Federal Reservations

Review by littlmac@rmi.net:

As an attorney I was impressed with the documentation by the author of the history of the development of the Federal Reserve. My undergraduate degree 25 years ago was in economics and I had to read much further to truly understand how our monetary system was unnecessaryily based upon debt. Debt is bondage and central banks as the heart of fractional reserve banking hold the key to control of the world. If you do not believe this look at the policies of the IMF and realize that economic imperialism through central banking essentially controls the world today. A great companion book to read is THE SECRET OF JEKEL ISLAND which explains our monetary system in more depth, and the video CAPITAL CRIMES is an excellent 4 hour treatise on the history of central banking beginning with the money changers in the temple whom Christ confronted and ending with a brilliant plan to gradually increase bank reserves while issuing Constitutional "money" such that banks become mere vaults and the Federal Reserve is put to rest.

Review by Bob:

Did you know that the Federal Reserve is not really part of the Federal Government? It is owned and controlled by private stockholders and you can't buy any shares. There is no listing under the government section in the phone book. There's a listing in the white pages, look for yourself. This book will show you a history that the publications of the "Fed" fail to reveal. You will learn how both sides of WWI were financed by the same people and how these people financed the Russian revolution that brought down the Czar. You will learn how the stock market crash of '29 and the great depression were not accidents. Learn about the phony national debt that is legally binding upon us. If you want to read a well documented history you probably didn't learn in the public fool [sic] system then this is a must read.

Review by Franklin Noll:

This much heralded account of the Federal Reserve is justly lauded in academic circles because Meltzer brings forth many Fed documents which have long been buried away and unavailable to scholars. He is able to pursue step-by-step Fed actions and relate what happened in all those many meetings behind closed doors. Through the mass of information he has uncovered and his own in-depth knowledge of monetary policy and the Fed, he is able to bring new facts to light and correct previous interpretations that are more often than not those of Friedman and Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States.The weaknesses of Meltzer's book stem from his massive archive of information and the strength of his predecessors. The sheer volume of information he is trying to convey prompts the narrative to drift and the reader sometimes loses the point. And, as a good academic historian, he is engaged in a dialogue with other historians of the Fed and monetary policy that can push the layman to the sidelines. Meltzer's history assumes the reader has a rather advanced knowledge of economics and finance such as an understanding of the real bills doctrine and the operation of an international gold standard. Also, the charts and tables are often not very helpful in understanding the text or at least could have been presented in a better manner. Overall, Meltzer does not produce any stunning revelations but a great many correctives to previous accounts and much added detail. The novice to the history of US monetary policy would do better to read Richard Timberlake's book (though taken with a grain of salt because of its conservative leanings) or the classic work by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz.

Review by Timothy J. Graczewski:

One might think of William Greider's "Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country" as "Central Banking for Poets." If you've ever scratched your head in wonder when reading how Alan Greenspan and the Fed have "lowered interest rates" or are "easing monetary policy," this book will be extremely enlightening and well worth the time it will take you to plow through all 700 plus pages. If (like me) you majored in economics, you'll be surprised how much better Greider is in explaining arcane economic theory than your college professors (and you'll probably learn -- or re-learn -- quite a bit in the process).The focal point of the book is the celebrated and controversial tenure of Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker (1979-1987), but the mechanics of central banking so clearly and concisely explained are just as much applicable today as in 1980 - or 1950 for that matter. Greider divides the book into three more-or-less equal thirds. The first covers the inflationary surge of the 1970s, Carter's tenuous decision to appoint Volker, and Volker's radical move of abandoning the control of interest rates in favor of controlling the nation's money supply. (In other words, a shift from the Keynesian orthodoxy dominant in the post-War period in favor of a monetarist approach more in line with the theories of the iconoclastic economist Milton Friedman.) The second, and most informative third provides an historical overview of central banking and its development in the United States. For those solely interested in a better understanding of central banking and the US Federal Reserve in particular, this book will be worth your while even if you only read this middle section. The final third deals with Volker's punishing monetary policy during the early 1980s, as he attempted to destroy lingering anticipation of inflation and the incredibly simulative effects of the Reagan era federal deficits and tax cuts.Greider is highly critical of Volker's performance as Fed chairman. In short, he argues that far from being the independent and benevolent Shepard of the economy it often claims to be, the Fed, in practice, is beholden to its most powerful constituency: the major money-center financial institutions (i.e. Citibank, Bank of America, etc.). Traditional central bankers view combating inflation as their primary professional objective, which tends to favor creditors at the expense of debtors. Grieder suggests that in waging war on inflation the Fed in effect was waging war on the millions of ordinary Americans struggling to make end meets and keep their heads above water.Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, Greider's "Secrets of the Temple" is exhaustively researched, expertly written, and extremely enlightening.

Review by William R. Gruenwald:

While this book dismisses in one paragraph the idea that the Federal Reserve System was born of a conspiracy, it than goes on for over 700 pages to describe in fascinating detail the operation of, what must surely be the most sinister conspiracy ever hoisted upon mankind, the Federal Reserve System. The author is not a conspiracy theory kook or a John Birch society member, but rather an ex Editor of the Washington Post. The book is endorsed by Ted Kennedy, The Washington Post, and the NY Times, all noted for their liberal bent. It is not a politically motivated book but rather a shocking expose of the organization of banks that controls our economy and the worlds. Instead of "and that government of the people, by the people and for the people", the Federal Reserve system has made it "government of the banks, by the banks, and for the banks shall not perish from the earth". It is clear from reading this book that our economy and the world's economy is controlled by a handful of very powerful bankers. Our President and Congress have abdicated all responsibility via the Federal Reserve act of 1914. As Meyer Rothschild, Europe's premier Central Banker, said, "Give me control of the issue and value of money and I care not who makes the laws". Our government has no say whatsoever in the direction our economy is taking or for that matter how much of our money (printed by the Fed) is loaned to foreign countries. The banks have complete freedom to loan whatever amounts they choose to whichever countries they choose. If the interest on the loans cannot be repaid, they simply have the Fed print more money to loan enough to pay the interest. This book makes it clear that our entire financial system is built on a house of cards for the exclusive benefit of the banks that control it. They benefit in boom times and when there's depression and they are solely responsible for both. If you're concerned about your economic survival, your own personal freedom and our country, you should read this book. It wil enlighten you and also frighten you.

Review by Midwest Book Review:

Written by professional trial lawyer and history expert John Remington Graham, Blood Money: The Civil War and the Federal Reserve is a scholarly and studious examination of an oft-neglected aspect of the American Civil War - how the great international banking houses augmented the pre-existing antagonisms between North and South, how the Federal Reserve came to be created, and the negative legacies of public debt following the Civil War. Researched with exacting precision and calculated depth, Blood Money will prove enlightening and fascinating to Civil War scholars and lay readers alike, as it exposes myths about the Civil War's origins, and reveals that the hot-button issues of the era served as a convenient means to distract Americans from the huge national debt being incurred - a crisis situation that would in turn prompt a hostile takeover of American banking and currency. Highly recommended.

Review by Josephine Southern:

As an amateur, a self-taught person, I started my education of Lincoln's War some 15 years ago when I took up Genealogy and found so many Southern Ancestors. I wondered Who were these people, What were they like, and Why did they support the Confederate States of America?

I consumed many books on the subject, traced many family records, and weaved a Social Science Project out of my genealogy database.

There was always the feeling I didn't have it all yet! The thread of "Follow the Money", was there, but not the how and who. My gut feeling was the powerful Roman English money cartel in 1861-1865 took back the Colony of America and reversed the Revolutionary War. Yet, I had until this book, no input to justify this notion.

Now I do, thank you John Remington Graham.

Is it Believable? My answer is a resounding yes. After reading "Blood Money" I came across an excerpt from War is a Racket 1935; reprint, 2003)
by Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient:

Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC [Retired]. Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 - June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye," was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history.

In his 1935 book, War is a Racket, Butler presented an exposé and trenchant condemnation of the profit motive behind warfare. One of Butler's most widely quoted statements:

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.

You should also read The War Prayer Dictated by Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens] in 1904 in advance of his death in 1910.

Review by Rev4u:

If your're interested in fiscal policy, national debt, and money, you would very much enjoy this book. With surgical precision, Sutton has concisely made his case against the Federal Reserve establishment. This book will not intimidate you nor bore you with financial details, but will instead enlighten you about financial matters. Despite its title, this book is not about conspiracies but about facts. The passing of the Federal Reserve Act was the beginning of the biggest sell out in our history at the hand of our politicians. It was a watershed event that led to the privatization of our financial and political establishments, and to the loss of our nation's financial sovereignty forever.
Sutton has done extensive economic research and has written many books. He was a giant in research, a brilliant economist, and a great author.
I dedicate this review in his memory.

Review by L. Taylor:

Antony C. Sutton has put together a very accessible and easy to read book for anyone who wishes to understand the history of the Federal reserve. Sutton will take you on a brief, but still detailed look at many events, which lead to the conception and birth of the Federal Reserve. From the actions of Alexander Hamilton, to the communist manifesto of Karl Marx, and to the Federal Reserve act of 1913 passed by Woodrow Wilson, Sutton explains to the reader exactly what has occured in history that brought the unconstitutional institution commonly called "The Fed" into being.

I recommend this book to anyone who wishes for an accurate picture of the Federal Reserve system.

PS, I couldn't help but notice one reviewers comments about this book being conspiratorial. Let me stipulate that this is to be expected. Conventional wisdom now dicates that anyone who dares to criticize the Federal Reserve system is clearly a conspiracy nut, or an insane kook who needs to be given mental therapy, and this is exactly what the "insiders" of Gary Allen's "None dare call it conspiracy" want you to believe.

Dare to think for yourself, and read this book.

Review by Midwest Book Review:

The Federal Reserve banking system was created in 1913 to stabilize banking practices: while it's often in the news today, few Americans actually know the background of its creation and its effects on American lives. Donald Wells is a professor of economics from the University of Memphis with extensive studies in baking: his guide, The Federal Reserve System: A History, provides not just a review of the Federal Reserve's establishment and effects, but a survey of the entire American banking system. Very timely and important reading.

Review by Mark Zaguskin:

This book did a pretty good job in providing a relatively thorough background of the history of the Fed. Dr. Wells goes through the evolution of the Federal Reserve, starting from its origins with the Federal Reserve Act and ending with Greenspan's chairmanship. The best part of this book is how Wells highlights the various mistakes that the Fed has made and show how the Fed has learned from these mistakes.

One weakness of this book is that it is already somewhat outdated. In the last several months the Federal Reserve has made some drastic changes that are not in the book. The book is also expensive at more then 30 dollars for a relatively short (200 page) paperback.

Review by Jeffrey Leach:

G. Edward Griffin is to be commended for this splendid work. At first glance The Creature from Jekyll Island is a huge book. While this may be daunting to some, once the book is actually started, it flows smoothly and reads quickly. There are so many fascinating tidbits of information here that the reader won't even be concerned about the size of the book. The title refers to the formation of the Federal Reserve System, which occurred at a secret meeting at Jekyll Island, Georgia in 1910. It was at this meeting, as Griffin relates, that the "Money Trust", composed of the richest and most powerful bankers in the world, along with a U.S. Senator, wrote the proposal to launch the Federal Reserve System (which Griffin calls a banking cartel) to control the financial system so that the bankers will always come out on top.While Griffin starts with this event, he quickly moves into the present day to detail several financial crises that resulted in a quick government intervention at the behest of the bankers from the Fed, who told all who would listen that if the government (read: taxpayers) didn't bail out the banks that had made bad loans, it could cause the entire system to collapse. Massive loan defaults; bank runs, and a major economic depression would manifest this collapse. Griffin shows how time and time again the taxpayer is bilked so that bankers can make billions in profits off of these financial scares. Griffin also shows how the supposed safeguards against these woes, such as the FSLIC, are scams to reassure the average person that their banks are safe. In actuality, these insurances against bank closures are so inadequate that there isn't enough money to even come close to paying off investors in case of a collapse.The biggest problem in modern banking, according to Griffin, is and has always been the creation of fiat money. Fiat money is money that is "declared" money by the government. It is not backed by anything but promises and deceit. All societies were sound financially when they used gold or silver to back their currency. When the bankers finally get their way and install fiat money, the result is inflation and boom and bust cycles. Griffin gives numerous examples of this, such as repeated failures by American colonies and European states in using fiat money. The purpose of fiat money is so that the government can spend more then they take in through taxes.Without writing reams on this book, it is sufficient to say that this is a must read for anyone who is interested in learning how the money system operates. Griffin gives comprehensive accounts of how the Fed creates money, and how this affects everyday life. I would have to say these sections are better than Murray Rothbard's book, The Case Against the Fed, because Griffin gives himself more room for explanation.Griffin does believe in the conspiratorial view of history, and he believes that the bankers are working in concert with such groups as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission to bring about a socialist-world system in which an elite composed of intellectuals and bankers will rule over the entire planet. Griffin even spends a chapter outlining how this system could come about, and the consequent results of this socialist system. These chapters are a bit unsettling, but even if you aren't interested in this worldview, you can still learn much about the economy from this book. Recommended

Review by STEPHEN T. McCARTHY:

What is The Creature From Jekyll Island? Well, first of all, it's uglier than The Creature from the Black Lagoon; it's more densely wrapped in deception than the Mummy is in cloth; it sucks the lifeblood of America more ravenously than Dracula does his victims; it reeks worse than the Werewolf; and it's stronger and more dangerous than Doctor Frankenstein's miscreation!

The Creature from Jekyll Island is the PRIVATE Federal Reserve that holds America and Her People hostage with an astoundingly perverse and "criminal" economic system that is an evil beyond your worst monster-infested nightmare. But the Creature comes in a guise to mislead the people, like a Wolfman in sheep's clothing.

Why is the system "criminal"? Because the U.S. Constitution proclaims itself to be the "supreme Law of the Land" (see Article VI), and Article I, Section VIII of the Constitution states that "The Congress shall (Constitutionally speaking, "shall" has been legally defined as "must")...coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures." Why Congress? Because it is answerable to the People it represents! Remember, our Constitutional Republic was meant to be representational government! We're a long way from that now! The Federal Reserve is NOT Congress; it is unelected, meaning nonrepresentational, and being therefore unconstitutional, it is illegal, hence "criminal."

I first read G. Edwrd Griffin's magnificent study, 'The Creature From Jekyll Island' eight years ago. I had read plenty of political books prior to this one, and countless since, but Mr. Griffin's tour de force has yet to be equaled when it comes to educating the reader in wide-ranging topics that coalesce most of the geopolitical mysteries of our time into the diabolical scheme known as the Federal Reserve System.

Don't make the mistake of letting the sophisticated subject matter drive you away as forcefully as the intriguing title beckons you. Despite the complexity of the topic, G. Edward Griffin masterfully organizes the material and lays it out, not only in a very readable manner, but he actually fashions a carefully researched, extensively footnoted nonfiction tome into a spellbinding journey that reads nearly like a page-turning mystery novel.

In the process of explaining and demystifying the history, the stated goals of the Federal Reserve, and the real agenda behind it, Mr. Griffin necessarily enlightens the reader about myriad conspirators who occupy positions in a variety of social engineering organizations. Without this understanding, one could not possibly grasp the full scope of the problem, nor fathom how such a demonstrably evil entity could have remained cloaked and in power since 1913. (Indeed the thirteenth year of the Twentieth Century represented an unlucky number for America and eventually the world.)

You will find some reviewers here complaining that Mr. Griffin has unfortunately polluted his 600+ page study with John Birch Society style conspiracy theories. What you WON'T find is where any of those same reviewers have proven any errors in fact committed by Mr. Griffin. They challenge the idea of a conspiracy, but not any of the abundant and overt evidence that clearly points to it. I myself don't like little yapping dogs, but I'm not prepared to say that they don't exist simply because I'd prefer not to even think about them. And I can hear those yapping quadrupeds as clearly as I can see the indisputable evidence of underhanded collusion in high and influential places when it comes to this country's monetary system.

"You are a den of vipers!" President Andrew Jackson thundered at a delegation of supporters of the central Bank of the United States in 1834. "I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God I will rout you out!" Jackson succeeded in ridding this country of the inherent perniciousness that a central bank levels on a nation. But President Jackson's hard-earned victory for his countrymen was sadly overturned in 1913, when a corrupt privately owned central bank was again foisted on the sleeping people of this once free nation in the form of The Federal Reserve cartel. As Griffin states on page 573, "The Federal Reserve is the world's largest and most successful scam."

I will tell you plainly that regardless of what you think you know about the political spectrum, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, civil rights and corporate greed, socialism and capitalism -- regardless of how well informed you may think you are by reading mainstream news magazines and newspapers, listening to NPR and talk radio programs and watching political debates on nightly news TV shows -- until you have read and digested G. Edward Griffin's, 'THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND', you will never really understand contemporary American and global politics. But afterwards, the political puzzle will come together before your eyes, and never again will you follow the red herring into the brainwashing house of mirrors which is our current political milieu.

If you're inclined to read only one political book, be sure it's this one, as it will make sense of your world like nothing else. 'THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND' belongs in the personal library of every American who truly cares about his or her country (regardless of political party affiliation); by rousing the people of this nation from the ignorance of deep sleep, it has the potential to be the silver bullet or the stake through the heart of America's worst monster! Read it now or the Wolfman's gonna getcha!