What is this movements primary aim?

The “Occupy Wall Street” protesters have targeted the Federal Reserve as one of their central platforms.

One organizer, known only as “Anonymous A99,” announced the first operation targeting the Fed, called “Operation Empire State Rebellion,” on March 12. The announcement explained that the movement was intended to be a “decentralized non-violent resistance movement.” Anonymous A99 said of the intent of the organizers:

Above all, we aim to break up the global banking cartel centered at the Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund, Bank of International Settlement and World Bank.

We demand that the primary dealers within the Federal Reserve banking system be broken up and held accountable for rigging markets and destroying the global economy, effective immediately.

As a first sign of good faith, we demand Ben Bernanke step down as Federal Reserve chairman.

Until our demands are met and a rule of law is restored, we will engage in a relentless campaign of non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience.”

Those protests commenced on June 14, and took place in over 20 cities, but were scarcely reported on by the mainstream media. In some areas, they have been going on ever since but with very little media coverage.

The “Occupy San Francisco” branch of the protests is taking place – not in the Financial District, where the big banks are located – but in front of the San Francisco Federal Reserve bank.

High-Level Economists, Congressmen and Many Americans Want to End the Fed

This is not as radical and controversial as it might appear at first blush.

High-level economists support the Occupy Wall Street protests. And some very well-known economists also support ending the Fed.

For example, Milton Friedman said:

This evidence persuades me that at least a third of the price rise during and just after World War I is attributable to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System… and that the severity of each of the major contractions — 1920-1, 1929-33 and 1937-8 is directly attributable to acts of commission and omission by the Reserve authorities…

Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, [so] that mistakes — excusable or not — can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic — this is the key political argument against an independent central bank…

To paraphrase Clemenceau, money is much too serious a matter to be left to the central bankers.

Austrian economists such as Murray Rothbard also would like to end the Fed:

Given this dismal monetary and banking situation, given a 39:1 pyramiding of checkable deposits and currency on top of gold, given a Fed unchecked and out of control, given a world of fiat moneys, how can we possibly return to a sound noninflationary market money? The objectives, after the discussion in this work, should be clear: (a) to return to a gold standard, a commodity standard unhampered by government intervention; (b) toabolish the Federal Reserve System and return to a system of free and competitive banking; (c) to separate the government from money; and (d) either to enforce 100 percent reserve banking on the commercial banks, or at least to arrive at a system where any bank, at the slightest hint of nonpayment of its demand liabilities, is forced quickly into bankruptcy and liquidation. While the outlawing of fractional reserve as fraud would be preferable if it could be enforced, the problems of enforcement, especially where banks can continually innovate in forms of credit, make free banking an attractive alternative.

Congressmen Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich have introduced bills to abolish the Fed.

And as I noted last week, most Americans want the Fed ended or at least reined in:

At least 75% of the American people want a full audit of the Fed, and most were against reconfirming Bernanke.

Indeed, as Bloomberg noted last December:

A majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the nation’s independent central bank, saying the U.S. Federal Reserve should either be brought under tighter political control or abolished outright, a poll shows.

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Americans across the political spectrum say the Fed shouldn’t retain its current structure of independence. Asked if the central bank should be more accountable to Congress, left independent or abolished entirely, 39 percent said it should be held more accountable and 16 percent that it should be abolished. Only 37 percent favor the status quo.

As I have extensively documented, the Fed is largely responsible for the economic crisis, and has failed to meet a single one of its stated mandates (let alone its implied ones).

Indeed, the Founding Fathers despised the British central bank, and said that the right to create their own credit and currency was one of the core battles in the Revolutionary War.

Media personality Alex Jones believes that protesting the Fed is the most important and high-leverage way to change our economic system for the better. Steve Watson – frequent contributor to Jones’ websites – writes today:

In spite of a large number of protesters who are clearly aware of the fact that the greatest threat to the global financial system comes not directly from Wall Street but from the privately owned Federal Reserve cartel, the official “list of specific demands” of the Occupy Wall Street movement makes absolutely no mention of the Fed whatsoever.

So Jones has launched his ow “Occupy the Federal Reserve” movement:

The Occupy Wall Street crowd has become predictably focused on issues like taxing the middle class and moderately “rich,” ending capitalism and even re-electing Obama to ‘fight’ the very elites who pushed him into power. Focus should instead be on the real source of power for the out-of-control bankster class- the private, unaccountable Federal Reserve bank that creates money out of thin air, issues secret loans to insiders and foreign governments and systematically institutes debt on the American people through their undue powers.

With this in mind, Alex Jones is calling on patriots to “occupy” branches of the Federal Reserve, with plans to appear at three locations in Texas this weekend in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. The times and locations appear below. Further, people everywhere should converge upon Fed locations in their area to raise awareness about the real culprit behind the economic crisis.

Well meaning protesters who have joined the Occupy Wall Street effort, including solidarity activities in cities everywhere, need to be educated about the power held by this insidious institution, as well as the false solutions that have been proposed by leading figures on the left and right that only further expand the scope of big government, all while avoiding the elephant in the room.

Given that Alex Jones has millions of TV viewers and readers, his announcement might result in a dramatic new front in the nationwide protests currently occurring.

Here is a press release issued by Jones:

Public sentiment has shifted — against the trends of Washington and Wall Street — and now, against the private Federal Reserve bank which controls or influences so much of the world’s finances. Whereas only a few years ago many Americans were unaware of the true nature of the shadowy organization, recent polls confirm that the public overwhelmingly wants to audit and even abolish the Federal Reserve bank.

Explaining the growing animosity towards the Federal Reserve, Jones continues:

By striking at the root of the true problems, we can attempt to reign in the predatory banking powers that plague our nation and begin to restore the Republic.

The Federal Reserve banking system is at the root of that problem and a perpetual impediment towards ending the global economic crisis that continues to grow.

The Federal Reserve has been harshly criticized by a number of individuals and groups, particularly those who are proponents of Austrian economics. GOP presidential contender Ron Paul has been a leading advocate of eliminating the Federal Reserve and restoring the free market economy. He has spent virtually his entire political career vocalizing his disdain for the unconstitutional system.

In 2002, Paul said of the Federal Reserve:

Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, middle- and working-class Americans have been victimized by a boom-and-bust monetary policy. In addition, most Americans have suffered a steadily eroding purchasing power because of the Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies. This represents a real, if hidden, tax imposed on the American people.

Paul has often addressed how the Federal Reserve continues to serve the needs of a few, while imposing negative consequences on the average American:

Though the Federal Reserve policy harms the average American, it benefits those in a position to take advantage of the cycles in monetary policy. The main beneficiaries are those who receive access to artificially inflated money and/or credit before the inflationary effects of the policy impact the entire economy. Federal Reserve policies also benefit big spending politicians who use the inflated currency created by the Fed to hide the true costs of the welfare-warfare state. It is time for Congress to put the interests of the American people ahead of the special interests and their own appetite for big government.

Above all, Paul notes that the Federal Reserve is an unconstitutional establishment that has ultimately stripped Congress of powers that were assigned to it by the Constitution:

Abolishing the Federal Reserve will allow Congress to reassert its constitutional authority over monetary policy. The United States Constitution grants to Congress the authority to coin money and regulate the value of the currency. The Constitution does not give Congress the authority to delegate control over monetary policy to a central bank. Furthermore, the Constitution certainly does not empower the federal government to erode the American standard of living via an inflationary monetary policy.

According to Paul, it is the policies of the Federal Reserve that have driven people to protest: “It is no wonder they are up on Wall Street raising cain because they know the system is biased against the average person.”