Thirteenth Amendment to the US constitution

"If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility or honour, or shall without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them."

Sir Alan Greenspan.....

I always wondered why the chairman of the Federal reserve was knighted by the Government of this country

Now I understand

T

he essence of banking was once explained by Sir Josiah Stamp, a former president of the Bank of England:

"The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banking was conceived in inequity and born in sin... Bankers own the earth. Take it away from them but leave them the power to create money, and, with a flick of a pen, they will create enough money to buy it back again... Take this great power away from them, or if you want to continue to be the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let bankers continue to create money and control credit."

The last great abuse of our banking system caused the depression of the 1930's. Today's abuses may cause another. Past and Current S&L and bank scandals, illegal receipt of campaign funds, illustrate the on-going relationships between banks, lawyers, politicians, and government agencies (look at the BCCI bank scandal, involving lawyer Clark Clifford, politician Jimmy Carter, the Watergate and Mena Airport scandals involving William Clinton and others, all involving the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and even the FBI and the CIA, scandals even too numerous to mention). These scandals are the direct result of years of law-breaking by an alliance of bankers and lawyers using their influence and money to corrupt the political process and rob the public. (Do you think you're not being robbed? Guess who's going to pay the bill for the excesses of the banks, lawyers, politicians, and government agencies? You are! -- in money, work, sweat, blood and tears!)

Despite their criminal foundation, these alliances generated wealth, and ultimately, respectability. Like any modern member of organized crime, English bankers and lawyers wanted to be admired as "legitimate businessmen". As their criminal fortunes grew so did their usefulness, so the British monarchy legitimized these thieves by granting them "titles of nobility".

Historically, the British peerage system referred to knights as "Squires" and to those who bore the knight's shields as "Esquires". As lances, shields, and physical violence gave way to the more civilized means of theft, the pen grew mightier (and more profitable) than the sword, and the clever wielders of those pens (bankers and lawyers) came to hold titles of nobility. The most common title was "Esquire" (used, even today, by some lawyers).