It is unfortunate, but understandable, that young people in the United States are not taught (in the government's schools) the history and operation of their country's most powerful financial institution, The Federal Reserve System. Created in 1910, codified by Congress in 1913 (along with the personal income tax), this "system" facilitated the US government's ability to inflame the nation's citizens for the purpose of supporting the European war of 1914-1918 (World War I). Warfare provides a source of immense borrowing and provides banking corporations with an unparalleled source of interest income.
Readers desiring an insight into the international interests and subsequent political relationships of the bankers who created the Federal Reserve System can click here. To understand how recent the Federal Reserve System is, my own grandparents were alive when it was created in the USA.
The adoption of "central banking", a concept indispensible to enforcing policies determined by big central government, is as old as Alexander Hamilton and The Federalists. Central banking has been tried and thwarted in the past. Today it is alive and well. For a brief background of this subject, read this fascinating essay.