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Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country | 
 enlarge | Author: William Greider
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $21.00
Buy Used: $3.88
You Save: $17.12 (82%)
New (28) Used (55) Collectible (7) from $3.88
Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 29441
Media: Paperback
Pages: 800
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 2.2
ISBN: 0671675567
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.110973
EAN: 9780671675561
ASIN: 0671675567
Publication Date: January 15, 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This ground-breaking best-seller reveals for the first time how the mighty and mysterious Federal Reserve operates -- and how it manipulated and transformed both the American economy and the world's during the last eight crucial years. Based on extensive interviews with all the major players, Secrets of the Temple takes us inside the government institution that is in some ways more secretive than the CIA and more powerful than the President or Congress.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
 exhausting and useless December 30, 2008
D. Cole (Mystic, CT)
700+ pages- without any clear explanation of
1. what the federal reserve is
2. what it does
3. how it started
700 pages of rambling, distracting, babbling commentary presented as indisputable "facts".
Amazon sells a 'out of print' book called 'SECRETS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE' - FOR $125!
Don't waste your money October 7, 2008
Randy Lee (Richmond, CA USA)
This book gives out no secrets - it is more of a fanzine. Don't waste your money. The Creature From Jeykl Island is better history and Web of Debt is better current events.
Very informative but too detailed February 5, 2008
A. Hage
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
An informative and entertaining book. It explains how the the Federal Reseve operates and control the money supply; but this information is mingled with the events of the the 1980's. My main motivation for reading this book was to acquire this knowledge. It was very interesting to learn what happened behind the scenes in the White House as it struggled with
the 1980's recession. The book, however, gives too many examples of how
people reacted, essentialy repeating the same message. This book could
have been half as long without losing any of its value.
How the Fed ruins the Country February 5, 2008
Acute Observer (Jersey Shore)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Wall Street collapse in October 1987 was an unusual event. This book explains the political struggles that led to this financial crisis and how the Federal Reserve controlled our economy. Since 1912 the activities of the Federal Reserve have generally been kept secret from the people by the policies of the corporate media. People can't judge or complain about things that are unknown to them. Greider said Paul Volcker, the Fed chairman, controlled our economy through the Reagan era with tight money and high interest rates. Does the Federal Reserve Act turn over Constitutional powers to a private bank so they enrich themselves and disadvantage the people? I think the answer is "Yes". These facts are mostly censored from the censored from the history taught in schools. Corporations have vast influence on the universities and colleges in this country.
The income and payroll taxes withheld from your weekly paycheck do not go directly to the government. They are deposited in a Federal Reserve bank, and then loaned to the Federal government at interest. Every 3 months this money is turned over to the Federal government. The paper dollars (Federal Reserve Notes) are borrowed by the Federal government at interest. JFK ordered the issuance of Treasury Notes in 1963 to cut this cost of interest. After he was removed from office this policy was stopped. If this is all news to you, just where are you getting your information?
Greider points out that 19th century Americans fully understood the politics of money (p.246). Modern Americans are more ignorant ("dumbing down"). The gold standard of the 1880s was a policy to extort money from the people who had to pay paper money debts with over-valued gold (p.247). The gold standard did not guarantee stable prices. Cycles of price inflation and deflation were part of world commerce, whether the currency was gold, silver, or copper (p.248). The current problems with an unstable money supply go back to Renaissance times (p.249). Capitalism requires instability. A period of inflation to stimulate growth and wealth followed by deflation to consolidate this created wealth (p.249). No popularly elected government can have a stable price system since that leads to economic stagnation (p.250). Usurious lending was a means to expropriate land from small farmers (p.251). Chapter 8 provides a history of America you won't learn about in school books.
This 800 page book contains many other interesting facts and history in explaining the Federal Reserve. Since WW I the activities of the Fed were followed by the destruction of small and mid-size businesses. Around 1950 most small businesses in a town were locally owned and operated. Since then they are mostly chains of a large corporation or a franchised agent. Profits are taken by the few from the many. More people are wage-earners than owners of their own business.
 Tom Potts Review is simply erroneous about the ownership questions January 5, 2008
J. Brian Tracey (Fort Wayne, IN United States)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
Tom Potts of Ottowa chose to review this book, and he erroneously comments that:
"The Federal Reserve is a 100% privately owned corporation, carefully set up to appear as though it is an arm of government. It was created solely for the benefit of it's shareholders, a significant proportion of which are foreign. Greider could have mentioned this extremely important fact at the outset. Instead he deliberately helps perpetuate the myth that "The Fed" is public."
That short paragraph is simply not correct. Please understand that as a libertarian, I have no reason nor any desire to favor the Fed. But, I do favor getting the facts straight, and, in just the snippet quoted above, Mr. Potts' has more than one or two facts incorrect.
The 12 Federal Reserve banks, facially organized like a private corporation, do indeed issue shares of stock to "member banks." But owning such stock is NOT like owning stock in a private corporation. To start with, member banks have no choice - they must both "own stock" and they also must have reserves on deposit with the Federal Reserve Banks. Yet their "stock" can't be bought, sold or pledged as security and memeber banks get no interest for the funds must they must have held in reserve by their Federal Reserve bank. And, the dividends paid are limited to, at most 6%, which is supposedly partial compensation for the fact that no interest is paid on the amount the member banks are required to have on reserve. And, if you review the weekly statement or balance sheet the Fed issues, you'll see the "total capital" which, you might say represents the Fed's "profit." The Fed's excess capital is then paid over to the U.S. treasuery.
So, to say that the Federal Reserve was created solely for the "benefit of is shareholders" misstates the situation.
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