Exposing the Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Makes Money Out of Thin Air

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Terrence McNally

Exposing the Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Makes Money Out of Thin Air
Author Bill Greider argues that a more democratic money creation system could have saved the country from the brink of financial collapse.

May 12, 2010 |


For some, the Federal Reserve is the right place to house any new regulatory powers contained in financial reform legislation. For others, the Fed is at the center of all that ails us. In fact, over 95,000 have signed a petition at auditthefed.com.

"In a major victory for transparency at the Federal Reserve, the Senate passed on Tuesday an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders that directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct a top-to-bottom audit of all emergency actions by the Fed since the start of the financial crisis in 2007. In addition to the audit, the Fed for the first time would have to reveal by Dec.1, 2010, the identities of banks and other financial institutions that took more than $2 trillion in nearly zero-interest loans." -- from the office of Sen. Sanders, 05/11/10

William Greider, author of Secrets of the Temple, perhaps the finest book on the Federal Reserve, termed the Sanders-Paul audit bill the "first breach in the wall," adding, "it promises to keep alive popular demands for more fundamental reforms." Greider challenged Greenspan and Paulson long before it was fashionable, and has written lately about restructuring the Fed. Now national affairs correspondent for the Nation, Greider was for 17 years the national affairs editor at Rolling Stone, and spent 15 years at the Washington Post. His latest book is Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall (and Redeeming Promise) of Our Country, and he wrote the introduction to Meltdown: How Greed and Corruption Shattered Our Financial System and How We Can Recover, by the editors of the Nation.

Terrence McNally: Your latest book, Come Home, America, is a bit of a departure for you, isn't it?

William Greider: I hope It's a gentle and helpful description for people of how deep a hole we are in, and that the country that emerges from this ditch -- I'm talking more broadly than the financial crisis -- is going to be different from the country we knew for so many years. That passage is going to be painful, but I stick to my optimism and insist that we can be a better country on the other side of the ditch

I wrote it just as the financial crisis was blossoming (if you can use that word) and I think I was a little premature in how quickly the public at large, never mind the governing types, could grasp the reality of what was happening to us.

The book is now out in paperback, but I almost wish it were published for the first time right now or even next year, because this is a really hard blow Americans have taken. I think many people are still in denial, which I understand. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/economy/146829/exposing_the_secrets_of_the_temple%3A_how_the_federal_reserve_makes_money_out_of_thin_air/

[Jim__]

1. I read Greider's "The Secrets of the Temple."

I read it years ago and still remember what ti said. That was an educational read. I'll have to get this new book.