The Pyramid of Power: Chapter 11 – The Banking Cartel & The Future of Money

In the 11th episode of this 17-part series, Derrick Broze focuses on the history of banking, the modern Banking Cartel, and the future of money in Central Bank Digital Currencies.

Watch Season 1 and Season 2: https://www.thepyramidofpower.net

Chapter 11: The Banking Cartel & the Future of Money
Featuring G. Edward Griffin, James Corbett, and Richard Grove

Nearly every aspect of the Pyramid of Power which has been mentioned thus far is touched by the banking industry. Whether we are talking about the education system, the prison system, Hollywood, or the average person storing their savings in a bank, the world of finance pervades every aspect of our lives. The influence of the banks can be seen via loans, investments, or simply holding money. The fact is that our lives our impacted by the banks directly and indirectly every single day.

The purpose of the investigation will be to briefly explore the history of banking and the role the banks – and the people behind them – have played in shaping our world over the last centuries. Because of the nearly universal use of banking institutions it is of vital importance that we understand how the bankers influence our lives, and whether we prefer to allow this influence to exist in the first place. We will also examine the latest trends in banking and how they signal the shift of our world into a new era of digitalization.

First, let’s take a look at the history of banking itself. Archaelogical findings indicate record keeping of transactions and the use of grain and animals as a form of currency as far back as 5,000 BC in Sumeria, as fhe well as ancient Greece and Roman periods. Around this time it was common for wealth to be stored at temples and palaces of different kingdoms. Much of what was stored at these temples was gold and coins of varying sizes and metals. Wealthy aristocrats would store their coins and jewels in the basements of temples which often made temples a target during wars and invasions.

Documents have been discovered which detail how banking should be handled, including The Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian legal text estimated to have been completed between 1755 -1750 BC, which deals with many topics including loans. However, it was the Holy Roman Empire which began to lay the foundation for a modern form of banking. The Roman empire began to formalize the administrative aspect of banking, including greater regulation of banking institutions. With the fall of the empire the Roman banking system came to an end.

Around the 12th century we begin to see the emergence of Merchant Banks, commercial banks operated by wealthy Italian families from Florence, Venice, and Genoa. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries banks began to emerge in Italy, Spain, Holland, and Germany. It was around the 17th century where we start to see banking concepts such as fractional reserve banking, a system of banking now used all over the world which allows banks to hold only a small portion of the funds deposited by their customers while they invest the rest of the money into various projects and financial schemes.

It was also around this point that the wealthy merchant class began to store their gold with goldsmiths in London. These goldsmiths would hold the gold in private vaults and charge a fee for the service. The goldsmiths would then issue receipts for the quantity and purity of the metal. This would eventually lead to the goldsmiths lending out money and a further development of modern banking.

The Rothschild Banking Dynasty

The merchant-banking families steadily grew in wealth and power. One of the most powerful families was the infamous Rothschilds. The family was led by a German-Jewish man named Amschel Moses Rothschild. Amschel lived in the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt, Germany. Amschel would have 8 children, including Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty and often touted as the “founding father of international finance”.

Like his father, Mayer Rothschild was involved in currency exchange. The younger Rothschild secured an apprenticeship under Jacob Wolf Oppenheimer, learning foreign trade and expanding his knowledge of currency exchange. He would eventually become a dealer in rare coins and the personal supplier of coins to Crown Prince Wilhelm of Hesse. In 1769, Mayer Rothschild gained the title of Court Jew or Court Factor and his business would expand to include other royal accounts across Europe.

The true wealth and influence of the Rothschild family would be seen in Mayer Rothschild’s children, specifically his five sons. In what has been labeled the “five arrows” approach, Mayer sent his 5 sons to different parts of Europe to establish banking institutions. This spreading of Rothschild influence and wealth has greatly impacted Europe and the world at large.

Eldest son Amschel Mayer took over duties for the Frankfurt bank. Salomon Mayer Rothschild handled the banking business in Vienna, Austria. Calmann “Carl” Mayer Rothschild established a bank in Naples, Italy. Jacob Mayer de Rothschild became a banking giant in Paris, France. This bank funded Napoleon and became one of the leading banks in European finance. The French Rothschild banking family funded France’s major wars and colonial expansion. Finally, Nathan Mayer Rothschild established N. M. Rothschild & Sons and turned it into one of Europe’s most powerful banking institutions. In 1835 he secured a contract with the Spanish Government giving him the rights to the mines in southern Spain, and establishing a near monopoly on mercury in Europe.

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The five brothers coordinated their activities across Europe and developed a network of shippers, couriers, and spies. It it often claimed that this private intelligence service enabled Nathan to receive news of Duke Wellington’s victory against Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo a full day ahead of the government’s official messengers. This advance knowledge reportedly allowed the Rothschild’s to profit off the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo by using the information to speculate on the London Stock Exchange and make a vast fortune, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars at the time.

The Rothschild Family archives acknowledge that Nathan did indeed have early knowledge of Napoleon’s defeat and did use the information to make a large profit. However, they dispute the amount of money made, claiming that at most, Nathan profited a couple million.

Regardless, it is quite obvious that the Rothschild family has played a major role in the development of international banking in the last couple hundred years. One powerful example of this is the partnership between Nathan’s N M Rothschild & Sons and the Bank of England, the central bank of the UK. The fact that central banks and national governments were indebted to the Rothschild family should illustrate the power they wielded. The relationship between the Bank of England and the Rothshchild’s continued when Nathan Mayer’s grandson, Alfred de Rothschild, became a director of the Bank of England in 1869.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the role played by the bankers we need to understand the central banking system, especially the Federal Reserve System.

The Federal Reserve and Central Banking

When it comes to the United States Federal Reserve System, once again, G. Edward Griffin was one of the earliest journalists to report on the factual history of the founding of America’s central bank. In 1994, Griffin published his widely acclaimed book The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve.

(G. Edward Griffin interview)

In his book, Griffin outlines a meeting between influential bankers and politicians at Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia. The discussions taking place at this meeting eventually led to the creation of the Federal Reserve. While Griffin was not the first to report on the secret meeting, at the time of publication of the book much of the mainstream press dismissed the idea as conspiracy theory. Regardless, even the Federal Reserve itself has come to acknowledge and commemorate the meeting.

The meeting was organized by US Senator Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island. Aldrich’s daughter Abigail was married to John D. Rockefeller Jr., son of Standard Oil founded John D. Rockefeller Sr. As mentioned in Chapter 1: Big Education, in 1903 Aldrich helped establish the Rockefeller’s General Education Board which allowed that family to reshape the trajectory of public schooling. Aldrich also led the efforts to reform the monetary system into a mechanism which would allow the bankers to gain even greater influence over the economy, and thus, the people. Aldrich served as chair of the National Monetary Commission to study the causes of the Panic of 1907. In this role he drew up the Aldrich Plan which would eventually influence the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and the establishment of the Federal Reserve System.

However, before the passing of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, Aldrich was meeting with an elite group of bankers at the Jekyll Island Club in 1910. Regular members of the club included the banking houses of the day – the Morgans, Rockefellers, Warburgs, and Rothschild. In fact, the Federal Reserve says it was likely John Pierpont Morgan, otherwise known as JP Morgan, who arranged for the group to use the club for the meeting. Those in attendance include A. Piatt Andrew, the U.S. Assistant Treasury Secretary ; Frank Vanderlip, President of the National City Bank of New York; Henry P. Davison, a senior partner of J.P. Morgan Company; Benjamin Strong, Jr., an associate of J.P. Morgan and President of Bankers Trust Co., and Paul Warburg of the Warburg banking family.

It was at this meeting that a plan was hatched to introduce a central banking system which the banks would own. This was the estalishment of the banks into a banking cartel with full control of the money supply. Once the men in attendance had their orders they returned to their spheres of influence to bring the vision to life. Within three years of the Jekyll Island meeting the United States had a new central bank and the era of inflation and ever-increasing income tax began.

Exactly 100 years after the establishment of the Federal Reserve System, journalist James Corbett released his documentary The Century of Enslavement. In his documentary, Corbett expands upon the work done by G. Edward Griffin to show that the same banking families who have been controlling finance for centuries are the same people controlling the private banks who actually control the Federal Reserve System.

(James Corbett Interview)

In the decades since the release of The Creature from Jekyll Island, a worldwide movement exposing the Federal Reserve system sprung up around the United States, largely thanks to two presidential campaigns by former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Paul ran for president in 2008 and 2012, with a focus on civil liberties, ending the wars, and exposing the dangers of the Federal Reserve system. He authored bills seeking to audit and end the Federal Reserve which received very little mainstream political support. This was also around the time of the burgeoning Tea Party movement in the U.S.

Despite the mainstream media’s best attempts to silence the movement behind Ron Paul, he was extremely popular on college campuses and with veterans who resonated with his anti-war stance. Paul’s book End The Fed built on the work of G. Edward Griffin and made the case for shuttering the financial institution. The books, presidential campaigns, and speeches helped inspire a new generation of activists focused on ending the influence of the bankers on American politics. For several years in the early 2010’s, activists around the U.S. held marches and rallies at the Federal Reserve banks across the country.

Around this time, Americans were in the early days of recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, which was also caused by these same banks. People all around the world were impacted by the shady decisions made by the bankers. As people lost their homes and their savings they began to look for answers. In September 2011, activists launched the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City’s Zuccotti Park. Within a month there were similar Occupy protests taking place in hundreds of cities across the United States, and in more than 900 cities in 82 countries.

The activists in each city had a varying list of demands, but by and large the people were upset about the power and influence of financial instutitions on their lives. Some were specifically focused on the use of the subprime loans which played a major role in the 2008 financial crisis and many were outraged that the big banks were seen as too big to fail while the taxpayer was left to pay the cost of the crisis. Some participants also focused on getting money out of politics, while others were focused on inequality in housing and jobs.

Overall, while the movements had stark differences, they also had similar objectives. In fact, some members of the End the Fed movement launched an “Occupy the Fed” campaign with hopes of inspiring people to occupy the Federal Reserve Banks around the country. Unfortunately, alliances between the Tea Party, End The Fed, and Occupy crowds were rare. As with many activist movements, it wasn’t long before the original messages of the Tea Party and Occupy were watered down, co-opted and eventually shutdown. In the case of Occupy, all of the encampments around the world had been cleared from the parks by January 2012. The Tea Party movement was quickly dilluted and swallowed up by the mainstream Republican Party, and Ron Paul’s End the Fed movement mostly died with his failed second presidential run. While there are still many people who support Ron Paul and his call to end the Federal Reserve, the issue has taken a backseat in the age of culture wars.

(James Corbett Interview)

The Federal Reserve System is the model for many of the central banks around the world today. In fact, the vast majority of nations in the world operate within the Central Banking system. Forensic historian Richard Grove explains how the Rothschild’s exported the central banking system around the world and eventually played a role in the creation of the international financial organizations like the International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, and the Bank for International Settlements.

(Richard Grove Interview)

With the launch of the Bretton Woods system in 1944 two organizations were created: the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Ostensibly, these globalist organizations loan out funds to impoverished or developing nations in the name of defeating poverty or exporting democracy. However, as noted in the book Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, these institutions often hand out loans to nations with the intent of seizing the natural resources and minerals if a nation cannot repay the debt. The World Bank itself has been dominated by international bankers, and members of the Round Table Groups, including the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.

In the wake of World War 1, another powerful institution was created in Basel, Switzerland – the Bank for International Settlements, the central bank of central banks. The BIS was originally created to process the World War 1 reparations from Germany. The BIS also helped provide liquidity to European governments during economic instability. Although the U.S. Federal Reserve did not join the BIS until 1994, as of 2022, 63 central banks have joined.

In the book The Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World, British journalist Adam LeBor outlines the history of corruption and scandal at heart of the BIS. LeBor details how the BIS had countries assign their gold reserves to BIS accounts. The BIS would also process payments between countries. This made the BIS an ATM for many nations, including Hitler’s Germany duing World War 2. LeBor outlines how the BIS helped process payments for Hitler which allowed the Third Reich to flourish and finance its war effort. LeBor also examines the collaboration between Swiss bankers and Nazis in his previous book, Hitler’s Secret Bankers.

The BIS is also essentially immune from all banking regulation and international laws. It is seen as an independent financial entity for central bankers, run by central bankers, and virtually self-governing. Due to the BIS being located in Switzerland it is also protected by the secretive Swiss banking laws.

We do not have the space in this format to fully expound upon the tangled web of history weaved by the IMF, the World Bank, and the BIS. However, it is crucial to understand the role played by national central banks, as well as the impact of the the international banking institutions. This is even more important as we shift into the age of digital currency and new powerful financial instruments.

Central Bank Digital Currencies

As banking and finance have become increasingly digitized, new ways of banking are being dreamt up. One of these tools which will become more familiar in the coming years is an abstract, unassuming financial instrument which has the potential to be an unseen force which coerces people to act in ways which serve the system rather than their own interests.

The terms social impact finance, social impact bonds, social impact investing, pay for success, or simply impact investing describe a specific investment strategy that claims to focus on benefitting society or the environment in a positive way, in addition to reaping financial gains. A social impact bond (SIB) is a contract with the public sector or governing body in which the institution pays for “better social outcomes” and passes on the savings to social impact investors. In this way, social impact bonds are not traditional bonds since repayment and return on investment are dependent on achieving a desired social outcome. If the investors and institutions fail to achieve said outcomes, they receive neither a return or repayment of the principal investment.

These types of investments are part of a growing trend where corporations seeking to rebrand themselves spend large amounts of money to prove their efforts. In this way, companies can claim to be expanding their social responsibility and increasing their involvement in community and social issues. One specific method for measuring the success of these programs is to base them on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. ESG investing is also sometimes referred to as sustainable investing, responsible investing, or socially responsible investing (SRI). The practice has become an increasingly popular way to promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

However, there are major concerns about how this sort of scheme could play out. Let’s imagine a social impact investor actually wanted to bet that the elementary children will fail, and not achieve higher grades. In that situation, an investor might be incentivized to discourage positive outcomes, and instead seek a profit by encouraging “negative outcomes”. If this sounds preposterous, remember that in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, investors were using financial tools to make profits off the losses and bankruptcy of individual homeowners.

Skeptics of social impact investing fear that these tools could remain invisible to most people while directly affecting their lives. When combined with social credit scores, social impact finance could lead to a dystopian world where billionaires and corporate executives place bets on who can pay their bills. This could also see a system where those on welfare or other assistance programs would be pressured or socially engineered towards lifestyles preferred by the social impact investors.

One of the most immediate tools being announced by the international banking sector is known as Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The technnology is still yet emerging at the time of this film, but what we do know is that dozens of governments around the world have announced their support for some form of digital currency to be issued by the central banks of each nation. These CBDCs would be held in a digital wallet by every citizen of the nation. The details and specifics will differ nation to nation, but ultimately it will involve the elimination of the use of cash, and the implementation of a digital currency system where the government is capable of monitoring every transaction.

While many of these projects will likely use blockchain technology in one capacity or another, they are not cryptocurrencies. The major difference between the two being a focus on decentralization and privacy, which were essential concepts in the early days of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

In late 2021, Augustin Carstens, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, began speaking in favor of the use of digital currencies, stating that central banks should take advantage of the efficiency of digital currencies. Coming from the General Manager of the “central bank of central banks”, that’s a prety big endorsement. Shortly after Carstens’ statement on efficiency the BIS and the central banks of Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Africa agreed to test the use of digital currencies for cross-border transactions. The BIS Innovation Hub say they are attempting to develop “shared platforms for cross-border transactions using multiple central bank digital currencies”.

In a 2020 talk titled “Cross Border Payment: A Vision for the Future”, Carstens gave a peak behind the curtain, detailing exactly how the bankers see CBDC being used:

“We don’t know who’s using a $100 bill today and we don’t know who’s using a 1,000 peso bill today. The key difference with the CBDC is the central bank will have absolute control on the rules and regulations that will determine the use of that expression of central bank liability, and also we will have the technology to enforce that.”

Carstens views CBDC as a tool for eliminating privacy and for central bankers to force citizens to use currency exactly when, where, and how they are told. This is the next stage in the bankers plot to dominate and profit off of all facets of society.

While what we have described may seem fantastic or unbelievable, rest assured the bankers have infected all aspects of our world. Even if you are not ready to see the Central Bank Digital Currencies staring you in the face, we have more than enough evidence of the criminal acts of the banking class. The banks have profited from or funded drug trafficking and countless bloody conflicts around the world. HSBC has been implicated in allowing drug cartels to pour money into their banks. Wachovia and Bank of America have also been linked to money laundering for drug cartels. Which ever angle you choose to look at this situation from, the banking cartel has clearly had an overwhelmingly negative impact on the planet. Not to mention that the people running these banks clearly have ulterior motives and plans which are guiding their decisions.

What can we do to break away from the chains of the banks and the families who run them?

Solutions

What can we do to break free from the clutches of the nearly all pervasive banking system? Is it even possible to live a normal life without participating in the banking system?

For starters, it is absolutely possible to live a fulfilling life without submitting to the banks. The reality is that if we continue to use the banks we are condoning their actions by participating in the corrupted system. If we aim to live in line with our values and principles, then we ought to support institutions which align with our values and boycott those that do not. Not only is it important to boycott the banks on principle, it’s also necessary because participating in the banks system also supports other projects you may not approve of. For example, with fractional reserve banking you deposit $1000 into your bank and they only hold a fraction – say, 10% – and the rest they invest in all kinds of projects. This could be surveillance projects, pipelines on indigenous lands, or partnering with the Foundations and NGOs on nefarious schemes. The point is you have no say in how your money is used.

If you want to have a say in how your money is spent and you need to use a financial institution try starting with a credit union or a building society. Typically these organizations are locally focused and customers are members who can vote how funds are used.

For those who are ready to abandon the banking system, research the boycott and divest from the bank movements. In the years since the Occupy movement launched, activist organizations have launched coordinated divest campaigns with hundreds of people closing their bank accounts at once. This might not be easy for everyone, and it might involve making some changes in your life to meet the logistical challenges, but it is possible. We should take note of how difficult it has become to live a life without a bank account or a credit card.

If you are looking for ways to get off the fiat currencies of government then study alternatives like private cryptocurrencies, or precious metals like gold and silver. As noted earlier, there is a distinct difference between privacy coins like Monero and a CBDC. Cryptocurrencies are by no means a panacea, but, for the moment, they do offer an opportunity to transact value anywhere in the world, nearly instaneously, without banks or governments.

Finally, as the concept of money and currency evolves, it might be time for communities to pursue the creation of new currencies altogether. This could be digital in the form of a new crypto token, or it could even be a physical currency backed by a commodity. Local Freedom Cells could create currencies that could be traded within an emerging alternative economy. The point is that we need new forms of exchanging value and trading goods that are not dependent on or supportive of the banksters. Breaking free of the financial prison they are attempting to erect is absolutely necessary if we wish to see the end of The Pyramid of Power.

To learn more about the banking cartel we suggest reading: