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Many people are wondering, what exactly is the Federal Reserve System (Fed)? The Fed was first started in 1913 with the passage of the Federal Reserve Act. As defined on Wikipedia, it is a quas- public/ quasi-private government entity. It is comprised of:: 1.a presidentially appointed Board of Governors, of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, DC.,2. the Federal Open Market Committee, 3. 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks in designated regions in the US operating as agents for the US Treasury (each with a 9 member board), 4. numerous member banks which subscribe to required amounts of non transferable stock in the Federal Reserve banks and 5. various advisory councils. Ben Bernake is the present Chairman of the Fed.The Fed is responsible for furnishing an elastic currency and the means of re discounting commercial paper to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States and for other purposes. Some of these "other purposes" include money supply, monetary policy, inflation/deflation, systemic risk and the role of the Central Bank. The Fed is viewed as the "bank of last resort" for the United States.
The powers of the Fed are so broad,and far reaching in its activities that now there is a move in Congress to rein in its authority. Ron Paul maintains that the Fed is: "being secret and clandestine and serving special interests." He has sponsored a bill that would audit the Fed's monetary policy decisions. Hearing on the bill's provisions are being debated in the House. One of the goals of this bill is to strengthen the Fed's commitment to consumer protection.
The Fed is on the counter attack saying that any attempt to curb their powers would lead to higher interest rates and raise fears of future inflation. These are the usual boiler plate objections to any new changes that would benefit the greater population.
Should the powers of the Fed be reined in?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-10-2009 @ 3:46PM
dmsm95363 said...
How are we, the public supposed to judge? We have little if any information on the Federal Reserve and their meetings are often private. Therefore, I suggest that the Federal Reserve give us more info. Another issue is what power do we have to change this organization is any ? Stop using U.S. money. Use other country's money as a median for exchange. Eliminate and outsource the Federal Reserves job. Much like they have influenced corporations to do. Accept everyone's money not only U.S. dollars.
7-29-2009 @ 3:41PM
Weirdshroom said...
Not only should the powers of the FED be reined in, but the FED should be abolished. The FED is the reason why we have run-away inflation in the US. The FED working together with Congress to be able to fund their unpopular laws just print the money, i.e. FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES, that they need, which in effect devalues the already existing money supply. That is they devalue every single dollar we have in our pockets by printing more dollars used to enforce laws they pass to control the US citizenry.