Shut Down the Federal Reserve?

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What to do with the Federal Reserve?

  • Shut Down the Federal Reserve

  • Nationalize the Federal Reserve

  • Make a full Audit before making a decision

  • Keep the Federal Reserve secret and semi-private


Results are only viewable after voting.

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Um, no if you had a gold coin standard, then the currency would be the most valuable to foreign nations.

Without a central bank, Congress would control the weights.

Without a central bank there would be less inflation.

Without a central bank there would be no banking cartel.

Fiat currency sucks, and was only invented to make the bankers richer.

Nothing beats free-banking. It worked fine until Lincoln replaced with a national banking Act and would've worked even better if the states hadn't made dumb regulations.

Not a single bit in there that is accurate.
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
And that "creation" is artificial. What we're seeing right now is the collapse of the artificial inflation of the economy because nothing is backing it up. The end result of unlimited borrowing is financial collapse. The fractional reserve banking model taught to you in school is a setup for failure. It only works until you reach a certain point of borrowing. What we're seeing now is borrowing in the trillions.. there's no way to pay it back.. especially with interest owed and derivatives owed. Our dollar is only worth 5% of what it was upon it's inception, and it is still getting worse. So please, educate us on what your college professor improperly taught you about our financial system.. grow up to be a banker and fleece some more countries of all their wealth in exchange for a fiat counterfeiting bank system.

We don't need a world bank.. or unelected officials controlling our money. We need people we can actually hold accountable if they fuck up.

There is plenty backing this economy. I love when people who probably haven't been outside this country claim that this country is built upon nothing.
 

JS80

Lifer
Oct 24, 2005
26,271
7
81
There is plenty backing this economy. I love when people who probably haven't been outside this country claim that this country is built upon nothing.

Yup, we generate $14 trillion of "nothing" each year lol. And shit, if this "nothing" allows me to have the lifestyle i have now vs some iPhone "maker" China, I'll take nothing every time.
 

wiretap

Senior member
Sep 28, 2006
642
0
71
Yup, we generate $14 trillion of "nothing" each year lol. And shit, if this "nothing" allows me to have the lifestyle i have now vs some iPhone "maker" China, I'll take nothing every time.
You should look at our debts sometime. They're starting to catch up with us. ;)
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
81
Um, no if you had a gold coin standard, then the currency would be the most valuable to foreign nations.

Without a central bank, Congress would control the weights.

Without a central bank there would be less inflation.

Without a central bank there would be no banking cartel.

Fiat currency sucks, and was only invented to make the bankers richer.

Nothing beats free-banking. It worked fine until Lincoln replaced with a national banking Act and would've worked even better if the states hadn't made dumb regulations.

Literally wrong on each and every point.

We had gold standard, the gov't was in control of it. Look up what happened in 1972.

As far as inflation and central bank independence goes :
http://www.econ.cudenver.edu/smith/...l Bank Independence and Macro Performance.pdf

Last 3 points are just dumb, no sense in refuting.
 
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TheDoc9

Senior member
May 26, 2006
264
0
0
Gold has been the standard throughout all of human history Halik. As before we will be back on it soon enough as evidence by every major country stocking up on the metal.

I know it's hard to believe and difficult to accept something that's the opposite of what you've been told all your life. But no amount of computers, ipads and cellphones have made nor can make us any 'smarter' than our ancestors. They failed when moving from gold and so will we, greed as it were...
 

Munky

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2005
9,372
0
76
auditing the Federal Reserve would completely undermine the entire point of the Federal Reserve.

Good to see that a solid majority understand this.

Yes, it will undermine the power a small group of central bankers have over the US economy, and reveal how they're abusing that power.
 

Munky

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2005
9,372
0
76
That would bring down the entire monetary system.

Care to explain? That would imply the entire monetary system is built on lies and fraud... which doesn't sound entirely unbelievable.
 

drebo

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2006
7,034
1
81
We had gold standard, the gov't was in control of it. Look up what happened in 1972.

The problem that happened in the 70s were a result of our price of gold being fixed and not being derived from market value. As such, foreign countries could come in and buy gold for far less than it was actually worth, devaluing the dollar.

Remove that constraint and a gold (or any other) standard would work just fine.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,858
6,393
126
Gold has been the standard throughout all of human history Halik. As before we will be back on it soon enough as evidence by every major country stocking up on the metal.

I know it's hard to believe and difficult to accept something that's the opposite of what you've been told all your life. But no amount of computers, ipads and cellphones have made nor can make us any 'smarter' than our ancestors. They failed when moving from gold and so will we, greed as it were...

Rags were Fashion, sewage was dumped from windows, Bandits controlled roadways...for thousands of years. We'll be back on it soon enough.

Our Ancestors were unsophisticated.
 

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
60
91
First of all if a country devalues its own monetary system or goes into default it is their problem because of bad financial decisions. If I borrow too much money, I dont expect free handouts either.

Let the strong prevail and take over the weak. During Tough economic times we should let weak companies fail and strong companies survive. This is a time when corrections are made to get rid of companies built on a weak economic premise.

This should be taken as a warning to you and me and the country that if we make too many bad decisions that our country's money will also become worthless and all our banks could fail.
 
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Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
First of all if a country devalues its own monetary system or goes into default it is their problem because of bad financial decisions. If I borrow too much money, I dont expect free handouts either.

Let the strong prevail and take over the weak. During Tough economic times we should let weak companies fail and strong companies survive. This is a time when corrections are made to get rid of companies built on a weak economic premise.

This should be taken as a warning to you and me and the country that if we make too many bad decisions that our country's money will also become worthless and all our banks could fail.

While this is good in principal, it tends to create monopolies.

Imagine if AMD tanked in this recession for a simple example.

Intel's market share immediately exceeds 99%.
Nvidia is suddenly the only game in town for discrete GPUs.
etc.

You can actually see a macrocosm of this occurring now with the banking system and the insurance agencies as well as big pharma. When deaths and mergers abound it is not necessarily the strongest that survive, but the strongest of the biggest.

Darwinism is not always the best for the business world.
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Spot on, ideas like this and removing the dept of education are overly simplified and have no basis in reality. Sure we can get rid of it but what replaces it? Vacuums of power and responsibility dont work out so well....

I am all for reform but throwing out the groundwork and framework would only make matters worse. Lets see if my kids act up and do something bad do I throw them out of the house or hold them accountable to their actions..

What vacuum of power would ensue from a shutdown of the Department of Education? The functions currently handled by it used to be handled by HHS when it was known as HEW. I have no issue with the Federal Government studying and providing advice and suggesting goals for education at a national level but the funding and control should be a state and local responsibility.
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
81
Gold has been the standard throughout all of human history Halik. As before we will be back on it soon enough as evidence by every major country stocking up on the metal.

I know it's hard to believe and difficult to accept something that's the opposite of what you've been told all your life. But no amount of computers, ipads and cellphones have made nor can make us any 'smarter' than our ancestors. They failed when moving from gold and so will we, greed as it were...

Cigarettes were the standard in WW2 POW camps, giant stone wheels where the standard in polynesia... it's all "representative money".

Why do you think that yellow metal with limited industrial use is somehow more fit to represent buying power than anything else?
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
81
The problem that happened in the 70s were a result of our price of gold being fixed and not being derived from market value. As such, foreign countries could come in and buy gold for far less than it was actually worth, devaluing the dollar.

Remove that constraint and a gold (or any other) standard would work just fine.

Right now there is a market process that determines value of dollar to gold... and silver... and everything else.
 

Tom

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
13,293
1
76
gold standard is idiotic. everything is worth what its worth, trying to define worth based on gold or any other artificial mechanism isn't going to change anything except constrain the markets ability to react, meaning the delayed reactions will be more pronounced.
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Gold has been the standard throughout all of human history Halik. As before we will be back on it soon enough as evidence by every major country stocking up on the metal.

I know it's hard to believe and difficult to accept something that's the opposite of what you've been told all your life. But no amount of computers, ipads and cellphones have made nor can make us any 'smarter' than our ancestors. They failed when moving from gold and so will we, greed as it were...

Slaves accepted, entire races were seen as inferior, the universe revolved around Earth, Monarchs ruled the world, the most enlightened societies believed in sea monsters and snake-headed women, all for thousands of years, some even more recent.

Momentum isn't a rational answer to problems.
 

wiretap

Senior member
Sep 28, 2006
642
0
71
THey are unsound? How so?
I don't know whether to waste my time driving home over 100 points of why it's unsound, or if you're just playing stupid. In all honesty, you're probably just that dense and listen to the 24 hour news cycle and Obama's droning YES WE CAN voice of believing in a "jobless recovery". I'd rather not waste my time explaining every portion of why the economy is shrinking except the government sector, the dollar is shrinking, unemployment is rising even though the bureau of labor and statistics is claiming it's shrinking, companies are moving out of the country, the debt is growing.. etc.
 

halik

Lifer
Oct 10, 2000
25,696
1
81
I don't know whether to waste my time driving home over 100 points of why it's unsound, or if you're just playing stupid. In all honesty, you're probably just that dense and listen to the 24 hour news cycle and Obama's droning YES WE CAN voice of believing in a "jobless recovery". I'd rather not waste my time explaining every portion of why the economy is shrinking except the government sector, the dollar is shrinking, unemployment is rising even though the bureau of labor and statistics is claiming it's shrinking, companies are moving out of the country, the debt is growing.. etc.

Interestingly enough, our chief economics says the indicators are just the opposite. Non-farm payrolls bottomed out, durable goods up etc etc. Employment is a lagging indicator, so if you're basing your view mostly on that, you'll be late to the party.