So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

[Mega]

Its like watching the Twin towns fall after they where hit by the planes (& WTC7 fall all by its self!)
http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/for...owtopic=168477
Mike

[cmalbatros]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

Bills face after interview clip - priceless. Loved his videos, "Moneymasters" & "Secret of Oz" a must watch for everyone.

[shiny!]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

This was a fantastic clip- thanks for posting.

I would really like EJ or FRED's opinion on Bill Still's ideas. He makes a lot of sense to me, but what do I know? Eliminating the Bankers' ability to create money and loan it to Government, thereby eliminating Sovereign debt... it's so simple. Is there some big "GOTCHA" that I don't see?

[aaron]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

Is there some big "GOTCHA" that I don't see

Inflation

[brent217]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

This was a fantastic clip- thanks for posting.

I would really like EJ or FRED's opinion on Bill Still's ideas. He makes a lot of sense to me, but what do I know? Eliminating the Bankers' ability to create money and loan it to Government, thereby eliminating Sovereign debt... it's so simple. Is there some big "GOTCHA" that I don't see?

Someone has to create the money, and whoever does it controls the country. If parliment/congress can create the money, then the problem is always over promising voters, printing too much, and inflation. If bankers/merchants control the money creation then debt is created when they loan it out to governments and other entities and eventually the interest on the debt becomes larger than the real economy, driving the economy into permanent depression. If noone can create money (a precious metals standard) than the growth rate of the economy is limited by the rate of mining, and deflation happens often. As a result, in the long run, the only good solution is to put me in charge.

[aaron]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

If noone can create money (a precious metals standard) than the growth rate of the economy is limited by the rate of mining, and deflation happens often.

I doubt that is correct and is quite an assumption.

No system is perfect. But, at least a precious metals standard keeps things honest(er). At this point, an honest system would generate a huge amount of growth. Who the bleep wants to work hard in a system like the one we live in now.

[c1ue]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

If noone can create money (a precious metals standard) than the growth rate of the economy is limited by the rate of mining, and deflation happens often. As a result, in the long run, the only good solution is to put me in charge.

This statement is untrue, unless you're literally talking about carrying around gold and silver to use as payments and outlawing all other forms of payment.

Every credit card, every bank account, every airline/concert/sports ticket, foreign currency ad infinitum offer ways to 'create money'.

There is also fraud, devaluation (a la FDR), fractional reserve lending, etc etc.

Switching to a hard money standard might be a victory in battle against money printing, but it would be a lost economic war with the ultra wealthy.

I suggest looking at the political and economic conditions behind the 'Cross of Gold' speech given by William Jennings Bryan more than 100 years ago.

[shiny!]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

Inflation

Worse than what we've had under 98 years of the Fed?

[shiny!]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

Someone has to create the money, and whoever does it controls the country. If parliment/congress can create the money, then the problem is always over promising voters, printing too much, and inflation.

At least elected officials are elected. If people don't like the job they are doing they can be unelected. The Fed is not elected. It is not accountable to the American people. Its loyalty is to the banks.

If bankers/merchants control the money creation then debt is created when they loan it out to governments and other entities and eventually the interest on the debt becomes larger than the real economy, driving the economy into permanent depression. If noone can create money (a precious metals standard) than the growth rate of the economy is limited by the rate of mining, and deflation happens often. As a result, in the long run, the only good solution is to put me in charge.

My concern with a gold standard is who controls the gold. Switching to a gold standard would put even more power into the hands of the elite.

[lektrode]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

Bills face after interview clip - priceless.....

almost as entertaining as watching slugman make his comment about staging an alien invasion...

and in the "things i thot i would _never_ hear my self say" dept:

lets here it for the communist senator from VT...

GO BERNIE!!! (tho i guess this is somewhat old news now...)

http://nexus.2012info.ca/forum/showt...-Audit-Results

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders
United States Senator for Vermont
July 24th, 2011

The Fed Audit

The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. An amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Wall Street reform law passed one year ago this week directed the Government Accountability Office to conduct the study. "As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world," said Sanders. "This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you're-on-your-own individualism for everyone else."

Among the investigation's key findings is that the Fed unilaterally provided trillions of dollars in financial assistance to foreign banks and corporations from South Korea to Scotland, according to the GAO report. "No agency of the United States government should be allowed to bailout a foreign bank or corporation without the direct approval of Congress and the president," Sanders said.

The non-partisan, investigative arm of Congress also determined that the Fed lacks a comprehensive system to deal with conflicts of interest, despite the serious potential for abuse. In fact, according to the report, the Fed provided conflict of interest waivers to employees and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and corporations that were given emergency loans.

For example, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase served on the New York Fed's board of directors at the same time that his bank received more than $390 billion in financial assistance from the Fed. Moreover, JP Morgan Chase served as one of the clearing banks for the Fed's emergency lending programs.

In another disturbing finding, the GAO said that on Sept. 19, 2008, William Dudley, who is now the New York Fed president, was granted a waiver to let him keep investments in AIG and General Electric at the same time AIG and GE were given bailout funds. One reason the Fed did not make Dudley sell his holdings, according to the audit, was that it might have created the appearance of a conflict of interest.

[ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!! created 'an appearance' ???? ]

To Sanders, the conclusion is simple. "No one who works for a firm receiving direct financial assistance from the Fed should be allowed to sit on the Fed's board of directors or be employed by the Fed," he said.

The investigation also revealed that the Fed outsourced most of its emergency lending programs to private contractors, many of which also were recipients of extremely low-interest and then-secret loans.

The Fed outsourced virtually all of the operations of their emergency lending programs to private contractors like JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. The same firms also received trillions of dollars in Fed loans at near-zero interest rates. Altogether some two-thirds of the contracts that the Fed awarded to manage its emergency lending programs were no-bid contracts. Morgan Stanley was given the largest no-bid contract worth $108.4 million to help manage the Fed bailout of AIG.

A more detailed GAO investigation into potential conflicts of interest at the Fed is due on Oct. 18, but Sanders said one thing already is abundantly clear. "The Federal Reserve must be reformed to serve the needs of working families, not just CEOs on Wall Street."

To read the GAO report, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-696

http://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/n...3-62060dcbb3c3

-----------

amazing aint it?
at the end of 2008, they were all essentially BANKRUPT and the very next year, after the dems (controlling all THREE branches of the .gov) 'saved the system', they then pay themselves BILLIONS in bonuses?

WHERE IS OUR, as in: WE THE PEOPLE - PAYBACK ?
so far all we have seen, in return for another several TRILLIONS IN DEBT?
is HIGHER PRICES ACROSS THE BOARD, for everything except labor and the values of our houses

while that idiot SOB krugman sez we need more inflation?

[seobook]

Re: So, we now know where the FED's money went (Shocking)

This was a fantastic clip- thanks for posting.

I would really like EJ or FRED's opinion on Bill Still's ideas. He makes a lot of sense to me, but what do I know? Eliminating the Bankers' ability to create money and loan it to Government, thereby eliminating Sovereign debt... it's so simple. Is there some big "GOTCHA" that I don't see?

1.) I think if banks can't do fractional reserve lending then the interest rates on loans would need to be higher to compensate for their diminished ability to lend. That said, if you lower the leverage in the system prices would naturally come down to where you did not need as much money to buy certain products & services.

2.) There would be fewer bubbles & of a smaller magnitude. Generally that would be a good thing, but some bubbles may produce some valuable innovations that might take longer to come to be without a bubble. That said, 47 million people on food stamps & retired people getting paid nothing on their savings unless they gamble it in the market while the Federal Reserve prints prints prints is pretty crappy too.

3.) The "inflation" angle is one that is often highlighted, but the government can be forced to have balanced budgets & only grow money supply inline with population growth rates. Some exceptions (like time of war) can be made, however one would have to be quite strict with how they defined "time of war" as we are constantly in at least one (and part of the definition would likely need to contain timely payback requirements for war spending as well). I think one thing that would help with the war stuff is that anyone who put us in war in part by using lies should stand trial for treason & treated in the exact same way as we treat the disposed leaders of countries we overtake...that (or some sort of debt crash that completely implodes the government) is probably one of the few ways to stop the perpetual war machine.

If one honestly & objectively looks at current inflation the government is already pretty shady with it. eg: 2% increase = stable, sorry but we stole your SSI & spent it on fraudulent wars, Boskin's hedonic quality adjustments & substitutions & geometric weighting & "core inflation" (without food and energy) & so on are not particularly honest either (see also: BPP).