank would be a way to curb the power
of these private financial interests.
392
00:29:58,990 --> 00:30:03,560
On the other hand, those same financial interests
were advocating for a central bank
393
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:10,090
to serve as a source of stability
for their control of the system,
394
00:30:10,090 --> 00:30:13,970
and also to act as a lender of last resort to them
395
00:30:13,970 --> 00:30:18,300
and so they would never have to face collapse.
396
00:30:18,300 --> 00:30:23,700
But also, in order to exert more control
through a central bank,
397
00:30:23,700 --> 00:30:30,020
the private New York banking community wanted a central bank
under the exclusive control of them.
398
00:30:30,020 --> 00:30:35,310
There’s a shocker. So you had all these
various interests which converged.
399
00:30:35,310 --> 00:30:39,880
Of course, the most influential happened to be
the New York financial houses
400
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:47,780
which were more aligned with the European financial houses
than they were with any other element in American society.
401
00:30:47,780 --> 00:30:52,800
The main individual behind the founding of
the Federal Reserve was Paul Warburg,
402
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:58,730
who was a partner with Kuhn, Loeb and Company,
a European banking house.
403
00:30:58,730 --> 00:31:05,020
His brothers were prominent bankers in Germany at
that time, and he had of course close connections
404
00:31:05,020 --> 00:31:15,620
with every major financial and industrial firm in the United
States and most of those existing in Europe.
405
00:31:15,620 --> 00:31:23,050
And he was discussing all of these ideas with his fellow
compatriots in advocating for a central bank.
406
00:31:23,050 --> 00:31:33,260
In 1910, Warburg got the support of
a Senator named Nelson Aldrich,
407
00:31:33,260 --> 00:31:42,290
whose family later married into the Rockefeller family.
Again I'm sure it's just a coincidence.
408
00:31:42,290 --> 00:31:51,740
Aldrich invited Warburg and a number of other bankers
to a private, secret meeting on Jekyll Island
409
00:31:51,740 --> 00:31:57,020
just off the coast of Georgia,
where they met in 1910
410
00:31:57,020 --> 00:32:02,810
to discuss the construction of a central bank
in the United States, but
411
00:32:02,810 --> 00:32:09,120
one which would of course be owned by and
serve the interests of the private bankers.
412
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:16,260
Aldrich then presented this in 1911 as
the “Aldrich Plan” in the U.S. Congress
413
00:32:16,260 --> 00:32:19,780
and it was actually voted out.
414
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:24,080
The public, suspicious of Senator Aldrich’s
banking connections,
415
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:27,710
ultimately reject the Jekyll Island cabal’s
“Aldrich Plan.”
416
00:32:27,710 --> 00:32:31,930
The cabal does not give up, however. They
simply revise and rename their plan,
417
00:32:31,930 --> 00:32:37,930
giving it a new public face, that of Senator Robert Owen
and Representative Carter Glass.
418
00:32:37,930 --> 00:32:41,660
In the end, the money trust that
was behind the Panic of 1907
419
00:32:41,660 --> 00:32:48,380
uses the public’s own outrage against them to complete
their consolidation of control over the banking system.
420
00:32:48,380 --> 00:32:53,450
The newly-retitled Federal Reserve Act is
signed into law on December 23, 1913
421
00:32:53,450 --> 00:32:56,530
and the Fed begins operations the next year.
422
00:33:03,860 --> 00:33:09,200
“The study of money, above all other fields in economics,
is one in which complexity is used
423
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:14,310
to disguise truth or to evade truth, not
to reveal it.” -John Kenneth Galbraith
424
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:22,730
So how does the Federal Reserve system work?
What does it do? Who owns and controls it?
425
00:33:22,730 --> 00:33:27,970
These are the basic questions that would get to the heart
of the fundamental question: ‘what is money?’
426
00:33:27,970 --> 00:33:34,320
And that is why the answer to these questions have been
shrouded in impenetrable economic jargon.
427
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,390
Even the Federal Reserve’s own
educational propaganda,
428
00:33:37,390 --> 00:33:42,120
which has an unusual tendency toward cutesy animation
and talking down to its audience,
429
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:48,030
has a difficult time summarizing the Fed’s mission
and responsibilities. According to the Fed:
430
00:33:49,110 --> 00:33:55,450
To achieve these goals,the Fed, then and now,
combines centralized national authority
431
00:33:55,450 --> 00:34:03,310
through the Board of Governors with a healthy dose of
regional independence through the reserve banks.
432
00:34:03,310 --> 00:34:12,020
A third entity, the Federal Open Market Committee, brings together
the first two in setting the nation’s monetary policy.
433
00:34:13,350 --> 00:34:18,910
Precisely what imaginary gaggle of schoolchildren
is this economic gibberish aimed at?
434
00:34:18,910 --> 00:34:23,960
The simple truth, hidden behind the sleight of hand
of economic jargon and magisterial titles,
435
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:29,570
is that a banking cartel has monopolized the
most important item in our entire economy:
436
00:34:29,570 --> 00:34:31,570
money itself.
437
00:34:31,570 --> 00:34:35,890
We are taught to think of money as the pieces of paper
printed in government printing presses
438
00:34:35,890 --> 00:34:38,650
or coins minted by government mints.
439
00:34:38,650 --> 00:34:44,300
While this is partially true, in this day and age the
actual notes and coins circulating in the economy
440
00:34:44,300 --> 00:34:48,110
represent only a tiny fraction
of the money in existence.
441
00:34:48,110 --> 00:34:56,680
Over 90% of the money supply is in fact created by private banks
as loans that are payable back to the banks at interest.
442
00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:01,040
lthough this simple fact is obscured by\ the wizards
of Wall Street and gods of money
443
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:06,910
who want to make the money creation process into some special art
of alchemy carefully overseen by the government,
444
00:35:06,910 --> 00:35:09,770
the truth is not hidden from the public.
445
00:35:09,770 --> 00:35:14,760
In December 1977, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
published another of its dumbed-down
446
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,860
cartoon-ridden information pamphlets
for the general public
447
00:35:17,860 --> 00:35:21,450
attempting to explain the functions
of the Federal Reserve System.
448
00:35:21,450 --> 00:35:26,160
There in black and white they carefully explain
the money creation process:
449
00:35:26,580 --> 00:35:29,930
“Commercial banks create checkbook money
whenever they grant a loan,
450
00:35:29,930 --> 00:35:36,200
simply by adding new deposit dollars to accounts
on their books in exchange for a borrower’s IOU.
451
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:41,440
Banks create money by ‘monetizing’ the private debts
of businesses and individuals.
452
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:46,120
That is, they create amounts of money
against the value of those IOUs.”
453
00:35:47,310 --> 00:35:51,900
There it is, in plain English: the vast majority
of money in the economy,
454
00:35:51,900 --> 00:35:57,260
the “checkbook” money in our accounts at the bank and that
we use in our electronic transfers and digital payments,
455
00:35:57,260 --> 00:36:01,890
is created not by a government printing press,
but by the bank itself.
456
00:36:01,890 --> 00:36:08,140
It is created out of thin air as debt, owed back
to the bank that created it at interest.
457
00:36:08,140 --> 00:36:12,170
This means that bank loans are not money
taken from other bank depositors,
458
00:36:12,170 --> 00:36:17,350
but new money simply conjured into existence
and placed into your account.
459
00:36:17,350 --> 00:36:23,160
And the bank is able to create much more money
than it has cash to back up those deposits.
460
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:27,440
The Fed claims to be the entity overseeing
and backing up the banking industry.
461
00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:31,980
It was established, according to its own propaganda
to stabilize the system
462
00:36:31,980 --> 00:36:36,730
and prevent bank runs like the Panic of 1907
from happening again.
463
00:36:36,730 --> 00:36:42,610
Throughout much of the 1800s, almost any organization
that wanted could print its own money.
464
00:36:42,610 --> 00:36:47,450
As a result, many states, banks, and even
one New York druggist, did just that.
465
00:36:47,450 --> 00:36:52,930
In fact at one time there were over 30,000 different
varieties of currency in circulation.
466
00:36:52,930 --> 00:36:57,410
Imagine the confusion. Not only were
there multitudes of currencies,
467
00:36:57,410 --> 00:37:04,720
some were redeemable in gold and silver, others were
backed by bonds issued by regional governments.
468
00:37:04,720 --> 00:37:12,210
It was not unusual for people to lose faith both in the value
of their currency and in the entire financial system.
469
00:37:12,460 --> 00:37:15,840
With many people trying to withdraw
their deposits at once,
470
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:20,680
sometimes the banks didn't have enough money
on hand to pay their depositors.
471
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:26,940
Then when the funds ran out the banks suspended payment
temporarily and some even closed.
472
00:37:26,940 --> 00:37:32,320
People lost their entire savings. Sometimes
regional economies suffered.
473
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:37,340
Obviously something had to be done.
And in 1913, something was.
474
00:37:37,340 --> 00:37:42,010
In that year, President Woodrow Wilson signed into effect
the Federal Reserve Act.
475
00:37:42,010 --> 00:37:49,180
This act created the Federal Reserve system to provide
a safer and more stable monetary and banking system.
476
00:37:50,210 --> 00:37:53,280
If that was indeed its aim,
it signally failed to do so
477
00:37:53,290 --> 00:38:00,550
in running up one of the greatest bubbles in American history
to that point in the 1920s, just a decade after its creation.
478
00:38:00,550 --> 00:38:04,450
The popping of that bubble, of course,
led directly into the Great Depression
479
00:38:04,450 --> 00:38:08,780
and one of the greatest periods of
mass poverty in American history.
480
00:38:08,900 --> 00:38:12,740
Economists have long argued that the Fed itself
was the cause of the depression
481
00:38:12,740 --> 00:38:16,010
by its complete mismanagement
of the money supply.
482
00:38:16,010 --> 00:38:22,460
As former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke admitted in a speech
commemorating Fed critic Milton Friedman’s 90th birthday:
483
00:38:22,460 --> 00:38:27,460
“Regarding the Great Depression. You’re right,
we did it. We’re very sorry.
484
00:38:27,460 --> 00:38:30,760
But thanks to you, we won’t do it again.”
485
00:38:30,870 --> 00:38:35,210
“Price stability” is another cited tenet
of the Federal Reserve’s mandate.
486
00:38:35,210 --> 00:38:40,320
But here, too, the Fed has completely failed
to live up to its own standards.
487
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:46,910
Aside from the banking system, the Federal Reserve has another
responsibility that’s probably even more important.
488
00:38:46,910 --> 00:38:50,410
It’s in charge of something called
“monetary policy.”
489
00:38:50,410 --> 00:38:55,280
Basically, it means trying to keep prices stable
to avoid inflation.
490
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,420
Say you buy a CD today for $14.
491
00:38:58,420 --> 00:39:03,220
But what if next year the price of the CD
jumped to $20 or $50,
492
00:39:03,220 --> 00:39:08,220
not because of a change in supply or demand,
but because all prices were going up.
493
00:39:08,220 --> 00:39:12,980
That’s inflation. There are a lot
of different causes of inflation,
494
00:39:12,980 --> 00:39:16,770
but one of the most important is too much money.
495
00:39:16,770 --> 00:39:21,400
The Fed can adjust the money supply by injecting
money into the system electronically,
496
00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,360
or by withdrawing money from the economy.
497
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:30,410
Think of it: the Federal Reserve has the ability
to create money, or make it disappear.
498
00:39:30,410 --> 00:39:33,600
What’s most important is what happens as a result.
499
00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:39,360
Any time the supply of money is altered, the
effects are felt throughout the economy.
500
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:44,760
The Fed’s methods have changed over time to take advantage
of the latest computers and electronics,
501
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:53,930
but its mission remains the same: to aim for stable prices,
full employment and a growing economy.
502
00:39:54,820 --> 00:40:00,000
100 years ago, in 1913, the Fed was created,
and we’ve marked it with a vertical line there.
503
00:40:00,010 --> 00:40:06,290
Consumer prices now are about 30 times higher than
they were when the Fed was created in 1913.
504
00:40:06,710 --> 00:40:10,690
Paper money, too, is the responsibility
of the Federal Reserve.
505
00:40:10,690 --> 00:40:15,260
Hence the dollars in circulation are not
Treasury notes, not bills of credit,
506
00:40:15,260 --> 00:40:21,530
but Federal Reserve Notes, debt-based notes backed up
ultimately by the government’s own promise to pay,
507
00:40:21,530 --> 00:40:25,800
its “sovereign bonds” secured by
the taxpayers themselves.
508
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:29,130
At one time, the Federal Reserve Banks
were legally required to keep
509
00:40:29,130 --> 00:40:32,800
large stockpiles of gold in reserve
to back up these notes,
510
00:40:32,810 --> 00:40:38,670
but that requirement was abandoned and today the notes
are backed up mostly by government securities.
511
00:40:38,670 --> 00:40:41,940
The Fed no longer keeps any actual gold on its books,
512
00:40:41,940 --> 00:40:48,610
but gold “certificates” issued by the treasury and valued
not at the spot price of $1300 per troy ounce,
513
00:40:48,610 --> 00:40:54,990
but an arbitrarily fixed “statutory price”
of $42 2/9 per ounce.
514
00:40:54,990 --> 00:40:59,440
Ron Paul: But I do have one question: During the crisis
or at any time that you're aware of,
515
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:05,640
has the Federal Reserve or the Treasury participated
in any gold swap arrangements?
516
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:09,340
Scott Alvarez: The Federal Reserve does not
own any gold at all.
517
00:41:09,340 --> 00:41:16,420
We have not owned gold since 1934 so we
have not engaged in any gold swaps.
518
00:41:16,420 --> 00:41:18,710
Ron Paul: But it appears on your balance sheet
that you hold gold.
519
00:41:18,710 --> 00:41:21,570
Scott Alvarez: What appears on our balance sheet
is gold certificates.
520
00:41:21,570 --> 00:41:27,960
When we turned in…before 1934, we did
the Federal Reserve did own gold.
521
00:41:27,970 --> 00:41:35,700
We turned that over by law to the Treasury and
received in return for that gold certificates.
522
00:41:35,700 --> 00:41:39,300
Ron Paul: If the Treasury entered into… because
under the Exchange Stabilization Fund
523
00:41:39,300 --> 00:41:44,780
I would assume they probably have the legal authority
to do it…they wouldn’t be able to do it then
524
00:41:44,780 --> 00:41:48,660
because you have the securities
for essentially all the gold?
525
00:41:48,660 --> 00:41:53,720
Scott Alvarez: No, we have no interest in
the gold that is owned by the Treasury.
526
00:41:53,720 --> 00:41:59,420
We have simply an accounting document
that is called “gold certificates”
527
00:41:59,420 --> 00:42:05,080
that represents the value at a statutory rate
that we gave to the Treasury in 1934.
528
00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:10,000
Ron Paul: And still measured at $42 an ounce
which makes no sense whatsoever.
529
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:14,500
Clearly, there is a discrepancy between what
we are led to believe is motivating the Fed
530
00:42:14,500 --> 00:42:16,930
and what it actually does.
531
00:42:16,930 --> 00:42:19,810
To understand what the Fed is actually intended to do
532
00:42:19,810 --> 00:42:25,710
it’s first important to understand that the Federal Reserve
is not a bank, per se but a system.
533
00:42:25,710 --> 00:42:33,900
This system codifies, institutionalizes, oversees and undergirds
a form of banking called fractional reserve banking,
534
00:42:33,900 --> 00:42:39,240
in which banks are allowed to lend out more money
than they actually have in their vaults.
535
00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:48,930
The process of decay and corruption starts with
something called “fractional reserve banking.”
536
00:42:48,930 --> 00:42:52,860
That’s the technical name for it. And
what that really means is that
537
00:42:52,860 --> 00:43:01,130
as the banking institution developed over several centuries,
starting of course in Europe,
538
00:43:01,130 --> 00:43:09,680
it developed a practice of legalizing a certain
dishonest accounting procedure.
539
00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:12,830
In other words, in the very, very beginning,
if you want to go all the way back,
540
00:43:12,830 --> 00:43:17,220
people would bring their gold or silver to the banks
for safe keeping.
541
00:43:17,220 --> 00:43:22,180
And they said, “give us a paper receipt, we don’t want
to guard our silver and our gold because
542
00:43:22,180 --> 00:43:28,300
people could come in in the middle of the night and
they could kill us or tie us up or threaten us
543
00:43:28,300 --> 00:43:31,850
and they’ll get our gold and silver so we can ‘t
really guard it so we’ll take it to the bank
544
00:43:31,850 --> 00:43:34,900
and have them guard it and we
just want a paper receipt,
545
00:43:34,900 --> 00:43:39,980
so that we can take our receipt back
and get our gold anytime we want.”
546
00:43:39,980 --> 00:43:44,080
So in the beginning money was receipt money.
547
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:49,610
Then, instead of changing or exchanging the gold coins,
they could exchange the receipts,
548
00:43:49,610 --> 00:43:55,470
and people would accept the receipts just as well as the gold,
knowing that they could get gold.
549
00:43:55,470 --> 00:44:02,060
And so these paper receipts being circulated were
in essence the very first examples of paper money.
550
00:44:02,060 --> 00:44:08,130
Well the banks learned early on in that game that
here they were sitting on this pile of gold
551
00:44:08,130 --> 00:44:12,510
and all these paper receipts out there. People
weren’t bringing the receipts in anymore,
552
00:44:12,510 --> 00:44:16,700
very few of them, maybe five percent
maybe seven percent of the people
553
00:44:16,700 --> 00:44:19,780
would bring in their paper receipts
and ask for the gold.
554
00:44:19,780 --> 00:44:26,540
So they said, “Ah ha! Why don’t we just sort of
give more receipts out then we have gold.
555
00:44:26,540 --> 00:44:32,670
They’ll never know because they only ask for,
at the best, seven percent of it.
556
00:44:32,670 --> 00:44:37,570
So we can create more receipts
for gold then we have.
557
00:44:37,570 --> 00:44:42,020
And we can collect interest on that, because
we’ll loan that into the economy.
558
00:44:42,020 --> 00:44:45,980
We’ll charge interest on this money
that we don’t really have.
559
00:44:45,980 --> 00:44:49,670
And it’s a pretty good gimmick don’t ya think?”
And they go, “Well, yeah, of course.”
560
00:44:49,670 --> 00:44:52,500
And so that’s how fractional reserve banking started.
561
00:44:52,500 --> 00:44:56,570
And now it’s institutionalized
and they teach it in school.
562
00:44:56,570 --> 00:45:00,250
No one ever questions the integrity of it
or the ethics of it.
563
00:45:00,250 --> 00:45:03,920
They say, “Well, that’s the way banking works,
and isn’t it wonderful that we now
564
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:07,900
have this flexible currency and we have prosperity”
and all these sorts of things.
565
00:45:07,900 --> 00:45:11,090
So it all starts with this concept of
fractional reserve banking.
566
00:45:11,090 --> 00:45:14,410
The trouble with that is that
it works most of the time.
567
00:45:14,410 --> 00:45:17,640
But every once and a while there are
a few ripples that come along
568
00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:21,470
that are a little bit bigger than the other ripples.
Maybe one of them is a wave.
569
00:45:21,470 --> 00:45:24,550
And more than seven percent will come in
and ask for their gold.
570
00:45:24,550 --> 00:45:27,650
Maybe twenty percent or thirty percent.
571
00:45:27,650 --> 00:45:32,000
And well, now the banks are embarrassed
because the fraud is exposed.
572
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:36,250
They say, “well we don’t have your gold”
“What do you mean you don’t have my gold!!
573
00:45:36,250 --> 00:45:39,890
I gave it to you and put it on deposit
and you said you’d safe guard it.”
574
00:45:39,890 --> 00:45:43,120
“Well we don’t have it, we loaned it out.”
575
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:47,720
So then the word gets out and everyone and their
uncle comes out and lines up for their gold.
576
00:45:47,720 --> 00:45:51,730
And of course they don’t have it, the banks
are closed, and they have bank holidays.
577
00:45:51,730 --> 00:45:55,560
Banks are embarrassed, they go out of business,
people lose their savings
578
00:45:55,560 --> 00:46:02,740
and you have these terrible banking crashes that were
ricocheting all over the world prior to this time.
579
00:46:02,740 --> 00:46:08,740
And that is what caused the concern
of the American people.
580
00:46:08,740 --> 00:46:13,070
They didn’t want that anymore. They
wanted to put a stop to that.
581
00:46:13,070 --> 00:46:17,540
And that was the whole purpose, supposedly,
of the Federal Reserve system.
582
00:46:17,540 --> 00:46:23,660
Was to put a stop to that. But since the people
who designed the plan to put a stop to it
583
00:46:23,660 --> 00:46:29,930
were the very ones who were doing it in the first place,
you can not be surprised that their solution
584
00:46:29,930 --> 00:46:33,930
was not a very good one so far as the
American people were concerned.
585
00:46:33,930 --> 00:46:39,560
Their solution was to expand it.
Not to control it, to expand it.
586
00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:46,150
See, prior to that time, this little game of fractional
reserve banking was localized at the state level.
587
00:46:46,150 --> 00:46:50,930
Each state was doing its own little fractional
reserve banking system.
588
00:46:50,930 --> 00:46:54,110
Each state, in essence, had its own Federal Reserve.
589
00:46:54,110 --> 00:46:58,270
Central banks were authorized by state law
to do this sort of thing.
590
00:46:58,270 --> 00:47:02,340
And that was causing all this problem. So the
Federal Reserve came along and said,
591
00:47:02,340 --> 00:47:07,010
“No no, we’re not going to do this at the state level anymore,
because look at all the problem it’s causing.
592
00:47:07,010 --> 00:47:12,050
We’re going to consolidate it all together and
we’re going to do it at the national level.”
593
00:47:13,150 --> 00:47:18,910
The key to the system, of course, is who controls
this incredible power to “regulate” the economy
594
00:47:18,910 --> 00:47:22,800
by setting reserve requirements
and targeting interest rates.
595
00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:27,420
The answer to this question, too,
has been deliberately obscured.
596
00:47:27,420 --> 00:47:32,530
The Federal Reserve system is a deliberately confusing
mish-mash of public and private interests,
597
00:47:32,530 --> 00:47:39,670
reserve banks, boards and committees, centralized in Washington
and spread out across the United States.
598
00:47:41,110 --> 00:47:46,200
So you have the Federal Reserve Board in Washington
appointed by the President.
599
00:47:46,200 --> 00:47:53,960
That’s the only part of this system that is directly dependent
on the government for input
600
00:47:53,960 --> 00:48:01,650
that's the “federal” part: that the government ,the president
specifically, gets to choose a few select governors.
601
00:48:01,650 --> 00:48:07,820
The twelve regional banks, the most influential of which
is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
602
00:48:07,820 --> 00:48:13,450
which is essentially based in Wall Street
to represent Wall Street,
603
00:48:13,450 --> 00:48:22,740
is a representative of the major Wall Street banks
who own shares in the private,
604
00:48:22,740 --> 00:48:26,010
not federal, but private Federal
Reserve Bank of New York.
605
00:48:26,010 --> 00:48:29,800
All of the other regional banks are also private banks.
606
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:37,870
They vary according to how much influence they wield
but the Kansas City fed is influential,
607
00:48:37,870 --> 00:48:47,520
the St. Louis fed, the Dallas fed, but the New
York Fed is really the center of this system
608
00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:54,570
and precisely because it represents the Wall Street banks
who appoint the leadership of the New York fed.
609
00:48:54,570 --> 00:49:01,160
So the New York fed has a lot of public power,
but no public accountability or oversight.
610
00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:07,130
It does not answer to Congress the way that the chairman
of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors does
611
00:49:07,130 --> 00:49:12,090
and even the chairman of the Federal Reserve board
612
00:49:12,090 --> 00:49:16,380
who is appointed by the President, does not answer
to the President, does not answer to Congress.
613
00:49:16,380 --> 00:49:21,310
He goes to Congress to testify but the policy
that they set is independent.
614
00:49:21,310 --> 00:49:24,040
So they have no input from the government.
615
00:49:24,040 --> 00:49:28,600
The government can’t tell them what to do legally speaking,
and of course they don’t.
616
00:49:29,350 --> 00:49:36,720
Rep. John Duncan: Do you think it would cause problems for the Fed
or for the economy if that legislation was to pass?
617
00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:40,730
Ben Bernanke: My concern about the legislation
is that if the GAO
618
00:49:40,730 --> 00:49:45,520
is auditing not only the operational aspects of our programs
and the details of the programs,
619
00:49:45,530 --> 00:49:52,000
but is making judgements about our policy decisions, that would
effectively be a takeover of monetary policy by the Congress,
620
00:49:52,010 --> 00:49:57,660
a repudiation of the independence of the Federal Reserve
which would be highly destructive to the stability
621
00:49:57,660 --> 00:50:02,890
of the financial system, the dollar, and
our national economic situation.
622
00:50:03,410 --> 00:50:08,770
The Federal Open Market Committee is responsible
for setting interest rates.
623
00:50:08,770 --> 00:50:19,340
Now this committee, which is enormously powerful, has as its membership
the Governor and Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board,
624
00:50:19,340 --> 00:50:26,200
but on the Federal Open Market Committee most of the membership
is the presidents of the regional Federal Reserve Banks
625
00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:33,660
representing private interests. So they have significant input
into setting the interest rates.
626
00:50:33,660 --> 00:50:40,080
Interest rates are not set by a public body, they’re set
by private financial and corporate interests.
627
00:50:40,090 --> 00:50:44,330
And that's whose interests they serve, of course.
628
00:50:44,330 --> 00:50:50,430
The reason that the Federal Reserve goes to such great lengths
to make its organizational structure as confusing as possible
629
00:50:50,430 --> 00:50:54,930
is to cover up the massive conflicts of interest that are
at the heart of that system.
630
00:50:54,930 --> 00:50:59,370
The fact is that the Federal Reserve system
is comprised of a Board of Governors,
631
00:50:59,370 --> 00:51:03,850
12 regional banks, and an open market committee.
632
00:51:03,850 --> 00:51:09,520
The privately-owned member banks of each Federal Reserve Bank
vote on the majority of the Reserve Bank’s directors,
633
00:51:09,530 --> 00:51:15,620
and the directors vote on members to serve on the Federal Open
Market Committee which determines monetary policy.
634
00:51:15,620 --> 00:51:18,850
What’s more, Wall Street is given
a prime seat at the table,
635
00:51:18,850 --> 00:51:22,900
with tradition holding that the President of the powerful
New York Federal Reserve Bank
636
00:51:22,900 --> 00:51:28,320
be given the Vice Chairmanship of the FOMC and
be made a permanent committee member.
637
00:51:28,330 --> 00:51:33,240
In effect, the private banks are the key determinants
in the composition of the FOMC
638
00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:36,630
which regulates the entire economy.
639
00:51:36,630 --> 00:51:42,050
According to the Fed “its monetary policy decisions
do not have to be approved by the President
640
00:51:42,050 --> 00:51:45,870
or anyone else in the executive or
legislative branches of government,
641
00:51:45,870 --> 00:51:48,890
it does not receive funding appropriated
by the Congress,
642
00:51:48,890 --> 00:51:54,860
and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors
span multiple presidential and congressional terms.”
643
00:51:54,860 --> 00:51:58,130
Or, in the words of Alan Greenspan:
644
00:51:58,130 --> 00:52:07,340
Interviewer: "What should be the proper relationship between
a chairman of the FED and the president of United States?"
645
00:52:07,340 --> 00:52:13,390
“Well first of all, The Federal Reserve is an
independent agency and that means that
646
00:52:13,390 --> 00:52:23,730
there is no other agency of government that
can overrule actions that we take.”
647
00:52:23,730 --> 00:52:29,850
The Fed goes on in its self-mythologization to state
that it is “not a private, profit-making institution.”
648
00:52:29,850 --> 00:52:35,130
This characterization is dishonest at best,
and an outright lie at worst.
649
00:52:35,130 --> 00:52:41,640
The regional banks are themselves private corporations,
as noted in a 1928 Supreme Court ruling:
650
00:52:41,640 --> 00:52:46,980
“Instrumentalities like the national banksor the federal
reserve banks, in which there are private interests
651
00:52:46,980 --> 00:52:49,000
are not departments of the government.
652
00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:53,500
They are private corporations in which
the government has an interest.”
653
00:52:53,500 --> 00:52:57,230
This point is even admitted by the Federal
Reserve’s own senior counsel.
654
00:52:57,230 --> 00:53:02,130
Yvonne Mizusawa: Our regulations do
specify overall terms for the lending,
655
00:53:02,130 --> 00:53:07,160
but the day to day operation of the banking activities
are conducted by the Federal Reserve Banks.
656
00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:09,780
They are banks, and indeed they do lend
657
00:53:09,780 --> 00:53:13,240
Peter W. Hall: So they’re their own agency, then,
essentially, in that regard.
658
00:53:13,240 --> 00:53:16,550
Yvonne Mizusawa: They are not agencies, your honor,
they are “persons” under FOIA.
659
00:53:16,550 --> 00:53:23,000
Each Federal Reserve Bank, the stock is owned by the member banks
in the district, 100% privately held,
660
00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:28,280
they are private boards of directors. The majority of those boards
are appointed by the independent banks,
661
00:53:28,280 --> 00:53:32,410
private banks in the district.
They are not agencies.
662
00:53:32,410 --> 00:53:37,400
These private corporations issue shares that are held
by the member banks that make up the system,
663
00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:41,480
making the banks the ultimate owners
of the Federal Reserve Banks.
664
00:53:41,480 --> 00:53:44,720
Although the Fed’s profits are returned
to the Treasury each year,
665
00:53:44,730 --> 00:53:48,800
the member banks’ shares of the Fed
do earn them a 6% dividend.
666
00:53:48,810 --> 00:53:55,230
According to the Fed, the fixed nature of these returns
mean that they are not being held for profit.
667
00:53:55,230 --> 00:53:59,600
Despite the dishonest nature of this description,
however, it is important to understand
668
00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:04,890
that the bankers who own the Federal Reserve indeed
do not make their money from the Fed directly.
669
00:54:04,890 --> 00:54:09,460
Instead, the benefits are much less obvious,
and much more insidious.
670
00:54:09,460 --> 00:54:13,340
The simplest way that this can be understood
is that, as a century of history
671
00:54:13,340 --> 00:54:16,940
and the specific example of the last financial crisis shows,
672
00:54:16,940 --> 00:54:21,560
the Fed was used as a vehicle to bail out the
very bankers who own the Fed banks
673
00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:26,180
in the most obvious example of
fascistic collusion imaginable.
674
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:35,620
A handful of financial institutions have enriched themselves
as a result of institutional speculation
675
00:54:35,620 --> 00:54:40,410
on a large scale, as well as
manipulation of the market.
676
00:54:40,410 --> 00:54:47,780
And secondly what they have done is that they have then
gone to their governments and said,
677
00:54:47,780 --> 00:54:52,410
“Well, we are now in a very difficult situation
and you need to lend us…
678
00:54:52,410 --> 00:55:00,790
you need to give us money so that we can retain
the stability of the financial system.”
679
00:55:00,790 --> 00:55:08,780
And who actually lends the money,
or brokers the public debt.
680
00:55:08,780 --> 00:55:14,460
The same financial institutions which are
the recipients of the bailout.
681
00:55:14,460 --> 00:55:20,330
And so what you have is a circular process.
It’s a diabolical process.
682
00:55:20,330 --> 00:55:27,620
You’re lending money…no, you’re not lending money,
you’re handing money to the large financial instutions,
683
00:55:27,620 --> 00:55:36,850
and then this is leading up to mounting public debt
in the trillions.
684
00:55:36,850 --> 00:55:40,940
And then you say to the financial institutions
685
00:55:40,940 --> 00:55:50,920
“We need to establish a new set of treasury bills
and government bonds, etc.”
686
00:55:50,930 --> 00:55:57,120
which of course are sold to the public, but they are
always brokered through the financial institutions
687
00:55:57,130 --> 00:56:01,020
which establish their viability and so on and so forth.
688
00:56:01,020 --> 00:56:07,360
And the financial institutions will probably
buy part of this public debt
689
00:56:07,380 --> 00:56:13,960
so that in effect what the government is doing is financing
its own indebtedness through the bailouts.
690
00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:22,860
It hands money to the banks, but to hand money to the banks,
it becomes indebted to those same financial institutions,
691
00:56:22,860 --> 00:56:30,810
and then it says “We now have to emit large amounts
of public debt. Please can you help us?”
692
00:56:30,810 --> 00:56:35,570
And then the banks will say: “Well, your books
are not quite in order.”
693
00:56:35,570 --> 00:56:44,800
And then the government will say: “Obviously they’re not in order, because
we’ve just handed you 1.4 trillion dollars of bailout money
694
00:56:44,800 --> 00:56:47,380
and we’re now in a very difficult situation.
695
00:56:47,380 --> 00:56:53,340
So we need to borrow money from the people
who are in fact the recipients of the bailout.”
696
00:56:53,340 --> 00:57:00,000
So this is really what we’re dealing with.
We’re dealing with a circular process.
697
00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:07,340
The 2008 crisis and subsequent bailouts are merely the latest and
most brazen examples of the fundamental conflicts of interest
698
00:57:07,340 --> 00:57:11,280
at the heart of America’s privately-owned
central banking system.
699
00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:14,700
Beginning with the collapse of Lehman Bros.
in September of that year,
700
00:57:14,700 --> 00:57:20,850
the Federal Reserve embarked on an unprecedented program of bailouts
and special zero interest lending facilities
701
00:57:20,850 --> 00:57:25,090
for the very banks that had caused the subprime meltdown
in the first place.
702
00:57:25,090 --> 00:57:30,090
By the cartelization of the Federal Reserve structure,
and thus not by accident,
703
00:57:30,090 --> 00:57:34,540
it was the very bank presidents who had
overseen their banks’ lending practices
704
00:57:34,540 --> 00:57:42,260
that ended up in the director positions of the Federal Reserve Banks
that voted on where to direct the trillions of dollars in bailout money.
705
00:57:42,260 --> 00:57:46,860
And unsurprisingly,they directed it
toward their own banks.
706
00:57:46,860 --> 00:57:52,840
A stunning 2011 Government Accountability Office report
examined $16 trillion of bailout facilities
707
00:57:52,850 --> 00:58:00,200
extended by the Fed in the wake of the crisis and exposed
numerous examples of blatant conflicts of interest.
708
00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:03,410
Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric
709
00:58:03,410 --> 00:58:06,920
served as a director on the board of the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
710
00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:13,020
at the same time the Fed provided $16 billion
in financing to General Electric.
711
00:58:13,020 --> 00:58:18,920
JP Morgan Chase chief executive, Jamie Dimon, meanwhile,
was also a member of the board of the New York Fed
712
00:58:18,920 --> 00:58:25,610
during the period that saw $391 billion in Fed
emergency lending directed to his own bank.
713
00:58:25,610 --> 00:58:31,760
In all, Federal Reserve board members were tied
to $4 trillion in loans to their own banks.
714
00:58:31,770 --> 00:58:34,980
These funds were not simply used
to keep these banks afloat,
715
00:58:34,980 --> 00:58:39,420
but actually to return these Fed-connected banks
to a period of record profits
716
00:58:39,420 --> 00:58:44,440
in the same period that the average worker
saw their real wages actually decrease
717
00:58:44,440 --> 00:58:48,820
and the economy on main street slow to a standstill.
718
00:58:48,820 --> 00:58:52,780
Ben Bernanke, at that time the chairman of
the Federal Reserve Board of Governors,
719
00:58:52,780 --> 00:59:00,760
was confronted about these conflicts of interest by Senator Bernie Sanders
upon the release of the GAO report in June 2012.
720
00:59:00,760 --> 00:59:05,930
Ben Bernanke: Senator, you raised an important point, which is that
this is not something the Federal Reserve created.
721
00:59:05,930 --> 00:59:12,140
This is in the statute. Congress in the Federal Reserve Act
said “This is the governance of the Federal Reserve.”
722
00:59:12,140 --> 00:59:15,130
And more specifically that bankers would be
on the board.
723
00:59:15,130 --> 00:59:16,880
Bernie Sanders: 6 out of 9.
Ben Bernanke: Sorry?
724
00:59:16,880 --> 00:59:20,540
Bernie Sanders: 6 out of 9 in the regional banks
are from the banking industry.
725
00:59:20,540 --> 00:59:22,190
Ben Bernanke: That’s correct. And that is in the law.
726
00:59:22,190 --> 00:59:27,830
I’ll answer your question, though. The answer
to your question is that Congress set this up,
727
00:59:27,830 --> 00:59:31,060
I think we’ve made it into something
useful and valuable.
728
00:59:31,060 --> 00:59:34,330
We do get information from it. But
if Congress wants to change it,
729
00:59:34,330 --> 00:59:39,180
of course we will work with you to find alternatives.
730
00:59:40,010 --> 00:59:46,150
Bernanke is completely right. These conflicts
are in fact a part of the institution itself.
731
00:59:46,150 --> 00:59:50,780
A structural feature of the Federal Reserve that
was baked into the Federal Reserve Act itself
732
00:59:50,780 --> 00:59:56,570
over 100 years ago by the bankers who conspired
to cartelize the nation’s money supply.
733
00:59:56,570 --> 01:00:00,850
You could not ask for a more succinct reason
why the Federal Reserve itself,
734
01:00:00,850 --> 01:00:05,580
this admitted cartel of banking interests,
needs to be abolished.
735
01:00:05,580 --> 01:00:07,570
but you could get one.
736
01:00:09,970 --> 01:00:13,810
Part Three: End the Fed
737
01:00:14,900 --> 01:00:19,770
“They who control the credit of a nation, direct the policy of Governments and hold
738
01:00:19,770 --> 01:00:24,610
in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people.”
739
01:00:26,680 --> 01:00:33,100
We now know that for centuries the people of the United States
have been at war with the international banking oligarchs.
740
01:00:33,100 --> 01:00:39,460
That war was lost, seemingly for good, in 1913,
with the creation of the Federal Reserve.
741
01:00:39,460 --> 01:00:41,630
With the passage of the Federal Reserve Act,
742
01:00:41,640 --> 01:00:46,860
President Woodrow Wilson consigned the American population
to a century in which the money supply itself
743
01:00:46,860 --> 01:00:49,860
has depended on the whims of the banking cabal.
744
01:00:49,860 --> 01:00:53,330
A century of booms and busts, bubbles and depressions,
745
01:00:53,330 --> 01:00:58,960
has led to a wholesale redistribution of wealth
toward those at the very top of the system.
746
01:00:58,960 --> 01:01:02,170
At the bottom, the masses toil in relative poverty,
747
01:01:02,170 --> 01:01:06,240
single-income households becoming double-income
households out of necessity,
748
01:01:06,240 --> 01:01:11,220
their quality of life being slowly eroded as the
Federal Reserve Notes that pass for dollars
749
01:01:11,220 --> 01:01:13,580
are themselves devalued.
750
01:01:13,610 --> 01:01:21,220
Worse yet, the fraud itself perpetuates Alexander Hamilton’s
persistent myththat a national debt is necessary at all.
751
01:01:21,220 --> 01:01:27,440
The US is now locked into a system whereby the government
issues bonds to generate the funds for their operations,
752
01:01:27,440 --> 01:01:32,160
bonds that are backed up by the taxation
of the public’s own labor.
753
01:01:32,170 --> 01:01:35,890
The perpetrators of this fraud, meanwhile,
remain in the shadows,
754
01:01:35,890 --> 01:01:42,150
largely ignored by a general public that could instantly recognise
the latest Hollywood heartthrob or pop idol,
755
01:01:42,150 --> 01:01:48,110
but have no clue what the head of Goldman Sachs
or the New York Fed does, let alone who they are.
756
01:01:48,110 --> 01:01:54,120
This cabal bear allegiance to no nationality,
no philosophy or creed, no code of ethics.
757
01:01:54,120 --> 01:01:58,040
They are not even motivated by greed, but power.
758
01:01:58,050 --> 01:02:03,490
The power that the control of the money supply
inevitably brings with it.
759
01:02:04,030 --> 01:02:09,800
After a person has all the money in the world that
you could possibly use to buy anything you want
760
01:02:09,800 --> 01:02:15,870
What's left to capture your imagination?
And the answer of course is power.
761
01:02:15,870 --> 01:02:22,360
Power over people. Now money is power over people,
but there's another power over people as well.
762
01:02:22,360 --> 01:02:25,940
And that is the political power, the social power.
763
01:02:25,940 --> 01:02:31,090
And I think this has now become the dominant
driving force of these people.
764
01:02:31,090 --> 01:02:37,100
They've already got the money, they got it locked down.
Now they're striving for this New World Order,
765
01:02:37,100 --> 01:02:45,000
That's their name for it. They want all the world
into one political unit, which they dominate.
766
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:49,960
Not only with money, but with military
and psychological means.
767
01:02:49,960 --> 01:02:57,250
And education and media ad propaganda. They
want total control of every human on the planet.
768
01:02:57,250 --> 01:03:01,840
And by Golly, they're moving
pretty rapidly in that direction.
769
01:03:02,890 --> 01:03:06,560
It did not take long for this lust for power
to rear its head.
770
01:03:06,560 --> 01:03:10,620
In 1921, just 7 years after the Fed began operations,
771
01:03:10,620 --> 01:03:14,570
the same J.P. Morgan-connected banking elite
that founded the Federal Reserve
772
01:03:14,570 --> 01:03:18,340
incorporated an organization called
The Council on Foreign Relations
773
01:03:18,340 --> 01:03:24,160
with the goal of taking over the foreign policy apparatus
of the United States, including the State Department.
774
01:03:24,170 --> 01:03:27,940
In this quest, it was remarkably successful.
775
01:03:27,940 --> 01:03:31,610
Although there are only about 4000 members
in the organization today,
776
01:03:31,610 --> 01:03:38,640
its membership has included 21 Secretaries of Defense,
18 Treasury Secretaries, 18 Secretaries of State,
777
01:03:38,640 --> 01:03:49,010
16 CIA directors and many other high-ranking government officials,
military officers, business elite, and, of course, bankers.
778
01:03:49,010 --> 01:03:52,260
The first Director of the CFR was John W. Davis,
779
01:03:52,260 --> 01:03:56,930
J.P. Morgan’s personal lawyer and
a millionaire in his own right.
780
01:03:56,930 --> 01:04:01,000
Together with its sister organizations in Britain
and elsewhere around the world,
781
01:04:01,000 --> 01:04:04,320
these groups would work together toward
what they called a “New World Order”
782
01:04:04,330 --> 01:04:09,220
of total financial and political control
directed by the bankers themselves.
783
01:04:09,220 --> 01:04:15,300
As Carroll Quigley, noted Georgetown historian and
mentor of Bill Clinton, wrote in his 1966 work,
784
01:04:15,300 --> 01:04:19,260
Tragedy and Hope,
A History of The World In Our Time:
785
01:04:19,260 --> 01:04:22,680
“The powers of financial capitalism
had a far-reaching aim,
786
01:04:22,690 --> 01:04:26,960
nothing less than to create a world system
of financial control in private hands
787
01:04:26,960 --> 01:04:32,730
able to dominate the political system of each country
gand the economy of the world as a whole.
788
01:04:32,730 --> 01:04:38,010
This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion
by the central banks of the world acting in concert,
789
01:04:38,010 --> 01:04:42,510
by secret agreements arrived at in frequent
private meetings and conferences.
790
01:04:42,510 --> 01:04:47,410
The apex of the system was to be the Bank for
International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland,
791
01:04:47,410 --> 01:04:55,220
a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks
which were themselves private corporations.”
792
01:04:55,220 --> 01:05:01,280
This is why the bankers and their partners in government
and business conspired to bring about the 2008 crisis.
793
01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:04,490
Not for the pursuit of money, but power.
794
01:05:04,490 --> 01:05:10,080
In the same way the bankers used the Panic of 1907
to consolidate their control over the money supply,
795
01:05:10,090 --> 01:05:15,500
they hope to use the 2008 crisis and subsequent panics,
which they themselves have created,
796
01:05:15,500 --> 01:05:18,440
to consolidate their political control.
797
01:05:19,250 --> 01:05:26,440
The international summit for the global financial crisis
has been expended from June 7th to June 20th.
798
01:05:26,440 --> 01:05:30,480
Because the leading seven developed countries
can not solve the crisis alone.
799
01:05:30,480 --> 01:05:36,130
This expanded meeting raises the question whether
a new global financial system will be created.
800
01:05:36,380 --> 01:05:39,880
So, is this some sort of a New World Order,
which Gordon Brown kind of eluded to?
801
01:05:40,980 --> 01:05:47,900
British prime minister Gordon Brown has described the
"Guiding principle" will be addressed at the summit,
802
01:05:47,900 --> 01:05:58,400
they are: transparency, sound banking, responsibility,
integrity, and get this, global governance.
803
01:05:59,160 --> 01:06:08,320
I think the New Order is emerging and with it the foundations
of a new and progressive era of international cooperation.
804
01:06:08,330 --> 01:06:13,820
The inevitable conclusion, one that flows necessarily
from the true understanding of this situation,
805
01:06:13,820 --> 01:06:18,800
is that the Federal Reserve system needs
to be consigned to the dustbin of history.
806
01:06:18,810 --> 01:06:26,290
After a century of enslavement, it is time for the American public
to finally throw off the bankers’ debt chains.
807
01:06:27,130 --> 01:06:35,740
If there was ever a point in human history to start
questioning alternatives, this would be it.
808
01:06:35,740 --> 01:06:40,920
And to think that where we are and to think
that this is the best of our options,
809
01:06:40,920 --> 01:06:46,640
How many of the best options lead to self-destruction?
Doesn't sound like the best option.
810
01:06:46,640 --> 01:06:53,210
I think that with a world with 7 billion people, we
can probably come up with something better
811
01:06:53,210 --> 01:07:03,620
then a system in which a few thousand people benefit so
much at the expense of everything else on this world.
812
01:07:03,620 --> 01:07:11,140
And at the expense of the potential for the future
of mankind. They are leveraging our future.
813
01:07:11,140 --> 01:07:19,090
And so long as we accept this way of thinking,
so long as we accept these institutions as [?]
814
01:07:19,090 --> 01:07:27,840
That's the direction we'll be going. So I think reform
is a good way to try and stall and to push back
815
01:07:27,850 --> 01:07:34,940
directly against the expanding and
evolving power structures
816
01:07:34,940 --> 01:07:39,580
but radical change is what's really needed
and it has to be build from the bottom up.
817
01:07:39,580 --> 01:07:46,290
But I think that these two processes can
and should go together in parallel.
818
01:07:48,290 --> 01:07:51,360
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations.
819
01:07:51,370 --> 01:07:54,600
You are now better informed on the economic
history of the United States
820
01:07:54,610 --> 01:07:58,970
and the truth about the Federal Reserve
than 99% of the population.
821
01:07:58,970 --> 01:08:06,340
If you do nothing else, then just working to get those around you
educated on this information alone, will have a profound effect.
822
01:08:06,340 --> 01:08:13,020
Once they learn of the scam, many are motivated to do
something about it, and they, in turn, inform others.
823
01:08:13,020 --> 01:08:17,760
This is the viral nature of suppressed truth, and
it is the reason that more people are aware of
824
01:08:17,760 --> 01:08:23,490
and energized by the issue of the Federal Reserve
and the nature of money than ever before.
825
01:08:23,490 --> 01:08:28,530
Perhaps even more amazingly, this movement
is spreading to other parts of the globe.
826
01:08:28,530 --> 01:08:34,620
Recognizing the interlocking nature of the modern global economy,
and the international nature of the banking oligarchy,
827
01:08:34,620 --> 01:08:37,730
movements to abolish the Federal Reserve
have sprung up in Europe,
828
01:08:37,730 --> 01:08:42,610
where protests against the cartelized central banking system
are taking place in over 100 cities
829
01:08:42,610 --> 01:08:46,300
attracting 20,000 people on a weekly basis.
830
01:08:46,900 --> 01:08:53,440
Lars Maehrholz: I started this movement because I realized
that the Federal Reserve Act, in my opinion,
831
01:08:53,440 --> 01:08:57,820
is one of the worst laws in the whole world.
832
01:08:57,820 --> 01:09:05,720
So a private banking company is lending America the money,
and in my opinion is not democratic anymore.
833
01:09:05,730 --> 01:09:10,570
The Federal Reserve tells the government
what to do, and that’s the problem.
834
01:09:10,570 --> 01:09:13,370
Luke Rudkowski: It’s a very big problem
especially in the U.S.
835
01:09:13,370 --> 01:09:16,860
Why is it a global issue, and why are
people doing it here in Germany?
836
01:09:16,860 --> 01:09:21,940
Lars Maehrholz: Because when you realize that
this finance system, it’s a global system,
837
01:09:21,940 --> 01:09:25,340
you have to go really to the beginning of the system.
838
01:09:25,340 --> 01:09:31,820
And in my opinion it’s also the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund and stuff like this,
839
01:09:31,820 --> 01:09:35,610
but at the beginning of all this is a law from 1913.
840
01:09:35,610 --> 01:09:42,610
Woodrow Wilson signed it, and this is the beginning of
all this hardcore capitalism we are now suffering from.
841
01:09:42,610 --> 01:09:46,810
And the only way to stop this
is maybe to break this law.
842
01:09:47,920 --> 01:09:51,740
But what if the burgeoning movement
to End The Fed is successful.
843
01:09:51,740 --> 01:09:55,240
What system do people propose as the answer.
844
01:09:55,240 --> 01:09:59,570
There have been several proposals along
different lines by various researchers.
845
01:09:59,570 --> 01:10:05,320
Some argue for a return to America’s colonial roots
of debt-free money issued by state run banks,
846
01:10:05,320 --> 01:10:11,610
pointing to the Bank of North Dakota as one already functioning,
successful model of this approach.
847
01:10:11,610 --> 01:10:20,490
We’ve had two banking systems ever since the 1860’s
with the state bank system and the federal bank system,
848
01:10:20,490 --> 01:10:26,800
and the federal bank system are the big Wall Street banks
particularly. They dominate the federal system.
849
01:10:26,810 --> 01:10:34,050
So, they’re taking over right now. In California
we don’t even have any local banks where I am.
850
01:10:34,050 --> 01:10:36,980
We had two and I had accounts in both of them
851
01:10:36,980 --> 01:10:40,420
and now one of them is Chase Bank
and the other is U.S. Bank.
852
01:10:40,420 --> 01:10:43,240
So they’re both big Wall Street banks
now that have been taken over.
853
01:10:43,250 --> 01:10:50,210
So it’s the local banks that have an interest
in serving the local business.
854
01:10:50,210 --> 01:10:55,570
The big banks have no interest in making loans to local
businesses; it’s too risky, why should they bother.
855
01:10:55,570 --> 01:11:00,000
They've got this virtually free money they can
get from the Fed and from each other
856
01:11:00,000 --> 01:11:06,100
and it’s much more lucrative to them either to speculate
in commodities or other thing abroad,
857
01:11:06,100 --> 01:11:12,810
or what works very well for them is to buy
long-term government bonds at 3%
858
01:11:12,810 --> 01:11:15,050
because these have no capital requirement.
859
01:11:15,050 --> 01:11:20,400
The capital requirements for government bonds are zero.
So they can buy all of those that they want.
860
01:11:20,400 --> 01:11:29,370
Whereas if they make loans for mortgages
or they make loans to businesses
861
01:11:29,370 --> 01:11:35,060
then they have to worry about the capital requirement and as soon as they’ve used up all their capital,
862
01:11:35,060 --> 01:11:39,320
in other words eight dollars in capital
will get you a hundred dollars of loans,
863
01:11:39,320 --> 01:11:43,880
then they can’t make any more loans they have to
wait for thirty years for the loans to get paid off.
864
01:11:43,880 --> 01:11:50,130
So what they if they do if they do buy mortgages
is sell them off too investors
865
01:11:50,130 --> 01:11:55,720
and so that’s the whole mortgage backed security scam
that we’ve seen.
866
01:11:55,720 --> 01:12:01,690
They had no motivation to make sure that these
borrowers were actually sound borrowers;
867
01:12:01,690 --> 01:12:06,330
they just wanted to make a sale. So they
sold the stuff to the unwary investors
868
01:12:06,330 --> 01:12:14,290
who might be somebody in Iceland
or Sweden or pension funds.
869
01:12:14,290 --> 01:12:16,820
So that didn’t work out so well.
870
01:12:16,820 --> 01:12:23,700
So a state bank partnering with the local banks
can provide the capital.
871
01:12:23,700 --> 01:12:29,570
It can help them with capital. In North Dakota the state bank
guarantees the loans of the local banks,
872
01:12:29,570 --> 01:12:33,620
allowing them to make much bigger loans
than they could otherwise.
873
01:12:33,620 --> 01:12:38,180
The state bank provides liquidity to the small banks.
874
01:12:38,180 --> 01:12:45,200
That’s why the local banks aren’t making loans
to small business right now,
875
01:12:45,200 --> 01:12:52,340
because they don’t know that they can get
money from the other banks as needed.
876
01:12:52,340 --> 01:12:54,640
The way banking works is they make the loan first.
877
01:12:54,640 --> 01:12:58,460
I mean, if you have credit lines
to many different businesses
878
01:12:58,460 --> 01:13:01,970
and if they all hit up their credit lines at once
you are going to run out of money.
879
01:13:01,970 --> 01:13:08,440
So you don’t dare do that unless you know that you
can get short-term loans from the other banks.
880
01:13:08,440 --> 01:13:13,690
And so what’s happening right now, even though
there’s $1.6 trillion is excess reserves
881
01:13:13,690 --> 01:13:18,660
sitting on the books of the big banks, they’re
not available to the little banks
882
01:13:18,660 --> 01:13:25,100
and the reason is because the Fed is paying
0.25% interest on those reserves.
883
01:13:25,100 --> 01:13:29,080
So the banks have no incentive
to lend them to the little banks.
884
01:13:29,090 --> 01:13:34,280
Why let go of them when you can make just as much
keeping them and then you still have your reserves
885
01:13:34,280 --> 01:13:40,210
and you can use them as collateral to buy bonds
or something that’ll make you more money?
886
01:13:40,210 --> 01:13:46,200
So the whole system is messed up and in North Dakota,
887
01:13:46,200 --> 01:13:51,600
the bank of North Dakota provides
liquidity for these local banks.
888
01:13:51,600 --> 01:13:55,660
Others advocate a decentralized system
of alternative and competing currencies
889
01:13:55,660 --> 01:14:01,380
that greatly reduce or even eliminate altogether
the need for a central bank.
890
01:14:02,340 --> 01:14:07,840
Paul Glover: Well, 22 years ago in Ithaca, New York, I
noticed there were a lot of people, friends particularly,
891
01:14:07,850 --> 01:14:14,430
that had skills and time that were not being employed
or respected by the prevailing economy.
892
01:14:14,430 --> 01:14:19,690
While we had much desire to create things
and trade them with each other
893
01:14:19,690 --> 01:14:24,880
and many services we could provide to each other,
we didn’t have the money.
894
01:14:24,890 --> 01:14:31,520
So since I have a background in graphic design,
journalism and arrogance
895
01:14:31,530 --> 01:14:35,760
I went to my computer and designed
paper money for Ithaca, New York.
896
01:14:35,770 --> 01:14:45,400
I designed pretty colourful money with pictures of children,
waterfalls and trolley cars denominated in hours of labor.
897
01:14:45,400 --> 01:14:51,900
One-hour note, half-hour, quarter, eight-hour
notes and two-hour notes.
898
01:14:51,900 --> 01:14:58,990
Then I began to issue to each of those pioneer traders
who had agreed to being listed in the directory
899
01:14:58,990 --> 01:15:04,170
a specific starter amount, and the game began.
900
01:15:04,170 --> 01:15:10,760
An hour has been worth basically $10 U.S. dollars
901
01:15:10,770 --> 01:15:15,660
which at that time 20 years ago was
double the minimum wage.
902
01:15:15,660 --> 01:15:24,730
People who usually expect more than $10 per hour
of their service can charge multiple hours per hour
903
01:15:24,730 --> 01:15:32,000
but the denomination puts between us
as residents of our community,
904
01:15:32,010 --> 01:15:41,440
that reminds us that we are fellow citizens, not merely
winners or losers scrambling for dollars.
905
01:15:41,450 --> 01:15:51,770
It introduces us to each other on the basis
of these skills and services that we have,
906
01:15:51,770 --> 01:15:57,840
that we are more proud to provide for each other
than often is the case with a conventional job.
907
01:15:57,850 --> 01:16:03,660
Just the stuff we have to do to
get the money to pay the bills.
908
01:16:03,660 --> 01:16:10,530
So through that trading process, that more intimate
scale process within the community,
909
01:16:10,530 --> 01:16:15,460
we’re more easily able to become friends
and lovers and political allies.
910
01:16:15,460 --> 01:16:23,480
James Corbett: It’s an inspiring story and tell people about
how much money has circulated through this community.
911
01:16:23,490 --> 01:16:27,610
I mean, it’s important for people to understand
just how successful this has been.
912
01:16:27,610 --> 01:16:35,700
Paul Glover: Because we are not a computer system
we don’t have a specific volume of trading recorded
913
01:16:35,700 --> 01:16:42,690
but by the grapevine, by phone surveys and
over the years watching the money move
914
01:16:42,690 --> 01:16:52,780
we were able to guess very reliably that several million dollars
equivalent of this money has transacted over those years.
915
01:16:52,780 --> 01:16:59,410
Making loans without charging interest
up to $30,000 value,
916
01:16:59,410 --> 01:17:03,210
which is the fundamental monetary revolution
in our system.
917
01:17:03,210 --> 01:17:08,600
Then as well, making grants of the money to
over a hundred community organizations.
918
01:17:09,080 --> 01:17:14,240
Some argue for currencies whose mathematical nature prevent
them from being merely conjured into existence
919
01:17:14,240 --> 01:17:17,600
whenever a federal government wants
to wage another war of aggression
920
01:17:17,610 --> 01:17:22,770
or forge another link in the seemingly endless train
of governmental tyranny and abuse.
921
01:17:23,260 --> 01:17:27,620
Roger Ver: What people have to understand about Bitcoin
is that it’s a completely decentralized network.
922
01:17:27,620 --> 01:17:31,630
There’s no central server, there’s no controlling
company, there’s no office,
923
01:17:31,630 --> 01:17:36,340
it’s just free software that anyone can download and start
running on their computer anywhere in the world.
924
01:17:36,340 --> 01:17:40,540
And that the Bitcoins themselves can be transferred
to or from anyone, anywhere in the world
925
01:17:40,540 --> 01:17:46,260
and it’s impossible for any bank or government or entity
to block you from sending or receiving those Bitcoins.
926
01:17:46,260 --> 01:17:51,380
There’s a limited supply of those Bitcoins, there will
never ever be anymore than 21 million Bitcoins.
927
01:17:51,380 --> 01:17:56,180
So, like everything the price is set
based on supply and demand.
928
01:17:56,180 --> 01:18:01,700
Because the supply of Bitcoins is limited and the demand
is increasing as more and more people start to use them
929
01:18:01,700 --> 01:18:03,740
and more and more websites start to accept them,
930
01:18:03,740 --> 01:18:07,140
the price of Bitcoins in terms of dollars
is going to have to increase,
931
01:18:07,140 --> 01:18:11,060
even a lot more than the $500
per Bitcoin that it is today.
932
01:18:11,060 --> 01:18:16,040
James Corbett: Are there any drawbacks at all
to the idea of using a crypto-currency?
933
01:18:16,040 --> 01:18:21,220
Roger Ver: If you’re part of the current power elite that can just
print money at will to spend on whatever you feel like
934
01:18:21,220 --> 01:18:25,340
then yeah, the world switching over to Bitcoin
is probably not going to benefit you.
935
01:18:25,340 --> 01:18:29,320
But if your one of the normal people that
aren’t working for the Federal Reserve
936
01:18:29,330 --> 01:18:33,560
or any central bank that’s printing money to
pay to your friends and that sort of thing,
937
01:18:33,570 --> 01:18:37,050
then a Bitcoin world is a wonderful thing for you.
938
01:18:38,020 --> 01:18:41,380
Sound money. Cryptocurrencies. State banks.
939
01:18:41,380 --> 01:18:44,250
LETS programs. Self-issued credit.
940
01:18:44,250 --> 01:18:50,620
These and many other solutions have all been proposed
and many of them are in use in different localities today.
941
01:18:50,620 --> 01:18:57,300
Information on all of these ideas and how they are being applied
in various parts of the world are widely available online.
942
01:18:57,300 --> 01:19:01,290
The point is that the question of what money is
and how it should be created
943
01:19:01,290 --> 01:19:05,460
is perhaps the single greatest question
facing humanity as a whole,
944
01:19:05,460 --> 01:19:10,920
and yet it is one that has been almost completely
eliminated from the national conversation.
945
01:19:10,920 --> 01:19:12,920
Until recently.
946
01:19:13,200 --> 01:19:19,700
[crowd cheering "End the FED"]
947
01:19:27,850 --> 01:19:31,530
Burning real paper. what the hell
948
01:19:31,530 --> 01:19:44,580
[crowd cheering "End the FED"]
949
01:19:44,580 --> 01:19:52,140
Ron Paul: I haven't even gotten to that part yet.
Will you do it again when I get to that part?
950
01:19:56,760 --> 01:20:00,370
And so the rest of the story is now in our hands.
951
01:20:00,370 --> 01:20:03,020
Once we understand the scam that has taken place,
952
01:20:03,020 --> 01:20:07,800
the gradual consolidation of wealth and power
in the hands of an elite few banking oligarchs
953
01:20:07,800 --> 01:20:10,080
and the growing impoverishment of the masses,
954
01:20:10,080 --> 01:20:14,930
all in the name of banking funny money created out
of nothing and loaned to the public at interest,
955
01:20:15,650 --> 01:20:18,940
we can choose to get active or to do nothing at all.
956
01:20:18,940 --> 01:20:24,880
For those who choose to get active, there are some steps that
you can take to help change the course of this system:
957
01:20:24,880 --> 01:20:31,940
1) Follow the links and resources from the transcript of
this documentary at corbettreport.com/federalreserve
958
01:20:31,940 --> 01:20:37,820
to familiarize yourself with the history, the connections
and the functions of the Federal Reserve system.
959
01:20:37,820 --> 01:20:43,460
If you can’t explain this material to yourself, then
you will never be able to teach it to others.
960
01:20:43,460 --> 01:20:47,770
2) Begin reaching out to others to bring them
up to speed on the issue.
961
01:20:47,770 --> 01:20:51,830
It can be as simple as broaching this conversation
in the Monday morning water cooler talk
962
01:20:51,830 --> 01:20:57,320
or passing out a copy of this documentary or sending
out links to this information to your email list.
963
01:20:57,320 --> 01:21:00,080
Insert this topic into your conversations.
964
01:21:00,080 --> 01:21:03,810
When people start talking about the national debt
or the state of the economy
965
01:21:03,810 --> 01:21:08,290
or other political talking points, get them
to question the roots of these issues,
966
01:21:08,290 --> 01:21:11,460
and why there is a national debt at all.
967
01:21:11,460 --> 01:21:17,600
3) When you are able to find or create a group of like-minded
people in your area who are engaged with the issue,
968
01:21:17,600 --> 01:21:20,540
start a study group on the issue and its solutions.
969
01:21:20,540 --> 01:21:24,740
The study group can help source alternative or
complementary currencies in the local area,
970
01:21:24,740 --> 01:21:30,300
or, if none exist already, the group can form the basis
for a community of local businesses and customers
971
01:21:30,300 --> 01:21:35,770
who are willing to start experimenting with ways to wean
themselves off of the Federal Reserve notes.
972
01:21:35,770 --> 01:21:41,290
4) Use the resources at corbettreport.com, including
the Federal Reserve information flyer,
973
01:21:41,290 --> 01:21:48,620
or hold DVD screenings, to attract interest in your group and draw
others into studying the true nature of the monetary system.
974
01:21:48,620 --> 01:21:54,170
The work of building up an alternative to the current system
can seem daunting, even at times overwhelming.
975
01:21:54,170 --> 01:21:58,520
But it’s important to keep in mind that the Federal
Reserve system that seems so monolithic today
976
01:21:58,520 --> 01:22:01,300
has only been around for one century.
977
01:22:01,300 --> 01:22:07,060
Central banks have been defeated in America before
and they can be defeated again.
978
01:22:07,060 --> 01:22:11,210
The question of how we decide to change
this system is not rhetorical;
979
01:22:11,210 --> 01:22:15,780
it will either be answered by an informed,
engaged, active population
980
01:22:15,780 --> 01:22:20,740
working together to create viable alternatives
and to dismantle the current system, or it
981
01:22:20,740 --> 01:22:25,530
will be answered by the same banking oligarchy
that has been controlling the money supply,
982
01:22:25,530 --> 01:22:29,850
and indeed the lifeblood of the country,
for generations.
983
01:22:29,850 --> 01:22:33,980
Now, one century after the creation of
the Federal Reserve system,
984
01:22:34,720 --> 01:22:38,680
we have a choice to make: whether the next century,
like the one before it,
985
01:22:38,690 --> 01:22:41,490
will be a century of enslavement, or,
986
01:22:41,490 --> 01:22:45,860
transformed by the actions and choices that
we make in the light of this knowledge,
987
01:22:45,860 --> 01:22:48,810
a century of empowerment.
988
01:24:02,380 --> 01:24:07,500
Hello, this is James Corbett of corbettreport.com,
the writer, producer, director, narrator,
989
01:24:07,500 --> 01:24:12,300
and just about everything you can imaging with regards
to the documentary that you just finished watching.
990
01:24:12,300 --> 01:24:15,290
Century of Enslavement, the history
of the Federal Reserve.
991
01:24:15,290 --> 01:24:18,560
As I mentioned at the end of that documentary,
if you've made it this far,
992
01:24:18,560 --> 01:24:21,460
then you are now better informed
about the Federal Reserve,
993
01:24:21,460 --> 01:24:25,490
it's origins, what it is, how it functions
and why it must be opposed,
994
01:24:25,490 --> 01:24:28,210
then 99% of the general public.
995
01:24:28,210 --> 01:24:35,320
And if you've made it this far, then you're obviously
one of the very few who is eager and motivated
996
01:24:35,320 --> 01:24:42,370
to join the rising tide of free humanity that is seeking
to throw off the debt chains of the banksters
997
01:24:42,370 --> 01:24:44,280
in the United States and around the world.
998
01:24:44,280 --> 01:24:48,010
And if you are so motivated, then
I have some treats for you.
999
01:24:48,010 --> 01:24:50,760
I have some resources that
I'd like to direct you to.
1000
01:24:50,760 --> 01:24:55,860
As I mentioned again towards the end of that documentary;
there are some resources up at corbettreport.com
1001
01:24:55,860 --> 01:24:59,730
that I hope will help you in your quest
to better inform yourself,
1002
01:24:59,730 --> 01:25:02,740
and better inform other about the
Federal Reserve System,
1003
01:25:02,740 --> 01:25:09,320
because once again; if you can't explain this to yourself, then
how can you even hope to explain it to anyone else?
1004
01:25:09,320 --> 01:25:12,480
So I think the first quest that
we must all engage in,
1005
01:25:12,480 --> 01:25:16,640
is to improve our own understanding of the Federal
Reserve system and how it functions
1006
01:25:16,640 --> 01:25:20,030
and then to spread that information
to others. And on that note,
1007
01:25:20,030 --> 01:25:24,460
once again, if you go to corbettreport.com
you'll be able to find first and foremost
1008
01:25:24,460 --> 01:25:29,200
this documentary itself is, of course,
100% freely available online,
1009
01:25:29,200 --> 01:25:32,560
which you'd know, because you are watching
this right now, so, of course
1010
01:25:32,560 --> 01:25:35,530
there will be links to the youtube version
of this documentary, or
1011
01:25:35,530 --> 01:25:42,060
the downloadable mp4 version on my website, there's
also audio mp3 files available for download.
1012
01:25:42,060 --> 01:25:49,880
All of those, again, freely open to the public and I do encourage you to send
them out to others if you do find it to be a valuable resource yourself.
1013
01:25:49,880 --> 01:25:54,820
And once you're there at corbettreport.com,
you'll not only find the documentary itself,
1014
01:25:54,820 --> 01:25:58,660
but also a transcript of the documentary,
complete with hyperlinks,
1015
01:25:58,660 --> 01:26:05,820
to all of the source documents, videos, articles, all of the
information that was used to compile this documentary.
1016
01:26:05,820 --> 01:26:09,060
So I hope that will be a valuable resource, again,
1017
01:26:09,060 --> 01:26:13,490
for people who are looking to put this information together
in a way that makes sense in their own heads.
1018
01:26:13,490 --> 01:26:16,540
And so that they can see where all
of this information is coming from.
1019
01:26:16,540 --> 01:26:19,300
Much of it sourcing from the
Federal Reserve itself.
1020
01:26:19,300 --> 01:26:24,320
So I hope that the hyperlinked transcript
will be valuable for people out there
1021
01:26:24,320 --> 01:26:27,100
who are seeking to broaden their
understanding of these topics.
1022
01:26:27,100 --> 01:26:32,330
And you will also find there
an information pamphlet
1023
01:26:32,330 --> 01:26:37,850
That I have put together with the help of Mike Krentz,
of mikekrentz.com, a graphic designer,
1024
01:26:37,850 --> 01:26:44,240
who has helped me out a lot behind the scenes of the website,
as you can tell from the graphics on this documentary.
1025
01:26:44,240 --> 01:26:48,370
I'm not a graphics designer myself,
by trade or by training, so,
1026
01:26:48,370 --> 01:26:53,860
I certainly do appreciate Mikes help in putting
this information pamphlet together,
1027
01:26:53,860 --> 01:27:02,330
And this is just a few point that have been addressed in this video,
informational points about the Federal Reserve, what it is,
1028
01:27:02,330 --> 01:27:06,090
and some interesting little teasers to get
people interested in this information.
1029
01:27:06,090 --> 01:27:11,320
You can download and print this off from corbettreport.com
and use however you like.
1030
01:27:11,320 --> 01:27:17,780
Handing it out to people on the streets, using as a
discussion point as you hold a DVD screening,
1031
01:27:17,780 --> 01:27:23,850
If you want to post it up in public area's,
only where allowed by law of course,
1032
01:27:23,850 --> 01:27:27,090
Once again, this is freely available for download,
and for you to print out,
1033
01:27:27,090 --> 01:27:30,920
and to use to help to spread information
about the Federal Reserve system.
1034
01:27:30,920 --> 01:27:37,820
And it's available in color and black and white and should
print nicely on standard 8,5 by 11 letter sized paper.
1035
01:27:37,820 --> 01:27:44,760
So, that will be up there on the website, along with, of course,
an actual DVD version of this documentary.
1036
01:27:44,760 --> 01:27:49,640
Once again, if you do find this information useful,
then I hope you will try to spread it to others.
1037
01:27:49,640 --> 01:27:55,200
There are a lot of people who prefer the online links, but
there will be some people who you cannot reach online.
1038
01:27:55,200 --> 01:28:00,330
For those people, and for yourself if you so desired,
here is a physical hard copy that you can order
1039
01:28:00,330 --> 01:28:05,940
from corbettreport.com, for 2000 Japanese yen,
that's about 20 Federal Reserve notes.
1040
01:28:05,940 --> 01:28:10,920
Because unfortunately, we are trapped in this
debt-based bankster-led system,
1041
01:28:10,920 --> 01:28:16,450
so we do all require these pieces of paper in order to
put a roof over our head and food on the table.
1042
01:28:16,450 --> 01:28:20,010
Myself included, so your support
is obviously greatly appreciated.
1043
01:28:20,010 --> 01:28:26,320
And for that 2000 Japanese yen, about 20 Federal
Reserve notes, you'll receive this documentary
1044
01:28:26,330 --> 01:28:32,620
Disc 1 containing the documentary itself, disc 2
the full 1 hour interview with G. Edward Griifins.
1045
01:28:32,620 --> 01:28:39,440
So, I think, again a valuable resource for people who are
looking for more information about the Federal Reserve.
1046
01:28:39,440 --> 01:28:44,380
So that's available on corbettreport.com, along
with all of this that we talked about here,
1047
01:28:44,380 --> 01:28:49,570
the information pamphlet, the hyperlinked transcript,
all of the various format's that's available.
1048
01:28:49,570 --> 01:28:55,760
Once again, I've tried to make this as straightforward
as possible and also as detailed as possible
1049
01:28:55,760 --> 01:29:03,060
so that you can start to further your own exploration
and understanding of this system that we're facing.
1050
01:29:03,060 --> 01:29:08,340
Once again, of course any way that you chose to get
this information out to other is greatly appreciated,
1051
01:29:08,340 --> 01:29:14,650
but if you do want to send the corbettreport links around,
the best one to use is corbettreport/federalreserve.
1052
01:29:14,650 --> 01:29:20,080
That will have the documentary in the youtube format,
it will have the downloadable mp3 and mp4 formats,
1053
01:29:20,080 --> 01:29:25,660
it will have the transcript, it will have the
downloadable information pamphlet,
1054
01:29:25,660 --> 01:29:31,810
and it will also have a link to buy the DVD. So all of
that will be there at corbettreport/federalreserve.
1055
01:29:31,810 --> 01:29:35,060
Please send people there if you're
going to send people anywhere.
1056
01:29:35,060 --> 01:29:41,100
So once gain, I really do sulate you for taking time
out of your busy day, out of your schedule,
1057
01:29:41,100 --> 01:29:45,100
to devote yourself to watching and learning
and understanding this material,
1058
01:29:45,100 --> 01:29:49,000
and to helping spread this information
and awareness to others,
1059
01:29:49,000 --> 01:29:52,820
because it is only together that we'll be ever able to
1060
01:29:52,820 --> 01:29:57,040
form the movement that will ultimately
turn the tide against the banksters
1061
01:29:57,040 --> 01:30:04,320
and the defeat the Federal Reserve and all of the similarly
privately controlled central banks all around the world.
1062
01:30:04,320 --> 01:30:07,180
So once again, thank you for you time and attention.
1063
01:30:07,180 --> 01:30:09,880
I'm James Corbett of corbettreport.com.