One of the things that the “truth” movement does best is to perpetrate and over-propagate myths and legends.
While a myth is something that just isn’t the truth, a legend is based on a grain of truth that has been blown way out of proportion into being almost god-like in its power – able to create whole movements based on false facts.
Of course, the favorite “truther” myths and legends seem to circulate around the creation of and the continuing story of the Federal Reserve System. In a previous post, I broke down the legal structure of the Federal Reserve, including the Federal Reserve Act and the reality of what an “independent agency of government” actually is (The Postal Service, Social Security Administration, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Elections Commission, Securities And Exchange Commission, and the Federal Reserve System are all examples of “independent agencies of government”.) They are Federal government corporations, created by Congress, and given the limited power of “rule-making” while still bound by congressional “law” – and there is just no way to get around these facts. All this and the sources you need are right here:
(Link–> https://realitybloger.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/the-incontrovertible-conundrum-of-dr-ron-paul/)
But obviously, the legend still outlives the reality…
My favorite part of the Fed legend is the story of the men who gathered at Jekyll Island to supposedly “create” the Federal Reserve.
While it is certainly true that men congregated to create a bill that could then be eventually run through and passed by congress, the legend of that meeting is one of the more discrediting aspects of the movement. In fact, it unfortunately gives people the false impression that this meeting at Jekyll Island was some rare event in history – as if the rest of the time in government, bills and acts are created by the actual congressmen who spend days and weeks composing and signing them. This is far from the truth.
Was there a meeting on that island? Of course. This fact is not in question.
Did these men create the Federal Reserve? Of course not. They simply wrote a draft of a bill that would take some three years to finally be rewritten, amended, and passed by congress. Congress created the Federal Reserve, which was finalized by then President Woodrow Wilson’s signature. Government, in fact, created the Federal Reserve Board and banks in committee after the Federal Reserve Act was signed, just as it was instructed to do by the Act.
Did the bill pass by the vote of just a few house members on a late stormy night when most of congress was at home sleeping or celebrating the holidays? For this myth, I simply did a bit of simple, logical research….
–=–
“The House passed the bill 298-60 on the evening of Dec. 22, 1913″
“The Senate began debate the following day at 10am, and passed it 43-25 at 2:30pm.”
“Wilson signs currency bill,” –New York Times, pp. 1-2, Dec. 24, 1913.
Oh, yeah… the legend seems to forget the check and balance rule that when a bill passes the house, it must also pass the Senate and be signed by the President. So in reality, The Federal Reserve Act didn’t get “created” until that very stroke of the presidents pen. And since bills go from the House to the Senate, and since the Senate then passed the bill as well, and since the bill then went to conference for final amendment and approval, we can’t very well state with any historical accuracy that the Federal Reserve Act was created on a dark stormy night in the House after all of the congress had already left for the holidays, now can we? For the Senate met the next day at 10 am! We can’t just dismiss or not mention the rest of the legislative process for the fulfillment of our legend.
But we also can’t dismiss the journals of the House and Senate, which clearly show the number of votes cast as official record. In other words, when role call was announced, the following was the response of congressmen in attendance for the final vote on the conference report (amended version of the Federal Reserve Act Bill):
House: Bill passed the house on September 18th by a vote of 282-85 with only 3 democrats voting against it.
Senate: The Senate passed the Federal Reserve bill, 54-34 on December 19th with full Democratic support.
Conference Committees: agreed and on December 22nd and 23rd the two houses ratified the bill and the President signed the measure as follows…
1) Dec. 22, 1913 – House agreed to conference report on H.R. 7837 by 298 yeas to 60 nays and 76 not voting but with 34 announced pairs.
(Link–> http://www.llsdc.org/attachments/files/102/FRA-LH_v51-CR-1464.pdf)
(Link–> http://www.llsdc.org/attachments/files/103/FRA-LH_v51-CR-1487-1488-SEN.pdf)
3) Dec. 23, 1913 – President signs H.R. 7837, the “Federal Reserve Act”.
(Link–> http://www.llsdc.org/attachments/files/105/FRA-LH-PL63-43.pdf).
Does this sound like congress was home for the holidays when the Federal Reserve was created? 76 members out of a total of 434 were listed as not present for the vote. This means that approximately 18% of House members were not present for the vote, which as it turns out is not at all uncommon. It also means that even if these 76 members were present to vote, and they all voted nay on the act, the total votes would have stood at 136 nays, and 298 yeas. This would still have been well over a 2/3’s majority vote in favor of the Federal Reserve Act by the House Members.
The New York Times then reported:
“WASHINGTON, Dec. 23.–President Wilson signed the Currency bill at 6:02 o’clock this evening, following the passage of the conference report by the Senate in the afternoon by a vote of 43 to 25, and the House’s approval of that report last night…”
(Link–> http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B04E3DB173DE633A25757C2A9649D946296D6CF&scp=1&sq=+%22currency+bill%22+AND+%226%3A02%22&st=p) – Note that you may download full article here as well.
So that you can understand how common this absenteeism is in legislatures across the United States, I’d very much like for you to watch this coverage of the Texas Legislature, perhaps my favorite tool to wake people up to the fraud that is government:
Note that since the legislature makes the rules, the legislature very seldom enforces their own rules.
The point here is that if one pours through the journals of the congress, one will continuously see the fact that congress is never full. Absenteeism is a normal aspect of the legislature.
Is this right or wrong?
I’m not here to tell you what is right or wrong, though I personally believe that no bill should be passed in congress without 100% attendance and vote. What I am here to do is present fact -vs- fiction. And the fact is that nothing out of the ordinary happened on that night (when only 18% of the Congress didn’t vote for the conference report on the Federal Reserve Act) and that it was indeed passed quite legally. Good or bad? That’s not the issue. It’s good for some, bad for others. I’m not here for that. Good and bad are not facts, they are opinions. My opinion, so as to be clear, is that the Federal Reserve Act was both good and bad, but that its management is very bad. But more importantly, my opinion of congress and the President, both past and present, is that they are acting in treason to the people of the united states of America under the Lieber Code (martial law) and that nothing they do is lawful in America in the first place. But, they are acting legally in the United States under their own laws, which is outside of the united states of America, in Washington D.C. They are the provisional government of the occupying military force called the United States. So my opinion is based on these facts, as a man who understands that he is under martial law and that since the Civil War, the government of the United States is illegitimate under duress.
Interestingly, because of this fact, the ludicrous pursuit of Obama’s birth certificate to prove “citizenship” is a fallacious waste of time. For under military rule, there is no law that requires any head of any corporation to be a natural born citizen of the united states of America in the government of the federal corporation called the “United States”. In fact, there is no law period! You see, there is no such thing as being naturally born in the “United States” corporation. The United States are a corporation, and there is nothing natural or human about it. The President is the CEO of the United States, not the united states of America.
And as it turns out, the myth of future martial law as a result of “civil unrest” is one of the few instances where the myth covers up an already existing fact that is much worse than the myth. In this occupied land, the “United States” military already has bases in all 50 States, which are federal territories of the United States, signifying the presence of martial law according to the laws of war in the Lieber Code. And so the fear of martial law covers up the actual ongoing military rule and occupation that already exists! Just one more quiver in the educational void of the truth movement. The Lieber Code directly influenced both the Hague Convention deliberations and the Geneva Conventions in the mid-twentieth century, and was originally put into effect as General Orders 100, on April 24, 1863, by Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin Stanton.
By the way, I feel perfectly justified in saying these things because of the FACT that I was once equally as naive as the rest of us; telling people to wake up even as I was completely asleep. A cursory glance at some of my first posts on this blog is proof enough of my own ignorance just a year ago, and of the arrogance that comes with being an nonfactual truther. So getting offended at my writing is pointless. I still have a lifetime of learning to overcome my own current ignorance, and I no longer fool myself into thinking that I know even a fraction of what is.
My intention is only to point out what isn’t, so as to make it easier for both you and myself to see what is. So bare with me…
For more on this, may I suggest my previous research here:
And for more on the Lieber Code and our continued military rule since the Civil War, see here:
(Link –> http://archive.org/stream/TheCivilWarWithNoEnding_232/TheCivilWarWithNoEnding#page/n0/mode/2up)
One last example as to the myths that get passed around without verification.
This quote is often put forward to be said by Woodrow Wilson after signing the Federal Reserve Act.
“I am a most miserable man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A fantastic industrial nation is controlled by its system of confidence. Our system of confidence is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men…”
But when we actually examine where this quote comes from, we can quite easily and logically deduct the fact that this quote could not have been said by Woodrow Wilson any time close to or after the date of the signing of the Federal Reserve Act in December of 1913!
Page 185 of “The New Freedom” by Woodrow Wilson (1913, Doubleday, Page & Co) has this quote.
For a description of this book, we read: “The New Freedom comprises the campaign speeches and promises of Woodrow Wilson in the 1912 presidential campaign.” Also note that this book was copyrighted and published earlier in the year 1913.
How is it then that this quote can possibly be attributed to President Wilson after signing the Federal Reserve Act in the last week of that year, on December 23rd, 1913?
Does nobody verify facts anymore?
It turns out that Wilson didn’t write or say the phrase, “I am a most miserable man. I have unwittingly ruined my country.”, at least that anyone can find.
In Chapter 8 of “The New Freedom”, we find written:
“A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men who, even if their action be honest and intended for the public interest, are necessarily concentrated upon the great undertakings in which their own money is involved and who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom.”
And then in Chapter 9, we read:
“We have restricted credit, we have restricted opportunity, we have controlled development, and we have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world–no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.”
And as of yet, I can’t seem to find a reference for the “unhappy man ruining his country” quote.
But someone out there put it all together, shortening sentences and blending intent, to read as such:
“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”
And this quote is used in such movies as Freedom To Fascism, Zeitgeist, The Money Masters, etc…
On “The Money Masters” website, the quote for that movie is listed as:
“Despite these warnings, Woodrow Wilson signed the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. A few years later he wrote: ‘I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit…’ etc…”
(Source –> http://www.themoneymasters.com/the-money-masters/famous-quotations-on-banking/)
For the movie, “America: Freedom To Fascism”, the quote was:
“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit. We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”
Among other misquotes, Mr. Russo also twisted this quote completely out of context when he read:
“We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.” –Bill Clinton, March 11, 1993
What Clinton actually said (on March 1, 1993) was:
“We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans to legitimately own handguns and rifles—it’s something I strongly support—we can’t be so fixated on that that we are unable to think about the reality of life that millions of Americans face on streets that are unsafe, under conditions that no other nation—no other nations—has permitted to exist.”
(Source –> http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46264)
How can one then trust any other quotes or references in such “documentaries” if such blatant misquotes with unverifiable information are placed into them as “historical fact”, and then parroted by “truthers” to people who might actually verify the lie? It is my opinion that a documentary is supposed to document facts, not parade half-truths for the benefit of emotional response.
Again, if almost the entirety of Wilson’s quote was written in a book that was published well before the Federal Reserve Acts was signed, then how could it be Woodrow Wilson’s thoughts “after signing the Federal Reserve Act“, as so many have quoted without verification?
The “truth” is that it can’t.
And to assign some sense of heroism to the very man who signed the Federal Reserve Act, making it law, after he agreed to do so for campaign donations and support to become president in the first place, is a stain on the reliability of the good people who then quote these lies as truth. In fact, the only logical conclusion is that Wilson was stating these facts about the banking system to prepare and predicatively program people to except the fact that the Federal Reserve was going to be created to solve all of these problems that he wrote about in this book. What a twisted history and tangled web we “truthers” can weave…
–=–
Another aspect of this legend of the Federal Reserve story is the strange notion that the Federal Reserve System somehow operates outside of government control, that it owns its own assets, and that some rouge “bankers” or “elite” own some fictitious stock in the Federal Reserve that no one can see, touch, or verify. I’ve even seen lists going around listing certain men (international bankers) as shareholders of the bank. Despite the fact that the current Federal Reserve Act as annotated in U.S. CODE has been amended by Congress numerous times in every decade since its inception, and is now a completely different “creature” than it was at its creation, even the original Federal Reserve Act states quite clearly that these myths about the legend are simply not true…
Here is an excerpt from the original Federal Reserve Act:
SEC. 2… Under regulations to be prescribed by the organization committee, every national banking association in the United States is hereby required, and every eligible bank in the United States and every trust company within the District of Columbia, is hereby authorized to signify in writing, within sixty days after the passage of this Act, its acceptance of the terms and provisions hereof. When the organization committee shall have designated the cities in which Federal reserve banks are to be organized, and fixed the geographical limits of the Federal reserve districts, every national banking association within that district shall be required within thirty days after notice from the organization committee, to subscribe to the capital stock of such Federal reserve bank in a sum equal to six per centum of the paid-up capital stock and surplus of such bank….
Any national bank failing to signify its acceptance of the terms of this Act within the sixty days aforesaid, shall cease to act as a reserve agent, upon thirty days’ notice, to be given within the discretion of the said organization committee or of the Federal Reserve Board.
Should any national banking association in the United States now organized fail within one year after the passage of this Act to become a member bank or fail to comply with any of the provisions of this Act applicable thereto, all of the rights, privileges, and franchises of such association granted to it under the national-bank Act, or under the provision of this Act, shall be thereby forfeited….
No individual, copartnership, or corporation other than a member bank of its district shall be permitted to subscribe for or to hold at any time more than $20,000 par value of stock in any Federal reserve bank. Such stock shall be known as public stock and may be transferred on the books of the Federal reserve bank by the chairman of the board of directors of such bank….
SEC. 3. Each Federal reserve bank shall establish branch banks within the Federal reserve district in which it is located
and may do so in the district of any Federal reserve bank which may have been suspended.
* * * * * * * *
SEC. 5. The capital stock of each Federal reserve bank shall be divided into shares of $IOO each….
* * * * * * * *
SEC. 7. After all necessary expenses of a Federal reserve bank have been paid or provided for, the stockholders shall be entitled to receive an annual dividend of six per centum on the paid-in capital stock, which dividend shall be cumulative. After the aforesaid dividend claims have been fully met, all the net earnings shall be paid to the United States as a franchise tax, except that one-half of such net earnings shall be paid into a surplus fund until it shall amount to forty per centum of the paid-in capital stock of such bank.
The net earnings derived by the United States from Federal reserve banks shall, in the discretion of the Secretary, be used to supplement the gold reserve held against outstanding United States notes, or shall be applied to the reduction of the outstanding bonded indebtedness of the United States under regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury….
So after reading this, does it sound to you like “bankers” took over the banking system of the United States?
No. In fact, Individual banks were REQUIRED to purchase stock to be a Federal Reserve Member to continue operating as a reserve bank of the United States. In other words, if any bank wished to continue to create funny money legally through the United States, they had to become members of the Central bank of the United States. So technically, government actually created a system to control bankers.
But what needs to be known is that government, over many, many decades, has slowly invested in the ownership stock of all of these banks and other corporations and collectively, governments have become the major share holder of these banks. Government is where the public wealth is – 100’s of millions of people’s wealth exacted and extorted daily – and the power to control that wealth as well as the regulation of the banking industry in one consolidated government was the collective goal.
Please get this through your head… I am not here trying to convince you that government isn’t controlled by outside influences, bankers, elites, or whatever the legend of today names these men as… I am simply telling you the facts: The Federal Reserve System is a government agency that is politically independent (not naturally or lawfully independent), no differently than the Post Office or the Social Security System or many other independent agencies of government, and that it is government that holds the wealth and stock ownership of most corporations and banks.
There are no ownership shareholders of the Federal Reserve because the Federal Reserve does not offer ownership stock. Wallmart and Monsanto offer “public” ownership stock, for which people and government has been purchasing for decades. But government corporations do not offer public (ownership) stock, which means that government is not owned.
Thus, the myth that “corporations own the government” can also be dismissed here. It is quite the opposite, actually. The word “own” is the legal holding of stock of a corporation. So while there is very much a symbiotic relationship between corporations (including banks) and government, the fact is that government owns shares in corporations, and not the other way around. The reality is that at any time government, with the swish of a pen or the dumping of its collective stock, can indeed shut down or make insignificant any corporation it chooses to. On the other hand, no corporation can do the same to government.
These are the facts. And while these facts do not preclude the idea that a bunch of evil bankers and corporate elitists control the government from beyond its borders, they do show quite clearly that while government may be controlled by these men, government is not “owned” by these men. The distinction here is perhaps the most important one I can think of, and yet it is the most overlooked by the creators of legends and myths. Is it any wonder that the masses, with the help of the government-owned media (through stock investment), calls us “conspiracy theorists”? If 99 out of 100 “truthers” are purposefully led into the mythological beliefs we are uncovering here, and then present those beliefs as fact (as I once did) without verifying these stories of false history, then how can the masses of people ever be persuaded to “wake up”? For waking up into just another dream-state is never going to accomplish anything – and belief in mythology and legends is not truth!
–=–
We also see in the Federal Reserve Act that earnings shall be used to supplement the gold reserve held against outstanding U.S. notes. What does this mean? After all, the myth states that there is no gold in Fort Knox, right?
As of 2009, the gold reserve held as collateral by the Treasury against outstanding United States notes was listed in the Federal Reserve Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, pages 453 and 490.
(LINK–> http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/rptcongress/annual09/pdf/ar09.pdf)
Please note that the Federal Reserve is required to publish its audit of its financial statements just as every other government agency is in the country – NO EXCEPTION – and this can be verified in the Federal Reserve act and in U.S. CODE here:
Section 11B. Annual Independent Audits of Federal Reserve Banks and Board
The Board shall order an annual independent audit of the financial statements of each Federal reserve bank and the Board.
[12 USC 248b. As added by act of Nov. 12, 1999 (113 Stat. 1475).]
But wait a minute, the Fed doesn’t get audited, does it? Isn’t that what the myth states, that the legend called the Federal Reserve doesn’t get audited because it is a rouge agency and out of control of the government?
Read the answer to this question for yourself, here: –> http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_12784.htm
And then go ahead and download the audit of the Federal Reserve, which is listed on its site as:
“Audited Annual Financial Statements of the Federal Reserve System (annual statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2011, and 2010)”
Here’s the link for the audit of each individual Fed bank, as well as the Board–> http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_fedfinancials.htm#audited
It’s really simple and a generally accepted practice for governments and private corporations you see, to create their own financial statements and have them audited by an outside accounting firm. This was the case even when The Creature From Jekyll Island was written, and for many decades before. In fact, the Federal Reserve has been audited since it was created.
Also, the Government Accounting Office in its 2009 CAFR reports for the Federal Government shows the same exact information, listing $11,037,000,000 worth of gold at a fixed (contracted) price of $42.2222 per troy ounce being held as collateral for United States notes. This can also be found on page 61 of the Federal Government’s CAFR.
(LINK–> http://www.gao.gov/financial/fy2010/10notes.pdf)
With a little math, we can calculate that as of 2009 fiscal year, the Federal Reserve was holding 261,498,900 troy ounces of gold as collateral for United States notes. And as the price of this pledged gold is fixed at a statutory value of $42.2222 per troy ounce, that legal value as listed is a bit over $11 billion dollars.
However, if we were to consider that U.S. gold as valued by the market price of $1654 per troy ounce today, August 30, 2012, that gold would be worth $432,519,180,600 dollars. $432.5 billion! Ironically, and perhaps purposefully, the “gold certificates” held by the Federal Reserve System – which are redeemable for the physical gold listed as payable by the Treasury – these gold certificates have been used in the markets as swaps, using the market value of the physical gold as collateral for other trades. In other words, while the physical gold is force-valued at $42.2222 per troy ounce by statute, the gold certificates representing that actual physical gold in contract can then be used in certificate swaps at the gold’s market value – at $1654 per troy ounce – because the certificates represent the gold itself, not the contracted price! The collateral is being used as collateral!
Thus, the myth that the Federal Reserve and the United States Treasury are somehow at odds with each other or in some strange form of competition is fairly ludicrous. We are talking about legal organized crime here. And no rational criminal would set up a system to impede the implementation of that criminal activity. In fact, it states very clearly here that “all the net earnings shall be paid to the United States as a franchise tax“.
Think about it… if “The net earnings derived by the United States from Federal reserve banks shall, in the discretion of the Secretary, be used to supplement the gold reserve held against outstanding United States notes“, and the “net earnings shall be paid to the United States as a franchise tax“, where is the competition?
This makes a causal loop where profits (earnings) of the bank get paid to the Federal government and then those payments get used to increase the physical gold held by the Federal government which creates more swappable gold certificates to collateralize the United States notes which will make even more profits (earnings) for the Federal Reserve which will be paid back again to the United States as a tax and can buy more gold and swap more certificates making more profits and so on and so forth– ad infinity.
Does this sound like a competition or non-cooperation to you?
As far as the Fort Knox myth:
“The gold stored in the Depository is in the form of standard mint bars of almost pure gold or coin gold bars resulting from the melting of gold coins. These bars are about the size of an ordinary building brick, but are somewhat smaller. The approximate dimensions are 7 x 3-5/8 x 1-3/4 inches. The fine gold bars contain approximately 400 troy ounces of gold, worth $16,888.00 (based on the statutory price of $42.22 per ounce). The avoirdupois weight of the bars is about 27-1/2 pounds. They are stored in the vault compartments without wrappings. When the bars are handled, great care is exercised to avoid abrasion of the soft metal…”
(Top) “A large amount of the United States’ gold reserves is stored in the vault of the Fort Knox Bullion Depository, one of the institutions under the supervision of the Director of the United States Mint. The remaining gold reserves are held in the Philadelphia Mint, the Denver Mint, the West Point Bullion Depository and the San Francisco Assay Office, also facilities of the United States Mint.”
(Source –> http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/fort-knox.aspx)
Read this clearly… The gold of the United States is held in several depositories, Fort Knox being just one of them. It is listed at the same statutory price that is pledged to the Federal Reserve as collateral for United States notes. And there is absolutely no proof whatsoever that this gold is not being hoarded in Fort Knox or one of these other installations. Seriously, what purpose would it serve to lie about this? Why the pervasive myth?
Understanding the connections and financial reporting of that gold and how it is pledged as (collateral), and seeing these audited reports match up gives us a look into the reality of the situation.
And, as for the audits of the gold in Fort Knox, we read:
Appendix D: Continuing Audit of the United States Government-Owned Gold Summary
A continuing audit of the United States gold stock has been underway since 1975 at the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury. When it is completed in 1984, it will have covered all the gold for which Treasury is accountable and will have involved an estimated 26 man years of work. This audit, together with a special audit of the gold stock conducted by the General Accounting Office in 1974 and audits by examiners of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, has (as of September 30, 1981) covered more than 212.7 million fine troy ounces of gold. This represents over 80 percent of the total amount of United States-owned gold of 264.1 million fine troy ounces. No discrepancies have been found in Treasury records with regard to any gold in permanent storage.
Current Audit Program
On September 23, 1974, members of Congress were invited to inspect the United States gold stock stored in the Ft. Knox bullion depository. Following Congressional inspection, which involved removal of the seals and opening selected vault compartments, a special audit was conducted in September and October 1974. The General Accounting Office (GAO), in cooperation with auditors from the Bureau of the Mint, Bureau of Government Financial Operations (BGFO), United States Customs Service, and the Treasury Department’s Office of Audit conducted an audit of 21 percent of the gold bars stored at Ft. Knox. In the report of the audit, the GAO recommended that consideration be given to performing continuing audits of the gold in custody of the Mint. That recommendation is the basis for the current audit program. On June 3, 1975, Treasury Secretary Simon issued Treasury Department Order No. 234-1 authorizing and directing the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, with the cooperation and assistance of the Director of the Mint, to conduct a continuing audit of United States Government-owned gold for which the Department of the Treasury is accountable.
The Fiscal Assistant Secretary established a Committee for Continuing Audits of United States Government-owned Gold to provide guidelines and general direction to ad hoc gold audit committees. The Committee for Continuing Audits is headed by the Director, Audit Staff of the Treasury’s Bureau of Government Financial Operations (BGFO) and includes the Chief of Internal Audit of the Bureau of the Mint and the Assistant General Auditor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 20. 1974
INSPECTION OF GOLD AT FORT KNOX
The inspection by Members of Congress on September 23, 1974 of U.S. gold stocks stored at the Fort Knox (Ky.) Bullion Depository marks a unique departure from the long standing and rigidly enforced policy of absolutely no visitors, Mrs. Mary Brooks, Director of the Mint announced today.
“On April 28, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt inspected the Bullion Depository,” Mrs. Brooks said. “His visit was the one and only time a gold vault was opened for inspection for anyone other than authorized personnel.”
“The Congressional inspection adheres to the new open door policy of the government announced by President Ford. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon issued the invitation to Congressmen to inspect the gold at Fort Knox. By also inviting the press to witness the Congressional inspection, the Mint is clearing away the cobwebs and re-assuring the public that their gold is intact and safe. For the first time photographing is being permitted inside the Depository.”
After the Congressional inspection, the Bullion Depository will once again be closed to visitors.
On September 24, 1974, a special settlement (audit) is scheduled to begin and at its conclusion a report on the audit will be issued.
The audit will be performed by a committee of auditors from the U. S. General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Department of the Treasury. The auditors from the Treasury will be drawn from the Office of the Secretary, the Bureau of Government Financial Operations, the U. S. Customs Service, and the Bureau of the Mint. In addition, the committee will include technicians from the Bureau of the Mint who are trained in assaying and weighing gold bullion.
The monetary gold stock of the United States totals 276.0 million fine troy ounces valued at $11. 7 billion at the official rate of $42.2222 per fine troy ounce, and is stored in various federal depositories (table attached), the largest of which is at Fort Knox. Kentucky. 147. 4 million fine troy ounces, valued at $6.2 billion, is stored in 13 vault compartments at the Fort Knox Bullion Depository.
CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS INSPECTING GOLD AT FORT KNOX SEPTEMBER 23. 1974
SENATE
Walter D. Huddleston. (D) Kentucky
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Clair W. Burgener. (R) California
John B. Conlan. (R) Arizona
Philip M. Crane. (R) Illinois
Walter E. Fauntroy. (D) District of Columbia
Angelo D. Roncallo. (R) New York
John H. Rousselot, (R) California
Gene Snyder. (R) Kentucky
Chalmers P. Wylie. (R) Ohio
And then the the U.S. Mint states:
“The United States Bullion Depository Fort Knox, Kentucky:
- Amount of present gold holdings: 147.3 million ounces.
- The only gold removed has been very small quantities used to test the purity of gold during regularly scheduled audits. Except for these samples, no gold has been transferred to or from the Depository for many years.
- The gold is held as an asset of the United States at book value of $42.22 per ounce.
- The Depository opened in 1937; the first gold was moved to the depository in January that year.
- Highest gold holdings this century: 649.6 million ounces (December 31, 1941).
- Size of a standard gold bar: 7 inches x 3 and 5/8 inches x 1 and 3/4 inches.
- Weight of a standard gold bar: approximately 400 ounces or 27.5 pounds.
- In the past, the Depository has stored the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, three volumes of the Gutenberg Bible, and Lincoln’s second inaugural address.”
(Source –> http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/fun_facts/?action=fun_facts13)
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One of the most interesting legends – one that is alive and well today – is that of Ron Paul. Paul wanted to spend many 100’s of millions of taxpayer dollars to audit the gold reserves of the United States, and is one of the key promoters of this “no gold in Fort Knox” myth, with absolutely no proof that this is the case.
But his real claim to fame is his Audit the Fed bill and “End The Fed” book and movement. He has become infamous for using such mythical catch-phrases as “The Federal Reserve is about as Federal as Federal Express”, and “the Federal Reserve has never been audited”. But even worse than that, his followers and fans then parrot the same thing without ever verifying the factual nature of these statements, as shown above. Again, I should know, as I used to be one of the parrots!!!
Before Paul’s current false-hope bill to supposedly “Audit The Fed”, his 2007 bill actually contradicts his own speeches where he states that the “Federal Reserve is not Federal“.
H.R. 2755 in the 110th Congress is entitled: “Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act”, and is solely sponsored by Ron Paul.
In it’s introductory text it states the following:
A BILL
To abolish the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks, to repeal the Federal Reserve Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Further into the text, it states:
SEC. 2. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD ABOLISHED
(a) In General- Effective at the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and each Federal reserve bank are hereby abolished.
(b) Repeal of Federal Reserve Act- Effective at the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Reserve Act is hereby repealed…
(2) LIQUIDATION OF ASSETS-
(A) IN GENERAL- The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall liquidate all assets of the Board and the Federal reserve banks in an orderly manner so as to achieve as expeditious a liquidation as may be practical while maximizing the return to the Treasury.
(B) TRANSFER TO TREASURY– After satisfying all claims against the Board and any Federal reserve bank which are accepted by the (Federal) Director of the Office of Management and Budget and redeeming the stock of such banks, the net proceeds of the liquidation under subparagraph (A) shall be transferred to the Secretary of the Treasury and deposited in the General Fund of the Treasury.
Now, there are only three options here:
Either Ron Paul knows that the Federal Reserve System, the Board, and its banks are already the property of the Treasury of the Federal Government and can be shut down and reabsorbed into that government because of that fact…
Or he had temporary insanity and contradicted his own speeches and writings…
Or he is calling for the assumption by government of a completely separate and totally private corporation that was not created by, regulated by, or owned by the federal government.
If this third option were true, would this mean that Ron Paul could write a similar bill to abolish WalMart, Monsanto, or perhaps your own personal small business to be assumed and liquidated into the Federal Treasury?
Which of these scenarios is more reasonable, logical, and for that matter provable, just by reading this bill? Do you actually think that the Federal Reserve Corporation (or any other federal agency) can exist or act legally within the United States if the Federal Reserve Act is abolished?
Where would the Fed then get its authority to operate as the United States central bank, do you think? I mean, if indeed it is a completely separate rouge entity not controlled by government, it really wouldn’t need the Federal Reserve Act or Congress’ approval in the first place, right?
Note: Anyone who answers yes to that question better go back to paragraph one…
Notice too the fact that Paul lists the “stock” of banks to be “redeemed”. The perception that this stock of the Federal Reserve Bank is owned by some international bankers is again one of those prevalent myths that just wont go away. In fact, when we go to the horses mouth (the current amended Federal Reserve Act), we can see what the stock of the Federal Reserve is and who is forced to invest in it.
Section 5 of the Federal Reserve Act (codified in U.S. CODE 12 Section 287) states:
Section 5. Stock Issues; Increase and Decrease of Capital
1. Amount of Shares; Increase and Decrease of Capital; Surrender and Cancellation of Stock
The capital stock of each Federal reserve bank shall be divided into shares of $100 each. The outstanding capital stock shall be increased from time to time as member banks increase their capital stock and surplus or as additional banks become members, and may be decreased as member banks reduce their capital stock or surplus or cease to be members. Shares of the capital stock of Federal reserve banks owned by member banks shall not be transferred or hypothecated. When a member bank increases its capital stock or surplus, it shall thereupon subscribe for an additional amount of capital stock of the Federal reserve bank of its district equal to 6 per centum of the said increase, one-half of said subscription to be paid in the manner hereinbefore provided for original subscription, and one-half subject to call of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. A bank applying for stock in a Federal reserve bank at any time after the organization thereof MUST subscribe for an amount of the capital stock of the Federal reserve bank equal to 6 per centum of the paid-up capital stock and surplus of said applicant bank, paying therefor its par value plus one-half of 1 per centum a month from the period of the last dividend. When a member bank reduces its capital stock or surplus it shall surrender a proportionate amount of its holdings in the capital stock of said Federal Reserve bank. Any member bank which holds capital stock of a Federal Reserve bank in excess of the amount required on the basis of 6 per centum of its paid-up capital stock and surplus shall surrender such excess stock. When a member bank voluntarily liquidates it shall surrender all of its holdings of the capital stock of said Federal Reserve bank and be released from its stock subscription not previously called. In any such case the shares surrendered shall be canceled and the member bank shall receive in payment therefor, under regulations to be prescribed by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, a sum equal to its cash-paid subscriptions on the shares surrendered and one-half of 1 per centum a month from the period of the last dividend, not to exceed the book value thereof, less any liability of such member bank to the Federal Reserve bank.
[12 USC 287. As amended by act of Aug. 23, 1935 (49 Stat. 713).]
(Source – The Federal Reserve Act online –>http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section5.htm)
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Does this really sound like a bunch of bankers have control of the Federal Reserve to you? Or does it sound like banks are begging to be members of the Federal Reserve System so that they can get all of the benefits of being members of that system so as to create money via the federal reserve system? Seriously, banks can’t fractionally create money without being members of the Federal Reserve. So no usurious United States bank is going to voluntarily leave the Fed.
Does it sound like banks have a choice as to whether they want to be stock-holders to you, that is, if they want to be members and get Fed benefits?
This legend of the Federal Reserve is out of control!
Perhaps the next time you hold up a sign or plaster a bumper sticker across your automobile that reads “End The Fed”, you’ll actually think about what it is you are demanding. Are you trying to close down a private corporation, or are you trying to demand that government end its own government-owned corporation through a vote of Congress? If you believe the former, then why not hold up signs to government saying end the Monsanto or end the Walmart?
–=–
Now, you may be curious about the title of this rant, “Today’s Creatures From Jekyll Island”.
So let’s talk about who exactly these “creatures” are today and how they’ve changed since yesterday.
Again, the concept that the drafting of these words that would eventually be utilized by congress to create the Federal Reserve Act and the Federal Reserve itself through congressional committee was a rare or singular occurrence in the history of legislative actions is the biggest myth that needs to be dispelled here.
Congressmen, in fact, very seldom write their own legislation. Though the misconception is that this is the job that we vote them into office for, nothing could be farther from the truth. As you saw above, half of the time they don’t even bother to show up for voting session!
These are corporate yes-men. They are propped up into office for one reason… they have no spine. They vote as they are supposed to along party lines, without reading the bills half the time, while putting on a patriotic show every once in a while so that the “truth” movement can pass the video along to other “truthers” and make themselves feel better about exposing the truth.
So who actually drafts most of the important bills in Congress?
I’d like you to meet ALEC.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the ultimate ultra-lobbying group, consisting of a membership roster of 100’s of major corporations and the thousands of legislators that they wine and dine before they send them back to their state or federal legislatures with ALEC-composed bills in hand. In other words, ALEC ghost-writes the bills that are put on the congress floor, just as the Federal Reserve Act was ghost-written at Jekyll Island. And the congressmen then alter and amend those bills and send them to conference just like they did in 1913.
This is not at all uncommon. In fact, it is the norm.
Hundreds of what are called ALEC Model Legislation Bills are passed each year in congress, and an unknown number are passed on the local and State level. These bills are written by corporations, amended and earmarked by congress, and signed by whichever party president, governor, or county mayor is in office at the time. It isn’t just a rumor that congress doesn’t read the bills they sign. The truth is, they don’t need to. They are just there to sign the dotted lines and enjoy the perks of their ALEC membership, add a few earmarks onto the bills, and then enjoy the benefits they’ll receive in retirement for their cooperation and for being good little minions of the shell-game.
And so, these are the creatures that both inhabit government and professionally organize outside of it, in the open, while writing the nation’s legislation without needing the privacy of an island any more.
While there are certainly other similar groups out there, ALEC is certainly the most prevalent.
Here’s a great satire on ALEC:
For more information on ALEC, visit this website:
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed
Warning: As with many mainstream sites and watchdog groups out there, I urge caution and verification. While much of the information on this site is good, the Center for Media and Democracy has some troubling aspects to it… like the fact that it promotes democracy instead of a republic!
Recently, Jan Irvin interviewed one of its representatives, exposing its less public side, here:
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/brendan-fischer-interview-alec-exposed-147/
And finally, I did an interview on ALEC and private prisons with Joyce Riley on the Power Hour, one of my better interviews. Alec is one of the major supporters of and sponsor of the privatization of prisons and everything else in government. Interview here:
http://archives2012.gcnlive.com/Archives2012/jun12/PowerHour/0611122.mp3
In the end, the creatures are all around us. The only difference seems to be the blatant openness in which they operate in today’s world. They are organized into non-profit groups, for the benefit of their for-profit corporations. They are members of countless private associations (including the political parties), and they follow the rules of these associations in the legislature while our politicians lend their allegiance to the parties, not the people. Virtually nothing in government is done in the traditional way that Americans still believe it is, and still the “truther” movement seems to always look to now century old history and quotations for an explanation of what is the reality of today – which is a completely different animal in both technological prowess and the amended law books that read nothing like the rules of yesteryear.
And today, virtually all relevant statutes that are being rubber-stamped and implemented out of our local, State, and federal governments are being written by these treasonous creatures, outside of government halls, by men who no longer need to meet in secrecy on some secluded island – because treason and crime are now commonplace, publicly accepted and anticipated, and legal!
And the people do nothing but change the channel…
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–Clint Richardson (realitybloger.wordpress.com)
–Saturday, September 1st, 2012
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