THE CONSPIRACY TO SECRETLY CONTROL THE ECONOMY

O.K., let’s file this one under …

THE CONSPIRACY TO SECRETLY CONTROL THE ECONOMY

The rent on the apartment was due today, so it’s as good a time as any to dedicate an edition of the blog to our economic woes. 

Conspiracy theorists love to obsess over money.  They love to chatter above how the word M-A-S-O-N is hidden in secret on the one-dollar bill. (See: THE CONSPIRACY OF THE 33RD DEGREE)… The mere mention of the term “Amero” sends them running to apply for gun permits (See: THE CONSPIRACY OF THE NAU)…

I’ll admit, there is quite a bit for both conspiracy theorists, and truth seekers, to be concerned about over the financial issues these days.

All of the empty stores on Avenue A are a painful reminder of the recent banking and mortgage crisis.

The bankruptcies of multinational companies like General Motors, and the failure of financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers, inspire other bloggers to write about the wisdom of keeping your money in the mattress, or buying and hoarding gold.

The economic recovery seems to have been slower than economists had hoped, reminding those of us who have jobs to cherish them. 

There, NY1, I said something nice about you…

To get the economy back on track, there have been all manner of stimulus packages totaling in numbers that require thirteen key-strokes to type. 

Our leaders have tried to increase confidence in the system and to get the population spending again.  Even though it was neither Christmas, nor Jeff’s birthday, I bought him a copy of the book Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time, just to do my part to get more money in circulation.

Despite all of the economic bad news, there are no signs of panic or depression.  There’s no rush on the banks.  There are no breadlines on East 2nd Street.  There are no apple sellers seeing up in Tompkins Square Park.

But conspiracy theorists are still worried.  They claim that the worst is yet to come. 

Conspiracy theorists think the next economic enemy will come from a distant shore, and is already hiding in plain sight ready to take control of the economy, for a dire outcome.

The Trojan Horse, according to Jeff, is the Federal Reserve Bank.

The Federal Reserve Bank-

The Federal Reserve Bank is the nation’s central financial institution.  The duties of the “Fed,” according to official Federal Reserve documents, are to conduct the nation's monetary policy, supervise and regulate banking institutions, maintain the stability of the financial system, and provide financial services to depository institutions, and to the federal government.

According to Jeff, there is a massive conspiracy concerning the true ownership of the Federal Reserve.  As such, everything the central bank does is potentially subject to a secret agenda.

It all began with a harmless visit to the ATM this morning, on the way back from the gym. 

As my five crisp twenty-dollar bills were dispensed:

Jeff:  You know the entire banking system can be shut down without warning.  The country can be brought to its knees.

Me: So, do I need to take more money out, or should we just go to the supermarket to pick up items to use to barter?

Jeff: While you write your little blog, and make your funny little videos about our arguments, remember it’s all ones and zeros.  And those zeros come in any language.  Very few people control the money supply and interest rates, and none of them are in the United States.  They operate in secret.

They always do. 

But is there anything to this?

Is our banking system controlled by foreign agents with sinister motives?  Can the economy be so easily shut down with the press of a button, without us ever being able to prepare to face our enemy? 

Witness the following and follow along as a witness because there is something to be learned about the control of monetary policy and whether or not it is at all subject to any unchecked wrong-doing.

The United States is divided up into twelve banking districts, and in each of those districts is located a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Each of the bank’s branches is privately owned by shareholders.

The Federal Reserve System-

As the Federal Reserve Bank is not a publicly traded corporation, it is not subject to the by the Securities and Exchange Commission requirement that a list of its major shareholders be published. 

This, as Jeff said, would seem to indicate that the owners of the branches of the Fed can remain completely unidentified, and could be anyone, anywhere.

The central banking system is also completely autonomous from the three branches of government we learn about in elementary school.

That’s the sort of secrecy and lack of oversight that really gets conspiracy theorists going. 

So is it possible that a controlling interest of the shares of Federal Reserve Bank ownership could be held by interests that reside outside, rather than inside, the borders of the United States?

The question of the ownership of the twelve branches can actually be addressed by examining the legal rules for acquisition of the stock.

The majority of the shares of each of the twelve branches are all owned by publicly traded banks.  The stock of each branch is to be held by banks that are members of the banking system within the district.  Banks with household names like Citibank, The Bank of America, and Chase Manhattan. 

This ownership is a specific requirement of the very Federal Reserve Act that established the Federal Reserve System in 1913. 

Even though the Federal Reserve Bank may not have to identify it’s shareholders because of SEC rules, it does by it’s own rules.  Its owners are not secret. 

Since all of those banks are publicly traded, they must divulge the identity of any individual or organization that owns more than five percent of the outstanding shares. 

That’s the law.  And it has been the law for some time.

If foreigners own any shares of the banks that in turn own shares of branches of the Federal Reserve, then their portions would have to be less than five percent, and thereby not subject to the disclosure rule.  Less than five percent would certainly not give a shareholder enough of an ability to exert any influence on the bank that holds the shares in the Federal Reserve Branch. 

That small a percentage is simply not a significant interest.  If it were an interest capable of any real decision making, it would have to be disclosed.

Conspiracy theorists cannot have it both ways.  It either has to be secret or significant. 

In this case it simply can’t be both.

It seems that the same law that established the Federal Reserve banking system allows for a small portion of Federal Reserve stock to be made available for sale to the public.   Given that factor, perhaps foreigners own shares of branches of the Federal Reserve Bank directly.

But no person or organization may own more than twenty five thousand dollars worth of such stock and none of it carries voting rights.  Those rights belong to banking shareholders only. 

Also, under the terms of the Federal Reserve Act, stock was only to be sold to the public in the event that the sale of stock to member banks did not raise the minimum of four million dollars of initial capital for each Federal Reserve Bank when they were organized in 1913.

Each of the twelve banks easily raised the necessary amount through member bank stock sales, so no public stock was ever sold to any members of the public or to any foreigners. 

If Bank of America, Citibank, and all the rest were going to conspire to bring down the economy, they do not need to do so in absentia.  As Lehman Brothers did, they can do it all by themselves.

On the issue of Fed ownership, we can all rest easy.  The Fed is the same solid institution it was when we wok up this morning.  There is just no possibility of the conspiracy to which Jeff alludes.

There is, however, the matter of the Chinese having control over an enormous amount of the United States’ national debt.

I wonder if Jeff will be hitting me up with some conspiracy related to that, not long after I upload this blog. 

Meanwhile Jeff must pay his own visit to the ATM for the money to pay off his debt.

Beers will be on him, for my having so easily disposed of this flimsy conspiracy theory.

Better luck next time.

As always, e-mails and ATM withdrawals are always welcome.