Description
Our money system is not what we have been led to believe. The creation of money has been “privatized.” It has been taken over by a private money cartel. Except for coins, all of our money is created as loans advanced by private banking institutions, including the “private” Federal Reserve. Banks create the principal but not the interest to service their loans. To find the interest, new loans must continually be taken out, expanding the money supply, inflating prices and robbing you of the value of your money.
THE WEB OF DEBT: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System And How We Can Break Free, Ellen Hodgson Brown unravels the deception and presents a crystal clear picture of the financial abyss toward which we are heading. Then it explores a workable alternative, one that was tested in colonial America and is grounded in the best of American economic thought, including the writings of Franklin, Jefferson, and Lincoln.
If you care about financial security, your own or the nation’s, you should read this book.
Softcover, 530 pages
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments viii
FOREWORD by Reed Simpson, Banker and Developer ix
INTRODUCTION: Captured by the Debt Spider 1
Section I
THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD: FROM GOLD TO FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES 9
1 Lessons from The Wizard of Oz 11
2 Behind the Curtain: The Federal Reserve and the Federal Debt 23
3 Experiments in Utopia: Colonial Paper Money as Legal Tender 35
4 How the Government Was Persuaded to Borrow Its Own Money 47
5 From Matriarchies of Abundance to Patriarchies of Debt 57
6 Pulling the Strings of the King: The Moneylenders Take England 65
7 While Congress Dozes in the Poppy Fields: Jefferson and Jackson Sound the Alarm 75
8 Scarecrow with a Brain: Lincoln Foils the Bankers 83
9 Lincoln Loses the Battle with the Masters of European Finance 91
10 The Great Humbug: The Gold Standard and the Straw Man of Inflation 99
Section II
THE BANKERS CAPTURE THE MONEY MACHINE 107
11 No Place Like Home: Fighting for the Family Farm 109
12 Talking Heads and Invisible Hands: The Secret Government 117
13 Witches’ Coven: The Jekyll Island Affair and the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 125
14 Harnessing the Lion: The Federal Income Tax 135
15 Reaping the Whirlwind: The Great Depression 143
16 Oiling the Rusted Joints of the Economy: Roosevelt, Keynes and the New Deal 153
17 Wright Patman Exposes the Money Machine 163
18 A Look Inside the Fed’s Playbook: “Modern Money Mechanics” 173
19 Bear Raids and Short Sales: Devouring Capital Markets 183
20 Hedge Funds and Derivatives: A Horse of a Different Color 193
Section III
ENSLAVED BY DEBT: THE BANKERS’ NET SPREADS OVER THE GLOBE 203
21 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: From Gold Reserves to Petrodollars 205
22 The Tequila Trap: The Real Story Behind the Illegal Alien Invasion 217
23 Freeing the Yellow Winkies: The Greenback System Flourishes Abroad 225
24 Sneering at Doom: “Germany Finances a War Without Money” 235
25 Another Look at the Inflation Humbug: Some “Textbook” Hyperinflations Revisited 241
26 Poppy Fields, Opium Wars and Asian Tigers 251
27 Waking the Sleeping Giant: Lincoln’s Greenback System Comes to China 259
28 Recovering the Jewel of the British Empire:A People’s Movement Takes Back India 267
Section IV
THE DEBT SPIDER CAPTURES AMERICA 277
29 Breaking the Back of the Tin Man: Debt Serfdom for American Workers 279
30 The Lure in the Consumer Debt Trap: The Illusion of Home Ownership 287
31 The Perfect Financial Storm 293
32 In the Eye of the Cyclone: How the Derivatives Crisis Has Gridlocked the Banking System 303
33 Maintaining the Illusion:Rigging Financial Markets 315
34 Meltdown: The Secret Bankruptcy of the Banks 325
Section V
THE MAGIC SLIPPERS: TAKING BACK THE MONEY POWER 335
35 Stepping from Scarcity into Technicolor Abundance 337
36 The Community Currency Movement: Sidestepping the Debt Web with “Parallel” Currencies 347
37 The Money Question: Goldbugs and Greenbackers Debate 357
38 The Federal Debt: A Case of Disorganized Thinking 367
39 Liquidating the Federal Debt Without Causing Inflation 375
40 “Helicopter” Money: The Fed’s New Hot Air Balloon 383
Section VI
VANQUISHING THE DEBT SPIDER: A BANKING SYSTEMTHAT SERVES THE PEOPLE 391
41 Restoring National Sovereignty with a Truly National Banking System 393
42 The Question of Interest: Ben Franklin Solves the Impossible Contract Problem 407
43 Bailout, Buyout, or Corporate Takeover? Beating the Robber Barons at Their Own Game 417
44 The Quick Fix: Government That Pays for Itself 425
45 The Tin Man Gets a Heart: Solving the Problem of Third World Debt 435
46 Building a Bridge: Toward a New Bretton Woods 441
47 Over the Rainbow: Government Without Taxes or Debt 451
Glossary 463
Selected Bibliography of Books and Suggested Reading 471
Notes 473
Index 503
