The History and Power of the Federal Reserve Bank

A long time ago, in a land that became known as the United States of America, money was backed 100% by gold. This policy supported by America's founding fathers was commonly referred to as the gold standard. Banks were required to secure paper money with gold reserves, which they kept on hand should their customers ever need to retrieve them. People would deposit their gold, and receive paper bank notes in return for it. These bank notes became the accepted currency, and society has never been the same since.

Throughout the course of history, banks and government have been able to manipulate funding for their own purposes. Bankers determined how easy it was to print extra bank notes, creating inflation because there wasn't enough gold in their banks to back the paper currency in circulation. The government worked with bankers to expand the money supply, especially during times of war, using inflated money to fund their invasions and pay back their debts to foreign countries. Inflation can be described as a way of fractionalizing the value of the dollar.

When a dollar is backed 100% by gold immediately on hand in the bank, the dollar is worth 100% of its value. However, if 4 paper dollars are printed for the same amount of gold, then that same paper currency is only worth 25% of its actual redeemable value. In other words, there isn't enough actual money to afford all the money that is circulating in the economy. This creates a terrible problem for people who survive on a limited income, and the average American citizen.

The Federal Reserve Bank has waged a Public Relations campaign veiled in secrecy. It alone controls the United States money supply, and its board is accountable to no one, not even the President of the United States. By depreciating the value of the dollar, expanding the money supply at will, and eliminating the gold standard, the Federal Reserve Bank has been able to create a money monopoly that essentially steals from the American people. Working with government, the Federal Reserve Bank prints money, sets interest rates, and raises and lowers bank reserve requirements at will.

People are often lulled into a false sense of security with the rise and fall of interest rates, esteeming their purchasing value to be more valuable than it actually is. Citizens then take out loans to make large purchases, but since there isn't enough money to actually back these loans, banks end up in financial disrepair. The government's solution is to print more money and bail them out. This in turn decreases the value of the dollar even more, by dividing it further. Wealth and power ends up transferred to the Federal Reserve Bank, a noteworthy group of financial elitist who privately own it, and those who are wealthy in spite of poor economic times. The Federal Reserve Bank functions by manipulating the money supply, enlarging government, and controlling the value of the dollar, often to the detriment of the American citizens who lose their buying power, based on the actions of those in power.

Learn more about this author, M. J. Joachim.
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