The Federal Reserve is a cartel of private banks. Read The Creature From Jekyll Island. It lays out how the system works. What you need to know is that if a group controls the money, they control the government.
Or
Watch the first if these 12 videos. It will take about 90 minutes, but it is worth your time to understand our money.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7auQEXTWomA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
That book was full of errors. What a joke.