Episode
Badlands Book Club: The Creature From Jekyll Island - Chapter 10: The Mandrake Mechanism
- Podcast
- Badlands Media
- Published
- Jul 30, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3879
- Processing state
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Summary
CannCon and Ashe in America crack open Chapter 10 of The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin, and this time the Fed is fully in the crosshairs. This week is all about the Mandrake Mechanism, named after a comic strip magician who could conjure things out of thin air, which turns out to be an uncomfortably accurate description of how the Federal Reserve actually creates money. The hosts break down how modern currency is no longer backed by gold or silver at all, how debt itself is the spark that brings money into existence, and how paying off that debt makes it vanish just as fast. Expect a deep look at reserve ratios, checkbook money, and the sleight of hand that keeps the whole system running, paired with the hosts' usual banter, tangents, and disbelief that this is somehow how it all works.