After presenting the evolution of the monetary order and its various systems throughout the ages, one can clearly understand that there has always been a tug of war between the defenders of full-reserve banking and laissez faire capitalism, and the central planning and socialism advocates. Whatever their label and approach, the socialistic evils have, sad to say, been winning major battles, conquering over every realm of society. Nevertheless, gold never ceased to play its roles of inflation hedge and safe haven. As I have demonstrated, the “barbarous relic” has accompanied the colossal credit creation triggered by the inception of the eurodollar system and then totally unleashed with the end of the Bretton Woods (BW) arrangement. To conclude this series, I am thereby going to expose the entities manoeuvring to get us disconnected from a sound monetary regime and what they are aiming at. Since the title of this instalment gives away the chief culprit, I might as well just say it: the international banking cabal. Our story begins in the 19th century, although it really started far much earlier. In fact, these evils have accompanied societies since humans developed and organised themselves in the form of civilisations. Be that as it may, the point of this article is not to thoroughly examine or to give a complete description of the mechanisms of control that our rulers have exerted on us. Still, suffices to say that the powers that be, whoever they have been, have always tried to enslave the public and administer our lives, in order to fulfil their objectives, such as acquire more land and natural resources, and consolidate their wealth and dominance. All the same, the current rendition of this tale began to take shape in the late 1800’s. Subsequent to his passage in a cotton farm in the Natal region of South Africa, in 1870, Cecil Rhodes decided to follow his brother Herbert in pursuing a life in the mining centre of South Africa, Kimberley, a year later. On account of his peculiar personality and rather weak demeanour, there was not much to expect from him. Unbelievably, though, this would set the beginning of the construction of the world we live in today. Whilst spending eight years, from 1873 to 1881, between Kimberley and Oxford getting a college degree, Rhodes’ imperial aspirations began to take shape. In 1877, he wrote Confession of Faith in which he laid out his vision. In this manifesto, he contends that the best thing that could have happened to anyone was to be under the rule of the British Empire and its intelligentsia, seeing that the Anglo-Saxon race and culture were superior to all others. Ultimately, the result of such endeavour would be peace on Earth. Obviously, being a man of his time, Rhodes was a white supremacist and nationalist extremist. In spite of being rightly considered repugnant today, it should be noted that his views were shared by the majority. Consequently, he saw imperialism as a moral virtue. Therefore, any action that promoted Anglo-American imperialist expansion, no matter what harm it inflicted upon the people, was seen by Rhodes and his fellow society members as righteous. I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Basing upon the British model of empire, the bulk of Rhodes’ fortune was set aside to create a single, one world government. Having quitted the cotton farming business to join the booming mining industry turned out to be a masterful move, netting him one of the biggest fortunes, of not only his era, but ever seen. Evidently, this allowed him to bequeath his immense wealth to create a number of projects, including both public foundations and a secret society. On the whole, this Anglo-Saxon empire would be ruled from its centre by an Anglo-American elite who would exercise their control by covertly collaborating with, and manipulating, the world’s political, economic, scientific and cultural leaders. To set about his mission to rule the world, he convened his elite group made up of royalty, colonialists, soldiers, bureaucrats, industrialists, spies, bankers, historians, scientists, artists, authors, politicians and others. In 1891, Rhodes, William T. Stead (influential editor and journalist), Lord Nathan Rothschild (banker, politician & Rhodes’ trustee) and Reginald Baliol Brett (Lord Esher, a close friend and advisor to Queen Victoria and later King Edward VII and King George V) met to set their plan for global dominance in motion. Drawing inspiration from the Jesuits, this apparatus was to be organised on the basis of ‘rings within rings’. Following the development of the principal group, the Society of the Elect, other working groups were gradually spawned, forming many rings. Plainly, the outer rings were not to know of the existence of the inner ones. The constituent groups came to be known by many names: Milner’s Kindergarten, The Round Table Group, the Rhodes Crowd, the Times Crowd, The Chatham House Crowd, All Souls Group and the Cliveden set have all been names given to various organisations within this secret society over the years. Immediately, they started their recruitment drive. By inviting the colonial administrator and powerful policy advisor, Lord Alfred Milner, the Society of the Elect was born. Due to being the inner ring, this was to be the most important and, hence, the most secretive component of what is now mostly known as the Round Table Movement. The next group they formed, which would remain closest to the seat of power, was the Association of Helpers. In 1902, two months after Rhodes death, the Rhodes Crowd formed the transatlantic Pilgrims Society. Once again, Rhodes aim had always been to unite the English-speaking world. Accordingly, this group was established to create the special relationship between the US and the UK, eventually bonding them together as one. Discernibly, these efforts were mainly pursued by loyal subjects to the British throne. Notwithstanding, on the other side of the pond, the economic powerhouse that is the US was generating a batch of its own flair of insanely rich and powerful sociopaths. Because of the discovery of vast deposits of petroleum in the fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio, coupled with several innovative by-products and applications that were appearing in the second half of the 19th century, such as plastics, kerosene or the diesel engine, petrol became the fundamental resource, enabling our modern way of life. Without oil, most of the basic goods and services we take for granted, like toothbrushes and air travel, would either be more expensive or of inferior quality, or even impossible for the many, rendering them luxuries only attainable by the few. Needless to say, the burgeoning oil industry, with all its potential, led to a cut-throat competition to conquer to largest market share possible. In the end, the son of smooth-talking conman, and ostensibly carrying on with his legacy, John D. Rockefeller emerged as the kingpin of, as James Corbett dubbed, the ‘oiligarchy’. At any rate, John Rockefeller did not become the richest man on the planet simply by playing fair and being a good sport, or merely through his insightful and superlative entrepreneurship. There were always dealings with railroad companies and refineries to consolidate the oil market, plus the occasional political favouring. In any event, this prescient visionary was able to build an empire that rivalled the dynastic families in Europe. Even though the British and the Dutch royals, in partnership with the Rothschild family, of course, who were also engaged with the Nobel brothers in the Caspian Sea, ventured in the oil industry by the end of the century, forming the predecessors of British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell, respectively, they feared being priced out of the market. For likely enticing the wrath of Rockefeller, whose Standard Oil already had a 90% share of both the global oil refining and its marketing, as well as a third of all the oil wells, they had to operate secretively. However, by the end of the first decade of the new century, these oil barons buried the hatchet and joined hands to achieve their mutual interests. As J.D. Rockefeller once proclaimed, “competition is a sin.” Thus, the ‘oiligarchy’ was born. Moreover, industrialists from other areas, primarily railroads and banking tycoons, had emulated the mentality and strategy of Rockefeller, amassing great fortunes as a result. In lieu of believing in competition, which is one of the chief characteristics of capitalism, these fellows insisted on cooperation. The objective was to monopolise or cartelise the markets. Understandably, the public started to become increasingly annoyed by the astronomical rise of these fat cats and captains of industry. By irritating the envious side of human nature, the average Joe and Jane took the view that they had come to wealth rather illegitimately. Ergo, these magnates were labelled ‘robber barons’. Albeit treacherous and deceitful at times, the truth is that the period after the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) lasting until the break of the Great War (1914-1918), which is known as Gilded Age in America and as Belle Époque in Europe, saw the greatest technological progress and economic development ever seen. Consequently, the (relative) gains in the living standards that occurred in this era were and have to this day been unmatched. Regardless, socialism and the collectivist principles were already running rampant through society, shaping public opinion. For that reason, a distaste for capitalism was emerging. As the 1904 cartoon above illustrates, Rockefeller’s Standard Oil was seen as a mythical, Leviathan-like creature that was engulfing every aspect of society, from its competitors to Congress and the White House and from Wall Street to foreign markets. Ironically, this turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Although Rockefeller and the other ‘captains’ overall stayed out of politics, particularly at the federal level, this was about to change. Firstly, in 1902, he established the General Education Board to help implement Frederick Taylor Gates' vision for the country school of tomorrow, with a staggering $180 million endowment. Befriending him in 1889, this Baptist minister, who would go on to be Rockefeller’s most trusted philanthropic adviser, wrote a short tract, The Country School of Tomorrow, that laid out the Rockefeller plan for education. In this manifesto, he wanted to veer the people away from science and the arts. In line with this plan, JDR intended not to have a nation of thinkers, but a nation of workers. Curiously, the attentive reader will note that 1902 was the same year that the transatlantic Pilgrim Society was established. Despite being nothing more than a coincidence, it denotes the mood of that time. Whereas in the 1800’s railroad conspiracies and predatory pricing had been enough to assure the ‘oiligarchs' supremacy, by the time that the British crown, the Dutch royal family, the Rothschilds and the other European ‘oiligarchs’ began opening up the Middle East and the Far East to oil exploration in the early 20th century, the goal was no longer to maximize profits or control the oil industry. As a matter of fact, it was to control and shape the world itself, all of its resources, its environment and its people to boot. Gradually, the ‘oiligarchy’ and Milner’s Kindergarten, which had those industry moguls and financiers in its ranks, began to blend. What followed was a series of developments that cemented Cecil Rhodes vision. In a nutshell, in 1905, Andrew Carnegie, steel magnate and close to Rockefeller since his beginnings in the railroad business, established the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, a tax-free foundation. Learning from his crony, in 1910, JDR decided to create his own tax-free entity, the Rockefeller Foundation, where he would organise his philanthropic projects. Meantime, Lord Milner and his kinder were busy expanding Round Table groups through the rest of the British Empire possessions. Since industrialists and businessmen in general inevitably depended on the banks for financing, the financiers were, and always have been, the pivotal characters in this story. Because of their privilege to originate credit, with a mere fraction of gold or silver backing it – in that period –, the banksters have been the bosses. Obviously, while the financiers would rack up interests on the industries that they funded and in the deals that they brokered, so too would the industry magnates acquire positions in the financial sector. For instance, the Rockefellers' story perfectly mirrored that of their fellow ‘oiligarchs’, the Rothschilds. Whereas the Rothschilds had supplemented their banking fortune with their oil interests, the Rockefellers supplemented their oil fortune with banking interests. [Nathan Mayer] Rothschild is the lord and master of the money markets of the world and virtually lord and master of everything else.” Furthermore, a huge banking crisis wreaking havoc was the excuse that the banksters needed to attain their almost century-old goal of erecting a central bank in the US. After going through three failed experiments – the Bank of North America, the First Bank of the United States and the Second Bank of the United States – during the initial decades of this new Federation, the international banking clique was very aware that the American crowd was not easily duped on matters of money and finance. Insofar as the citizenry kept their resolve and love for liberty, and the independent and individualistic spirit so characteristic of American Exceptionalism, this cabal would see their attempts foiled. By the dawn of the 20th century, the bulk of the money in the American economy had been centralised in the hands of a few magnates, each with a near-monopoly on a certain industry. There are the Astors in real estate; the Carnegies and the Schwabs in steel; the Harrimans, Stanfords and Vanderbilts in railroads; the Mellons and the Rockefellers in oil. As all of these families start to consolidate their fortunes, they gravitate naturally to the banking sector. In this capacity, they form a network of financial interests and institutions that centred largely around one man. Having rescued the US Treasury in 1895, by propping up the national gold reserves, the banking scion John Pierpont Morgan, was progressively viewed as America's informal central banker, in the absence of an actual central bank. Notwithstanding, this was too big a task for just one man. Therefore, the foremost financier at that time provoked the Panic of 1907, causing severe turmoil and financial ruin. In that year, Morgan begins spreading rumours about the precarious finances of the Knickerbocker Trust Company. On account of this institution being an intimidating competitor of J.P. Morgan and Company, it had to be squashed. The resulting crisis shook the US financial system to its core. Using his overbearing influence, Morgan boldly offers to help underwrite some of the faltering banks and brokerages, after locking 120 of the country's biggest bankers in his library and forcing them to reach a deal on a $25 mn loan to keep the banking system afloat. However, this perfidiously cunning move was not about Knickerbocker or any other particular rival. Actually, this was just a step aiming at the construction of a banking cartel. What that banking panic precipitated was a shift in the public’s perception, besides the consolidation of the financial sector. As the 1910 cartoon above represents, J.P. Morgan and Company was regarded as the central bank. By reading the description, “why should Uncle Sam establish one, when Uncle Pierpont is already on the job?”, one clearly realises the crowd was aware of the machinations going on and that this topic was on top of the agenda. In that eventful year of 1910, representatives from the main financial houses with interests in the US, which also happened to be the greatest financiers in the globe, got together in Jekyll Island, Georgia, to formulate their plan for the creation of a central bank in their own terms. Interestingly, the man who called the rendezvous Senator Nelson Aldrich, the father-in-law and business partner of billionaire heir to the Rockefeller dynasty, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. In view of being a central figure on the influential Senate Finance Committee, where he oversaw the nation's monetary policy, Aldrich was referred to in the press as the ‘General Manager of the Nation’. Unsurprisingly, the points discussed in this encounter were not to be disclosed. The next year, Aldrich presented his proposal for the erection of a central bank to Congress. Initially, the National Reserve Association, which was the name picked in the original “Aldrich Plan”, failed to round up enough support. As Alfred Owen Crozier’s portrayal demonstrated, the giant octopus that the press was employing to depict John Rockefeller and his Standard Oil was in fact becoming reality, albeit with the ‘money trust’ playing the role of that beast. All the same, the public hatred toward these financial institutions was unprecedented. Hence, there was an overwhelming consensus in the country for establishing a central bank. Yet, there were many different interests in pushing this and everyone had their own purpose behind advocating for a central bank. Although the public, suspicious of Senator Aldrich's banking connections, ultimately reject the Jekyll Island cabal's “Aldrich Plan”, the cabal does not give up. By revising and renaming their plan, giving it a new public face, that of Representative Carter Glass and Senator Robert Owen, the newly retitled Federal Reserve Act passes through Congress and into the White House. With their man in the Oval Office after the 1912 election, Woodrow Wilson signs it into law on December 23, 1913, and the Fed begins operations the subsequent year. Just eight months after the creation of the Federal Reserve, World War One ensues in Europe. Inasmuch as the US got itself involved in the war somehow, this was to be the first full test of Wall Street’s newly acquired powers. After the felicitous attack on the Lusitania, this clique got its wish. The [War Industries Board] experience had a great influence upon the thinking of business and government. [The] WIB had demonstrated the effectiveness of industrial cooperation and the advantage of government planning and direction. We helped inter the extreme dogmas of laissez faire, which had for so long molded American economic and political thought. Our experience taught that government direction of the economy need not be inefficient or undemocratic, and suggested that in time of danger it was imperative. This lesson was applied fifteen years later when the New Deal drew upon the experience of the WIB to mobilize the economic resources of the nation to meet the emergency of the great depression.” Naturally, the Great War was a boon for this powerful elite. Not just financially, but ideologically. As Bernard Baruch confessed in his memoir, the war efforts carried out by the government, of which he was instrumental in leading through the War Industries Board, had proved, in his opinion, the superiority of “industrial cooperation and the advantage of government planning and direction.”
Indeed, the end of laissez faire was approaching rather fast; perhaps it had already materialised. Lamentably, the socialist and collectivist ideals were taking over the world. Unquestionably, the philanthropists, intellectuals and social reformers dwelling in the foundations and think tanks established by Milner’s Kindergarten, the ‘oiligarchs’ and the major financiers played a decisive part in this paradigm shift and in the unfolding process that followed throughout the next decades, till this day. Accordingly, several of those important developments happened in response to the Great Depression. In addition to all the government interventionism and central planning inspired by Positive Economics, and the creation of a myriad of federal agencies and legislation that continues to this day, most notably, the global economy abandoned the gold, or any other metallic, standard. To be continued…
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AuthorDaniel Gomes Luís Archives
March 2024
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