THE FED: YOUR 2 CENTS’ WORTH (okay, maybe 4)

1913 was a banner year.  Congress passed a law authorizing the Federal Reserve System: “It was created by the Congress to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system.” http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_12594.htm

After 100 years the case is clear: our monetary and financial system is not more safe, flexible, or stable.  It’s a mess.  The law establishing and authorizing “the Fed” is a bad one and Congress should repeal it.

The facts are jarring.  Your $1 today would buy a paltry 4 cents worth in 1913. You would need $24 today to buy what would have cost you just $1 in 1913.  You can run the numbers yourself at the Bureau of Labor Statistics here:  http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm.

It’s not that the stuff (called “goods” or “commodities”) has increased so much in value. It’s that the value of the money itself has decreased; each dollar is worth less and less.  Fact is, while money should represent the goods and be a valuable asset itself, it isn’t anymore.  It hasn’t been since governments began counterfeiting – or using an outfit like the Fed to do it for them – under the guise of “sound fiscal policy.”  Create more “money” out of thin air and the price of each commodity goes up.  Creating more “money” hasn’t created more commodities. There’s more “money” out there, but not more goods.  (That’s why it’s illegal for you to print more money. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfeit_money.  While you’d be getting a visit from the Secret Service, Janet Yellen would be out discussing a “basket of currencies” with some banker friends over coffee.)

The story of the Fed’s sneaky start has become more well known in recent years. It’s worth retelling and passing along.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu_VqX6J93k.

The Federal Reserve is not Federal.  It is not part of the United States government.  It is, essentially, private. The 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks – established by the Congress to act as the nation’s central banking system – are organized similarly to private corporations.  They issue shares of stock to their member banks. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, but the member banks are. Dividends on the stock are, by law, 6 percent per year. Not bad. http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm.

It is not a Reserve.  It counterfeits new “money” out of thin air to stay afloat. It claims to play the role of protector, conducting “stress” tests on smaller banks, but could not pass one itself.  By ordinary accounting standards applied to any other sector of commerce and business you could say it is bankrupt.  Despite its claim to being audited, it fights a real one. http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_12784.htm; http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2015/march/08/don-t-be-fooled-by-the-federal-reserve-s-anti-audit-propaganda/.

From a pragmatic point of view the law establishing the Fed hasn’t worked.  The financial system is teetering, trebling and tripping up at every peep out of the Fed.  From a moral point of view it has led to the massive confiscation of people’s savings through the depreciation of the dollar.  Consider a thousand dollars put away for savings in 1995, just 20 years ago. It would take you $1,560 in today’s money to buy the same amount of goods that you could have had for $1000 just 20 years ago.  $1000 of today’s money buys only $640.86 worth of 1995 goods.  In providing you with a “safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system,” Congress has cost you a big chunk of change.  And you thought you were saving your money.

Consider the following picture of the declining purchasing power of the consumer dollar under the Fed:

From http://economyinperspective.com/inflation.

Here is a chart of how the Fed has kept the monetary system “safe” and “stable” for Americans under US Presidents since 1913:

By the end of Roosevelt’s presidency in 1945, the value of one dollar was cut nearly in half to .55. (Roosevelt the Democrat picked up where Wilson the Democrat left off.)

By the end of the Nixon-Ford era in 1977, that half was cut over half again to .16. The dollar was 1/5th the value of the 1913 dollar. (Can’t leave out the work of the Republicans.)

By the end of Clinton’s presidency in 2001, it was 1/18th of its 1913 value: .06. Under Obama it’s down nearly 25 to 1, or .04 to the Dollar (Maybe the Democrats will finish what they started and kill it off completely.)

And now, for a graphic view of the destruction of the dollar under the Fed: