Posted on 06/14/2011 6:52:19 AM PDT by Brookhaven
The Federal Reserve was set up to control the gradual increase of the money supply that is needed as our population expands and per capita wealth grows. Wealth increases in a productive society over time (for example, 100 years ago very few people owned a car, expensive electronics, or phones; now most do). The total dollars in circulation hundreds of years ago would not be enough to enable the economic system to work today; dollars would appreciate themselves out of existence if we never added to the dollar pile in some way or another.
Keeping it politically neutral was the key: if Congress directly controlled such a thing, politics would have rendered it impossible to be effective right from the beginning. Conversely, the government did not want a few large banks to dictate policy, as that would concentrate too much authority in the hands of a few. So a compromise was struck, most every bank is a shareholder in this central bank (which distributed authority while at the same time prevented politicians from tinkering with the money supply). If it goes bust, those banks lose. If it makes extra profit, it gets turned over to the U.S. Treasury.
What the audit the Fed people want is to do is bring the Federal Reserve more under the control of congress, which would make a political boondoggle out of central banking, and turn the Federal Reserve into just another toy for politicians to play with. On the other hand, one cant help but wonder if it has become too political already?
A politically neutral Fed would have told the administration and Congress of 2000 2008 Sorry, but were not lowering interest rates to free loan levels just to keep politicians happy. If the Fed is truly independent, it should not be in the business of fixing the mistakes of Congress. It should be just a bank that is owned by all other banks and functions solely to manage the money supply and some base interest rates.
It continues to behoove us to keep the Federal Reserve clean enough of politics to ensure that Washington will only play with the money it is given, and politicians are prevented from manipulating the Federal Reserve for political gain. We need some sort of responsible adult in the room to ensure monetary policy is administered in a truly apolitical fashion.
I propose that since Herman Cain has seen the Fed from the inside, has been a businessman trying to make a go of it in the free market, and is reaching a point in life where hes starting to think about the future more in terms of posteritys benefit rather than his own, he may just be uniquely qualified to be the adult in the room the country will need as President in 2012.
The “Federal” reserve is a Private Bank.
Much like “Federal Express” is a private mail shipper.
Federal Reserve Notes are Fiat Currency.
Kennedy signed executive order 11110
That was REAL US Currency, the only other real money is US Silver Coins and US Gold Coins made by the US Mint.
Article 1 section 10 of the US Constitution says NOTHING about the Federal Reserve setting monetary policy.
We should END THE FED
The problem here is that "adult" would have incredible power over the money supply. I think I would rather endure the wiles of the economic cycle rather than the whims of man and see the fed disbanded.
That being said I do think Cain is uniquely qualified to deal with the present structure and minimize the damage it does.
I believe this statement is wrong in itself. A money supply based on gold or silver does not need to increase. Greater productivity and a larger population with a stable amount of currency will actually allow for steadily falling prices. This is as it should be - as the economy becomes more productive, prices for items should fall, to the benefit of individual consumers and wage-earners
What we have now is - the economy is more productive, but prices still rise, because the FED (printing money for a spendthrift Govt) puts out even more printed money. They keep this extra productivity from reaching the consumer, as well as stealing your wages and savings by diluting the currency.
I like Cain, but I was not impressed with his interviews with Cavuto and Beck. He is saying the right things, but I don’t think he has the polish to get elected. I will need to see him improve a bit.
if the Presidential thing doesn’t work out for Herman he would make a great Sec. of the Treasury
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.