Once upon a time, money was backed by gold.  Then a conspiracy of international Jews (Warburgs, Rothschilds, etc.) and Oil, Steel, and Railroad barons (Harriman, Morgan, Rockefeller, etc.) took it all away and created the fractional reserve system which the major banks used government bonds to generate IOUs which they borrowed against to get more IOUs.

Or something like that.  I’m no John Birch conspiracist, but this chart posted on Marc Fluery’s blog paints a sad picture.  If it’s accurate, only 54 cents on the dollar are actually even backed by T-Bills anymore.