User:PHenry/Rescue Squad/International financiers

International financiers or international bankers could have a number of meanings depending on context.

Used in Finance and Policy
In the world of finance, international bankers or international financiers are individuals or financial institutions that have substantial international presences. This includes most investment banks and many of the largest banks in most nations. International banks are challenged by the need to comply with a wide range of national banking legislation. There are a number of associations for international bankers, such as the The Institute of International Bankers.

International financiers and international bankers may also be used to refer to international finance institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Banking cabal (conspiracy theory or Reality)
The banking cabal refers to a conspiracy theory regarding collusion between bankers, financiers, and other associated individuals of extreme wealth to manipulate the strings of commerce, politics, and media in order to serve their common interests. The primary source of their money and power is described as the use of fractional reserve banking and fiat money to surreptitiously steal wealth from the rest of society via inflation of the money supply and by levying interest on sovereign debt. Financial bubbles and stock market crashes further this influence. The international bankers are said to be responsible for creating and operating to their benefit many of the national and international banking institutions throughout the world, including the Federal Reserve, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderberg Group. Via these groups and other methods, the international banking cabal control multinational corporations, including the mainstream media, influence political elections and appointments, overrule general public opposition, and seek to establish a New World Order.

Some critics have contended that the terms "international bankers" or "banking cabal" are used by anti-Semites to refer to Jews, particularly in regard to the juxtaposition of contemporary bankers to the New Testament depiction of corruption at the Temple.

Historical figures who subscribed to the international banker conspiracy theory included Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Charles August Lindbergh, Henry Cabot Lodge, Louis T. McFadden, Oscar Callaway, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Woodrow Wilson, Barry Goldwater, John F. Kennedy, Ferdinand Lundberg, Robert A. Heinlein, Harry Browne, Aaron Russo. The international banker conspiracy theory overlaps to some extent with the military industrial complex conspiracy theory, the Corporatocracy conspiracy theory, and the Tax Honesty Movement, each being different manifestations or descriptions of the idea that the edifices of representative government and free-market commerce in the various western nations, particularly the United States, are really a false front for an oligarchy of the power elite working behind the scenes to oppress and control the populace.