This explains why the dollars in your bank account aren't really sitting there waiting for you — bad news for anyone who assumes their deposit is safe and untouched.

• The Federal Reserve was created by a small group of bankers in 1910 to control the money supply, and it's owned by the same commercial banks it oversees.
• Banks use "fractional reserve banking," meaning when you deposit money, they can lend out most of it to someone else while your balance still shows the full amount.
• That loaned money gets deposited again elsewhere, and the next bank lends most of that out too, multiplying the original deposit into far more money circulating in the system.
• The Fed has now dropped the reserve requirement to zero, so banks can lend out essentially all of what you deposit instead of keeping a safety cushion.
• The bigger point is that a small number of banks effectively control how many dollars exist and who gets them, which is a quiet form of power over everyone else's money.

Outlook: Expect continued scrutiny of how concentrated control over money creation shapes wealth and debt in the economy.