a few q & a's

Question: Who owns the Federal Reserve Banks?

Answer: The Federal Reserve Banks of each region are owned by (issue their stock exclusively to) the member banks of that same region. The member banks are privately owned corporations. Thus the Federal Reserve Banks are privately owned. This is a matter of law and anyone may read the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 for themselves (see below).

Question: Why then do some people deny that the Federal Reserve Banks are owned by private corporations?

Answer: Three groups of people deny this fact, for differing reasons:

1. The first group consists of the private owners of the Federal Reserve Banks, and their shills. It is obviously not in their interest that the American people realize that private bankers own what most people regard as a part of the public treasury and government. The people would doubtless not like it if they knew that the stockholders of the Federal Reserve Banks receive 6% interest (raised higher in the past) per year on their stock ownership, risk free. The people would be legitimately concerned to know that the member bank stockholders elect six of the nine members (i.e., 2/3rds) of the Boards of the reserve banks of their regions. Rather than regulating or controlling the activities of private banks in their regions, the opposite is the case.
2. The second group consists of those persons who, in their ignorance, have believed the propaganda of the Federal Reserve Banks, which sometimes issue ambiguous, doublespeak statements attempting to obfuscate their private bank ownership. Here is a typical example from the NY Fed website, quite easily seen through: “Although they are set up like private corporations and member banks hold their stock, the Federal Reserve Banks owe their existence to an act of Congress and have a mandate to serve the public. Therefore, they are not really "private" companies, but rather are "owned" by the citizens of the United States…Member banks do, however, receive a fixed 6 percent dividend annually on their stock and elect six of the nine members of the Reserve Bank's of their region… the Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks.”
3. The third group consists of those people who consider that because the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors is appointed by the President and approved by the Senate that the Fed is firmly under government control and that this is sufficiently equivalent to ownership to put them at ease (never mind the outright private bank control of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks). Let’s hear how the Fed itself regards such indirect “government control” (again from the NY Fed website): The Federal Reserve System is not "owned" by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution. Instead, it is an independent entity within the government, having both public purposes and private aspects.

If you are a little uncomfortable with “your” Fed having “private aspects,” you are not alone. Notice also the contradiction with the other NY Fed quote above, which claims the citizens of the US own the Fed – here it claims no one owns it (same website). The truth and the law is that the member banks own and control all 12 Federal Reserve Banks. Another interesting doublespeak quote from the NY Fed website: Therefore, the Federal Reserve can be more accurately described as "independent within the government.” A little independence is a good thing, unless that independence is in reality virtually total and the entity involved controls the nation’s money and economy. Think about it: if the Fed is independent from the government that created it, then who controls it – it has no brain of its own – it is not a person. If it is not controlled by our government, then by whom?