societies” the president called for the construction of an
alternative power system. The Government began emission
of banknotes, secured with precious metals through
the Ministry of Finance, under the presidential decree
No. 11110. Those dollars were endorsed under the name
“United States Note” not “Federal Reserve Note”. That
is they were reprinted and endorsed by the State, not a
private entity. They were secure.
Six months later Kennedy was killed. Then his brother
Robert was also killed. Some believe for knowing more than
he should. The Kennedy rebellion was suppressed. Banknotes
were withdrawn. Now the two- and five-dollar bills of 1963
are rare.
As president, John Kennedy felt like a puppet of the FRS,
and he did not like it. Thus, Kennedy fought for the interests
of the American people and actually tried to make a coup
d’etat from above.
There remained a detail that got in the way of the
banker’s ultimate objective. This was the problem of
Bretton Woods and the issuing of money. Remember that
money had a gold equivalent and could be exchanged for
gold under the Bretton Woods agreement at any time.
However, the bankers had printed one thousand times
the amount money than they had gold in stock. But the
bankers were legally obliged to make such an exchange if
demanded. If all the bank customers came at the same time
requiring the exchange of money for gold, their system
would collapse there and then.
So they decided to change this obstructive law with
the help of the then president of the US, Richard Nixon.
He implemented a series of economic reforms in 1971
known as the “Nixon shock”. The most significant reform
was the refusal of the US to secure the dollar rate with a
gold equivalent, which resulted in a virtual collapse of
the Bretton Woods system. The bankers were now free to
produce as much paper money as they needed. Money truly
became paper, as the Nixon decision gave the dollar note a
value which was not backed by anything.
The way to organize
and control crisis
The same banking system caused the mortgage crisis
of 2007—2008, which gave hundreds of thousands of US
households to the banks. A huge number of Americans were
unable to pay their financial obligations to the bank. The
banks took the debtors’ houses and put them up for sale.
Why had lots of Americans suddently become insolvent?
The reason is that the creditors gave loans to questionable
borrowers who defaulted on these loans.
This play started in 2001, the bankers began to give money
to all takers. They were considerable amounts, as it was for
real estate purchases. Some banks offered loans with a floating
interest rate, adjusted yearly from the start of the third year.
At the beginning the rate was unusually low. Others advertised
loans that pushed even the first payment for a new house into
the future. No first payment or security was needed.
The seductive conditions that they offered Americans
were tempting to those who were not even considering
buying real estate. Everybody began to take loans trying to
improve their living conditions. People, who had no money,
took out loans from institutions, who also had no money
but borrowed and raised the funds in order to loan them out
under this scheme.
One debt caused another one, debt was everywhere. But
the system of selling debt had its industrial logic. The sale
of mortgage bonds and loans was performed like this: the
rating agencies assessed the degree of credit non-repayment
risk and depending on that degree, the securities had various
degrees of “freshness”. Extra Grade and Grade I were more
expensive but had less risk and found their buyers quickly.
However, second and third grade ratings were also quite
popular. The price of the risky mortgage “package” was low
and had a large demand.
Everybody was satisfied. Banks ended contracts with
private persons, got its money from investors and could start
the affair again. Investors had invested and were waiting for
profits as skeptical yet willing customers could apply for
loans again.
The hilarity of the situation was that investors, or
speculators, who bought cheap “second-rate” mortgage
obligations on the so called scientific basis propagated by
rating agencies divided them into more grades. This time
the “highest grade” (reliability rating) was not the best of
the best but the best of the worst.
This went on for 6—7 years! The US economy was
growing, GDP was increasing, everyone was happy. Many
people were not only kept occupied but also made large amounts
of money, but produced nothing. This debt pyramid was supported
with constant growth of real estate prices, which enabled attraction
of new players with new financial resources to the housing and
mortgage market.
Banks, major reputable companies with many years or even
a century or two of operation started the same game, let’s call it
“give everybody as much of your money as you can”. This resulted
in filled postal boxes but no prospectuses of some productive and
beneficial business opportunity, only thick envelopes with bank
contracts. Each envelope contained a credit card. Its activation
required nothing. Just take it and start to buy, the agreement was
straightforward and endorsed by the bank. “Real” money has been
sent out by mail, carelessly, to everyone en masse.
The