Former four-term Congressman Ron Paul describes the American power structure. As a member of the House Banking and Currency Committee, Paul was in a unique position to see the inner workings of economic power and control of the country, and how this power translates into political power. Paul describes how, through the control of the Federal Reserve and the banking system, the American power elite is basically out of reach of the democratic system. Concurrently, by using such organizations as the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, control over the political process is maintained, resulting in what is in reality a in the U.S.