Federal Reserve
"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation." - John Adams
Federal Reserve At A Glance
I support:- Ending sales and capital gains taxes on gold and silver.
- Enforcement of contracts that use metals as payment
- Backing the dollar with gold
- HR 1207, The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009
Would you put your money in a bank that wasn't audited?
For generations few Americans felt it necessary to understand what it is that the Federal Reserve does. But when the Federal Reserve made this and last year's bailouts possible, in spite of the overwhelming public demand against doing so, people wanted to know more about this secretive institution. Now more Americans are learning each day how the Federal Reserve, the current U.S. version of a central bank, works and why it's time to rethink our monetary system.
Between the hidden inflation tax (loss of purchasing power) and the continuous loss of savings via the boom-bust cycle, all central banks destroy wealth. But given the dollar's status as the world reserve currency, the Federal Reserve has unprecedented capability to wreak havoc on a global scale.
The inflation tax results from the act of creating money out of thin air, an authority reserved for the Fed, which is not unlike counterfeiting. Every time a new dollar is created it reduces the value of all other dollars in existence - the dollars in your pocket, bank accounts, retirement accounts, etc. The inflation tax benefits certain groups above others, i.e. those closest to the Federal government and the banking industry. But the cruelest blow of the inflation tax is dealt to those with the least economic power - the poor. Rising prices caused by an ever-inflating money supply robs the poor of the little they have.
Since the Fed was created in 1913, the dollar has lost 96% of its value. Yet the Fed is responsible for containing inflation.
The boom-bust cycle is the result of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates. As free market economists have taught, interest rates cannot be set based on the whim of a committee or person. Interest rates are prices, and they are meaningful, critical signals to the business community directing where resources should be allocated. When interest rates are arbitrarily set, usually too low, the business community responds with unsustainable production - the boom. The unwinding of the boom, the bust, is the inevitable result of overproduction.
At the very least, we should know what the Fed is doing to our money. I support H.R. 1207, The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, which would allow, remarkably, the first full audit of the Fed.
We must know what the Fed is doing, what deals it makes with private bankers, what deals it makes with foreign central banks and what it is doing in our markets via the Federal Open Market Committee.
By taking this simple, reasonable step we can begin moving toward a more stable economy and maybe even guarantee that a dollar today is worth a dollar tomorrow.
Ultimately, I support a free market in money, which would mean ending the Federal Reserve.