Let's Keep Big Banks from Ruining America Forever

The recent comments of many on the nation’s top banking executives are so consistently disingenuous that the subject of this article has been long overdue for some time now. On March 20, 2009, Citigroup (C) CEO Vikram Pandit issued a memo to all Citigroup employees in which he stated,

Our industry has recently seen a tide of negative sentiment rising in Washington, D.C. regarding compensation. Of course, some of it is warranted. But I take exception when there is a discussion about spreading the blame to each and every employee in the financial services industry. At our company, we removed the people responsible for Citi’s financial distress and acted fast to strengthen and streamline the business, and install new risk processes and new risk personnel. You have been invaluable in our collective efforts to put the company on solid footing… please rest assured that senior management and experts in Washington are focused on these developments and trying to address issues raised in the debate with clarity about the real facts.

I take great offense at Mr. Pandit’s willingness to remove all responsibility for this crisis from “each and every employee” in the financial services industry. What made America a great country in the past was each and every American citizen’s willingness to take personal responsibility for his or her mistakes instead of sloughing the blame onto someone else. What made America a great country in the past was the courageous transparency of American leaders to discuss the truth with her citizens, as painful as that truth may have been, not the cowardice of deception to dishonorably fool the masses into believing a picture of reality that is a lie.

Today, we have a global financial system that is morally bankrupt, shrouded in secrecy and devoid of transparency. Today, we have men in the financial industry that abuse their positions of authority to plant stories in the media that distort the truth so massively that they must continue to tell more lies to cover up past lies. In fact, the lies of the financial industry have become so repetitive and predictable, that one week before big US banks started to declare their earnings this season, I wrote an article here that stated Big Banks would announce surprisingly positive earning statements based upon Enron-style accounting tricks, and indeed they have.

And don’t expect any negative news when the US Treasury and the US Federal Reserve publicly announce the results of their “stress tests” on the 19 largest US banks by the end of this month. The “stress tests”, most of which have now been completed, were such a joke that even the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation called them pointless and devoid of credibility. The “real facts” will never be told by any of the men that have led us into the crisis for they have not the courage nor the moral character to do so. The “real facts” are that this crisis was triggered not by subprime mortgages, commercial paper, financial derivatives, collapsing stock or bond markets, but by a fraudulent monetary system. A fraudulent monetary system allows for massive distortions in capital markets that would be near impossible with the implementation of a sound monetary system.

Though the US Federal Reserve has instituted this fraudulent monetary system, the biggest enablers of this fraudulent monetary system are the Big Banks. So yes, each and every employee of the financial industry must be held accountable for their role in this crisis. Ignorance is an excuse only for the weak and morally repugnant, not the honorable. For three years now, I have predicted, in writing, every major step of this crisis, months, and sometimes years before they eventually unfolded. Since 2006, I have strongly advocated gold investments and silver investments as a way to create wealth during this crisis. My predictions have been remarkably accurate for more than three years now not because I have remarkable psychic skills. I have been able to do so only because I have understood that the origin of this crisis is a fraudulent monetary system enabled through the corrupt relationships that exist among Big Banks, Central Banks, and governments.

Every Big Bank in the US creates money out of thin air through a system called the fractional reserve system. In the US, the reserve ratio requirement (RRR) is NOT 10% as most Americans believe. It is in fact, effectively zero percent, a fact that all executives at big banks do not want you to know. This means that Big Banks can effectively create $100 million of loans for every $1 million of deposits they receive if they so desired. If you and I tried to execute the same business plan with our everyday businesses, you and I would be thrown in jail for fraud within two weeks. In essence, due to the fractional reserve banking system, every single dollar we deposit in a bank is effectively being devalued from the moment it leaves our hands. Considering that it takes us a minimum of several months to many years to withdraw and spend all of our savings, the money we withdraw from banks will always have less purchasing power than the money we originally deposited with them. Of course, other factors such as the monetary decisions of other major Central Banks affect the dollar’s worth, but in essence, the above statement, even its simplicity, still holds true. Since I extensively explained how devaluation of the US dollar happens in this article, I won’t repeat myself here.

In addition to the Big Banks, the US Federal Reserve, the biggest bank of all, also prints money out of thin air. When Central Banks and participating banks create money out of thin air, they impose a punitive tax upon all American citizens, willing or not, that they euphemistically repackage and re-label as “inflation.” However, this is a tax that necessarily must be factored into one’s earning power every year. Let me explain. Consider if in 2006, you lived in California and earned a modest (for the state of California) $155,000 annual salary. From this figure, you had to deduct 33% for federal income tax and another approximate 10% for state & local income tax. Most Americans in this income bracket would believe that their net earnings for the year was 57% of their annual salary, or $88,350. However, most of us forget to compute one last very important calculation to determine our true net salary that year. In 2006, the true inflation rate in the US was about 10.5%. Since inflation decreases the purchasing power of your money, you must account for inflation as an “invisible tax” in your overall tax rate.

Thus, if you earned $155,000 in the state of California in 2006, your true tax was 33% + 10% + 10.5% = 53.5%. Consequently, your net earnings from your salary that year was barely over $72,000, certainly not $88,350 and certainly not $155,000. This is exactly why some years you may struggle to make ends meet even though you may be earning what you believe to be a very decent salary. It is for the very fact that Big Banks are bamboozling you out of your hard-earned money through a fraudulent monetary system. And you have the Big Banks, and in particular, the executives at the biggest banks in America, to thank for this dilemma. These are the “real facts” that men like Mr. Pandit do not want you to know. So will I ever be empathetic towards financial executives at Big Banks? When these financial executives run their companies with integrity instead of dishonor, when they are aboveboard instead of deceptive regarding their contributions towards this crisis, and when they engage all American citizens in an open debate regarding solutions instead of shrouding their meetings in secrecy, I will become empathetic. Until this occurs, then no, because frankly, financial executives at Big Banks are getting a free ride right now in proportion to their level of responsibility in creating our present monetary crisis.

So here are two simple steps every American must take to end the tyranny of Big Banks. While these steps are not perfect, they will succeed in changing the financial system in America if you truly desire real change.

(1) If you work for a Big Bank, start looking for another job and quit within six months. If you didn’t understand how the US Federal Reserve and big banks are destroying America, if you’ve read this article, you can not claim ignorance as a defense anymore. If you continue to work for a big bank, you are silently agreeing that moral repugnancy is okay. Quitting is not as difficult as it seems. I realized my mistake of working for a big US bank years ago and left to start my own independent company that could truly serve the interests of my clients. If I was still working for a Big Bank today, I would still consider myself part of the problem instead of part of the solution. If you want to remain in banking and don’t want to start your own firm, obtain a new job with a community bank. You have options other than to work for a Big Bank and contribute to America’s downfall.

(2) If you have large accounts, investment, savings, mortgages, or otherwise, at a Big Bank, withdraw all your assets, close your accounts out and give your business to a community bank. Yes, you will lose access to more competitive rates that a Big Bank can offer. Yes, closing your accounts will be a hassle. However, the consequences of doing nothing can devastate future generations of Americans. So consider these actions the greatest gift you can give your children and your grandchildren.

According to the FDIC, as of April 9, 2009, there are 8,256 FDIC-insured banks in the United States. Of these 8,000+ banks, perhaps taking action against the 20 biggest banks in America is all that is necessary to bring sweeping reform and change to the US financial industry. However, if all banks enable our fraudulent monetary system, you may ask, Why the Big Banks? Here’s the answer. While it is true that all banks serve as enablers of this monetary crisis, it was the specifically the Big Banks such as Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup and the US Federal Reserve (as directed by Chairman and former JP Morgan director Alan Greenspan) that actively sought the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act (author’s note: For those of you unfamiliar with the Glass Steagall Act of 1933, it was an act loaded with provisions to specifically prevent the exact scenario we are suffering today). The Big Banks in the US lobbied to destroy the act and won this battle in 1999.

For those of you that understand the revolving door that exists among the US Treasury, the US Federal Reserve, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup, it should be obvious to you why JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup have all survived this crisis thus far. Seasoned gold and silver investors have often speculated that data seems to incriminate JP Morgan and HSBC US as the two Big Banks that consistently short the majority of gold/silver contracts in the futures markets. So to re-establish any semblance of free markets again in America, the Big Banks must be broken up.

According to a PBS Frontline interview, Charles Geisst, a professor of finance at Manhattan College in NYC, stated, “Certainly, Citigroup [and then CEO Sandy Weill] pushed for legislation to get rid of Glass-Steagall, pass what was called HR10 at the time, which became the Financial Services Modernization Act [of 1999]… In the year previous to the Financial Services Modernization Act, the thing that overruled Glass-Steagall, Citibank spent $100 million on lobbying and public relations…They spent a small fortune, a king’s ransom, if you will, getting rid of Glass-Steagall. In fact, when thrown in with other financial firms’ lobbying, it was closer to $200 million over the short period of time.”

Of course, the only real solution to this monetary crisis is to re-instate a monetary system backed by gold and silver. However, until that time comes, the intermediate step to take is to withdraw all support from all Big Banks and re-direct your support to your local community banks. I guarantee you that if we fail to act now, we will find ourselves in a predicament two to three years from now where it will be too late to take action for your actions will no longer have an effect. We have arrived at a tipping point right now and the simple actions above can help save our country and restore it to greatness. No matter your nationality or where you live, the greatest gift you could give every citizen of this world is to take the two steps above and to ensure everyone you know also takes the above two steps.

We still have much to learn from past US Presidents John F. Kennedy and Thomas Jefferson. John F. Kennedy once stated, “The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society”. Thomas Jefferson once stated, “The government is best that governs least” and “When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.” If we consider how the statements of these great US Presidents apply to our situation today, we will realize that never has secrecy in the US financial sector been greater and transparency less; never has our government governed more; and never have government and Central Banks feared us less.

Consider the $700+ trillion derivatives markets that nobody can seem to properly explain because they are unregulated and opaque, other than the fact that a good percent of this market is destined to blow up. And who do you think invented financial derivative products like Credit Default Swaps that are wreaking so much havoc on the financial system today? The Big Banks. Consider the fact that organizations like the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee petitioned the US Federal Reserve Board and the US Treasury in 2008 for information regarding US gold swaps, but were denied information under the grounds that the disclosure of this information “would harm certain proprietary interests.” This secrecy regarding the US gold reserves and the secrecy of our $700+ trillion derivatives market is the very secrecy that President Kennedy referred to as “repugnant in a free and open society.” This should serve as a wake up call to us all.

Today, we find ourselves in a state of inertia that is induced by a fear created only by the fact that we have been dearly misinformed about the origins of this crisis. Our ignorance, in turn, is maintained by the secrecy and massive misinformation campaigns propagated by bankers. A misinformed, ignorant populace will remain in a state of inertia but an informed populace can create powerful change. The fact that we have been in a state of inertia for decades has created this obscene situation we face today. However, just as the law of inertia states that a body at rest is likely to stay at rest, the law of acceleration states that force equals mass times acceleration. Thus if we sincerely desire change, we must also seize the personal responsibility to inform all of our friends, our neighbors, and our co-workers about our fraudulent monetary system and the steps that can be taken to dissolve it.

We can consequently then generate mass and acceleration. A body set in motion is likely to stay in motion. This is how we can defeat the Big Banks. America has been in state of inertia not because we are stupid as the Big Bankers think of us. America has been in state of inertia not because we are lazy or uninspired. It has been a long time since the world has looked to America as the shining beacon of freedom and justice, but this is our opportunity, and ours alone, to seize. I am writing this article because I believe in the intelligence, the courage, the leadership, the diversity and the resilience of all Americans. And I do believe you will act upon reading this article.

If you believe that my views need be challenged, I agree, because in any free and open society, open debate and transparency is what leads to the best solution. But whatever you do, ACT. Merely pass this article on to your neighbor to open up a discourse then, for a debate about this is better than no debate at all. Also consider this article from a former IMF economist, Simon Johnson, called “The Quiet Coup.” Please take the time to follow this link and read that article as well. For those of you that have followed my writings for quite some time, you may be surprised that I am recommending an article from a former IMF employee, but trust me, it is an article well worth reading.

Perhaps if we take the small actions I suggest, the small community banks will morph into big banking giants, and we’ll have the same problems all over again. Perhaps, but if we all mobilize and place enough pressure on Congress to pass a Glass Steagall Act II by the time we finish taking the steps above, it will not. The only thing we know for certain is that if we do nothing, we will have sentenced not only ourselves but also future generations of Americans to a very bleak future. However, if we take action now, we can guarantee one thing. We the people will serve notice to the banks that we, and not they, are in control of our inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. America’s greatness is rooted in the strength of her citizenry, not her government and certainly not her corrupt banks. As the state of New Hampshire motto goes, “Live Free or Die.”

Comments

[PainfullyAware:]

So, if you recognize Evil you should not talk about it?

We might not have come to the current situation if we had contemplated what the "Crackpots" were discussing before now.

Every great story begins with some truth. Keep the truth and disregard the fantasy. Do not dismiss the Truth just because it is presented with fantasy.

Those that do not consider much, know little.

The Complexity OF Corruption Is Vast.

To Assume Benevolence Is Foolish.




On Apr 15 06:57 AM punditobserver wrote:

> Hack bloggers and journalists are catching on to the existence of
> the "banks are an evil conspiracy" crackpots.
>
> Bank bashing is an easy way to get a fast following if you are trying
> to make a name for yourself as a blogger.

Apr 15 06:08 PM

[PainfullyAware:]

All Me Are Created Equal - Except Those With Access To Fractional Reserve Banking.

Apr 15 06:11 PM

[Fund Insider:]

Moronic article. Gold standard, you have to be kidding.
Why would you have any more faith in a mineral dug up from the ground than currency issued by a government. The government's use of gold is what made gold valuable and lack of use renders it useful for jewely only.

As far as the big banks being evil, I have kept personal accounts with both Citi and a small community bank for many years. Each has much to offer. Citi was the first in online banking many years ago, in the 1990s, and first with touchscreen ATMs. See if a community bank will come up with such innovations. I do keep my community bank account as they do give superior service for those services they do offer. I could live with or without either one and both offer consumers a value proposition.

I also worked many many years ago for Citi (late 80s), and while it has changed a great deal over the years, and I did leave for a smaller firm, it was not because Citi was evil, but rather I just saw more opportunity in a smaller more entrepreneurial firm. Citi was a great place to work, even as they were lobbying against Glass Steagall. They did all the same stupid thinks other big banks did, going overboard on volume of credit cards and mortagages, and not always so forthright on those loans, but the company was efficient and a highly automated machine in providing commodity services. If you'd buy a factory robot made car over a hand made car (Rolls?) then why wouldn't you buy the factory robot made banking services ?

If you believe in capitalism, the dream of every entrepreneur is to grow their firm and make more money. Why would you think bankers are any different ? That small community bank doesn't really want to stay a small community bank forever, no more than your own business. Any business in any industry takes risks to grow, and sometimes they pay off, sometimes they crash and burn.
Many big banks crashed and burned, some did not (JPMorgan).

Finally, you seem to have a major problem with lack of transparency of these complicated institutions. Well how often
in life do you want to know how something works in detail ?
You want to turn the key in your car and it goes, you don't really want to know why/how, do you ? You only get interested in the inner workings of your car when it breaks down and you have to pay to fix it. Well some banks are broken, the bank mechanic wants to get paid, and we all want to know how it broke and why we should ever rely on this car again. Well sell your Rolls and buy a Toyota or Ford if you like, but don't condemn the concept of cars and mass producing them efficiently, nor mass production of banking services. Do you know much about your own physiology until you are ill ? Do you job and each your veggies, or does the average person wait until they have a heart attack to take interest in their own body ? Why should they take interest in their bank if they don't care about their own health until too late. Should we stop EMTs from giving CPR and let people die in the streets ?
If so, then let all the banks that can't hack it fail, and there will be
more profits to go around for the healthy banks. Fine with me, but don't say all big banks are evil.

There are poorly run large and small businesses in every industry,
and bashing any industry or size of organization just because they screwed up is ignorant.

Apr 15 07:08 PM

[ARYA MENSA ...:]

They brag how they will rip you off in: THE PROTOCOLS...so, if one has not read THE PROTOCOLS, they deserve to be ripped off....

In THE PROTOCOLS, they also tell one how to protect themselves....

ARYA MENSA Consultants
P. O. Box 11264
Fresno, CA. 93772-1264

SEMPER FI.

Apr 15 07:09 PM

[ifuwish2:]

well i guess you are as stupid as most writers on here,,are you guys that uneducated or what is it,,it was on bloomberg today that CITI will be one of the biggest banks and will be here frorever, so your therory it will be broke up and sold off and will not be here in 2010 is as stupid as you

Apr 15 07:29 PM

[PainfullyAware:]

And I guess that you are as "Foolish As A Child" for thinking that Fractional Reserve Banking Does Not "Stack The Deck" In Favor Of Those Who Are "Allowed" To Use It.

The "Too Big To Fail" SHOULD be broken up into smaller pieces that are "Not Too Big To Fail". If that were to happen we would not have to Spend Ludicrous Amounts OF Money Covering Bad Bets.

Things Are Not So Great In The Land Of OZ Anymore.

The Worst Is Yet To Come.

Those Who Refuse To Look Will Never See.


On Apr 15 07:29 PM ifuwish2 wrote:

> well i guess you are as stupid as most writers on here,,are you guys
> that uneducated or what is it,,it was on bloomberg today that CITI
> will be one of the biggest banks and will be here frorever, so your
> therory it will be broke up and sold off and will not be here in
> 2010 is as stupid as you

Apr 15 08:47 PM

[PainfullyAware:]

Bankers ARE Different Than Normal Business - Fractional Reserve Banking.

Give a banker a dollar and he now has 9 times the power of one.

Tell me how this does not tip the scales.



On Apr 15 07:08 PM Fund Insider wrote:

> Moronic article. Gold standard, you have to be kidding.
> Why would you have any more faith in a mineral dug up from the ground
> than currency issued by a government. The government's use of gold
> is what made gold valuable and lack of use renders it useful for
> jewely only.
>
> As far as the big banks being evil, I have kept personal accounts
> with both Citi and a small community bank for many years. Each has
> much to offer. Citi was the first in online banking many years ago,
> in the 1990s, and first with touchscreen ATMs. See if a community
> bank will come up with such innovations. I do keep my community bank
> account as they do give superior service for those services they
> do offer. I could live with or without either one and both offer
> consumers a value proposition.
>
> I also worked many many years ago for Citi (late 80s), and while
> it has changed a great deal over the years, and I did leave for a
> smaller firm, it was not because Citi was evil, but rather I just
> saw more opportunity in a smaller more entrepreneurial firm. Citi
> was a great place to work, even as they were lobbying against Glass
> Steagall. They did all the same stupid thinks other big banks did,
> going overboard on volume of credit cards and mortagages, and not
> always so forthright on those loans, but the company was efficient
> and a highly automated machine in providing commodity services.
> If you'd buy a factory robot made car over a hand made car (Rolls?)
> then why wouldn't you buy the factory robot made banking services
> ?
>
> If you believe in capitalism, the dream of every entrepreneur is
> to grow their firm and make more money. Why would you think bankers
> are any different ? That small community bank doesn't really want
> to stay a small community bank forever, no more than your own business.
> Any business in any industry takes risks to grow, and sometimes they
> pay off, sometimes they crash and burn.
> Many big banks crashed and burned, some did not (JPMorgan).
>
> Finally, you seem to have a major problem with lack of transparency
> of these complicated institutions. Well how often
> in life do you want to know how something works in detail ?
> You want to turn the key in your car and it goes, you don't really
> want to know why/how, do you ? You only get interested in the inner
> workings of your car when it breaks down and you have to pay to fix
> it. Well some banks are broken, the bank mechanic wants to get paid,
> and we all want to know how it broke and why we should ever rely
> on this car again. Well sell your Rolls and buy a Toyota or Ford
> if you like, but don't condemn the concept of cars and mass producing
> them efficiently, nor mass production of banking services. Do you
> know much about your own physiology until you are ill ? Do you
> job and each your veggies, or does the average person wait until
> they have a heart attack to take interest in their own body ?
> Why should they take interest in their bank if they don't care about
> their own health until too late. Should we stop EMTs from giving
> CPR and let people die in the streets ?
> If so, then let all the banks that can't hack it fail, and there
> will be
> more profits to go around for the healthy banks. Fine with me, but
> don't say all big banks are evil.
>
> There are poorly run large and small businesses in every industry,
>
> and bashing any industry or size of organization just because they
> screwed up is ignorant.

Apr 15 08:49 PM

[kimb:]

Talk about stupid. No wonder people are so hard to convince of how the banksters are distroying our country and the world. This article is one of the best I've seen. The Queit Coup is the other one. The one guide to determening if someone knows what they are talking about is: does what they say will happen happen. President Jefferson said if we ever give private banks the power to create and control our money our country will be destroyed. Stay tuned

Apr 15 08:53 PM

[J. S. Kim:]

Again, I had hoped that my article inspired intelligent debate rather than name calling.

True, all people that work at big banks are not evil and certainly many that work at big banks ARE good people that have been hurt by this monetary crisis as well. But for those that criticize my viewpoint, I have every right to criticize the institution of Big Banking, a view that clearly is not equivalent to criticizing ALL PEOPLE that work for big banks. I WILL criticize the people at the very top of the organization because if they don't understand the fractional reserve banking system and the constant inflation that their institutions cause then they are incompetent leaders and deserve to be fired. Thus, when they repeatedly claim they were powerless to prevent or even foresee this crisis, I find many of their comments disingenuous at best. How could I foresee this crisis happening well before it happened, so much so that I started blogging about it with conviction in 2006? Yet, CEOs of the largest banks in the world including former Fed Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan have repeatedly stated in the press that they could never have foreseen the events of the crisis unfolding as they did. This is what I find to be absolutely 100% disingenuous.

So if you want to be fair, and you say these Big Banks act with their employees' best interests in mind then let these Big Banks be honest for once in their life about the COLA (cost of living adjustment) raises the grant their employees. In 2008, true inflation averaged about 11% (and if you don't know what I mean by "true inflation" versus fraudulent government produced inflation statistics, go to the US Bureau of Labor website and read their fine print of how they calculate CPI data). Thus if a Big Bank has their employees' best interests at heart, they will have already given every employee a 11% raise in 2009 just to keep their salaries even as compared to last year (meaning this raise will not make their employees one cent richer). Then, to help them cope with the poor economy, these Big Banks should have granted all of their employees a piddling 3% to 4% REAL raise. Go check if all the Big Banks have raised all their employees salaries a minimum of 15% just to allow their employees to cope with the constant dollar devaluation their businesses cause.

If they are lying to all their employees they will continue to throw a bogus 4% to 5% COLA figure at their employees. If they are TRANSPARENT and HONEST, then they will have granted every single one of their employees at least a 11% raise over their 2008 salaries to help them cope with this crisis. For those that are highly critical of my article, please report back your findings here and if all banks have given their employees at least a 11% to 20% raise from last year then at least I will agree with you that they are trying to help their employees cope with the money devaluation they cause.

In fact, every employee in America that works for a corporation should ask for a minimum 15% raise this year from their bosses because 11% of it is not even real. A 15% raise BARELY will leave you with a net salary that purchases more goods and services than last year, and is really no raise at all.

If you understand how money creation works and the role Big Banks play in constantly robbing wealth from every American, then you would truly understand their HUGE role in precipitating this crisis. Easy money policies that the Federal Reserve and big banks implemented in the years leading up to this crisis created not only massive devaluation of every US dollar in circulation but the huge distortions in global stock markets and real estate markets that are now bursting.

Most people do not understand the role that monetary policy plays in creating massive bubbles in stock markets and real estate that wreaks havoc on the financial stability of billions. When a bubble "bursts", many times, assets are really returning to their "fair valuations" and a bubble bursting is not explained properly in the media.

For all those that don't want to engage in public discourse about this very serious problem, education and informing the public is the only way to solve this problem. If we collectively, as a people, do nothing, I guarantee that our future reality will deteriorate into a far worse nightmare than even the worst case scenario you can conjure up at this point.

Apr 15 10:00 PM

[J. S. Kim:]

PS. To "Fund Insider", are you aware that our US Constitution gives the power to "Coin money" only to US Congress and no one else, and that by coining money, the writers of the US Constitution meant that all US money was only to be backed by precious metals ("coin") so that it would maintain its value? Thus, are you stating, "Fund Insider", that you do not believe in the US Constitution?

Apr 15 10:10 PM

[Plebian:]

Was it not the great industrialist Henry Ford who said, "It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."

Unfortunately, people in America have been conditioned all of their lives to be accepting of this dire condition that we find ourselves in. It has been said that the worst kind of slavery is one where people think that they are 'free'. We are like lemmings being led to the slaughter-house. When will people finally wake up?

Ultimately, money should be viewed as a store of labor. Debt-based money = Debt-based labor (or slavery).

Apr 15 10:50 PM

[Genghis:]

Thought provoking article. For a visual reference to similar arguments, one should look at www.zeitgeistmovie.com.

I neither a believer or follower, but interested in both sides of the equation. Certainly in basic terms money, (the desire of it over all else) is the root of all evil.

Apr 15 11:14 PM

[Nathaniel C:]

Thank you Mr Kim for writing this informational and insightful article. As someone who lives in California, your example is very germane. For real people inflation is at least 7-10% per year as compared to the Federal Reserve's estimate of 0-2%. This is what has destroyed the middle class as wages have not kept up with inflation since the 1970's.

The offshore globalist banks run both parties and are trying to detroy the US. They have already stolen 12 trillion according to Bloomberg and they want more.

Apr 16 12:33 AM

[obewon:]

<b>@ Kim</b>

Many thanks for your commentary on this topic.

While I am very cognizant of most points you raised, I am <b>continually amazed</b> at the unwillingness of the American people to think clearly, and to use their own discrimination to assess what is happening all around them.

God Help America.

Apr 16 12:38 PM

[User 397458:]

Great article! We have too many corrupt officials in Congess with their hands in the ol' Fed Reserve cookie jar... A simple fix to this big banking issue would be to enact Executive Order 11110 which would put the power to print money back into the hands of our gov't and out of the hands of a private institution with NO allegiance to any country. We are but host to these parasitical bankers. It is time to do a cleansing to rid ourselves of these pest. We, the USA, must take the lead by being an example to the rest of the world as this is not isolated to our nation. The fiat monetary system works, however, these banksters charge interest which created the national deficit. Yes, Congress has been spending money like crazy which helped perpetuate the problem. Yes, greed and materialism helped keep these pesky little bankers rolling in the dough. Loan sharking is a crime.

We can take Ameria back by doing the following:

Enact Executive Order 11110
Firing Everyone in Congress
Hiring NO Secret Society members
Hiring NO Skull and Bones
Disbanding the CFR, CIA, IRS, FBI, Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg, etc. (NO MORE PRIVATE CORP's in GOV'T)
No More Monopolist
No More Lobbyist
No More Pay Raises without the Public Voting for it
No More Bail Outs Period
No More Bi-Partisan Parties
ETC., ETC., ETC.,

Indict these bankers for High Treason!

Apr 18 11:36 PM

[User 397458:]

Why did you delete my comment?

Apr 19 11:31 AM

[User 397458:]

Why do you keep deleting my comments?

Apr 19 11:33 AM

[User 397458:]

This site censors truth...

Apr 19 11:36 AM

[User 397458:]

Enact Executive Order 11110... Why are you people deleting my comments?

Apr 19 11:37 AM

[mlyn:]

Thank you, Mr. Kim, for your analysis to which I wholeheartedly agree. There is another person, a member of GATA, who has written about the banking industry in her article "Where would Jesus Bank?" which is located on her website solari.com. Her name is Catherine Austin Fitts. From her article the big banks are conduits for U.S. foreign policy, money laundering, and so forth. I think the earnest salvation of the GS, Citi, and BofA is to preserve a tool for the use of the CIA and State Dept. She also encouraged us to cancel our relationships with big banks. This is the primary way we could hurt them. However to disengage from the big banks has proven difficult. My credit cards are still BofA or Chase. I had a WaMu mortgage which was taken over by JPMorgan . . .

Apr 22 04:34 PM