We have been told that we study history so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes. Well, one of two things is occurring here: either we don’t actually have a clue what happened in history or we hide it so that nobody realizes that the folks that control the world can implement any level of control they want.
It appears to me, with a quick look back at our national and global economy, that we do the same thing over and over again, and it has usually included a war to get the buy in.
The first was clearly the Civil War, followed by World War I and then World War II. Since our Declaration of Independence was signed, we have had men and women signing up to risk individual sacrifice for the continual generation of freedom. In just 247 years, we have once again become peasants for the king with the gold. I want to do my part to give our children a path of liberty, as those who have served for the love of country.
We were taught that the Civil War was all about freeing slaves. We also know that states’ rights were equally at the core of the battle as well. It seems to me that it was more than simply a state declaring what type of property was permissible but it was actually about control of the banking system.
This is a chunk of history I find extremely interesting and is from www.federalreseverehistory.org:
"Notable, and controversial, exceptions were two banks chartered by the federal government. Shifts in the balance of power between politicians who favored a strong federal government, such as Alexander Hamilton, and those who tended to support states’ rights and limited federal power, such as Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, led first to the establishment and then demise of the two U.S. banks (both named Bank of the United States) in the early 19th century. As the essay describes, Jackson’s “war” with the second Bank of the United States eliminated a bank that performed some functions of a modern central bank.
Consequently, the U.S. banking system was characterized by thousands of small, one-office (or “unit”) banks scattered throughout the country. Unit banking contributed to instability by making it harder for banks to reach an efficient size or diversify their loan portfolios. The inherently fragile unit banking structure coupled with an inelastic currency was a recipe for a crisis prone system. Finding a political solution was difficult, however, because it pitted the interests of large city banks against those of banks in smaller cities and rural areas."
It also stirred old conflicts over states’ rights and the power of the federal government to regulate the banking system. As the essay describes, a political solution was eventually found after the Panic of 1907, when in December 1913 Congress passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.
It is widely reported that all of this led to a major run on withdrawals of deposits at banks and three families came to be known as robber barons. The robber barons were defined as businessmen who allegedly used unscrupulous tactics in their business operations and in the stock market to amass huge personal fortunes. Many of their massive businesses controlled a large majority of all activity in their respective industries, often arrived at through predatory pricing schemes that are now illegal.
You will likely recognize the names: J.P Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Together, these three individuals worked with the federal government to form what we now call the Federal Reserve System. In 1913, Congress authorized the Federal Reserve to operate outside of the federal government with oversight provided by a commission of seven appointed individuals in what they call the “Board of Governors” of the Federal Reserve System. I learned that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is actually outside the authority of the federal government.
I do not think it is a coincidence in today’s news that we hear about runs on banks, followed by more money being given to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. with the current banking crisis. What happens next, if history is actually properly recorded, then I guess we shall see.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].