In plain sight
In 1910, a secret meeting took place on Jekyll Island, Georgia, where powerful bankers and politicians gathered under the cover of night. As a result, this wasn't just another political retreat—it was the blueprinting of the Federal Reserve. Consequently, the decisions made on that quiet island still echo today in every transaction you make, every dollar you hold, and every illusion of wealth you believe to be real.
Although it may sound like a conspiracy, the Federal Reserve's origin is documented history. The secrecy surrounding the Jekyll Island meeting was intentional because its architects understood the power they were seizing: the ability to control money, credit, and ultimately, nations.
As I've written before about the refusal to audit the Federal Reserve in 1998, transparency has never been its strong suit, and that truth began long before the 20th century turned.
Inner Circle
Paul Warburg
The men at Jekyll Island included Senator Nelson Aldrich, who chaired the National Monetary Commission, along with key representatives of America's financial dynasties. Frank Vanderlip attended on behalf of the Rockefeller interests and the National City Bank of New York.
Henry Davison came from J.P. Morgan's empire. Paul Warburg, a German banker from the Kuhn, Loeb & Co. firm, brought his European expertise. Together, these men represented a concentration of wealth and power almost unimaginable today.
Follow the Law
As I shared in Real Private Equity, this gathering was not just about a few names—it tied into a much larger web of global families and private capital. The Rothschilds, Warburgs, and Schiffs were not only connected to the era's most influential banks but also to the very industries that drove America's growth. Think steel, railroads, and copper among them.
Meanwhile, Paul Warburg played a central role in designing the Federal Reserve system that became law in 1913. Likewise, the Rothschild family, already renowned for its global banking reach, continued to exert influence through financial institutions that survived and thrived across centuries.
Jacob Schiff and his descendants left their mark as well, with deep ties to American industry and finance. These families were not merely bankers; they were the architects of an emerging system of private equity. Consequently, consolidated power across borders while shaping the monetary framework that still governs us today.
Furthermore, their secrecy was deliberate. They traveled under assumed names, instructed servants not to use real identities, and avoided public notice. Even the fact that they arrived on a private railroad car, whisked away to the exclusive Jekyll Island Club, underscores how much was at stake. These were not ordinary bankers—they were the designers of a new monetary order.
J.R. knew it
From the system they birthed, their families and institutions flourished. J.P. Morgan's firm evolved into today's JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States. The Rockefeller influence still echoes through banking, energy, and even pharmaceuticals. The Warburgs helped shape international banking, paving the way for transatlantic finance and later, the International Monetary Fund (Read my blog for more details).
Similarly, even Aldrich's family tied into future dynasties, as his daughter married into the Rockefellers—cementing alliances between political and financial power. Although the Federal Reserve appears as a stabilizing force, in practice, it gave private bankers extraordinary control over the nation's money supply. Therefore, when crises emerged—such as the Great Depression, the bailouts of 2008, or today's liquidity injections—the institutions closest to the Fed thrived, while average citizens bore the brunt.
Moreover, the ripple effect from that secluded island reaches directly into our era. Global banking giants like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup trace their dominance to the very structures conceived in 1910. Additionally, corporations in industries like oil, defense, and technology continue to benefit from the cheap credit, debt expansion, and government backstops that flow from the Federal Reserve system.
Saftey Net for who
For example, when we see trillion-dollar bailouts or quantitative easing, we are witnessing the continuation of Jekyll Island's design: profits privatized, risks socialized. Furthermore, today's speculative markets, from derivatives to digital assets, exist because fiat currency is unanchored. Without gold or tangible backing, money can be created at will, funneling wealth upward into the same families, firms, and sectors that first gained from the system's birth. As I've discussed in the illusion of money, what looks like prosperity is often smoke rising from a hidden fire.
Further, when we trace the lineage of financial power from Jekyll Island to the present, it becomes clear that the concentration of influence has not disappeared—it has merely shifted into new forms. The original architects represented private banking dynasties; today, the same dynamic plays out through enormous asset management and private equity firms. BlackRock, State Street, and Fidelity dominate the global stage, managing tens of trillions of dollars in assets and quietly shaping markets, industries, and even government policies.
For instance, BlackRock manages over $10 trillion in assets, and its Aladdin platform touches nearly every major financial institution. State Street Bank, which began in Boston over two centuries ago, now operates as one of the "Big Three" institutional investors, heavily influencing stock indices and sovereign funds. Fidelity, meanwhile, shapes retirement systems and mutual funds, acting as the gateway through which most Americans experience investing.
We are Family
To clarify, the connection between these firms and Jekyll Island is not the names of the men who sat around that table, but the system they created. By designing a central bank that could issue currency and backstop credit (taxpayer bailout, a.k.a. risk of total collapse removed), they ensured that those closest to the flow of money would always thrive.
Meanwhile, this influence is not abstract. In the airline industry, the Big Three—Delta, United, and Southwest —are top shareholders, giving them systemic influence across competitors. In automakers like GM and Ford, their names again dominate the list of the largest holders.
In groceries, after Whole Foods became part of Amazon, Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street became the indirect gatekeepers of what fills your cart. Likewise, in household staples, Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, and Clorox all report the same pattern: the index bloc at the very top belongs to the "Big Three".
In addition, energy and defense highlight the public-private bridge. Lockheed Martin reports that over 70% of its sales come from the U.S. government, while Boeing leans heavily on defense and NASA contracts. With nearly $900 billion appropriated for national defense in FY-2025, those revenues rise—and so do the management fees of the asset managers that hold them.
Utilities like Duke Energy, oil giants like Exxon, and grocery chains like Kroger further illustrate the same truth: from your light switch to your shopping bag, the Big Three's fingerprints are everywhere.
Time to wake up!
As I noted in Foreign Relations and Don't Get Fleeced, public money is the lifeblood of private profit. And in Show Me the Money and The Invisible Hand, I explore how markets that look free are in fact carefully steered. Therefore, when you recognize how Lockheed, Boeing, Amazon, and Duke are owned by the same bloc of funds, it becomes impossible to separate "government spending" or your tax dollars from "private returns."
Today, digital finance only magnifies this reality. Cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance have emerged not simply as investments but as reactions—alternatives to the fragility of fiat. As I explored in Cryptocurrency and the Fed, these technologies shine a light on how brittle our current system really is.
However, even as new systems arise, the lesson from Jekyll Island remains the same: authority of money equals control of people. And unless we awaken to this truth, we will continue to repeat the cycles of fear, lack, and limitation (FLL) that have defined over a century of modern finance.
The British came and went
Lest you think that there is some evil plot here, I remind you that nothing happens in a vacuum. People are motivated to do things out of protection or survival, and the wealthy Americans were no different. What makes the Jekyll Island story even more fascinating is the backdrop of global finance at the time.
That is to say, in the early 1900s, London was still the undisputed capital of money, and families like the Rothschilds had unparalleled influence across Europe. American dynasties such as Rockefeller, Morgan, and others relied on European capital to fuel their railroads, oil companies, and steel empires. Yet this reliance also meant submission to rules written overseas, leaving America's rising elites as junior partners in the global financial hierarchy.
Therefore, the 1910 meeting represents a subtle rebellion—a quiet revolt against London's grip. By crafting a central bank on their own terms, American bankers not only consolidated domestic power but also laid the groundwork for the U.S. dollar to eclipse the pound sterling.
In this light, Jekyll Island was more than the birth of the Federal Reserve; it was the moment wealthy Americans declared their independence from European financial dominance. As I explored in The Invisible Hand, what looks like the natural flow of markets is often the deliberate shaping of power. As a result, within a generation, two world wars would shift the balance of power decisively toward the United States.
What matters...
Finally, as I wrote in Looking In, Not Out, the real shift begins when we choose to see clearly. If money is an illusion, what remains real? The answer is within us. True abundance is not printed in green ink or stored in digital ledgers; it resides in the creative power we each hold.
And so, the conclusion is not one of despair but of recognition. This system is neither good nor bad—it simply is. It is our economic framework, designed over a century ago, and still steering the world today.
Ultimately, we can choose to look away and pretend it doesn't matter, or we can acknowledge who is running the country from both political and economic perspectives. The die was cast in 1910 at Jekyll Island, and it is vital that we recognize it. Once we recognize what we don't prefer, we can go about the business of creating what we desire.
