One
of the things you would expect everyone to know is why things like the recent Great Recession and the earlier Great
Depression keep on happening. The story of capitalism is one long series of “boom and bust cycles.” Reading about them or watching videos is one
thing, but losing everything you spent your whole life working for is another.
Boom and bust cycles are usually the consequences of financial speculation – gambling not investing – by very rich
and powerful people. As long as the masses are fighting among themselves about
whatever pulls their strings, when the bottom drops out of the economy, they
just assume some of their enemies did it and start fighting them over that.
Remember this,
whatever the crisis or issue, someone is making lots of money from it – and they
don’t want the masses to know about it!
Once
upon a time, the father-son team of Junius and Pierpont Morgan came on the
world banking scene. It was just the right time because of the phenomenal
expansion of banking power had begun. In 1871 Pierpont merged with the Drexel
group to form Drexel, Morgan and Company. And then through their interlocking partnerships, the
Morgans established footholds in New
York, Philadelphia, London, and Paris. Having lots of money spread across three separate sovereign nations
– United States, Great Britain and France
– gave the Morgans much more power and influence than other US banking and
investment firms. Of course there is also “that
question” when multinational players are involved – if the
interest of the United States of America is in conflict with a chance to make
huge profits, will they act in the interest of their nation or their bank
account?
The
story of the son, Pierpont Morgan, is that of a young moralist turned despot, one
who believed implicitly in the correctness of his view. Strong-willed and
opinionated, he had unshakable faith in his own impulses, but he differed from
most of the robber barons of that time in that their selfishness stemmed from pure
greed or lust for power. Their greed also played major roles in the Panic
of 1893, but that will have be covered in a future story.
Pierpoint was driven
by greed too, but it included a strange admixture of idealism. He believed, quite arrogantly, that he
knew how the economy should be ordered and how people should behave.
He was active in the Young Men’s
Christian Association, which discouraged gambling among the working
class. Pierpont sponsored revival
meetings at Madison Square Garden and backed the moral policeman Anthony
Comstock, who favored covering up nude
statues.
But
Pierpont Morgan’s kingdom and the place where he exercised his greatest power took
place behind a glass petition in the mahogany partner’s room at 23 Wall Street.
While chewing on a big cigar he growled out “yes” or “no” to those bowing
before him seeking his money in the offers they presented him. He wouldn’t
haggle. He always knew what was right for those who came to solicit his money. Therefore,
when Pierpont spoke it was always a “take-it-or-leave-it
proposition.”
In
the early 1890s, huge amounts of gold began to flow from New York to Europe. Back
then money was really gold. It was heavy and literally had to be shipped from
one place to another. The gold was leaving just as a major financial crisis
linked to massive railroad debts were about to default. Gold was leaving
America to go specifically to London because of something that happened in
Argentina. Make sure you understand that it was something that happened in
Argentina that caused gold to begin flowing from America to London.
The
reason, according to historians was, “In
the 1880s, the City of London was swept by a craze for Argentinean securities .
. . .” London’s financial center is called “The City” like America’s is called “Wall Street.” Neither name has anything to do with the town
or street. Both are euphemisms that are often used to “greedy bankers and investors.” They were chasing the latest “get richer quicker”
by gambling on shaky Argentinean securities. They were planning on buying them,
reselling them to the next sucker, and getting out with big profits. The last one left holding them will be the
big loser.
The
biggest pot of gold in the City of London was the one at the Bank of England, which just happened to
be the central bank of the nation too. Its money was the nation’s money, but that
didn’t stop them from buying those shaky Argentinean securities. At one point in
time, almost half of Britain’s money had been invested in Argentina. The principle conduit through which
all of that money flowed out of England was through the Baring Brothers Bank and the London branch of the Morgan’s bank. “Conduit”
means the banks made money from brokering financial transactions with Argentina’s
banks.
Banks make lots of
money by charging interest on loans and charging fees for advice and handling
financial transactions.
But
then some seemingly unrelated and definitely unexpected things happened -- the Argentinean wheat crop failed. Immediately
after that there was a coup in Buenos Aires. Political instability in South
America triggered the default of the Argentinean securities. That hurt the
Morgan bank in London, but it nearly caused the collapse of Barings. To save it
from bankruptcy in 1890 and exposing other banks in England to potential risks,
the Bank of England organized a rescue fund to save it -- Morgan and other rivals contributed. Does
that sound familiar? You know, the old “to
big to fail” appeal – if we don’t save
the rich guys money our economy will collapse. Don’t worry about the little
people’s money!
The
old Baring partnership with Morgan was liquidated. The reorganized Baring Bank would
never regain its former power -- and Morgan
lost a rival. Does that sound familiar, too? As British and other investors
scrambled to put their money in safer investments during this very unstable
period, they drained gold from American banks. That exodus set off the Panic of
1893, which ultimately resulted in the following:
● 500 banks failed and the life savings of
many of local people were lost.
● The largest railroads in America failed -- Northern
Pacific Railway, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Railroad. In today’s terms, consider what the failure of the four
largest airlines would be like.
● 15,000 companies filed bankruptcy, workers
were laid off, towns and cities were hit hard.
● Unemployment rates grew to between 17% and 19%.
● The once-secure middle-class could not meet
their mortgage payments causing them to lose their most valuable assets – their
homes and land.
● By January 24, 1895, US gold reserves had
declined to $68 million. Local banks
could not acquire enough gold coins to give depositors the funds they had on
deposit – and the US government was under stress to find enough gold to handle
transactions with other nations.
As
the crisis reached its critical point, President
Grover Cleveland turned to the Rothschilds
Bank with branches Frankfurt, Paris, London, Vienna and Naples. The Rothschilds were the most
powerful international bankers in the world. They approached the London branch of the Morgan Bank about joining
with them in the project. Morgan agreed on one condition -- Pierpont would handle the American end of
the deal along with the Rothschild representative, August Belmont, Jr. The
partnership of Morgan and Rothschild agreed to gather 3.5 million ounces of
gold of which at least half would come from Europe in exchange for $65 million
worth of thirty-five year gold bonds backed by the promise of President
Cleveland that gold obtained from this transaction by the US government
wouldn’t flow out again. That was a showstopper that caught the attention of
and mystified the global financial world. Why? The US President promised “to rig the gold market,” temporarily!
What happened to all that “free markets” stuff?
When
the new bonds went on sale on February 20, 1895, they sold out in two hours in
London -- and in only twenty-two minutes
in New York. Kind of sounds like everything was set up before the sale
began doesn’t it. By the way, in just twenty-two minutes Pierpont Morgan made
an estimated profit of between $6,000,000 and $7,000,000. Obviously that didn’t
sit well with all of those people who had lost everything they had deposited in
their local banks.
Take
a look at the Panics of 1819, 1873, 1907,
The Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Recession of 2007 – and you will see the same pattern and it’s
been part of the US economy from almost the beginning of the nation! How do
they get away with it? We let them.
As long as the masses are focused on fighting among themselves over all kinds
of religious, political and personal things – the folks profiting from this system know they are completely safe!
And from a “betting” perspective – the odds
of getting a bunch of Americans to work together to do anything politically are
super low!
Would you be willing
to stop fighting for a while and work together with imperfect unenlightened people
who do not always or ever agree with you? But, it’s going to take about 4 out of 10
Americans to change things! So, the next time someone says – “What can we do?” – tell them and let them know they can count you in.
By the way, you probably now understand why it makes so much to take those bothersome government regulations off banks and corporations? It makes sense -- from their point of view -- because lots of those regulations are linked to prohibiting "speculation!"
By the way, you probably now understand why it makes so much to take those bothersome government regulations off banks and corporations? It makes sense -- from their point of view -- because lots of those regulations are linked to prohibiting "speculation!"
So, as we say down
here in Texas, “Cogitate on that for a
while! & Shalom!”
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Sources & Suggested Reading:
● The House of Morgan: An American Banking
Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow © 1990; Grove Press,
New York, NY.
● The Gods of Money: Wall Street and the Death
of the American Century By F. William Engdahl © 2009; Published by
edition.engdahl; Wiesbaden, Germany
● The House of Rothschild: Money’s Prophets
1798 – 1848 by Niall Ferguson © 1998; Viking; Published by the Penguin
Group; New York, NY 10014.
● History of the Great American Fortunes by
Gustavus Myers; The Modern Library; New York, NY.
