What would life have been like had we not experienced major economic pitfalls and downturns over the past several years? For example, would I have been able to afford college without the burden of student loans or have become as conscious about finances and fiscal responsibility? Unfortunately, I will never know the answers to these questions. The reality today is that no one is safe from financial ruin. Even those who claim to be bullet proof in this horrendous economic climate are not safe from the muscle of their respective central banking institutions. On April 1, 2009, thousands upon thousands of people took to the streets in protest during the G20 Summit in London. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, an independent TV/radio news program on public access stations, stated that a number of protesters smashed their way into The Royal Bank of Scotland and wrote âÄúthievesâÄù on the walls. The Associated Press reported, âÄúTens of thousands of people marched across central London to demand jobs [and] economic justice. More than 150 groups threw their backing behind the âÄòPut the People FirstâÄô march. The marchers [were] pushing for a more transparent and democratic economic recovery plan.âÄù The crux of the problem currently plaguing all national markets is an inherent lack of honesty and admission. For instance, The Bank of England, with the support of Chancellor Alistair Darling, surreptitiously lent 61.6 billion pounds to The Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. In the words of BBCâÄôs business editor Robert Peston, âÄúWhy on earth did the Bank Treasury and FSA think it was a good idea to keep the £61.6 billion of lending secret?âÄù At the Pittsburgh G20 Summit in September, 83 were arrested at protests where damages reached $50,000. In both the London and Pittsburgh pickets, great anger was expressed over government complacency with such lopsided financial domination. However, despite their greatest efforts to keep economic realities under wraps through the use of controlled media and covert, back-room deals, the general populace is finally going above the propagated lies of its politicians and the financial world. Throughout recent years, a number of closeted monetary agreements were divulged to the public, most notably Hank PaulsonâÄôs arrangement with Bank of America to issue more TARP money in exchange for the bankâÄôs promise to purchase Merrill Lynch. Thus, people are now starting to dig for cold, hard facts to expose fiscal atrocities the persons on top have killed for centuries to protect from minority dissenters. An example of one dissident is Ezra Pound, an American poet, critic, expatriate and intellectual. Pound was imprisoned and sentenced to death for speaking out against the crimes committed by our largest financial institutions. In many ways, Richard Belzer âÄî a comic, talk-show host and author âÄî has become a modern-day Ezra Pound in a new grassroots effort to uncover the truth about those who run the world and its markets. Belzer has appeared on numerous political discussion programs and written copious editorials for the purpose of sharing his knowledge about the real history of central banking. Almost a year before the stock market crash of 2008, Belzer composed an avant-garde column for the Huffington Post. In it, he wrote, âÄúSince [the formation of the Federal Reserve in 1910], bankers have somehow convinced everyone that any bailouts the banks ever need would be covered by the taxpayers!âÄù Alternatively put, the most powerful international bankers discovered long ago that they could hold entire nations hostage to their perpetual greed by deceptively convincing political authorities to endorse the consolidation of immeasurable power within a central bank. Last Thursday, the spirit of economic dissent bubbled up again, this time in Greece. Like the earlier demonstrations in the United Kingdom and the United States, this one was specifically targeted toward the banking industry in light of GreeceâÄôs economic collapse. The Los Angeles Times recounted: âÄúPolice fired tear gas and clashed with demonstrators in Athens after some 50,000 people finished a peaceful march against cutbacks intended to fix the countryâÄôs debt crisis. The violence lasted about 30 minutes when scores of youth hurled rocks, red paint and plastic bottles near parliament. Windows were smashed at the Finance MinistryâÄôs General Accounting Office.âÄù It is deplorable to see national regimes further devastate the socioeconomic conditions of their people by cutting jobs and expenditures that benefit them. In regard to Greece, the government will be curtailing civil service jobs and salaries instead of lowering the boom on its central banks responsible for sinking the nation into a sea of unmanageable debt now worth trillions. This pattern of campaigns against central banks is no coincidence. It represents the beginnings of what will no doubt become a worldwide revolution. With almost every nation in dire financial straits, more will follow the example of protesters in London, Pittsburgh and Athens to resist the bankers jeopardizing their very livelihood. Lucky for us, America, the first modern country built from the ashes of rebellion, will surely be at the heart of the movement to reclaim fiscal sovereignty for the people. After all, Americans have proven time and again that they are too clever and too imbued with the history of revolution to stand for such economic injustice. Hadley Gustin welcomes comments at [email protected].