Federal Reserve News

Structure

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Typical Corporate Structure Compared with the Fed

The defining feature of a corporation is its legal independence from the people who create it. If a corporation fails, shareholders only stand to lose their investment, and employees will lose their jobs, but neither will be liable for debts that remain owing to the corporation's creditors. A corporation can be a for-profit company or a non-profit company. It can be a stock corporation or a non-stock corporation. A non-profit corporation will generally always be a non-stock company. A corporation may have one or many owners, and may be chartered in such a way that each owner has property in an equal share of the corporation.

The Federal Reserve System is in one sense a non-stock corporation, a public one but not publicly traded, where each owner holds an equal share. In another sense it is a private corporation, since its shares are not traded on the stock exchange.

Banks come in several flavors, commercial banks and savings and loan associations. In terms of ownership they can be non-stock corporations (such as mutual savings banks) or publicly traded stock corporations.

Corporations are generally chartered or registered at the state level, but have very few requirements imposed regarding their structure. National banks, however, are incorporated at the federal level, yet they still are structured in a way that is similar to state-chartered institutions. Shareholders meet at least annually, elect directors to a governing “board” which chooses one among them to be the chair. This board hires the operating and financial managers of the company and provide direction and guidance to the operation of the firm. This description holds true, largely, for financial and non-financial institutions.

Motivations for the Formation of a Typical Corporation and that of the Fed

Commercial banks have been required since 1863, to have a federal charter. The National Bank Act , amended in 1864, 1865 and 1866, mandated these banks to issue a national currency; it also imposed a tax of 10% on the notes of State banks to take effect on July 1, 1866 . The tax effectively forced all non-federal currency from circulation. As time went by this system was found deficient in failing to centralize banking, failing to end the deflation of the 19 th century, leaving intact an inelastic currency and immobile reserves.

These problems were to be relieved by the implementation of the Aldrich Plan . This plan would create twelve National Reserve Associations, whose actions would be controlled by a national board of commercial bankers. These associations would make loans to member banks, create money to make the currency more elastic, and would be fiscal agents of the U.S. government. However, this was a too blatant private system. The opposition led to new committee work, which finally crafted the Federal Reserve Act, enacted in 1913.

More important than the banking panics (of which there were not that many from 1865 through 1913), the tendency toward mild deflation during the 1900s placed tight control on the monetary system. The rich who owned the banks wanted a way to create inflation. You cannot have inflation-driven banking profits under an objective monetary system.

The objective of the Fed is to stabilize the monetary system, prevent asset bubbles, and to provide better supervision of the banks. The powers of the Fed enables it to stretch or shrink the total supply of money, thus decreasing or increasing interest rates. While member banks would benefit from lending out money at high rates, they depend on the spread between the rate at which they borrow and the rate at which they lend. No matter how great the spread is, however, if the rates are too high, borrowing is discouraged and bank profits fall.

Elastic money usually means a continually increasing money supply, which drives down rates, inviting customers to borrow more. Unfortunately this also discourages saving. It is essential in any economy that people have an excess, a savings which can be used to invest in developing the economy, new products and new firms. This can only come from forgoing consumption.

In the kind of economy that the Fed encourages, individuals and ordinary firms will not forgo consumption, save and be the source of investment. Instead, banks will tend to be the funders of new businesses and products.

The Fed was also created for the reason that banks often had too little access to reserves besides what was in their own vaults. Reserves were immobile. While cities usually had a dominant bank to which other banks could turn for liquidity in case of a run, many banks scattered across the country were defenseless. Standard practice had become loaning out nearly all of their capital, rather than just the bank's equity (what they owned free and clear). Often most of the gold they held was deposited by customers, and most of that was normally lent out. A run on the bank could force a bank to close, especially the most risk-taking “rogue banks.” Not only did this give banks a bad name, but also invited new entrants into banking, for the easy profits.

In actuality, the Federal Reserve System helped the member banks to become more risk-taking and also tended to make banking a more closed field, as the existing membership could set the rules for banking through the Fed, making their membership a cartel.

All member banks had the same reserve requirements, and would “loan up” to the same extent, pooling their unused reserves at the Fed. The Fed could move those reserves as needed when any member bank did get into trouble.

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The purpose of the Fed – if the government needs to finance part of its budget by borrowing it could sell its bonds directly to the public, to banks and others. This need of the government in no way includes the need to create additional profit opportunities for the private banks. It does not require that banks should go beyond lending out more than what assets they hold free and clear.

The government's requirements do not entail its caring and feeding another institution that manipulates the money supply independently of the policies set by the President and Congress, and which regulates interest rates and reserve requirements in order that the rest of the banking world can lend out and earn interest on “excess reserves” up to ten times over (that multiplier being the inverse of the reserve ratio).

Someone might object that the government benefits from the fact that the Fed maintains a monetary system that tends to be elastic on the positive side, generally increasing the money supply more often than decreasing it, causing an inflationary trend. This benefits the government, in aiding its eventual repayment of debt by lowering the value of the dollar. True, this is default on the debt by stealth, taxation without representation.

However, the government could very well increase the money supply on its own through the Treasury Department. It cannot do this when borrowing by selling bonds to support its deficit spending. This borrowing temporarily removes money from the market. It would have to print new money. This would be inconvenient because the thievery would be much to open to discovery. The mystery of having it generated through the Fed works much better because the intuition of most people deems it understandable and proper.

The government can take care of its funding needs quite well without the Federal Reserve. This leaves the major and primary purpose of the Fed as being for the benefit of private banks, to set rates and enable the multiplying of amounts that can be loaned out and earn interest beyond their equity.

How is the Fed structured? For all the details of this, consult the U.S. Code: Title 12, chapter 3. An alternate source is The Structure and Function document at the Atlanta Fed.

The Board of Governors (BOG)

• Appointed by the President of the U.S., confirmed by the Senate
• The BOG is composed of seven Governors with 14-year terms, staggered to expire in two years.
• The Board of Governors is located in Washington, D.C.
• Governor – note that this is a term not normally used in private business. It is a government title. However, a government entity, such as a state within a nation, normally has just one governor. Is it not a deceptive usage to call directors on a semi-governmental board “governors?”
• A Chairman and a Vice Chairman are also appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, for four-year terms. They may be re-appointed.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)

• Appointed by the President of the U.S. , confirmed by the Senate
• Membership: the Board of Governors and five of the twelve Federal Reserve Bank presidents on a rotating basis for a one-year term – with the president of the New York being a permanent member.
• Traditionally, the chairman of the Board of Governors is elected chairman and the New York Bank's president is elected vice chairman.
• The FOMC is the Federal Reserve's key monetary policy decision-making unit. It meets formally eight times a year in Washington, D.C. It oversees open-market operations, the principal tool of monetary policy, which influences short-term interest rates and determines reserve requirements and monetary growth. Two other tools used at times to implement policy are the reserve ratio and the discount window. The FOMC is made up of the seven Board Members and five of the 12 Reserve Bank presidents. These presidents bring regional information to the meetings and, historically, have had relatively conservative voting records due in part to their insulation from political pressures. The Fed's own telling of this story largely agrees with the House of Representatives Joint Economic Committee. From the Fed's FAQ .

The Twelve District Federal Reserve Banks

• Board of Directors. T he directors are elected by the district member banks, two thirds of them being non-bank employees. Of the nine directors, six—three class A, representing the banking industry, and three class B—are elected by member banks, including all nationally chartered banks and state-chartered banks that meet certain requirements. Three class C directors, including the chairman and deputy chairman, are appointed by the Board of Governors. Class B and C directors represent agriculture, commerce, industry, labor, and services in the Federal Reserve District; they cannot be officers, directors, or employees of a bank, and class C directors cannot be bank stockholders.

Each district bank has one or more subordinate branch banks, each with a similarly structured board. The New York Bank is clearly "the first among equals" since it not only sits in the world's financial center but serves as the Federal Open Market Committee's operating arm, conducting open market operations and foreign exchange intervention. Congress chartered these banks and, consequently, has oversight responsibilities for them.

See The NY Fed board

• Operating Officers – president and vice president nominated by the bank's board and approved by the BOG
• Twelve Federal Reserve Banks make up the operating arm of the Federal Reserve System (FRS). They operate a nationwide payment system, clearing checks and electronic transactions between banks, supervising certain financial institutions, distributing the nation's currency and coin, and serving as a banker for commercial banks and the U.S. Treasury. Each bank has a President nominated by its board of directors and approved by the Board of Governors.

Who Owns the Fed?

Ownership -- The owners of the NY Fed include the largest American banks and the NY Fed may be partially owned by foreign banks, such as the Bank of England and the Rothschild banking dynasty. Fact is that some foreign banks operate subsidiary banks that are national banks in the NY Fed district. The importance of the NY Fed arguably enables it to exercise greater influence or control on the whole FRS.

• BOG “controlled” by the government
• The Federal Reserve Banks

Earmarks of a government body or agency:

What makes an institution part of the government?

1. It is clearly run by an official or officials who is/are elected or appointed by a government official, rather than elected by owners in the public. The BOG is. Ownership is not changeable through trading of shares in the market. Fed shares cannot be sold.
2. Who pays the employees? Another telling sign is the Board of Governors are paid as Federal employees while the branches use their own payroll system.
3. Conflicts of interest are ruled out for all of management by requiring that they place all of their investments in trusts and giving up all private employment. True for the BOG. Employees of the Fed banks, however, only need to avoid trading shares based on insider information within the Fed. “In order to avoid even the appearance of acting on confidential information, an employee authorized to have regular and ongoing access to Class I FOMC information should not knowingly:

a) purchase or sell any security (including any interest in the Thrift Plan for Employees of the Federal Reserve System, but not including shares of a money market mutual fund) during the seven calendar day period prior to and the day(s) of a meeting of the FOMC; or

b) hold any security for less than 30 days, other than shares of a money market mutual fund. http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/ob43.pdf page 3.

4. Health benefits and retirement programs are provided by the same government plan by which other government employees and officials are covered. The Fed has its own health and retirement plans.
5. The top level office is located in the District of Columbia . The Fed headquarters is on the National Mall in DC.
6. The Internet presence is under the .gov top level domain. The Fed has a .gov TLD, but the twelve banks use .org.
7. It is exempt from taxes. No part of the Fed is taxable.
8. It cannot be sued unless the government says it can. The Federal Reserve Act says that the Fed can sue and be sued. In the court ruling “Lewis vs. US”, it was determined that the branches can be considered ‘private' for the purposes of tort law (i.e. they can be sued) relative to the day to day operations
9. Its decisions are subject to overruling by the President. No. Congress can, of course, enact new laws to change the Fed's structure and/or function. The only possible presidential intervention possible is removal of a BOG member for serious cause.
10. This week [ 09/21/2007 ], former chairman of the Fed Reserve Alan Greenspan in an interview aired on PBS' News Hour was asked by Jim Lehrer what should be the proper relationship between a chairman of the Fed and The President of the United States. In a shockingly honest tone Greenspan replies,

"Well, first of all, the Federal Reserve is an independent agency, and that means, basically, that there is no other agency of government which can overrule actions that we take. So long as that is in place and there is no evidence that the administration or the Congress or anybody else is requesting that we do things other than what we think is the appropriate thing, then what the relationships are don't, frankly, matter.”

Earmarks of a private institution

•  Run by a board of directors elected by share-holders

•  Everyone within the organization is paid by the company payroll

•  The board of directors require no government approval

•  Ownership is changeable by the trading of shares in the market

•  The value of the shares are determined by the market

•  The amount of the dividend payments, if any, are determined by the board of directors

•  Health benefits and retirement programs are private

•  The headquarters location is at the discretion of the board

•  The Internet presence is under the .com TLD, or any other than .gov

•  Unless it is registered as a non-profit, it is subject to taxation

•  It can be sued.

•  Its decisions are not subject to overruling by the President

•  Shareholders may be U.S. citizens or foreign holders – note that this holds true for the private banks that are Federal Reserve members and owners.

Who are the owners, the private banks who are members of the Fed, or its shareholders? The following is the list of members of the New York Federal Reserve District, ^ a b c http://www4.fdic.gov/IDASP/index.asp. Cookies must be enabled to use this interactive website. Choose the "Find Institutions" section. Then leave all of the fields with the default value then choose "find". Wait a few moments to be prompted to "save as". It will be about a 3.4MB .csv file that will be downloaded. This file can be viewed with a spreadsheet such as openoffice.org or Microsoft excel.

I entered only the "Founded After" date field with “1913/11/01” to select just the banks who were the members as of the founding of the Fed.

An important sample of this spreadsheet would be the members of the New York Federal Reserve District, which requires sorting the sheet on the “FED” column and selecting all of those with the “FED” value of “2”. Here are the 107 members of the NY Fed in late 1913:

Adirondack Bank

Alliance Bank, National Association

Amboy Bank

Apple Bank for Savings

Astoria Federal Savings and Loan Association

Atlas Savings and Loan Association

Ballston Spa National Bank

Bank of Akron

Bank of Baroda

Bank of Cattaraugus

Bank of China

Bank of China

Bank of Holland

Bank of India

Bank of Millbrook

Bank of Richmondville

Bank of Smithtown

Bessemer Trust Company

Bogota Savings Bank

Brooklyn Federal Savings Bank

Carthage Federal Savings and Loan Association

Cattaraugus County Bank

Cayuga Lake National Bank

Chemung Canal Trust Company

Community Bank, National Association

Cross County Federal Savings Bank

Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas

Emigrant Bank

Fairfield County Bank

Fairport Savings Bank

First County Bank

First Federal Savings of Middletown

First Hope Bank, A National Banking Association

First Investors Federal Savings Bank

First Niagara Bank

First State Bank

Five Star Bank

Flatbush Federal Savings and Loan Association

Freehold Savings and Loan Association

Fulton Savings Bank

Gibraltar Savings Bank, FSB

Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Company

Gouverneur Savings and Loan Association

GSL Savings Bank

Hudson City Savings Bank

Kearny Federal Savings Bank

Lake Shore Savings Bank

Llewellyn-Edison Savings Bank, FSB

Manasquan Savings Bank

Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company

Maple City Savings Bank, FSB

Medina Savings and Loan Association

Metuchen Savings Bank

Millington Savings Bank

NBT Bank, National Association

New York Community Bank

Newtown Savings Bank

Northfield Bank

NVE Bank

Orange County Trust Company

Oritani Bank

Pamrapo Savings Bank, SLA

PathFinder Bank

Pioneer Savings Bank

Provident Bank

Putnam County Savings Bank

Rhinebeck Savings Bank

Rondout Savings Bank

Roselle Savings Bank

RSI BANK

Savings Bank of Danbury

Sawyer Savings Bank

Seneca Falls Savings Bank

Somerset Savings Bank, SLA

Steuben Trust Company

The Adirondack Trust Company

The Bank of Castile

The Bank of New York Mellon

The Bridgehampton National Bank

The Canandaigua National Bank and Trust Company

The Citizens National Bank of Hammond

The Delaware National Bank of Delhi

The Dime Svgs. Bank of Williamsburgh

The Elmira Savings Bank, FSB

The First National Bank of Dryden

The First National Bank of Groton

The First National Bank of Jeffersonville

The Lyons National Bank

The National Bank of Coxsackie

The National Bank of Delaware County

The National Union Bank of Kinderhook

The North Country Savings Bank

The Oneida Savings Bank

The Provident Bank

The Putnam County National Bank of Carmel

The Rome Savings Bank

The Stissing National Bank of Pine Plains

The Suffolk County National Bank of Riverhead

Tioga State Bank

Ulster Savings Bank

Union County Savings Bank

Union Savings Bank

Walden Savings Bank

Wallkill Valley Federal Savings and Loan Association

Watertown Savings Bank

Wilber National Bank

WSB Municipal Bank

 

Careful perusal of the list will convince anyone that foreign banks have set up subsidiaries in the NY district that have become member banks and thereby, owners of the Federal Reserve. Banks with the country names of Holland, India and China stand out. Among those who were not listed among these existing in 1913, more recently founded foreign bank branches is the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS National Bank in Bridgeport, CT).

One might object that this does not mean foreign bank owners have any significant influence on American banking policy. What influence bankers have on government policy in general may be more important.

The following two tables of JP Morgan Chase shareholders can be found through the fiance.yahoo.com stock quote web-page, selecting the"Major Holders" link.

One national bank in particular has an ownership that is revealing. JP Morgan Chase is a member of the Philadelphia Fed, and has its chairman/CEO Jamie Dimon on the board of the New York Fed. Individuals are minor shareholders, such as the officers:

Holder	Shares	Reported
DIMON JAMES	2,992,503	25-Jan-08
WINTERS WILLIAM T	1,225,912	25-Jan-08
HARRISON WILLIAM B JR	1,173,569	31-Dec-06
SCHARF CHARLES W	1,061,353	1-Feb-08
BLACK STEVEN D	893,875	25-Jan-08

The significant shareholders are institutions:

TOP INSTITUTIONAL HOLDERS (as of 2008/06/30)

Holder	Shares	% Out	Value
“Barclays Global Investors”	157,667,999	4.59	$5,409,589,045
“AXA”	140,498,887	4.09	$4,820,516,812
“STATE STREET CORP”	131,086,954	3.81	$4,497,593,391
“VANGUARD GROUP, INC.”	107,840,912	3.14	$3,700,021,690
“FMR LLC”	97,127,149	2.83	$3,332,432,482
“ DAVIS SELECTED ADV, LP”	74,560,855	2.17	$2,558,182,935
“MORGAN STANLEY	55,908,016	1.63	$1,918,204,028
“Bank of New York Mellon”	54,224,873	1.58	$1,860,455,392
“Capital Research Global Invst”	51,293,900	1.49	$1,759,893,709
“NORTHERN TRUST CORP”	42,740,560	1.24	$1,466,428,613

The 1976 study by the House of Representatives [pdf] is the tip of the iceberg. The interlocking directorships between the Fed presidents and board members of private banks and other corporations is tight. Later interpretations which include family relationships, including heirs to ownership of private banks and different generations of wealthy persons participating in the Fed beg to make the conclusion that private control is strong.

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Adding research into inter-marriages between banking families to the 1976 study of interlocking directorships, three authors published controversial books: Eustace Mullins, “ The Secrets of the Federal Reserve ,” (Bankers Research Institute, 1984) and Gary S. Kah, “ En Route to Global Occupation .”

Kah's list (p. 13) of original Fed owners (with about 300 stockholders) is:

• Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin
• Lazard Brothers Bank of Paris
• Israel Moses Sieff Banks of Italy
• Warburg Bank of Hamburg , Germany and Amsterdam
• Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York
• Lehman Brothers Bank of New York
• Goldman Sachs Bank of New York
• Chase Manhattan Bank of New York (Controlled By the Rockefeller Family Tree)

Mullins' list (p. 33) is

• The Rockefeller Kuhn, Loeb-controlled National City Bank took the largest number of shares of any bank, 30,000 shares.
• J.P. Morgan's First National Bank took 15,000 shares. When these two banks merged in 1955, they owned in one block almost one fourth of the shares in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York , which controlled the entire system, and thus they could name Paul Volcker or anyone else they chose to be Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
• Chase National Bank took 6,000 shares.
• The Marine Nation Bank of Buffalo , later known as Marine Midland, took 6,000 shares. This bank was owned by the Schoellkopf family, which controlled Niagara Power Company and other large interests.
• National Bank of Commerce of New York City took 21,000 shares.

Mullins created a long chart which builds on the 1976 House study of interlocking directorships, adding relationships by marriage and inheritance, to people of other generations. His list of the original owners of the Fed differs from that of Kah. One of them must be wrong, possibly both. I cannot tell.

There are many foreign banks who operate branch banks in the United States, most of which are national banks, i.e., are members of the Federal Reserve System. The Fed itself maintains a large listing of them. Consider the interests served by the Fed, in the light of the fact that many members are foreign entities, and that the owners of them and directors also serve on the boards of other foreign businesses, as do their American counterparts. Are we really to believe that the Fed exists to serve the end-users of banks, individuals and small businesses in the U.S?

Lastly, a few personal details of the current scene in 2008, of New York Fed member bank owners. Among the banks listed above which are NY Fed members, Deutsche Bank is noteworthy.

A profile from Forbes :

Deutsche Bank, AG, a large bank holding company headquartered in Frankfurt , Germany operates in several U.S. cities, including New York City , in banking and related businesses. It is headed by Josef Ackermann. He is also Deputy Chairman/Director of Siemens, AG. The 59-year old Ackermann, who “joined Deutsche Bank as a member of the Management Board in 1996, where he was responsible for the investment banking division. On May 22, 2002 , Dr. Ackermann was appointed Spokesman of the Management Board and Chairman of our Group Executive Committee. On February 1, 2006 , he was appointed Chairman of the Management Board. After studying Economics and Social Sciences at the University of St. Gallen , he worked at the University's Institute of Economics as research assistant and received a doctorate in Economics. Dr. Ackermann started his professional career in 1977 at Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA) where he held a variety of positions in Corporate Banking, Foreign Exchange/Money Markets and Treasury, Investment Banking and Multinational Services. He worked in London and New York , as well as at several locations in Switzerland . Between 1993 and 1996, he served as President of SKA's Executive Board, following his appointment to that board in 1990. Dr. Ackermann is a member of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG (Second Deputy Chairman) and a member of the International Advisory Council of Zurich Financial Services Group (since January 2007). Until April 2007, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG.”

Similar stories abound within the banks that are shareholders in the Fed and elect a number of Fed directors.

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The Influence of Government

As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve derives its authority from the U.S. Congress. It is considered an independent central bank because its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by the Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms. The Fed's financial independence arises because it is hugely profitable, among others, due to its ownership of government bonds. It returns billions of dollars to the government each year.

The biggest benefit to government is the passive role that the government can take in defaulting on its debt. It can spend billions per year beyond tax collections. On the model of what Germany did in 1923- the expansion of money supply is used to make repayment of government borrowing incredibly cheap.

Germany let its money supply expand four-fold, ending with the proverbial stories of wheelbarrows of cash needed to buy a load of bread. See the German Railroad Notes article. The original number of Deutsche Marks needed to repay the national debt was soon trivial. However, government debts to other nations remained a crushing burden since it was denominated in Gold Marks.

The Federal Reserve is subject to oversight by the Congress, which periodically reviews its activities and can alter its responsibilities by statute. Also, the Federal Reserve must work within the framework of the overall objectives of economic and financial policy established by the government. The hyper-inflation that Germany experienced is of course not at all what the Fed would want. Nevertheless, a phenomenon of ninety years ago fades from memory. At least the fact that the result was not intended is forgotten. Fact is that once hyper-inflation starts, it roars on to catastrophe with no way to stop it.

As long as government debt is not denominated in an objective store of value such as gold, government keeps on borrowing, whether the economy crashes or not. Moreover, bankers are like cats, they always land feet down.

The Influence of Private Corporations

Putting aside citations from books and articles that propagate conspiracy theories, if we look for cogent evidence of private control of the Fed, two well-researched aspects stand out.

•  Underlying the original function of the Act and the strengthened structure in the amendments of 1933 and 1935, but especially a Congressional study in 1976, we can gain a good understanding of the degree to which the Fed was subject to influence by private corporation directors. This relies on the appearance of certain names, usually well-connected upper society members, as directors of various Fed banks and of member banks and other corporations in their districts.

•  This is broadly bolstered by the fact of the large, primary benefit to the private banks who are members of the association, through being able to encourage borrowing by manipulation of interest rates and readily available credit and being able to lend out (among the group of banks) the same amount of reserves up to ten times, earning up to ten times the normal interest on any given amount of increased reserves.

Conclusion

The Federal Reserve System is a mixed ownership institution. The BOG is owned by the government, but the twelve Federal Reserve Banks are privately owned by the member banks in their districts. It took a genius to conceive of an institution clouded in so much confusion. Perhaps more than one. The chief among them was Paul Warburg. The Fed is a rare combination of public and private organizational forms and titles, with a mixture of elements of ownership and control unrivaled in the world. It is a true Chimera.

The final operative factor is “control” rather than any traditional concept of ownership. Traditionally, to own something means that you can use it in any manner you see fit as long as you do not harm anyone else, and freedom to dispose of it. The member banks do not have this kind of control. But neither does the government. The government can close it down, but there are strict limits in law and firm public expectations to prevent free use of the Federal Reserve System for whatever the government may think up.

Although there are several features of the Fed and its activities that indicate it is under some control by the government, much of the evidence supports the fact that it is independent of the government.

When banking giants J.P. Morgan, the First National Bank of New York , the National City Bank of New York, and Kuhn, Loeb & Company met at Jekyll Island in 1910 to plan the creation of the Federal Reserve, it cannot be said that their motivation was to curb their own power and wealth. All objective knowledge being contextual, so also is certainty.

In the context of the available evidence it is certain that the Fed is a combination of a truly hungry private business and a fascist government.