Today I heard a fascinating piece of information in a conversation with a friend who recently tried to take a book out of the library in Minneapolis.
He had just picked up his copy of, “The Creature from Jekyll Island”, which broadly is concerned Central Banking, especially the Federal Reserve (the “Creature” in the title), and fractional reserve banking in general (including the nature and creation of money).
The book is something of a bible to those who are interested in the relationship between finance, financiers and power, and to those who have been trying to tell us for years about the evils of Central Banking and its inevitable concentration of power in the hands of those who cannot be held accountable, and the related disenfranchisement of the citizenry.
Here’s the info that got me thinking: my friend had to wait 65 days to receive this book, and the library has (he estimated) about 30 copies of it.
Now, many people who have read this book would no doubt feel that it is more proselytizing than it is a scholarly work, but it is important because it is full of useful information that causes the reader to ask fundamental questions about fundamental institutions, in a way that is likely to increase the reader’s political awareness substantially. It is one of the few books that can single-handedly change one’s worldview. I know a fair few people who have had “a ha” moments upon reading it.
I have written extensively about the fundamental failure of the modern American political settlement, which systematically and necessarily transfers wealth from the productive classes to the financial classes for the benefit of the latter as well as the political class that benefits from the process (and therefore maintains it). The financial giggery-pokery of this corrupt settlement that moves power and assets from the common man to the few depends on Central Banks and the fractional reserve system – the very topics of the Creature from Jekyll Island.
What does it mean that my buddy has to wait 65 days to get one of 30 copies out of a city library? People who use libraries are typically unwilling or unable to spend $25 to buy a copy more conveniently in their local bookstore (or to spend even less to buy a second-hand copy on Amazon). Given that only about 1000 book titles sell more than 90 copies weekly in the USA, the data point about my friend’s wait for his copy is not insignificant.
It seems that at least some among us common men are making a serious effort to find out how America has put itself in its mess, and are looking for a deeper, more historical, more philosophical and more accurate understanding of the most important elements of our economic life than are presented to us by the mainstream media and by almost all of our politicians.
When I give talks about my work as the publisher of Watching America.com (which translates and aggregates news and views about the USA from around the world), I often venture that anyone has time to listen to cable news or read a newspaper would probably learn much more about the meaning of political and economic events by spending half of that “free” time reading real analyses by people who’ve taken the time to study them and write a book about them, whatever their biases may be. I’m glad that at least a few library-goers in Minneapolis seem to agree with me.
Robin Koerner is a British-born citizen of the USA, who currently serves as Academic Dean of the John Locke Institute. He holds graduate degrees in both Physics and the Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge (U.K.). He is also the founder of WatchingAmerica.com, an organization of over 100 volunteers that translates and posts in English views about the USA from all over the world.
Robin may be best known for having coined the term “Blue Republican” to refer to liberals and independents who joined the GOP to support Ron Paul’s bid for the presidency in 2012 (and, in so doing, launching the largest coalition that existed for that candidate).
Robin’s current work as a trainer and a consultant, and his book If You Can Keep It , focus on overcoming distrust and bridging ideological division to improve politics and lives. His current project, Humilitarian, promotes humility and civility as a basis for improved political discourse and outcomes.