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What if the U.S. financial system is being run by an invisible hand – one with no accountability, no transparency, and no obligation to obey the Constitution?
That’s the premise explored by Tucker and Catherine in a powerful conversation revealing what may be the largest financial cover-up in U.S. history.
A Financial Coup D’état
According to financial expert Catherine Austin Fitts, the seeds of this “financial coup” were planted in 1995 after a failed budget deal led elites to give up on the U.S. government as a viable governance model for managing the global dollar system. By 1998, this shift turned operational: the U.S. government began bleeding funds through undisclosed, undocumented financial adjustments.
By 2015, $21 trillion in undocumentable adjustments had been identified in federal agency financial reports. The true amount may be far greater – possibly $50 trillion or more – but without access to classified banking records, the real figure remains unknown. Article: The Black Budget
The Hidden Shift: FASAB 56
In 2018, while the public was distracted by the Kavanaugh hearings, the federal government quietly passed Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) Statement 56, a radical change that effectively legalized secret financial transactions. Under FASAB 56, government agencies are no longer required to follow constitutional or legal disclosure rules. Instead, a secret panel can reclassify financial data, making it invisible to both Congress and the public.
This shift removed any obligation to reveal how taxpayer money is spent—whether by the Pentagon, federal agencies, or contractors. It also shielded major banks and corporations tied to government operations from legal and financial scrutiny.
Why Financial Statements Are Now Meaningless
With the implementation of FASAB 56, traditional financial disclosures – like those from the U.S. Treasury or Federal Reserve banks – have become effectively meaningless. Investors and citizens can no longer assess the true fiscal position of the U.S. government. Money can be shifted, hidden, or removed from the books entirely without oversight.
This has deeply corrupted the credibility of U.S. financial markets, according to Fitts, rendering major capital markets opaque and manipulated.
Systemic Immunity for the Powerful
The financial coup also involves a new global architecture. International entities like the BIS (Bank for International Settlements), IMF, World Bank, and even large university endowments like Harvard’s have become key players. These institutions often operate under sovereign or quasi-sovereign immunity, shielding them from prosecution and oversight.
As Fitts explains, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has chosen not to prosecute major banks like HSBC, effectively creating a kickback system: banks can break the law, pay a fine, and continue business as usual. The public covers the losses, while executives remain untouched.
Who’s Really in Charge?
The question of “Who controls the system?” remains murky. Fitts argues that real power lies with intergenerational pools of capital hidden from public view. Prominent organizations like the Harvard Corporation, which manages a $50+ billion tax-exempt endowment, may serve as global investment syndicates masked as educational institutions.
These syndicates leverage tax exemptions and university infrastructure to deploy capital, shape policy, and influence the global economy, with virtually no public accountability.
The Collapse of Higher Education and Culture
The discussion ends with a critique of U.S. higher education and the broader cultural decline. Despite skyrocketing tuition costs, universities have become bloated, bureaucratic, and disconnected from real learning. The traditional university model, Fitts says, is no longer a sound investment for families—and it’s failing to produce the capable administrators and moral leadership needed to manage global systems.
The West, she argues, has lost its “agreement capability”: the cultural capacity to build trust, honor commitments, and collaborate effectively across generations and borders. Without this, no empire – unipolar or multipolar – can sustain itself.
Final Thoughts
The $21 trillion “missing money” is more than just an accounting mystery, it may be the symptom of a much deeper transformation in how America is governed.
As financial secrecy expands and public accountability shrinks, the question remains: Who owns the system, and for whom does it really work?