What do people think about our central banking system, mainly the federal reserve? Is it a good institution? Should we burn it to the ground and send the executives to the Guillotine? Whats wrong with it and how can we fix it? What do they do and how does it benefit us or curse us?
Schnitzel
Here is some info about them:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/default.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-09/wall_street/31040431_1_interest-rates-big-banks-member-banks
14 comments:
Well, I have heard people make jokes about our banking system, saying that only if we can prove that we don't need the money then we can have it. Now, we do need some way of monitoring and overseeing the currency, and economy of our country so if we must change our central banking system, we should do just that: change it, and not destroy it. As far as sending the people involved to the guillotine, I believe we should just reserve that device for people like Jeffry Dahmer and Josef Stalin.
Lauren Smith
I believe our baking system, especially the Federal Reserve is a bunch of bull shit. There should be no reason for anyone to have to over see the money that Americans make. It is our money that we earned so we should have responsibility over it. I understand that if someone were to rob a bank that the money that was taken will be replaced by the Federal Reserve but I think it was the peoples fault for putting the money in the bank to begin with. You should always have a safe secure place to put your money at and with people robbing banks, it just doesn't seem like the bank would be the safest place to put your money. The FED also tries to keep the pricing of materials down which is good but not right. If some local store owner wants to jack up the pricing on a bag of chips, let them do it, people should be smart enough not to buy a 10 dollar bag of chips. I personally just don't like the idea of the FED because they have too much control over the money that I earn. If the FED ever felt the need to take away my money, they could, that's just how much power that they have in the U.S. now.
John
I don't now that much about how the banking system works but from what I have learned history tells us a central banking system is necessary. I think we got into the issue we did when individual banks decided to start handing out favors. All of the favors added up and the bank lost out on interest and the people who where handed the favors dropped their end of deal. If a central system is going to work it has to be the same across the board regardless of if you are Joe on the corner or Sam the CEO. Rebecca S
There are pros and cons to having a bank system and the Federal Reserve. Banks are institutions that borrow money from you. That is why you can go there and demand them to return some or all of the money. They use the money for miscellaneous reasons, meaning they spend the money that you lent them. In order to have enough money in the bank for us to retrieve, the Federal Reserve is there to give them enough money to return the money. The Federal Reserve also regulates the items of prices in stores. This is needed because, without the Federal Reserve, stores could sell an eraser for 100 dollars. But most stores would not do that since they want their products to sell well, so the Federal Reserved is deemed useless to some people.
-Charlie
I think it's pretty much all bull shit. Who cares how much you make? Isn't one of those social norms one that asking about how much a person makes considered rude? The FED shouldn't stick there noses into places that no one really wants them.
On the other hand they are keeping the money in order, despite the way they are doing it. There is still no reason that should have the power they have now, it's unconventional. That should change, not be destroyed, but altered.
Katherine Stack
Schnitzel: I went to this site below for more information and understood only little of what is said there, but I'm guessing the points made here will make more sense to you than to me. Maybe you'll find some of this stuff useful.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/19-reasons-why-the-federal-reserve-is-at-the-heart-of-our-economic-problems
John W.
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the private banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
Thomas Jefferson
Where does money come from? You would think that question should be so simple that any 10-year-old child could answer it, but that is not the case. . . . The truth is that the vast majority of American adults cannot even answer that question. . . . We all use money every day; without money, our lives would fall apart fairly quickly. But most of us never stop to think about how money comes into existence.
The truth is that bankers are the source of all money in the United States. Either the Federal Reserve bankers create it, or individual bankers create it through the mechanism of fractional reserve banking. In both cases, it is bankers that are creating the money. In our financial system, the U.S. government cannot print money, and no individual citizens are allowed to create money. Rather, it is the bankers who have a complete and total monopoly on the creation of money in the United States.
Most of the time, any money that is created comes into existence as debt. Either the U.S. government goes into more debt when it gets more dollars from the Federal Reserve or individual Americans go into more debt when they take out loans from individual banks.
First, what happens when the U.S. government gets more money from the Federal Reserve?
Under our current system (which is fundamentally flawed), the U.S. government cannot just fire up the printing presses and print a bunch of dollars if it decides that more money needs to be produced.
Rather, if the U.S. government needs more money it asks the Federal Reserve for it.
So who is the Federal Reserve? Well, they are actually not part of the U.S. government. In fact, the Federal Reserve is about as "federal" as Federal Express is.
The Federal Reserve is actually a privately-owned central bank that has been given authority by the U.S. Congress to issues our currency, set our interest rates, and essentially run our economy.
Major problems arise when they don't do their jobs well, which is what we are seeing, and have been seeing, in America today.
Jon Cahn
First of all, this is an area where I’m not very knowledgeable, so I’m trying to piece together a basic understanding. It seems that the major problem is not the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve supervises and regulates banks, therefore maintaining stability of the financial system. The problem seems more related to the softening of laws that regulate the banks. This has allowed banks to gamble with people’s money with the goal of their own personal profit and greed. If the banks gamble with our money and go broke, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures deposits of $250,000. Assuming that this system needs improvements, the solution is not in destruction and murder, but is hopefully focused more on constructive reform.
-Sam
I do not know about our banking system. I do not understand the concept of inflation and deflation. However, I do understand that if money is controlled by private banks, then it would be a huge problem. These banks would be very corporate minded and will screw up normal and ordinary people.
-Nilay
I think that the system just needs to be kept in check and regulated correctly. It could work, we just need to ensure that. How to go about that or whether or not that is possible in our reality, though, I guess is the real debate.
Addison
It is a known fact that banks need our money to operated. That is why I see all banks as a business. This is a business that takes your money, uses your money, and then charges you for saving your money. This is all done LEGALLY and it’s all one big system. So do I trust banks? NO. However I am a responsible adult that keeps track of all receipts and finances. I know everything that goes in and out. You should never trust the bank to keep track, even though they do as well. They are only keeping track for the opportune moment to tac on charges. The only thing that I do trust is that the bank will do anything to make more money because at the end of the day it is just a business.
Missolo
Today, I assume most people believe that the central banking systems aren’t what they used to be: reliable. At any given time the banks can just take a turn for the worse and go under, which means there goes tons of people’s savings and whatnot. I realize you get a percentage of your savings and that sort of thing back if banks go under, but you don’t get all of what the banks lost—from what I understand. This isn’t really a topic I am all too familiar with, mostly because I am not at the point in my life where I really use a banking system for anything other than a checking account. Therefore, I don’t really know the major flaws, and ways to fix the system. I know it would be great to guarantee security so people felt as if they could trust their banks, but that probably isn’t something that’s going to happen.
Chelsey
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