The Creature from Jekyll Island

“ The bad news is that every detail of what follows is true.

“ The bad news is that every detail of what follows is true. ” e.style.display='none');if(typeof getContentsSections==='function')setTimeout(getContentsSections,50)" /> Griffin's seven charges against the Fed. The Federal Reserve System, created in 1913, is widely perceived as a government agency that stabilizes the economy. Griffin argues it is a banking cartel — competing banks that joined forces to eliminate competition, pool reserves, shift losses to taxpayers, and use government enforcement to maintain the arrangement. The word "Federal" suggests government; "Reserve" implies backing; "System" disguises its function as a single central bank. Since its creation, the Fed has presided over the crashes of 1921 and 1929, the Great Depression, multiple recessions, and inflation that destroyed over 90% of the dollar's purchasing power. Griffin contends these are not failures of execution but inevitable outcomes of a system designed to serve insiders. Its seven sins: it cannot accomplish its stated goals, operates against the public interest, institutionalizes usury, generates the most unfair tax, encourages war, destabilizes the economy, and enables totalitarianism. TAKEAWAY 2

“ It is difficult to imagine any event in history — including preparation for war — that was shielded from public view with greater mystery and secrecy. ” e.style.display='none');if(typeof getContentsSections==='function')setTimeout(getContentsSections,50)" /> The duck-hunting cover story. In November 1910, seven men boarded Senator Nelson Aldrich's private railcar under strict secrecy. They used first names only and traveled 800 miles to Jekyll Island, Georgia — J.P. Morgan's private resort. Paul Warburg even borrowed a shotgun to pose as a duck hunter despite never having fired one. Together, these men represented the Morgan, Rockefeller, Rothschild, Warburg, and Kuhn-Loeb banking dynasties — an estimated one-fourth of the world's total wealth. A cartel with five objectives. For nine days they drafted what became the Federal Reserve Act: 1. Stop competition from smaller rival banks 2. Make the money supply expandable at will 3. Pool all bank reserves into one system 4. Shift inevitable losses to taxpayers 5. Convince Congress the scheme protected the public As one participant later admitted, had the public known these rivals had joined together, the bill would have had no chance of passage. TAKEAWAY 3

“ What we think is money is but a grand illusion. The reality is debt. ” e.style.display='none');if(typeof getContentsSections==='function')setTimeout(getContentsSections,50)" /> The Mandrake Mechanism at work. Griffin names the Fed's money-creation process after a 1940s comic-strip magician who conjured things from nothing. The government issues bonds. The Fed "buys" them by writing a check with no money behind it, creating a deposit. When this money lands in commercial banks, they hold roughly 10% as reserves and lend the remaining 90% — which is brand new money. Each new…