Lux Lucet

The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, 5th Edition by G. Edward Griffin (Westlake Village, California, 608 pages, 2010), $19.44.

“The most boring question in the world,” announced the accounting professor to my B-School class, “is whether the government should have bailed out the financial system in 2008.” In his eyes, the answer was an obvious yes. End of story. But that struck me as a rather odd stance. For the question, to bailout, or not to bailout? seemed to me to be among the most fascinating topics imaginable in the field of finance and accounting. And in truth, any answer one could give would have to go well beyond finance and accounting, touching upon the basic philosophical disciplines of politics, ethics, and ultimately epistemology. Further, any answer given would go a long way to telling you something about the man himself. So no, it was not a boring question at all. That is, unless you’re interest is in perpetuating the status quo, in which case you would prefer that it not be asked at all.

I have elected to introduce my review of G. Edward Griffin’s The Creature from Jekyll Island [hereafter, the Creature] by way of this personal account, because it illustrates perfectly the sort of close-minded contempt that emanates from the financial mainstream toward anyone who dares question its reigning orthodoxies. Examples of these nostrums are: Central bank issued fiat currency is good, but the gold standard is a barbarous relic, the money supply cannot be left to the free market, it must be a function of a government appointed central bank; banks are not like other businesses, they must be chartered, regulated, and, if needed, bailed out by the government using taxpayer funds. None of these orthodoxies is true, for none can be supported from Scripture. Yet they are accepted by politicians, academics and ordinary folks alike almost without question.

G. Edward Griffin, on the other hand, is a man who does question these orthodoxies, concluding at the very beginning of his book that the Federal Reserve must be abolished. He provides seven reasons for this, namely:

• It is incapable of accomplishing its stated objectives.
  
• It is a cartel operating against the public interest.
  
• It is the supreme instrument of usury.
  
• It generates our most unfair tax.
  
• It encourages war.
  
• It destabilizes the economy.
  
• It is an instrument of totalitarianism.
  

The remainder of the book is used to flesh out why these things are so. In Griffin’s words, the book is a who-dunit, which, in the words of USA Daily, “documents an organized and successful attempt to seize control over the U.S. monetary system by powerful American and European families.”

The Eccles Building, the Washington D.C. headquarters of the Federal Reserve.

At this point one may by asking himself, why is it that Christians should care about the obscure workings of the Federal Reserve System [hereafter, the Fed]? Why not just leave banking to the bankers and get on with more important matters? After all, talking about money doesn’t seem very spiritual. And doesn’t the Bible say that money is the root of all evil? Wouldn’t it be best simply to leave the whole matter alone and focus on the Great Commission instead?

Taking these objections in reverse order, let us consider what Christ commanded in the Great Commission. What did Jesus say to his followers? Go into all the world and teach the five fundamentals? No. Christ called his disciples to go into all the nations and to teach, “them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” The Great Commission includes all of Christ’s teachings. And since there is no field of endeavor not covered by Christ’s teachings,, all statements of all men in all areas of study, including banking, finance, and accounting, must be brought back to Scripture and judged by it. Therefore banking is a proper field of Christian study.

As to the Bible’s statement that money is the root of all evil, this argument is easy to dispense with, for nowhere does Scripture make this claim. The notion that the Bible says money is the root of all evil stems from a misquotation of 1 Timothy 6:10. The verse reads, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” It is the love of money, not money itself, that is the root of all evil. Or as the New King James has it, “the root of all kinds of evil.” Mammon is money worshipped. And that is a problem of the sinful heart of man, not gold and silver, which are inanimate objects.

Finally, the Fed, obscure as its workings may seem to the average person, quite literally affects the lives of every single person in this country. In fact, it could easily be argued that it affects the lives of every single person in the world. Such a powerful institution is well worth the time and attention of Christian readers. We are called to be salt and light to a lost and dying world. One of the ways we can do this is to insist on truth and justice [not social justice] in all things. And it is manifest that the Fed and its secret workings are far from just. For this reason, Christians have a responsibility to expose its unfruitful works of darkness. But to do this, they first must understand something about the Fed, its history and its purpose.

It may be worth spending a few words discussing the title of Griffin’s book The Creature takes its name from the site of a secret 1910 meeting at which were present some of the biggest names in finance at that time, including such luminaries as J.P. Morgan and Paul Warburg. According to Griffin, it was there, on Jekyll Island, Georgia, that these lions of finance laid the groundwork for what would in three years time become the Federal Reserve Act, which would be passed by Congress on December 23, 1913.

It is fitting that the Fed was conceived in secrecy and born in the shadows, for this is an accurate reflection of its modus operandi these past 102 years. The Fed is easily among the most powerful yet least accountable organizations in the world. It is the world’s leading central bank and issuer of the US dollar, the world’s reserve currency. Yet for all the power it wields over the American people and the citizens of other nations, none of its representatives are answerable to the voters. It is a privately held corporation, being owned by its member banks, and considers its policy decisions to be none of the people’s grubby business.

Current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen.

As an example of the Fed’s arrogance, consider Senator Rand Paul’s recent attempt to pass an Audit the Fed bill. It was denounced by current Fed Chairman Janet Yellen, who said, “I want to be completely clear that I strongly oppose Audit the Fed…Audit the Fed is a bill that would politicize monetary policy and it would bring short-term political pressures to bear on the Fed.” In other words, despite the fact that our decisions affect the lives of every single man woman and child in the US, and the world for that matter, we don’t have to answer to anyone, not even Congress. When listening to such language, one is reminded of Jesus words about the rulers of the gentiles lording it over them. The Fed lords it over the American people, and it wants to keep it that way, thank you very much.

As to Griffin’s book itself, it is, as the author himself acknowledges, a rather thick read, coming in at a hefty 608 pages. Some readers may find this off putting, but all is not as bad as it seems at first blush.

The overall writing style of the book is non-technical. This is a real benefit in any work dealing with finance. One of the problems with much financial writing is that it makes the subject more complex than it needs to be. Griffin, on the other hand, is quite good at explaining important financial concepts in easy to understand language.

One of the nice features of the book are the previews and summaries at the beginning and end of each chapter. There are also previews at the beginning of each of the books six major sections. To get the big picture first, the author recommends reading the section previews and then the chapter previews and summaries. Doing this will help the reader make sense of the details as he progresses through the chapters.

The book itself is well researched. According to the book’s cover, Griffin, whose educational background is not in finance, “obtained his CFP designation (Certified Financial Planner),” in preparation for writing the Creature. This shows more than ordinary commitment by a writer to master his subject, and fruit of that study is apparent throughout the book in this command of the subject of banking. The Creature also features an ample bibliography and index.

Another strength of the book is that the author clearly is friendly to the Christian concepts of limited government, the rule of law, private property and sound money. Although it is not an explicitly Christian book, the author’s stance on these issues make the Creature an attractive read for Christians seeking to understand finance from a Biblical perspective.

The IMF

Chapter Five, titled “Nearer to the Heart’s Desire,” is a discussion about the origins of the international financial system in the post-WWII period. This chapter discusses the Bretton Woods Conference held in July 1944. At this conference, the lead representatives were Harry Dexter White, at the time Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, and English economist John Maynard Keynes.

Detail of the famous Fabian Society stained glass window showing the crest of the Fabian Society, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  Designed by George Bernard Shaw,  the window is now displayed in the Shaw Library at the London School of Economics.

Griffin brings out an interesting detail about Keynes, one which manages to make Keynesian economics even less attractive that it already is. According to Griffin, Keynes was a Fabian socialist. From what I’ve been able to find, Keynes was not an actual member of the Fabian Society, but he did run in the same circles as those who were members and seemed to be generally friendly to their beliefs. The Fabians, as it turns out, were international socialists, as were the communists. The chief difference between the groups being that while the communists sought to bring about international socialism suddenly and with violence, the Fabians were content to take their time and were more subtle about implementing their aims.

As an interesting aside, in this chapter, Griffin discusses the details of a Fabian Society stained glass window, originally from the Beatrice Webb House in Surrey England and now housed at the London School of Economics library. The window was designed by one of the early prominent Fabians, George Bernard Shaw. In the window is the Fabian Society’s crest. It depicts, of all things, a wolf in sheep’s clothing!

Griffin holds that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created at the Bretton Woods Conference for the purpose of eventually taking over the role of issuing the world’s reserve currency from the Fed. In other words, Griffin argues that the IMF was designed to become the world’s central bank. But in good Fabian fashion, it was not presented to the world in this light at the time of its creation.

Could we be on the cusp of having a world central bank? At least one well-respected financial author thinks so. Jim Rickards, the New York Times bestselling author, has repeatedly stated his belief that the next financial crisis will be too big for the Fed to handle on its own and will require the assistance of the IMF. When that happens, in Rickard’s view the Fed and the US dollar will be out, and the IMF and its currency – the IMF already issues what are called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), “world money” so to speak – will be in as the world’s new financial sheriff.

Were this to occur, it would represent an especially troubling development. Although Griffin does not make this point in his book, as this reviewer has discussed elsewhere, the Roman Catholic Church has significant connections to the IMF. If the IMF does take over as the world’s central bank, this would put the Vatican in a position of great influence over the entire world’s financial system.

If we combine the Vatican, an IMF functioning as the world’s central bank, the internet, and the recent push by the world’s elite to eliminate cash, we have a set up for the situation described in Revelation.

He [the beast from the earth] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive the mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666 (Revelation 13:16-18).

As described by John, the tyranny of the beast in principally economic, “no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” It may seem farfetched to some that a central financial authority could have the power and the technology to pull off what John describes. But with a Vatican controlled world central bank issuing the world’s reserve currency, little or no physical cash available to people, while at the same time their entire life’s savings is stored in an electronic bank account accessible only through an internationally regulated electronic payment system, the possibility exists for Rome to simply cut dissenting voices completely out of the economic system. Call it financial excommunication if you will. It would be the dark ages 2.0.

Griffin describes such a dystopian society thus,

The American dollar is replaced by a new UN money, and the Federal Reserve System becomes a branch of the IMF/World Bank.

Electronic transfers gradually replace cash and checking accounts. This permits UN agencies to monitor the financial activities of every person. A machine-readable ID card is used for that purpose. If an individual is red flagged by any government agency, the card does not clear, and he is cut off from all economic transactions and travel. It is the ultimate control (563).

Griffin does not say that such a thing will occur, only that it is one possible outcome of our current financial trajectory. Also he does not see the Vatican as being in the driver’s seat of such a system. In fact, it appears that Griffin does not once mention the Roman Catholic Church-State or its current influence in international finance and banking circle. Neither does he connect the tyranny implicit in a world-wide, electronic financial system with Rome or the prophecies of Revelation. This must be supplied by the Christian reader familiar with historicist eschatology.

Summary

The Creature
is a well written, free market friendly, and fascinating read, documenting the history of the Fed in a way that most people, even those who regularly read the financial news, probably have not heard. Far from being a humble servant of the people, from the beginning the Fed has been a crony capitalist organ designed to centralize power in the hands of the tiny number of elite European and American financial families at the expense of the people.

American Christians have a dog in this fight, not only as citizens, but also as those whose job is to be salt and light in the world by promoting truth and justice. The Fed, with its power and its secrecy, behaves in a way that is the very antithesis of Jesus’ definition of proper leadership. It lords it over the people, and for that reason alone Christians should regard it with suspicion.

Further, it may be that the Fed ultimately will turn out to be a cog in a larger financial machine, one worldwide in scope and run by the IMF. Although not stated in Griffin’s book, it is the opinion of this author that such an organization could become dominated by the Antichrist Roman Catholic Church-State and be used by it to punish dissenters and bring to fruition its long-term goal of once again becoming mistress of the world.