A Short Preview (Login to Access the Full Interview):

[Errata: At 30+ mins in, Catherine refers to a former Fed governor who she admires as Larry Summers. Oops. She meant Larry Lindsey.]

“The book … highlights the implications for the rest of the world, and raises important questions about the concentration of power within central banks.â€
~ Description of Princes of the Yen by Richard A. Werner

By Catherine Austin Fitts

This week, we continue the publication of our 1st Quarter 2023 Wrap Up, focusing on the theme of financial transaction freedom. We review the multiple threats to transaction freedoms and talk about steps we can take to protect ourselves, including the potential role of sovereign state banks.

My guest, Richard A. Werner, is the world’s leading expert on central banks. Professor Werner is a London School of Economics and Oxford-educated economist, a university professor of banking and economics (University of Winchester, England), an authorized investment adviser, and an economic adviser to governments. His best-selling book, Princes of the Yen (published in Japan in 2001 and in the English-speaking world in 2003), formed the basis for the 2014 documentary by the same title, with both book and film exploring the power of central banks—often shrouded in secrecy—to transform economies. The film’s director, Michael Oswald, described Prof. Werner’s theory and findings as “truly earth shattering.â€

Earlier this year, the Solari Report commissioned Prof. Werner to write the briefing memo titled “Why a Sovereign State Bank Is Good for Tennessee,†a memo intended to educate Tennessee legislators—and legislators in other states. A sovereign state bank can help states counter threats to state-level sovereignty and economic prosperity and also halt the ominous trend of banking system concentration. In this interview, he and I will elaborate on the numerous reasons why this is such a timely topic deserving of both legislators’ and citizens’ attention.

Currently, the Bank of North Dakota is the only such bank in existence in the U.S.—and it provides an excellent model that other states can emulate. A sovereign state bank that supports (rather than competes with) private local banks and credit unions can protect and reinvigorate the community banks that are the lifeblood of small and medium-sized enterprises and hence, thriving local and state economies.

In early May, we will complete publication of the 1st Quarter 2023 Wrap Up with my quarterly Equity Overview—an interview with Tim Caban when he joins me in Pennsylvania.

Money & Markets

In Money & Markets this week, John Titus and I will cover the latest events and continue to discuss the financial and geopolitical trends we are tracking in 2023—and the growing pushback against corruption. Post questions at the Money & Markets commentary here.

Related Solari Reports:

Why a Sovereign State Bank Is Good for Tennessee

Special Solari Report: A Sovereign State Bank and Bullion Depository for Tennessee with Senator Frank Niceley

The Solari Papers #2: U.S. State Bullion Depositories

“The Many Excuses for Central Control†(Catherine Austin Fitts with Professor Richard Werner), Session 4 of Doctors for Covid Ethics Symposium, June 11, 2022: Freedom is the Cure: Unpacking & Defeating the Medical Tactics of a World Takeover

Richard Werner on CBDCs: How They Prepare You to Be Their Slave

I Want to Stop CBDCs – What Can I Do?

Let’s Go to the Movies: Week of May 26, 2020 – Princes of the Yen

Financial Transaction Freedom

Other Related Resources:

Princes of the Yen: Japan’s Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy

Princes of the Yen: About the Film


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29 Comments

  1. This interview and Dr. Werner’s work is so spot on and a great roadmap for action: Well run, local, decentralized banks with an honestly run state central bank. Time to enlighten our banker.

    I was an Econ major in college, figured out the overarching fiscal ‘theory’ was absurd years later, but this presents… real ideas via good data. Very clear and mostly understandably for the non-Economics oriented!

  2. Thank you for this very enlightening interview!! It gives a big picture perspective on what is going on and empowers us to make good choices for the benefit of ourselves and others. My gratitude to Catherine and the whole Solari team.

  3. It is valuable information to learn and yes, I just want to share it out too!
    But i think sometimes its better to fully understand it and then share or question those around you about these concepts in a conversation instead of sending a video that they’ll just ignore. Make others think.
    Macro economics and a lot of financial concepts has been purposefully kept confusing for too long but I think we’re entering times when a lot of sunlight will be shone on everything and covid definitely opened many many doors of questioning by the public.

  4. Outstanding interview!!
    I’m starting to grasp the BIGGER picture of global economics and monetary system by listening to your interviews, Katherine. Although I avoided business economics/finances in college I was able to run a successful State Farm Insurance agency for 19years. However I have never understood our Fed and monetary system — but have had a strong inner sense of “distrust.†Through Solari I am better understanding what my inner wisdom has always known. Although disturbing, I do prefer being informed so I can be a more active participant in helping “righting the ship†— which has been on a very destructive and corrupt course for far too long.

    I appreciate you, your team and all of the wonderful people who graciously share their knowledge, experience and wisdom?

  5. I went back again to check the timings again, and the offending passage actually begins at about 1.15:30 to about 1.16:30. If you use 1:16, you are at the wrong place. It is an hour later. Sorry for the confusion.

  6. I follow the Solari Report because of the good financial analysis. This particular interview was the best one yet. This interview was excellent.

  7. I was wrong. “Seventy of our Congressmen are dual citizens.” But this gives me the opportunity to say this. What else would explain the findings of Katherine Watt and Alexandra Latypova; that the DOD was the agency behind the attack on the citizens of the United States. Our entire government has been taken over by a foreign power.

  8. At about 1:16 Catherine abruptly jumps in for no good reason to prevent Richard from saying something important. Why? What was Richard about to say that needed to be blocked?

    1. Watched from 1:15 to 1:18. Can not figure out what you are referring to.

      1. “The last president who dared to do that…………….” was President Kennedy who was murdered because of his intention to terminate the charter for the Federal Reserve which came up for renewal in 1963, fifty years after its creation. He signaled his intention by printing greenbacks under the aegis of the Department of the Treasury.
        The reason Jack Kemp was angry with you was because he thought you were being disingenuous. You were not. Then.
        We are at war. You at times appear to be reticent about naming the bad actors. You are too intelligent not to know who they are.
        We are not going to win if we refuse to face up to who our enemies are or are too afraid of what the consequences might be if we expose them.
        “Ten percent of our Congressmen are dual citizens. Ten of the twelve Cabinet members are dual citizens.”

        1. Kemp was angry at me for several reasons IMO. One was I was wealthier than he was. Problems started when he and his immediate staff saw my financial disclosure. It was Kemp who said he would never come to my house as my house was bigger than his house, he would find it castrating. Two was because I was respected as a capable manager and he was not – word went out around town if you want to get anything done at HUD, see Fitts, not Kemp. Third was because I refused to implement illegal transactions.

        2. Thank you Richard and Catherine – just brilliant. Knew JFK had printed Treasury greenbacks, but not that the Fed’s charter was up for renewal in 1963. I may be unusual being ignorant on that point, but I don’t think so.
          Catherine, would you consider digging into the status of the Fed’s charter in one podcast or another – or might John? The grounds for renewal or termination would, of course, be particularly interesting.

          1. The book to consult is:
            US Money vs Corporation Currency, by Alfred Owen Crozier
            Pages 23-24, The cited passage discusses the Aldrich Plan. I would read both pages completely because “50 years” is mentioned 3 times.

  10. Handsome, intelligent, compassionate! What a combo! And a great discussion! Loved this! I’ll listen again. Lots to ingest here! Thank you CAF and Richard Werner!

  11. Brilliant discussion!
    We need to keep Fitts and Werner in prayer as they shed light on these critical issues.

  12. Dear Catherine

    Thank you for an enlightening conversation.

    What are your thoughts on Singapore? Singapore seems to be a highly centralized and controlled state but it also seems to be a successful, prosperous and well-functioning place. That being said, many old people have to work cleaning tables in food courts because their pensions are not sufficient for them to live on. In theory one can buy an apartment and own it but the government has to approve every sale in order to make sure that the ethnic balance in the building is maintained. I find the place stifling.

    Whenever I hear the Fed mentioned in the news it is invariably in relation to interest rate policy. It is important that Richard reminds us that the main purported reason for the Fed to have been established in the first place was to be a lender of last resort and avoid financial crises. It is even more important that Richard reminds us of the fact that the Fed has consistently failed miserably in achieving its aim unless, of course, the the real aim is to destroy savings and scoop up assets at bargain basement prices.

    I didn’t catch the other ways the banks can avoid runs other than having a central bank as a lender of last resort.

    In the example of South Africa, I didn’t understand what happens to the newly bought ZAR sitting in the NY banks if the South African banks make loans in ZAR created out of thin air.

    I’d be interested to hear what you and Richard think about microfinance banks such as the Grameen Bank. Do they lend out deposits or do they too create money out of thin air?

    Richard dispels many commonly held ‘truths’ and in understandable terms without fancy words or complicated graphs he throws light on how the economy really works. His talk in Malmö definitely worth watching.

    I look forward to seeing more of Richard on Solari in the future.

  13. at 1:50, what Prof Werner is describing about the ‘theories’ of economics is *exactly* what Mr Global has done with medicine and the germ theory.

    there is so much theory in today’s world which is not true, which was designed by Mr Global to disguise the truth, and then propagated through the ‘higher’ education institutions to make them the accepted truth by consensus. this is a primary cause of the fact that today’s professionals (in many fields including medicine, economics, governance) have largely been completed brainwashed and are unable to entertain other possibilities.

    one way out of the current knowledge crisis would be for people to stop going to those higher education institutions and instead doing their own research and experiments. people should not be forced into a specific field of learning. they should be free to learn whatever they feel a connection to, in whatever way they wish to learn.

    1. at 52:50 in the linked Princes of the Yen movie, the narrator states:

      A generation of bureaucrats and politicians reigned in the 1980’s and 1990’s did not understand the character and true purpose of their own country’s economy. A whole generation of Japan’s economists had been sent to the United States to receive PHD’s and MBA’s in U.S.-style economics.

      control the education system and you can control everything, even more so when you attach elite status to those who graduate from that system. The elite status blinds them to the true nature of what they have learnt and indeed pushes them to reject any and all information that might bear negatively on their achievements and status. they have become members of a guarded cult whose dogma must be protected at all costs.

  15. Catherine, you really should make this public. It’s too important. And thank you SO MUCH for arranging for Richard to visit you for the interview.

    1. Silly employees. They want a living wage. And I want them to have it. And we do not want ads or to sell data or to accept funds from Mr. Global’s various sources. If you send donations to fund complimentary subscriptions happy to do more of them. We are working on functionality so subscribers can gift subscriber only content to their network ala Financial Times model – a great model.

      1. Also, I would say that we subscribers can play a role by being knowledgeable emissaries of what we learn here.

      2. I saw that Prof. Werner’s telegram channel posted the link to this page. I posted a quick reply to the effect that it was a particularly good interview…. and then received a number of queries as to whether I was a Solari subscriber, because they couldn’t see behind the paywall. I haven’t forwarded the video or audio. I don’t know how it would work (to allow a subscriber to occasionally show individual articles to third parties), but that would certainly be interesting functionality. In the case of Prof. Werner’s channel, perhaps people would be willing to pay for access to an individual article. In the case of (say), my father, it would be useful to say THIS is what you really need to listen to!

        1. We are in the process of loading new subscription software. As soon as it has launched, we will see if we can set up a gifting function.

    2. Agreed that this is a super important conversation. I’ve had to pause it a few times just so i can fully integrate a concept or idea.

      I also understand the need for the pay wall. Solari shares boatloads of info for free, which i was able to access for years until i could finally afford a subscription.

      We can share everything we learn in this video by teaching others and applying the concepts as and when we can. My island home isn’t ready yet for all these changes, but it will be at some point, so I’ve still got time to learn.

      Much appreciated info.

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