[Some] believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States ... conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.

-- David Rockefeller, "Memoirs," page 405

We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine, and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But the world is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.

-- Attributed to David Rockefeller, Bilderberg[1]

Translation: "Conspiring with others around the world" to build a global "political and economic structure" that's controlled by an unelected "intellectual elite and world bankers."

The Federal Reserve System, working in concert with our government, is the very ground on which the bailout game is played. Acting as lender of last resort, the Fed not only props up our fraudulent banking system, it shifts the inevitable losses from the cartel to the American people. Far from protecting the public, it has overseen a transfer of wealth that, if fully calculated, would total many trillions of dollars. It is easy to understand how this empowers those who profit from the system and weakens those victimized by it.

But the game is much larger than what we've seen to this point. The Federal Reserve System has expanded its operations. "Through a complex tangle of bank loans, subsidies, and grants, the Federal Reserve is becoming the 'lender of last resort' for virtually the entire planet."[2] The numbers in this expanded game are much bigger, and the ultimate price we're to pay is terrifying.

At this point, we're hemorrhaging more than money; we're being bled of our strength as a nation. And that is precisely the plan. With the creation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1944, the prospect of a "world government" ruled by an "intellectual elite and world bankers" became a very real possibility. Now, 80 years later, it is fast becoming a reality.

The World Bank and the IMF

The World Bank and IMF were created at a meeting commonly referred to as the Bretton Woods Conference.[3] The stated aims of these two new international agencies were, as one would expect, quite noble.

The World Bank was established to make loans to war-torn or underdeveloped nations. These loans, it was said, would help the borrowing nations develop their economies and raise living standards. Unfortunately, the loans did little more than help "notoriously corrupt regimes" run up enormous debts.

Despite its claims, the World Bank's policies looked more like those of "an institution obsessed with lending, no matter to whom, and no matter with what results ... the poor remained mired in poverty ... their governing elites amassed obscene fortunes."[4] (We'll cover this in more detail later in the chapter.)

The IMF was established to "promote monetary cooperation" between nations by "maintaining fixed exchange rates between their currencies."[5] Sounds great, but the way the IMF would achieve this goal was anything but great.

At the time, currency exchange rates were determined by how much gold a particular currency could buy on the open market. As a very simple example, imagine one U.S. dollar can purchase one ounce of gold, whereas it takes two Canadian dollars to purchase an ounce of gold.

Using this information, it's easy to determine the exchange rate for U.S. and Canadian currency. (One U.S. dollar is worth two Canadian dollars in this example.) Politicians and bankers hated this method of determining exchange rates because they couldn't easily manipulate it.

To illustrate, assume Canada wants to start creating lots of money out of nothing (inflating their currency). As they create more Canadian dollars, they drive down the purchasing power of those Canadian dollars. That loss of purchasing power will soon show up in the gold market.

Suddenly, it takes three Canadian dollars to purchase an ounce of gold; then before long, it takes four or more. As gold reveals the weakness in the Canadian currency, Canada will suffer the legitimate consequences of its actions. (The value of its currency will drop in world markets, and anyone buying with Canadian dollars will receive less in exchange for them.)

G. Edward Griffin describes the IMF's goal this way:

[The goal was] to terminate the use of gold as the basis of international currency exchange and replace it with a politically manipulated paper standard ... to allow governments to escape the discipline of gold so they could create money out of nothing without paying the penalty of having their currencies drop in value[.][6]

Before we proceed, a little background on the two individuals who brought us the World Bank and IMF is in order. One was the well-known Fabian socialist from England John Maynard Keynes, and the other was Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department Harry Dexter White. After an exhaustive investigation, a U.S. subcommittee concluded the following about White:

White not only nullified [U.S. Policy]; in effect, he reversed it. In collaboration with a small number of other high-ranking officials, he overbore the Government of the United States. Ultimately, White was revealed as a Communist agent.[7]

Regarding the Fabian socialists, Griffin explains:

The Fabians originally were an elite group of intellectuals who formed a semi-secret society for the purpose of bringing socialism to the world. Whereas Communists wanted to establish socialism quickly through violence and revolution, the Fabians preferred to do it slowly through propaganda and legislation. The word socialism was not to be emphasized. Instead, they would speak of the benefits for the people such as welfare, medical care, higher wages, and better working conditions. In this way, they planned to accomplish their objective without bloodshed and even without serious opposition.[8]

Although the Communists and Fabians disagreed on how to establish global socialism, they were willing to work with each other to accomplish their goal.

Harry Dexter White, while simultaneously working for a Communist espionage ring, became the United States' first Executive Director for the IMF, and Virginius Frank Coe, also a member of the same Communist espionage ring, became the first Secretary of the IMF.[9]

Working together, the Fabians and Communists hoped to create a mechanism by which they could establish a one-world central bank, issue a global fiat currency, and gain control of all the economies of the world.[10]

But before any of this could happen, the United States would have to be brought to its knees economically. (A strong U.S. would never willingly allow itself to be absorbed into the collective whole of a one-world government.) The World Bank would be a useful tool for this purpose.

The Communists especially liked the idea of transferring wealth out of the U.S. and other industrialized nations into less-developed nations around the world. These less-developed nations tended to have cooperative leaders in power (leaders who were happy to impose World Bank and IMF policies in exchange for cash — cash that those leaders promptly sent, by the millions and sometimes billions, to their private offshore bank accounts).

Although John Maynard Keynes wanted the IMF to issue its own global fiat currency, he knew he couldn't achieve that goal immediately. To convince other nations to participate, the IMF currency would need some form of gold backing.

At the time, foreigners could still redeem their U.S. dollars in gold, and that made it a perfect choice. So, as a starting point, the IMF chose the U.S. dollar to be its global monetary unit. The issue of eliminating gold redemption could be dealt with later. Keynes explains:

I felt that the leading central banks would never voluntarily relinquish the then existing forms of the gold standard[.] ... The only practical hope lay, therefore, in a gradual evolution in the forms of a managed world currency, taking the existing gold standard as a starting point.[11]

The IMF plan for a global fiat currency took shape in 1970, when it created a new monetary unit called the Special Drawing Right (SDR). Although heralded as "paper gold," the SDR has no relation to gold whatsoever.

An SDR is nothing more than another way to create money out of nothing and guarantee that somebody else will "pay the price" if things go badly. Here is a brief explanation of how it works.

First, the IMF calls on the United States (or another wealthy nation) to issue some "credits." These credits aren't really money; they are simply a promise to produce money if necessary. Here again, we can use a gambling analogy to explain.

If you're a well-known gambler, it's common to be given a line of credit from the casino. Basically, the casino is saying, "We know you're good for this money, so you just go ahead and play and have a good time. If you lose, we'll settle up later." The casino is putting up the money that you get to play with (in the form of credit), knowing that if you lose, you'll pay that money back.

With IMF credits, we have essentially the same thing, only in this case it's the United States putting up the credit that the IMF gets to gamble with. When the IMF gambles and loses (makes bad loans), the U.S. citizen gets to pick up the tab.

As a simple example: The U.S. issues a credit of $1 billion to the IMF. The IMF considers that credit a $1 billion asset (even though it hasn't received a penny, let alone a billion dollars). The IMF then uses that asset to create $1 billion worth of SDRs (out of thin air) and loans that to another country. If the loan goes bad (if the SDRs created out of thin air aren't repaid), you and I are called on to pay the billion-dollar debt.

Although SDRs were a huge leap forward toward creating a global fiat currency, in 1970 the U.S. dollar was still redeemable in gold at a price of $35 per ounce. That caused a problem. Since the IMF used the dollar as its primary currency, and since the dollar was still backed by gold, the amount of money the IMF could issue (create out of nothing) was limited.[12]

Griffin explains:

If the IMF were to function as a true world central bank with unlimited issue, the dollar had to be broken away from its gold backing as a first step toward replacing it completely with ... an SDR or something else equally free from restraint.

On August 15, 1971, President Nixon signed an executive order declaring that the United States would no longer redeem its paper dollars for gold. So ended the first phase of the IMF's metamorphosis. It was not yet a true central bank[.] ... It had to depend on the central banks of its member nations to provide cash and so-called credits; but since these banks, themselves, could create as much money as they wished from now on, there would be no limit.[13]

If you remember, the IMF was established to "promote monetary cooperation between nations" by "maintaining fixed exchange rates between their currencies." With the dollar no longer backed by gold, a ready standard for measuring currency values no longer existed. Not a problem; the IMF simply changed its focus. It would now be in charge of "overcoming trade deficits."

Trade deficits

We hear a lot about trade deficits, but many don't understand what the term means. To put it in the simplest terms, we'll drop the term "trade" and simply focus on the word "deficit."

A deficit is what you get when you spend more money than you make. "Going in the hole" is a common term recognized by most people. If you earn $3,000 this month, but you spend $4,000, you will "go in the hole" $1,000. That $1,000 represents the deficit (the amount of money) between what you earned and what you spent.

A "trade" deficit is very similar. If we say the United States trade deficit is $1 billion per day, it means the United States is spending $1 billion per day more than it's earning. More specifically, the United States is spending $1 billion more per day purchasing products and services from other countries than other countries are spending purchasing products and services from the United States.

Whether you're a person spending more than you earn or a nation spending more than you earn, at some point you're going to run into problems.

The process cannot be sustained unless:

(1) earnings are increased; (2) money is taken out of savings; (3) assets are sold; (4) money is counterfeited; or (5) money is borrowed. Unless one of these occurs, the individual or the country has no choice but to decrease spending.[14]

Let's expand on that a bit.

1. Clearly, the best option is to earn more money. Other than decreasing spending, increasing revenue is the only way a nation can actually fix the imbalance.
2. Taking money out of savings is an option, but only if savings exist. Few nations have any savings at all. Besides, savings are a temporary fix for making up shortfalls in revenue. They do not fix the problem and eventually savings run out.
3. Selling assets? Sure, but that doesn't fix the problem either. And there are only so many assets to sell. Like savings, you'll eventually run out.
4. The counterfeiting option (creating new money out of thin air to cover the deficit). This option only works if you're in the unique position of having your nation's currency accepted as the world's reserve currency. The United States dollar has enjoyed the advantages of this unique position for some time now, but it is also on the verge of suffering the unique consequences.

In short: Because the rest of the world has been willing to "buy" U.S. dollars (stockpiling them so they can more easily trade with other nations), the Federal Reserve has been able to create boatloads of money without causing massive price inflation in America. But America's free ride is showing signs of coming to an end.

Along with its value, the dollar's international status has been dropping steadily against other currencies. This decline not only decreases the likelihood other countries will continue buying dollars as fast as the Federal Reserve can create them; it increases the threat of a massive international move away from the dollar. If that happens, trillions of dollars (currently held in foreign banks) will flood into the U.S. economy, and America will experience price inflation unlike anything seen in its recent history.

Again, counterfeiting only applies to the U.S. (and might not apply for much longer), so let's move now to the final option all countries have for overcoming their trade deficits.

5. The fifth and final option is borrowing. Depending on how the borrowed funds are spent, this could be the worst option of all. If a country is already spending more than it earns, it makes little sense to further strain its financial resources by piling on debt and interest payments. But this final option is exactly where the IMF has positioned itself to help struggling nations overcome their trade deficits. The IMF, supposedly, now stands ready to loan these nations into prosperity.

These loans do not go into private enterprise where they have a chance of being turned for a profit. They go into state-owned and state-operated industries which are constipated by bureaucracy and poisoned by corruption. Doomed to economic failure from the start, they consume the loans with no possibility of repayment. Even the interest quickly becomes too much to handle. Which means the IMF must fall back to the "reserves," back to the "assets," back to the "credits," and eventually back to the taxpayers to bail them out.

Whereas the International Monetary Fund is evolving into a world central bank which eventually will issue a world currency based on nothing, its sister organization, the World Bank, has become its lending agency.[15]

In reality, the World Bank was seen by its founders as a way to covertly bring about social and political change. Its loans always come with strings attached. "The change it was designed to bring about was the building of world socialism, and that is exactly what it is accomplishing today."[16]

Since the IMF/World Bank agenda is always wrapped in appealing paper, we might be wise to peel back the wrapping and take a look inside. Let's examine some governments the World Bank has been kind enough to finance in exchange for help with implementing its policies.

Financing corruption and despotism

In Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia, we find disturbing examples of what World Bank "help" looks like. One could effectively argue the regimes in these nations, sponsored by the World Bank, have been less than humanitarian in their approach to improving the conditions of their people.

Mass detentions, property confiscation, torture, and murder; human beings forced off their land, loaded onto trucks, and "resettled" into compounds where they could be watched and controlled. It looks a lot more like tyranny when you rip away the utopia wrapping.

In Laos, Syria, Indonesia, China, and the former Soviet Union, we see more of the same. Political opposition jailed, political opposition massacred, millions uprooted from their homelands, students murdered, religious leaders imprisoned, and civilians slaughtered; yet those responsible have been given billions by the World Bank.

The brutalities of these countries are all in a day's work for serious socialists who view them as merely unfortunate necessities for the building of their utopia. ... George Bernard Shaw, one of the early leaders of the Fabian Socialist movement, expressed it this way:

Under Socialism, you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you liked it or not. If it were discovered that you had not character and industry enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live, you would have to live well.[17]

Getting rich along the way

Some seek political control not for the good of others, but for their own personal benefit. In fact, a look at history reveals this is most often the case. Become a high-ranking official or leader of a country and odds are you're going to enjoy a privileged life of wealth and power. When billions upon billions (upon billions) of dollars are being tossed around, it's naive to think the elites in charge of those billions aren't going to live by a different set of rules. Graham Hancock, in his book "Lords of Poverty," has this to say about the international aid industry:

Corrupt Ministers of Finance and dictatorial Presidents from Asia, Africa, and Latin America are tripping over their own expensive footwear in their unseemly haste. ... For such people, money has probably never been easier to obtain than it is today; with no complicated projects to administer and no messy accounts to keep, the venal, the cruel and the ugly are laughing literally all the way to the bank. ... All they have to do—amazing but true— is screw the poor, and they've already had plenty of practice at that.[18]

Griffin adds:

While Nigeria and Argentina are drowning in debt, billions from the World Bank have gone into building lavish new capital cities to house government agencies and the ruling elite. In Zaire, Mexico, and the Philippines, political leaders became billionaires while receiving World Bank Loans on behalf of their nations. In the Central African Republic, IMF and World Bank loans were used to stage a coronation for its emperor. The record of corruption and waste is endless.[19]

As bad as the story has been to this point, it wouldn't be complete without taking a look at the national prosperity that borrowing nations have enjoyed after receiving help from the IMF/World Bank. In the interest of time, we'll cover just a few examples.

Tanzania, prior to receiving loans from the World Bank, could feed its own population and was experiencing economic growth. In fact, Tanzania (in 1966) not only fed its own people, but its main export was food to other nations. Three billion dollars in loans later, its farms and industries were nationalized, and every business converted into a government agency.

Under the new system, there was no longer enough food to feed the population, nor was there enough money to pay for the food that now had to be imported. That shortfall in funds was of course made up with even more loans and foreign aid. The country is now hopelessly mired in debt with no way of getting out.

Argentina went from having one of the highest standards of living in all of Latin America to being an absolute debt-ridden basket case. Following massive loans and the implementation of IMF demands, the gross national product went into a nosedive; manufacturing fell to less than half capacity; bankruptcy, unemployment, and welfare soared; and the enormous increase in the nation's money supply drove price inflation to 1 million percent![20] From a prosperous people to paupers; many wonder if the predictably disastrous policies used to blow out thriving economies are by accident or by design.

When oil was discovered in Mexico, its politicians immediately took the promise of prosperity to the bank.

With borrowed billions, they funded the creation of chemical plants, railroads, Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), and other industrial projects. However, having no knowledge of how to run these newly created entities as legitimate businesses, they lost money. Rather than correct the underlying economic imbalances, the government borrowed more money and even began creating its own fiat currency.

When that proved ineffective, next came price controls and then a doubling of the minimum wage. By 1982, the Mexican peso was so weak it was nearly worthless. Keep in mind, all of this was going on while oil prices and production were high. When oil prices started to decrease, it only made matters worse.

By 1995, Mexican loans were in danger of default, and U.S. citizens (courtesy of congress) were on the hook for $30 billion. Griffin explains:

Although this loan was eventually repaid, the money to do so was extracted from the Mexican people through another round of massive inflation, which plunged their standard of living even lower...[21]

Thus, the saga continues. After pouring billions of dollars into underdeveloped countries around the globe, no development has taken place. In fact, we have seen just the opposite. Most countries are worse off than before the Saviors of the World got to them.[22]

[The IMF and World Bank have] become the engine for transferring wealth from the industrialized nations to the underdeveloped countries. While this has lowered the economic level of the donating countries, it has not raised the level of the recipients. The money has simply disappeared down the drain of political corruption and waste.[23]

When "qualified observers" speak about the power of creating money and credit, we'd be wise to listen. Reginald McKenna is one such observer. As the former head of the United Kingdom's Treasury, he was surprisingly candid when he admitted:

I am afraid the ordinary citizen will not like to be told that the banks can, and do, create money ... And they who control the credit of the nation direct the policy of Governments and hold in the hollow of their hands the destiny of the people.[24]

Those conspiring to bring us a world government ruled by an intellectual elite and world bankers are not playing games. They've worked hard to perfect and implement their strategy of economic conquest. They've proven their ability to seize control of nations large and small (even far-flung empires). They certainly haven't come all this way for nothing. This brings us to:

The IMF/World Bank could not function without a steady flow of American dollars, and those American dollars would not flow without the Fed. The Fed is a tool of our sworn enemies, those hostile to the existence of free and independent nations (and people) everywhere. The time for talk has long since passed. The time for us to abolish the Federal Reserve System is now.

Summary

An unelected cabal of intellectual elite and world bankers is using the Federal Reserve System to create a "world government" that they will control. By bringing us to our knees economically, they can more easily erase our borders, erase our Constitution and Bill of Rights ... erase America as we know it.

But it isn't just America that will suffer; every nation on the face of this planet will be at the mercy of a handful of men if their vision of world government succeeds. By abolishing the Fed, we will wrench from their hands one of the most powerful weapons they possess.

In the next chapter, we'll go deeper into who the players in this game are and how they've already begun consolidating the world into more easily managed regions.