tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post565342489100199858..comments2023-09-29T06:58:20.125-07:00Comments on Badtux the Snarky Penguin: Inflation, Deflation, and the Federal ReserveBadTuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-6059201475358734812009-10-17T22:51:21.792-07:002009-10-17T22:51:21.792-07:00I answered that question above. I'm sorry that...I answered that question above. I'm sorry that you want to peddle deranged conspiracy theories rather than read my factual analysis of how the Federal Reserve is set up and governed and why it is set up and governed in that way, but so it goes. Next thing you're gonna be talking to me about is how Obama is gonna set up death camps for all Republicans, or some stupid shit like that? GAH! The Crazy, it burns it burns!<br /><br />- Badtux the "Where do these loonies come from?" PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-87426901370698269472009-10-16T13:17:00.171-07:002009-10-16T13:17:00.171-07:00You left out PRIVATLY OWNED ENTITY within US gover...You left out PRIVATLY OWNED ENTITY within US government.It is not part of the government so who is it's master.Who controls Federal Reserve.Why don't you watch the documentary Money Masters than try to answer Who controls Fed.Guillotine Mannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-21315863647392196432009-10-14T20:46:47.175-07:002009-10-14T20:46:47.175-07:00The Federal Reserve is an independent entity withi...The Federal Reserve is an independent entity within the U.S. government. See the above for a complete description of its ownership and governance and why it's done that way, duh.BadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-77963499324485813122009-10-14T11:56:28.500-07:002009-10-14T11:56:28.500-07:00Answer this than.Who owns Federal Reserve today an...Answer this than.Who owns Federal Reserve today and have been since Jackel Island.Guilottine mannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-41885408133112635112009-05-09T16:29:00.000-07:002009-05-09T16:29:00.000-07:00Thanks for a well-written post on an agency that's...Thanks for a well-written post on an agency that's misunderstood (at best). I'll bide my time and impress the hell out of somebody who brings up the Fed. Hope they don't wait too long. I'm forgetful in my old age.TampaDoughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12927689342520971279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-1749402196516090652009-05-08T08:00:00.000-07:002009-05-08T08:00:00.000-07:00What's more cynical and paranoid than thinking tha...What's more cynical and paranoid than thinking that giving a printing press that prints money to politicians is like giving whiskey to a drunk? Bad, bad idea, and we've had plenty of proof of that over the years. Are you saying that the European Central Bank is part of some giant conspiracy against America too? Because it was set up in pretty much the same way as the Fed, which is irritating European governments to no end right now because they want to print, baybee, print, and the ECB says "Nein!". <br /><br />Which just goes to show that even Europeans now know better than to put a printing press into the hands of politicians...<br /><br />- Badtux the Cynical PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-1805861767990458352009-05-08T01:16:00.000-07:002009-05-08T01:16:00.000-07:00I'd settle for the Fed to be controlled by some HO...I'd settle for the Fed to be controlled by some HONEST politicians. Pollies who were working for the best interests of the whole of the American population instead of their own job security <I>(see Arlen Specter)</I> or their campaign bribers <I>(see every mangy blue dawg DINO)</I>. Surely we can get some of those.<br /><br />Then the job of the angry, active American people is to keep them honest. If all that can't be done, the U.S. is toast. As I see it, I'm gonna win either way. I got a comfy place in the cheap seats and lotsa popcorn.<br /><br />Tux, I say you need to get more cynical and paranoid. Trust no one! Have you ever checked out <A HREF="http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">a blog called "The Automatic Earth"?</A> The guy (I assume he's male) behind it is mostly a compiler of articles and stat-laden opinion pieces from various semi-obscure, wonkish publications. He's somewhat of a doomster, but not one who revels in it. Imagine if Eeyore the Donkey had an econoblog. I've been expanding my viewpoint based on the voluminous stuff there.<br /><br />That reading reccy goes for you too Nunya! As if you don't have enough to plough through already.Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-19402857892923776932009-05-07T23:51:00.000-07:002009-05-07T23:51:00.000-07:00Dude, I have no idea why you trust politicians any...Dude, I have no idea why you trust politicians any more than you trust bankers. Giving either politicians *or* bankers all the power in the Federal Reserve would result in disaster. <br /><br />Luckily, as I pointed out, the Fed's governance gives *neither* all the power. Indeed, Ben Bernanke is an economist, not a banker, and not a politician. The Fed's independence from control by either bankers or politicians is sometimes an iffy thing, but is a goal that must continue to be pursued because history shows that if you allow the central bank to be controlled by either group, the result is typically a monetary disaster.BadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-5734268433429112002009-05-07T17:33:00.000-07:002009-05-07T17:33:00.000-07:00Then thank goodness we have hard-nosed federal off...Then <A HREF="http://sootandashes.blogspot.com/2009/05/heres-inspector-general-of-federal.html" REL="nofollow">thank goodness we have hard-nosed federal officials in charge of overseeing Teh Fed's activities, like the kick-arse, take-names woman in this YouTube.</A> She sure shows the Loony Lefty Congressman that she's on top of things when he starts asking her about tinfoil hat stuff like Teh Fed's "off balance sheet transactions". Nothing gets past that gal, nosiree!<br /><br />Do you think I characterise the conspiracy of bankmaggots as a Jewish one? To say that rich bastards are gaming the system to loot as much as they can get away with does not imply anything Jewish. Some may be Jews, most are Christians, there may be Muslims (hi, Saudis!), putative communists in China and atheists. The Magical Sky Being they do or do not believe in is of no import. What they really worship is money, because money is power.<br /><br />But hey, I'm a Loony Lefty. I should concede that everything's gonna be just fine. Nothing to see here folks, move along. No looky-lous.Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-28454537444637248132009-05-07T11:13:00.000-07:002009-05-07T11:13:00.000-07:00Bukko, Greenwald is not an economist and furthermo...Bukko, Greenwald is not an economist and furthermore, Greenwald's own ideological biases see nothing wrong with giving government itself the power to print all the money it wants to print, because like the loony right they confuse money with being wealth (it's not -- money is just a token of exchange, it's the assets you *buy* with money that are wealth). I.e., the radical left believes that the way to make Americans more wealthy is to just print more money, and then Americans will be wealthier. <br /><br />The Federal Reserve is in fact audited by the General Accounting Office, and has been so since 1978. There are certain areas that are off limits to the GAO, and open market operations are one of those because of the concern that allowing too much government oversight of the fundamental task of the Federal Reserve -- that of printing money -- will lead to a compromising of the Fed's independence when it comes to managing the money supply and thereby inevitably, history says, hyperinflation is the result. But the notion that there is no accountability at all at the Federal Reserve is utter nonsense. The member banks can, and do, audit the Federal Reserve regularly using private accounting firms because it's their fees that fund the Federal Reserve and they are officially the owners of the Federal Reserve. The Board of Governers, which, remember, is appointed by the PResident, also can and does audit the Federal Reserve regularly using private accounting firms. So this isn't a case of the Federal Reserve not being audited. This is a case of certain parts of the Federal Reserve -- the parts related to the creation of money -- being currently off limits to the GAO (but audited by both the banks' auditors and by the Board of Governors' auditors) out of fear that this would be the camel's nose that led to a loss of the Fed's independence and thus, inevitably, to hyperinflation and the death of the U.S. dollar as a credible currency. <br /><br />And if you now start nattering about a Jewish conspiracy of bankers blah blah blah... Uhm, no. This whole setup was deliberate, and configured to try to account for the self-interest of the various parties to keep each party from taking advantage of the Fed to enrich itself at the expense of others. Thus Congress is not allowed to control open market operations because that would allow Congress to enrich itself at the expense of a stable currency (i.e., at the expense of the banks and businesses that need a stable currency in order to conduct business), the banks are not allowed to control open market operations because that would possibly lead to them steering those funds their way, and otherwise there is a complex set of checks and balances here that has been built up over the years. Destroying the Fed's independence is in the best interests of no one -- not you, not me, no one -- because the end result of doing that will be the destruction of the U.S. dollar as a credible currency. Having talked to people who saw this kind of thing happen in the past, such as a Russian office-mate who saw turnips become the de-facto currency of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union and an elderly grandmother who saw teachers being paid in eggs and milk by the county during the Great Depression because all currency had disappeared under mattresses and the county could only collect goods in lieu of taxes because there literally was no money to collect and a tax sale would not have brought in any money either because nobody in the whole county had any money, I have a keen awareness of just how important a stable currency is to economic activity. If you don't have a stable currency, the economy grinds to a halt. It happened during the Great Depression, it happened during the collapse of the Soviet Union, it happened in Weimar Germany, and it could happen here if we muck too much with the Fed and give Congress too much control. The temptation for governments to just print money on demand is just too much, history shows, for the currency to last long past that point.<br /><br />- Badtux the Monetary PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-69311967889025325932009-05-07T10:57:00.000-07:002009-05-07T10:57:00.000-07:00Badtux, did you happen to see this article?
The...Badtux, did you happen to see this article? <br /><br /><br /><A HREF="http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4674.shtml" REL="nofollow">The Ron Paul phenomenon, Part 1: Evaluating the message </A> <br />By Geraldine Perry<br />Online Journal Contributing Writer<br />May 7, 2009, 00:26<br /><br />"...At the same time Paul was able to tap into the opposite end of the political spectrum by calling for a repeal of the 16th Amendment as a means of ending the income tax, and limiting government spending. Herein lies a conundrum because (rightly or wrongly) not only are the peace groups unlikely to support strictly limited government spending -- except insofar as reigning in war and militarism are concerned -- but a fair study of the income tax issue makes it clear that the Sixteenth Amendment did not grant the federal government any new taxing power, nor is it the source of the federal government’s power to impose income taxes. [1] [2]..."nunyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08833886980442919570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-31147399373548086762009-05-07T10:51:00.000-07:002009-05-07T10:51:00.000-07:00Some Loony Leftie named Glenn Greenwald says why t...<A HREF="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/05/07/oversight/index.html" REL="nofollow">Some Loony Leftie named Glenn Greenwald says why the Federal Reserve needs to be audited.</A>His last sentence: <I>"Who opposes an audit of the Fed's activities and why?"</I> That Loony Leftie -- agreeing with Ron Paul's bill. What a bunch of crazy people! Obviously not the Serious types who recognise that the rich and intelligent banker/politicians know exactly what they're doing, and will always do what's best for us Little Folks.Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.com