Reclaim America's stolen wealth and democracy.

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By Mike Krauss 

The Federal Reserve, the "central bank" of the United States likes to portray itself as an independent regulator of the nation's banking and finance, guardian of the nation's money and prosperity.

Reporting neither to the president or Congress, its decisions and actions are hidden from public review and its pronouncements are made in a language no ordinary American can understand.

Above all, the Fed works hard to maintain an image of being above politics.

It's a con game.

The Fed has more power over the lives of the American people than any of our elected representatives. It controls our money and it uses that control to pick winners and losers.

When the biggest banks on Wall Street began collapsing in 2008, their failure unleashed a tsunami of home foreclosures, unemployment and economic contraction, a massive social catastrophe that rolls on -- retirees reduced to poverty, pensions wiped out, students saddled with massive debt and no job prospects, businesses starved for affordable credit, Americans without food in a land of plenty.

What did the Fed do? It pumped more than $20 trillion of almost interest free money into the major banks and left the American people to fend for themselves. Of course, the Fed didn't tell anybody what it was doing, because, well, you know, people might get the wrong idea.

People might think the Fed was a fraud, feeding the American people some BS about keeping inflation in check and maintaining employment, while all along it was just part of a private banking cartel, working for its owners, the biggest banks and wealthiest families in the U.S. and the word.

Which of course is what it is.

Less than $200 billion, a fraction of 1 percent of the nearly interest free money lavished by the Fed on Wall Street could have wiped out every state budget shortfall in the nation at the time, kept schools and vital municipal services fully funded.

A fraction of that $20 trillion made available to local banks on the same terms could have kept affordable credit flowing in our communities, kept business going, the economy sound and prevented the explosion of unemployment and home foreclosures.

And while Wall Street hoarded that vast subsidy to prop up balance sheets and its stock prices, paid it out in mega salaries and bonuses to the bankster CEOs, used it to back even more of the gambles that had caused the collapse, while ever more wealth flowed up to the few and small businesses and families kept going on credit cards with interest rates at 15 or 19 or 24 percent or more -- from banks that got their money from the Fed almost for free -- the Fed set out to funnel yet more trillions to the Wall Street banks.

With a straight face, Fed Chairman Bernanke and all the other money changers down at the temple, including the one nominated to succeed him, continue to tell the American people that it is in their interest to dole out more trillions to Wall Street in a program given the sort of academic sounding label behind which the Fed likes to hide: "Quantitative Easing."

More like Never Ending Fleecing.

The Fed wields an enormous power never before seen in the United States, unaccountable to the American people, and it uses that power to preserve, protect and defend the wealth of its one and only constituency: the biggest banks and the wealthiest Americans.

If that's not political, what is?

It is time to abolish the Fed the way it abolished millions of homes, millions of jobs, millions of futures.

The Fed can be taken into the U.S. Treasury. The Fed chairman, other governors and key staff can be reorganized as an advisory body to the secretary of the Treasury, who reports to the president and Congress, accountable and transparent to the American people.

The way the Constitution designed our democracy to function.

We will of course have to lay off several thousand Fed economists, consultants, fellows and whatever, sell off the Fed's prime commercial real estate in Washington, New York and other major cities and disband its independent police forces and intelligence operations. 

You know, downsize.

Call it a merger and acquisition. Wall Street will understand.

And the American people can begin to reclaim our stolen wealth and democracy.

Authors Website: http://www.publicbankingpa.org

Authors Bio:

Author of the forthcoming novel "Pursuits of Happiness," a director of the Public Banking Institute and chairman of the Pennsylvania Project. Mike is an international transportation and logisics executive with broad experience in U.S. government and politics. Mike has lived in the first world and the third world, traveled widely and done business on five continents.