11
THE BILLIONAIRE
“When your grandfather told me what I’ve just told you, I couldn’t imme-
diately comprehend what he’d said, and I imagine you don’t quite get
everything, either, John. But understand this,” Heitzman Senior continued.
“There are wealthy people in the world. But for every wealthy person,
there’s one who’s wealthier. And there’s one who’s the wealthiest of all. All
the other wealthy people – and consequently all who work under them, too
– work for him, the wealthiest one. Such is the law of the system in which
we live.
“All the talk about selfless aid to developing countries is nothing but a
smokescreen. Certainly, wealthy countries offer credit to developing coun-
tries through international funds, but the only real reason they do that is to
receive good, solid interest in exchange for the use of those funds – to re-
ceive tribute payments.
“For example, Russia pays three billion dollars a year to the IMF, and that
figure represents only the interest Russian has accumulated on the money
it’s borrowed. Many economists know that the main financing for the IMF
comes from US capital. They understand that the sky-high interest that
countries pay to borrow money goes to the US. But who specifically receives
it, no one knows that. The US, as a country, is no more than a convenient
front in the game of capital. And the US is the country most dependent on
capital. Tell me, John, are you aware that America has a national debt?”
“Yes, Dad, I’m aware of that. The debt figure is astronomical. For last year
it amounted to… The interest paid on America’s debt amounted to…”
“So, do you see that a country that lends money to other countries itself
takes on huge amounts of debt? But from whom does it borrow? Do you un-
derstand that?”
“From its own Federal Reserve?”
“But to whom does that belong, this Federal Reserve?”
“To…to…”
John had never thought about who America owed money to, but as he
answered his father’s questions, he understood: in the US, each taxpayer
pays into the Federal Reserve. But it…. the Federal Reserve is a private bank.
Consequently, all of America pays hundreds of billions of dollars to some
