Every inmate owes it him or herself to become familiar with all the inner and outer workings of his local prison and the larger penitentiary system. This exploration is a life-long quest that will take you in many circuitous, sometimes dangerous paths and you alone must bear it. However, as part of our commitment to the Prisoner's Rights movement, we present you with a series of simple factsheets of some of the largest, most notable, powerful and influential elements of the sytem so that you may begin your quest with at least a simple map and phonebook.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is not only the oldest international financial organization, but it is also an integral part of the global financial system. It acts as a bank to central banks and other international organizations like the International Monetary Fund. It is accountable to no government, hence without law. Though its stated aim is to “foster economic and financial cooperation and serve as a bank for central banks”, its purview is much larger than that. From its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, it promulgates banking regulation, such as Basel II. It also sets capital adequacy ratios as well as monitors and tweaks reserve requirements. For novices to some of these terms, we recommend you read up on them. In essence, it serves some regulatory functions in setting the price and/or quantity of fiat money, irrespective of currency. We would welcome some debate on this last point, but one thing is for sure: this behemoth bank’s power is grossly disproportionate to its name recognition.
It was formed on 05.17.1930, and currently has 57 member central banks. Central banks can deposit money at the BIS, as well as borrow money from it. Every two months, governors and high-level officials from its member central banks meet to discuss “the world”. These meetings are characterized by “an atmosphere of openness, frankness and informality amongst participants [that] is critical to their success”. No minutes for us though! We highly advise you read up on the following resources and discover the wonderful world inside the central banks’ central bank…or at least what they’ll let us see. Well, at least they have some good data that even us slaves can download in PDF format!