Robert B. Reich, former Secretary of Labor, writing in USA Today, claims the real political power in the nation is the unlawful, privately owned Federal Reserve System of (central) Banks:

       The dirty little secret is that both houses of Congress have become irrelevant … in case you hadn’t noticed, America’s domestic policy is now being run by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve Board. … Congress is out of the loop.  Every so often, some senators or house members politely ask Greenspan to visit and talk about the economy. … Then he goes back down to the Fed and runs the country.

       America’s foreign policy is being run by the IMF [International Monetary Fund] … and when the president decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from C[ON]gress.

       NOTE: Although Reich uses the word “country” here, the editors believe that he meant to use the word “nation,” in which a central government, with almost limitless power, treats its constituent states as mere enclaves, provinces, or sub-divisions of its greater self; as opposed to “Union,” which is a union of sovereign States under a federal system, with a central government whose powers are strictly limited by a respected Constitution.

       [added 4/16/2023] Thanks to Aaron Russo for this entry.