In 1913 the Federal Reserve, a privately owned bank, not a government agency, gained complete, absolute control of the US money supply, and the single largest creditor to the US government, making it the most powerful organization in the world.

Full quote:

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations which grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered" -Thomas Jefferson

This documentary should be required education for everyone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrJGlXEs8nI