Jim Marrs - Rule by Secrecy - The Hidden History that Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freema

tion with the civic mythology of self-government," as described by author William Greider, a former assistant managing editor of the Washington Post. His 1387 book Secrets of the Temple: How the Vederal Reserve Runs the Country disparages "nativist conspiracy theories" yet presents an eloquent argument demonstrating conspiratorial control by the Fed. Early man had no need for money. He hunted when he was hungry and farmed to stockpile food for the winter. If he needed a commodity which belonged to his neighbor, bartering was the order of the day.

But as work became more specialized, the limits to barter became apparent. The sheepherder could not always take his entire herd to market. So humans turned to coins as a measure of wealrh. Precious metal, particularly gold, was limited in supply, always desirable, and easily transported as small coins imprinted with words or pictures to assure authenticity and purity—plus there was some ancient, almost holy, reverence attached to it But heavy, bulging sacks of gold coins were burdensome, not to mention a tempting target for thieves and robbers.

Thus was born paper money. A paper bill was simply a promissory note. As such, paper was considered as valuable as real goods or services. This procedure worked well for a time, but then certain individuals realized that paper money, if loaned for a fee, could be used to generate more money.

The early goldsmiths who warehoused gold coins used this stockpiled wealth as the basis for issuing paper money. Since it was highly unlikely that everyone would demand their gold back at the same time, the smiths became bankers. They would loan out a portion of their stockpile for interest or profit. This practice—loaning the greater portion of wealth while retaining only a small fraction for emergencies—became known as fractional-reserve, or fractional banking. This system worked well enough unless everyone suddenly wanted their deposits back arid started a "run" on the bank.

Added to fractional banking was the concept of "fiat" money—intrinsically worthless paper money made acceptable by law or decree of government. An early example of this system was recorded by Marco Polo during his visit to China in 1275. Polo noted the emperor forced his people to accept black pieces of paper with an official seal on them as legal money under pain of imprisonment or death. The emperor then used this fiat money to pay all his own debts.