While the White House claims an urgency to pass healthcare reform, and while Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, tries to convince the American people that the $787 billion stimulus plan is working by siting things such as the $25 a week increase in unemployment checks the now 9.4% unemployed in our country are getting, the facts prove otherwise.
Holding something like this up as proof that the stimulus plan is working is, to put it mildly, unbelievable. Especially when you look at just how much of the 'stimulus' is actually 'stimulating' the economy, and how much (almost half of the $787 billion) is going for 'appropriations', aka pork, as seen in the chart put together by Senator Ben Nelson. (See chart here.) And, by the way, please note that Congress included in the 'stimulus' package an increase of $20 million for its own budget to cover the salaries and expenses of 'temporary staff'. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or economic wonk to see that this kind of 'Congressional oversight' is a foreshadow of what can be expected in the oversight of the proposed government-run healthcare system. But I digress.
What has really happened to our economy? Why did it plummet just before the 2008 election? What other forces were at play besides the initially sited culprits, Fannie and Freddie? Many Americans are still asking these questions.
Let me ask you a question: How much do you know about the Federal Reserve, the all-powerful, privately owned, non-federal government-run, national bank that wields tremendous economic power over our nation? We talked about this on our show recently, including a segment of an interview I did with Paul Walter, about the book his publishing company reprinted, The Coming Battle, written in 1899 outlining how the banking money power gained control of America. (Hear that interview online here.)
Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution states that Congress shall have the power to coin (create) money and regulate the value thereof.
In 1935 the Supreme Court ruled that Congress cannot delegate its power to another group.
But things have changed. Today it is the Federal Reserve that controls and regulates the U.S. dollar.
Interestingly, Congress refused to audit the Federal Reserve after bills co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul and more than half of the House (Federal Reserve Transparency Act, HR 1207), and in the Senate (S 604) co-sponsored by Sens. Jim DeMint, Mike Crapo and David Vitter, were stopped before even being introduced on the floor on "procedural grounds." Why would they do that?
Writing in his recent article, "A Force of One: the Federal Reserve," Chuck Norris makes the claim that the FED is a secret society, "I agree with Judge Andrew Napolitano, who said last week, 'We know more about the CIA than we do about the Federal Reserve.' The Federal Reserve is the Freemasonry of government agencies. It is a virtual secret society unto themselves - a group of unelected brokers who hold the value of our dollar in the palms of their hands. This one agency, with its power to raise and lower interest rates, has exercised more control over the economy than any other government body."
Norris continues, "Could it really be a mere coincidence that the bill to audit the Federal Reserve was refused from even being introduced and that this agency remains the "quick convenience store-house of money" for the Obama administration's borrowing and bailout monies? Again, as Judge Napolitano said, "The Obama administration not only doesn't want the Federal Reserve audited, it now wants to put the power to regulate all banks, insurance companies, brokerage houses – into the hands of this super secret bank. What are they afraid we might see if we get a chance to look at their books?" (Read his article here.)
So, how did the Federal Reserve become the money manager of the United States?
The Federal Reserve came into being with the stroke of the pen of President Woodrow Wilson, establishing a centralized banking system, that "balanced the competing interests of private banks and populist sentiment." (sound familiar?) He appointed seven members of the Board with twelve regional banks, which are located in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas and San Francisco.
Today's current (five) board members of the Federal Reserve are Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Donald L. Kohn, Vice Chairman, Kevin M. Warsh, Elizabeth A. Duke and Daniel K. Tarullo.
Henry Ford once 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.'"
Did Ford know something we don't?
Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild said, "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws." He also said, "It (the Central Bank ) gives the National Bank almost complete control of national finance. The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class... The great body of the people, mentally incapable of comprehending, will bear its burden without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical (contrary) to their interests."
John D. Rockefeller wrote in his book Memoirs, "For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents, such as my encounter with Castro, to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."
But, this information doesn't answer Chuck Norris' claim that the Federal Reserve is a secret society.
Perhaps a speech given by John F. Kennedy to the American Newspaper Publishers Association sheds some light? In it he talks to the press about secret societies:
"The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it." (Hear speech here.)
John F. Kennedy wanted to abolish the Federal Reserve. On November 22, 1963 he was assassinated as his motorcade took an unscheduled route in Dallas.
More than give detailed information about the Federal Reserve I wanted to provoke questions that would cause you to research for yourself. For in so doing you will learn more than any one article can tell.
Is the FED a secret society? You tell me.
Federal Reserve website
See the creation of the Federal Reserve
© Sharon Hughes 2009
Sharon Hughes is Founder and President of The Center for Changing Worldviews and a radio talk show host on KDIA in San Francisco, and online at Salem Web Network’s Oneplace.com. Her articles appear in many recognized news sites and publications, including FRONTPAGEMAG. She also writes for NewsBusters.org, a division of The Media Research Center, and has appeared on FOX News and other national radio programs. For further information and other radio networks she is on visit her Websites www.changingworldviews.com, WOMANTalk.us, and Blog http://changingworldviews.blogspot.com. Facebook http://www.facebook.com/cwsharon, Twitter http://twitter.com/sharonhughes_ Or Contact: sharon@changingworldviews.com