Except its true.

RayR posted a link above to a great book detailing it all.

DrMaddVibe wrote:

Nonsense%

The Fed was chartered by Congress and is governed by numerous laws since passed by Congress and signed into law by what ever President was in office at the time. Last I checked Congress acts as the representatives of the people so as long as their actions are consistent with those mandates then in fact their actions by extension are approved by the people. Everything the Fed does is by direction of Congress. The idea that they make up their own rules as the go along is preposterous.

Perhaps a Civics refresher course is needed. Congress passes laws that specifies broad mandates which act as a framework. In most cases it simply specifies what agency is tasked with making up the rules and providing oversight. However, Congress doesn’t specify exactly every little nuance about what the agency does. Sorry but I don’t think Congress specifies the toilet paper color or the air freshener. They leave that up to the agency tasked with the framework. Then Congress performs oversight to ensure the agency is functioning as directed. The Fed is simply another agency that happens to be quasi-public.

As far as the fraud of mismanagement of monetary policy which has robbed people of their savings and pensions is concerned that’s equally preposterous. I’ve taken a few college level economics classes which fought me that macroeconomics is most unpredictable. It is beyond foolish to think that anything better than an educated guess is possible. There are simply to many variables that depending on how they interact can cause the best laid plans to come unraveled.

I get you have an axe to grind for some reason. Perhaps you’ve watched a few YouTube videos produced by some conspiracy theorist. Maybe you made a few chitty and ill advised investments that went south. Who knows? Regardless Congress desperately needs to perform its oversight function with regards to the Fed.

Abrignac wrote:

Nonsense

The Fed was chartered by Congress and is governed by numerous laws since passed by Congress and signed into law by what ever President was in office at the time. Last I checked Congress acts as the representatives of the people so as long as their actions are consistent with those mandates then in fact their actions by extension are approved by the people. Everything the Fed does is by direction of Congress. The idea that they make up their own rules as the go along is preposterous.

Perhaps a Civics refresher course is needed. Congress passes laws that specifies broad mandates which act as a framework. In most cases it simply specifies what agency is tasked with making up the rules and providing oversight. However, Congress doesn’t specify exactly every little nuance about what the agency does. Sorry but I don’t think Congress specifies the toilet paper color or the air freshener. They leave that up to the agency tasked with the framework. Then Congress performs oversight to ensure the agency is functioning as directed. The Fed is simply another agency that happens to be quasi-public.

As far as the fraud of mismanagement of monetary policy which has robbed people of their savings and pensions is concerned that’s equally preposterous. I’ve taken a few college level economics classes which fought me that macroeconomics is most unpredictable. It is beyond foolish to think that anything better than an educated guess is possible. There are simply to many variables that depending on how they interact can cause the best laid plans to come unraveled.

I get you have an axe to grind for some reason. Perhaps you’ve watched a few YouTube videos produced by some conspiracy theorist. Maybe you made a few chitty and ill advised investments that went south. Who knows? Regardless Congress desperately needs to perform its oversight function with regards to the Fed.

Abrignac wrote:

I was agreeing with you. I have a copy of "A creature from Jekyll Island" on my bookshelf.

I've hiked that island, walked right past the hotel where it all went down.

RobertHively wrote:

I’m not grinding an axe. I’m just joining the discussion. The FED is managed by political appointees and it is not audited by a third party. Congress has zero control over FED decisions. The FED has failed in its mission of controlling inflation and unemployment. As you point out from your study of economics, macroeconomic data is most unpredictable yet the FED is now using a “data driven” model based on short term macroeconomics. Printing money and increasing the money supply definitely decreases the buying power in people’s savings accounts regardless of whatever unsuccessful investments they have risked. That note is completely irrelevant. Agencies ran by political appointees such as the FDA, EPA and DEA make laws that do not go through Congress at all. Many of these laws infringe on the freedoms we have as citizens. Just because an agency or department is commissioned by Congress doesn’t necessarily mean that they are incapable of breaking the law or operating in a manner that is unconstitutional. Toilet paper and air freshener aside, basic libert and freedom is being dismantled. But I agree with one thing, a civics refresher is certainly in order.

jeebling wrote:

I was agreeing with you. I have a copy of "A creature from Jekyll Island" on my bookshelf.

I've hiked that island, walked right past the hotel where it all went down.

RobertHively wrote:

I have my dog-eared copy that I purchased many years ago. With over 600 pages, it was a page-turner for me, I read it every day until I finished it. The amount of research that went into that book is extraordinary.

Some people say there is no proposed plan to replace the FED. I know some people don't like book readin', but even Griffin amongst others laid out the steps that needed to be done. Whatever the case, abolishing the FED and the steps needed to return to a free market system will be painful, but if these 111 years of the FED's existence so far are any indication, the alternative is much worse.

RayR wrote:

I’ve no interest in reading a 600 page book about why and/or how the Fed should be dismantled. To fill that many pages it would either require a very nuanced plan or include quite a bit of opinion. So without some sort of preamble I’ll pass.

On the other hand it seems a fairly simple bullet list of objectives with plan of execution should be easy to articulate.

That said can anyone who believes we should dismantle the Fed post say a 10-15 step process? Not asking for details. Just a simple bullet list in the order things should be done.

Abrignac wrote:

My take on the Federal Reserve is what Ron Paul warned us all about. They need to be audited. It's a criminal enterprise.

DrMaddVibe wrote:

My argument is that the FED is the instrument of financial disaster. It has failed in its mission. The market economy can’t self-regulate under the FED.

jeebling wrote:

Fraud, of course. They have cheated middle class Americans out of their savings and retirement plans for the purpose of the political gain of the government. These changes they make to the monetary system are not approved by representation but by political appointees. This is fraud.

jeebling wrote:

I have zero problem with an audit, especially those performed on a regular basis, say quarterly?

rfenst wrote:

For Fenster #28:

Same here, but I've asked you multiple questions over the years and most of the time I get crickets. Though it is absolutely your prerogative if you don't want to answer. Sometimes, I don't get on CBID for up to close to a week. By then, too much in a thread has gone so "down hill' that I just don't want to start any new chit up again.

And I agree with that statement for the most part, but if you state your opinion up front it helps to eliminate the possibility of misinterpretation.(most of the time anyway) I thought if you posted an article that meant you agreed with it, at least to some extent, that's why I asked you in post #6 just to make sure. No. My posts of articles are subjects I find interesting and don't necessarily reflect my opinions.

Over the years I've read a lot, if not most, of your posts, and although a lot of the copy and paste leans liberal, you don't really seem that liberal to me, in the old school liberal sense. Is that accurate? Do you consider yourself a liberal? I am a "social liberal" in the sense that I am definitely pro-choice/anti-government interference as to abortion. I believe social policy can be used by government to address certain specific social issues, not nearly everything. I believe the border and all related unresolved immigration issues have been a mess for decades due to politics and such, and that it is getting worse. I believe that our country has no business spending more than it takes in/over-borrowing on a regular basis. I'd like to see government out of our lives as much as possible, but believe it is sometimes beneficial in certain matters, e.g. defense, infrastructure and the like, at a minimum.
...

So on your OP, the Federal Reserve, I think fractional reserve banking and the use of fiat money is a Ponzi scheme, destined for failure. I can't change that, but I can hedge against it with tangible commodities, like land, precious metals, growing my own food etc- just overall being more self reliant. To each his own on this one.

Ultimately, I think a lot of these debates are about if one has trust in our system, our institutions and our government. I see all of the flaws and hypocrisy on both sides and I walk the other way. I try to focus on what I can do as an individual. There are many ways around the system. I'm living proof of that. As am I, 100%. We each just like different "flavors."
....

RobertHively wrote:

Well...the Federal Reserve seems to feel that one isn't needed.

Ever.

What if...and I know it's a big if...but what if they opened the vault at Ft. Knox and there was NOTHING there?

DrMaddVibe wrote:

Why even bother?

rfenst wrote:

Well...the Federal Reserve seems to feel that one isn't needed.

Ever.

What if...and I know it's a big if...but what if they opened the vault at Ft. Knox and there was NOTHING there?

DrMaddVibe wrote: