I am working on a website which will give you the answer to those questions, and it's due in May, so you won't have to wait anywhere near as long as you'll have to wait for CDMA to solve all problems, gold to go to $2000, or the DOW to go to 5000.
To really "get" the history of the Federal Reserve system, wait for my website.
The quick answer is that the 12 Reserve Banks are privately owned by member banks, none of which own more than (this is from memory) 2%. They pay for operating the system, they get paid 6% on their stock annually, and the rest goes to the general fund of the US treasury.
The Federal Reserve system was created by Congress in 1913, started operation in 1914, and is controlled by a 12 person Board of Governors which is appointed by the President, with staggered terms (six or seven years, can't remember.) The Board of Governors is part of the US government and is here in Washington, D.C. I've used their archives. It's a nice building, serpentine in the lobby or maybe it's green marble.
Don't believe most of the things you read on the Internet. Central banking is one of the bugaboos of the paranoids.
Just ran across this site, may answer some questions.
federalreserveeducation.org |
