Abolish the Fed

[floridarocks]

Can someone please explain why we should not abolish the Federal Reserve or explain why lawyers won't discuss the bankruptcy of the corporate US in 1933 the keeps us perpetually indebted to the international bankers. How rich are those Rothschilds anyway? Is there such a thing as kazillion?

[Rodney King]

I am amazed at the time and energy that you put in to your measured responses. These are all fine people, but they simply know absolutely nothing about economics. What is sad is that they have no idea how little they know. It's like you are Brooke Shields debating dieting with Rosie O'Donnel. I don't have the patience for it. Kudos to you.

[TopQuark]

Using the Rothschild name infers "super rich" to most people, not Jewish. People are too touchy on this subject.

Those of you who are offended do indeed have the right to be indignant: you are not prejudiced, pride yourself in being objective thinkers, and must feel offended when someone suspects the contrary.

When thinking of the world, many good people have in mind themselves and their friends, whom they also choose among the good. Consequently, they tend to underestimate the amount of evil in the world.

In particular, you probably have no idea how many people use "Rothschild" as a synonym not only for a Jew but, more specifically, for the alleged Jewish hegemony of the world, which we are supposed to see in "their" takeover of the newspapers, banks, and Hollywood. I do not know whether the person you were responding to is Jewish but, even if not, he/she is probably aware of that. For me, too, the phrase "and others of their ilk" would raise the flags: this is the kind of language the conspiracy theorists use for "Jewish domination." When speaking of the financial system they would say "Greenspan and others of his ilk" (wink, wink -- as if we are supposed to understand).

I am glad that you expressed your indignation, which indicates that you are free from such a debasing prejudice. But, given how often one hears such language ---- including in posts on FR --- please understand why some one may have been sensitive about your use of such language. Even if Nick Danger is not offended by this personally, it must be frustrating for him to spend time on composing detailed posts only to discover that he is facing a simple prejudice. I am glad you clarified it was not the case. Please do not be offended, thus.

[Rodney King]

Lots?.....Come now, cant you even name one more? Pretty Please? ;-)

Since I have to go to bed soon, here's some more:

Proprietary lists. Proprietary lists can include customer or client lists, patient lists or even mailing lists, whether they are made up of customers or prospects. Lists can be especially valuable to a business if the relationships they represent are ongoing. Consider, for example, a magazine's list of advertisers. The magazine may get 75 percent of its advertising revenue from the companies on that list, making it critical to the magazine's future profitability.

Beneficial contracts. Long-term contracts can add value to a company. For instance, a company may have a contract that allows it to sell it's products or services for a higher-than-normal markup or to buy or lease items below market value.

Patents. The worth of patents depends on the strength of the patent claim (which can be difficult to determine if the patent hasn't withstood litigation) and the patent's economic and legal life.

Copyrights. Copyrights are a little trickier to value than patents because, while they may have a long legal life, their practical value may be for a shorter time period. This is especially true for technical works that quickly become dated. The value of a copyright also depends on the author's previous success.

Trademarks and Brand Names. A brand name or trademark has value if it lets a company sell its product for a higher price or in greater quantity than its competition.

Subscription & Service Contracts. Subscriptions are especially important for newspapers, magazines and cable companies, because they derive most of their revenue from these sources. The longer both subscriptions and service contracts have been in effect, the more they are worth.

Franchise agreements. Franchises with long track records and well-recognized names have significantly greater value than newer, less unknown franchises.

Software. Many companies have developed proprietary software that is specific to their businesses. If this software provides efficiencies and benefits that the business wouldn't otherwise enjoy without this software, this also may add value.

Goodwill. Goodwill means many things to many people, but generally it refers to intangibles such as reputation and location that leads to repeat business. The term "goodwill" also has been defined as the amount over and above the fair market value of the assets in a going concern business.

[TopQuark]

Nick, You continually do a marvelous job of debunking the economic illiteracy that gets dragged through here. Thank you and God bless. LL Bump!

[TopQuark]

Nick, You continually do a marvelous job of debunking the economic illiteracy that gets dragged through here. Thank you and God bless. LL Bump!

[TopQuark]

. Even establishment economists will admit that (e.g. Lawrence Kudlow) and semi-establishment economists (e.g. Milton Friedman).

If you place Friedman below Kudlow --- who thus far has established himself only on CNBC, by repeating throughout the day only one sentence, "the Fed is not dropping interest rates fast enough" --- you should take a break from television, my friend.

[Nick Danger]

who is Americas lender? And who gets that interest money each year?

You can figure that out by going here, here and here.

The first one takes you to the Treasury Department, where you learn that the Treasury Department sells securities at more than 150 auctions held throughout the year. Anyone can place a bid. You can even buy them yourself, at a site called TreasuryDirect.

The second one takes you to the Bureau of Public Debt, where you find out that the Total Public Debt Outstanding is $3.4 trillion (as of Nov. 30).

The third takes you to a page where you can download a pdf of the Federal Reserve's annual report. On page 320 of that, you can see that all the Federal Reserve Banks combined hold $518.5 billion in U.S. Treasury Securities. In other words, they hold about 15% of the outstanding Treasury debt. The rest is held by the public.

Who gets the interest? Whoever owns the bonds. You could get some, just buy some treasury bills. Lots of people do. Lots of people also hold them indirectly, through money-market funds and the like. Most people keep the interest. The Federal Reserve does not; anything it has left after paying expenses is rebated to the Treasury. In most years this is about 85% of what it takes in.

Note that I did not "know" any of this. I looked it all up, in about three minutes, using Google. Anyone else could have done the same thing. This stuff is just not mysterious; I don't know why people talk as if all this stuff is shrouded in secrecy.

[Torie]

Excellent list. You must be an accountant. :)

[TopQuark]

Your earlier replies have confused me into thinking that you participate for the purpose of discussion. This particular post to which I am replying cannot be explained by this assumption.

Your attacks on Nick Danger are absolutely unfounded. Since Aristotle (perhaps since Socrates) it was a standard practice of a logician to show falsehood of something by mapping it to something else that has already been invalidated. It is to this extent that Nick Danger uses his analogy with Marxism. Behaving as a true scholar, he has explicated this point twice. If you don't get it after that, perhaps you should humbly take time to think rather than scream.

I try not to attribute motives to people. But your attacks on some secondary words in his writing, while deliberately ignoring his main points, lead to your hijacking of this thread. It is you whose incendiary allegations and accusations that led to polarization rather than discovery of common ground.

This hijacking is to the detriment of most readers of this thread who were fortunate to have benefited from Nick's knowledgeable exposition of the issues. It is not easy to explain a sconce, in one sitting, to someone who lacks the habit of disciplined thinking. Yet he did exactly that, with admirable skill --- until you showed up with petty points and accusations.

As I said, I do not know what your objectives are. It looks rather simply like... envy. Coupled with arrogant ignorance.

[TopQuark]

Is 14 an arbitrary number? Sure. As Spock once said, "Mr. Scott cannot give me exact figures, Admiral. Therefore... I will make a guess." This number is divisible by neither 4 nor 6, hence the term is less likely to expire with other political tenures.

[Rodney King]

A service contract is not information.

[Rodney King]

Proprietary software is not information either.

You asked for intangible assets, I gave you some. It's not my fault that you don't know what an intangible asset is. I don't go around arguing on college football threads, because I don't know anything about college football other than that my Alma Mater is (I think) the worst ever. You should think seriously about participating on any thread that require education on economics, banking, or accounting.

I actually do think that the Fed should be abolished, just not for any of the crazy reasons stated here. Hayek made a good case for it, you might want to start there.

[TopQuark]

Lots?.....Come now, cant you even name one more? Pretty Please? ;-)

Labor skills; goodwill (I do not mean in accounting terms) accrued to the firm from is interactions with the consumer; managerial expertise (subsumed partially in the first example).