February 1, 2016 | Gunner Steele

You know the old saying, "what you don't know can't hurt you?" Well, that doesn't work when it comes to the Federal Reserve.

But sadly, like world history, personal health, child training, marital relations, basic theology, and the value of hard work—most Americans know next to nothing about the Federal Reserve. And isn't it shocking that the subjects that matter most to prosperous and joyous living are the exact same subjects that modern day Americans know so little about?

Yet, the same Americans who don't know what the Federal Reserve is, or what a Central Bank is for that matter, can teach you how to twerk, what the difference between IRL and WTF is, how to get "poked" on Facebook, and whether or not its preferable to get swiped right or left on Tinder.

And even though the only thing they know about the Founding Fathers is that they were all racist, white slave-owning atheists, they know all the details about Brangelina and those Kardashian people, and whether or not Miley's boyfriend is fooling around on the side.

Welcome to America 2016!

So while it won't hurt you to never know what a twerk is (much less try it), it will hurt you to not know what the Federal Reserve is and how their "Federal Reserve Notes" affect your life.

You see, the Federal Reserve isn't even a federal agency. Its about as "federal" as Federal Express. But, it is the Central Bank that governs our monetary system in the USA. In practice, this means that the "money" that you and I use each day in America gets its value from our Central Bank—the Federal Reserve.

And remember you learned last week that money doesn't have actual, or real value—it only has a representative value based on market confidence and on its respective purchasing power at any given moment. And, this is subject to change.

And the worst part is that the Federal Reserve, or "The Fed" as it is called, has the power to wipe you out—if it wanted to. You see, your money is not really your money. Its the Fed's. Don't believe me? Pull a dollar bill out of your wallet. What does it say? It says "Federal Reserve Note."

You see—they control its value. And that's why you can get hurt if you're ignorant to world economics and the function of the Fed.

Let me show you how this works...

The Fed is a bank, and like any other bank, it has assets and liabilities. The difference between the banks assets and its liabilities is what we call, capital. Generally speaking, the more capital a bank has, the stronger the bank is. Pretty obvious, right?

One way to get a picture of a bank's overall health is to measure a bank's capital against it's assets. And the higher that percentage—again, the stronger the bank.

So check this out. Do you remember when Lehman Brothers Bank famously went bankrupt in 2008? Well, their capital/equity as a percentage of its total assets was only about 3%! I mean, it was ridiculously low and outrageous. Like so many things in life, looking back, it's all so obvious. I mean, only a fool would think that everything is going to be okay with numbers like that.

Well, guess what? Did you know that in early 2013, the Fed released its reports showing itself at 1.93%! Even lower than Lehman Brothers. By August of 2013, it was even lower at 1.53%! And yup, you guessed it—today its EVEN LOWER!

Why This is So Important to Understand

As mentioned earlier, the Fed controls the value of your "Federal Reserve Notes," what most Americans refer to as "money." And since the "Federal Reserve Note" is the Fed's currency, then as the Fed collapses, so the dollar also collapses. It's basically that simple.

Right now, the dollar appears to be "strong," but math, history, basic economics, and common sense tell a different story. One day, we will look back at America, and it will all look so obvious.

The question is not IF, but WHEN. And how severe? If you don't know what to do, if you are not prepared, if you continue to ignore the obvious signs, then when the next crash comes—you will get hurt, and you could end up like most liberal Democrats—running around looking for someone to point the blame at, demanding that the same government that caused the problems now fix the problems, all the while you to continue to empower the same idiots by voting to keep them and their cohorts in office.

Please don't do that. You're smarter than that. You're more aware than that. You're more independent than that. You don't believe that the government is responsible for your life, do you? You still believe that we are responsible for ourselves, right? I know you believe that. You're better than a liberal Democrat!

So, pay attention to what's going on with the Fed, with world economics, and be mindful of the spin doctors who don't want you to see the most obvious signs in front of your face.

Until next Monday, I'm yours in Freedom,
Gunner Steele
The Freedom Man