Earth to Firth. The Federal Reserve was founded in 1913. There have been several national banks, but they were always desolved after the need passed. Not the Federal Reserve. Americans are less educated now, and most don't see the danger of centralized banking.

And the identical story about the NHS appeared in the Telegraph. I don't know which rags you Brits believe in, but just type in the headline and you'll see the story everywhere.

And Medicare is being dissolved. The US has health insurance for the elderly, but it will be dismantled now that we have Obamacare. From the World Socialist Website:

The US budget deal: A new stage in the attack on the working class

...In his press conference Thursday morning, President Barack Obama made clear that the focus of the Democrats and Republicans will now turn to these programs [Medicare and Social Security]. "In the coming days and weeks," he said, "we should sit down and pursue a balanced approach to a responsible budget, a budget that grows our economy faster and shrinks our long-term deficits further."

Obama added, "The challenges we have right now are not short-term deficits; it's the long-term obligations that we have around things like Medicare and Social Security." As a result of the massive cuts already implemented, he said, short-term deficits have already fallen significantly.

Thus the government shutdown and threatened debt default have been used to establish the political conditions for the imposition of massively unpopular cuts to Social Security and Medicare, while making these cuts somehow appear "rational" and "moderate."