A month about the Federal Reserve.

Today, I have drawn my personal line in the sand.

From today until September 30th, I am going to spend every day reporting my research on the Federal Reserve. In response to my disgust, I am going to fast to bring light on this important issue in our country. I  am putting my own body on the line as a response to what I feel is corrupt and needs to be abolished.

For today’s Lesson on the Federal Reserve, I want to set up a timeline of events prior to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Bank_of_the_United_States :

In 1791, the original Bank of the United States, sometimes referred to as “The First Bank of the United States”, was proposed and brought into being under the support of the first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.

Along with establishing a mint and an excise tax, the purpose of Hamilton’s proposed bank was to:

* Establish financial order, clarity and precedence in and of the newly formed United States.
* Establish credit—both in country and overseas—for the new nation.
* To resolve the issue of the fiat currency, issued by the Continental Congress immediately prior to and during the United States Revolutionary War—the “Continental”.

A student of both the French finance minister Jacques Necker and his British counterpart Chancellor of the Exchequer Robert Walpole (in addition to his own extensive reading), Hamilton devised a bank for the whole of the country, not just for sections or states.

According to the plan put before the first session of the First Congress, Hamilton proposed establishing the initial funding for the Bank of the United States through the sale of $10 million in stock of which the United States government would purchase the first $2 million in shares. Hamilton, foreseeing the objection that this could not be done since the U.S. government didn’t have $2 million, proposed that the government make the stock purchase using money loaned to it by the Bank; the loan to be paid back in ten equal annual installments.

The remaining $8 million of stock would be available to the public, both in the United States and overseas. The chief requirement of these non-government purchases was that one-quarter of the purchase price had to be paid in gold or silver; the remaining balance could be paid in bonds, acceptable scrip, etc.

By continuously insisting on these conditions the Bank of the United States might technically possess $500,000 in “real” money that it could, and would, use as security to make loans up to its capitalized limit of $10 million.[2] However, unlike the Bank of England from where Hamilton drew much of his inspiration, the primary function of the Bank would be commercial and private interests. The business it would be involved in on behalf of the federal government—a depository for collected taxes, making short term loans to the government to cover real or potential temporary income gaps, serving as a holding site for both incoming and outgoing monies—was considered highly important but still secondary in nature.

There were other, nonnegotiable conditions for the establishment of the Bank of the United States. Among these were:

* That the Bank was to be a private company.
* That the Bank would have a twenty year charter running from 1791 to 1811, after which time it would be up to the Congress to renew or deny renewal of the bank and its charter; however, during that time no other federal bank would be authorized; states, for their part, would be free to charter however many intrastate banks they wished.
* That the Bank, to avoid any appearance of impropriety, would:

1. be forbidden to buy government bonds.
2. have a mandatory rotation of directors.
3. neither issue notes nor incur debts beyond its actual capitalization.

* That foreigners, whether overseas or residing in the United States, would be allowed to be Bank of the United States stockholders, but would not be allowed to vote.
* That the Secretary of the Treasury would be free to remove government deposits, inspect the books, and require statements regarding the banks condition as frequently as once a week.[3]

To ensure smooth compliance to both the current and future demands of its governmental accounts, the Bank required a source of additional funding, “for interest payments on the assumed state debts would begin to fall due at the end of 1791…those payments would require $788,333 annually, and… an additional $38,291 was needed to cover deficiencies in the funds that had been appropriated for existing commitments.”[4]

To achieve this, Hamilton repeated a suggestion he had made nearly a year before—increase the duty on imported spirits, plus raise the excise tax on domestically distilled whiskey and other liquors. This was the origin of the Whiskey Rebellion.

In 1811, Congress voted down rechartering the First Bank of the United States. If you read this article as carefully as I did, you will have noticed that the First Bank of the US was allowed to have foreign shareholders, who after the end of 1811 would no longer make money off of their investment. After the First Bank was closed down it became common knowledge that many of the investors were British and Dutch. This is interesting because of the War of 1812.

In response to the War of 1812, The Second Bank of the United States was set up in 1816. Major reasons for it’s formation was heavy inflation due to financing military operations from the war. Given a 20 year charter the Bank would be up for rechartering in 1836. Andrew Jackson, ran on a platform of ending the Second Bank, because when a private corporation has its hands involved with monetary policy, it will cause corruption.

In 1832, Andrew Jackson removed all money from the Second Bank of the US. In 1836 he vetoed the charter and by 1841 the Bank was defunct.

Now, there is a lot of similarities between these banks.

• They are both Privately owned.
• Both have allowed shareholders who are not American.
• They Both have FULL control over the monetary system.
• They Both will loan money to the US Government in return receiving interest on the debt.

A trip through history will show the evolution of how the Federal Reserve came about. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, did not include a charter like it’s previous incarnations. This was a safety net so they could not be stopped. They are still privately owned, have control over the monetary system and loan money to the government at interest, which is considered our National Debt, though through the Black Books, the National Debt should be around an estimated 30 trillion USD.

Tomorrow will be a new day.