The Fed Explains the Fed

[2046]

PS. Without us, bad things would happen, so don't audit us or even think about abolishing us.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=aZjQKyLci1AM

Fed Intends to Hire Lobbyist in Campaign to Buttress Its Image

June 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve intends to hire a veteran lobbyist as it seeks to counter skepticism in Congress about the central bank’s growing power over the U.S. financial system, people familiar with the matter said.

Linda Robertson currently handles government, community and public affairs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and headed the Washington lobbying office of Enron Corp., the energy trading company that collapsed in 2002 after an accounting scandal. She was also an adviser to all three of the Clinton administration’s Treasury secretaries.

Robertson would help the Fed manage relations with lawmakers seeking greater oversight of a central bank that has used emergency powers to prevent Wall Street’s demise. While she wasn’t tied to Enron’s fraud, her association with the firm may raise questions, analysts said.

“Some members of Congress think there are votes in attacking the Fed” after it “unnecessarily and unwisely entangled monetary policy with fiscal policy,” said former St. Louis Fed President William Poole. “The Fed is going to have a tricky time of unwinding what has been done” and will need to “keep in touch with members of Congress more thoroughly,” said Poole, now senior fellow with the Cato Institute in Washington.

[Grames]

PS. Without us, bad things would happen, so don't audit us or even think about abolishing us.

I find the contrast of the fast-talking used car salesman guy and the childishly scrawled graphics hilarious, its so distracting I can't even listen to what the guy is saying. This is official? It doesn't look it.

[2046]

I find the contrast of the fast-talking used car salesman guy and the childishly scrawled graphics hilarious, its so distracting I can't even listen to what the guy is saying. This is official? It doesn't look it.

Yep. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. The overal attitude does seem to be used car salesman style of "propaganda for dummies." The other videos on their YT page are pretty horrendous too. Lol @ all the comments.

[CastleBravo]

I guess addressing us like 5 year olds is supposed to make us hate them less... OHMAN.

[Thales]

PS. Without us, bad things would happen, so don't audit us or even think about abolishing us.

Funny how they didn't mention the down side to lowering interest rates to near zero: risky investments that don't pay off. This is exasperated by the FDIC, which makes the banks feel safe even if they fail.

It's also funny how they talked about a stable monetary policy, when they are a big reason for the lack of stability! Inflationary policy has harmed the dollar greatly. Also, what are banks leveraged today, something like 30 to 1? 30 dollars invested for every one dollar in the bank. Back during free banking the typical bank was leveraged 2 to 1. The difference in stability is massive.

Some "backstop!"

Edited March 4, 2010 by Thales

[2046]

The Fed, perhaps inspired by Peter Schiff's book "How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes," has created propaganda a comic book to explain inflation. Except in this comic, the Fed is the hero.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/33376249/Comic-Inflation-1?autodown=pdf

[2046]

Okay so maybe these comics weren't inspired by Peter's book, but the Fed published a lot of them last year:

https://www.newyorkfed.org/publications/result.cfm?comics=1

If you want some laughs, try reading a couple of those. We just can't use gold for money anymore! It's out of date! Thank goodness the Fed is here to make sure the money supply grows at just the right rate!

[brian0918]

[Responding to comic]

Yeah, the paycheck has gone up, as the price of labor goes up with inflation, but their savings has become worthless.

[2046]

The Fed now explains: "Economics is Hard. Don't Let Bloggers Tell You Otherwise."

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fed-has-lost-it-publishes-essay-bashing-bloggers-tells-general-public-broadly-ignore-those-w

Some Fed economist (with a hard-earned Ph.D mind you) named Kartik Athreya (who lasted at Citigroup as an associate Vice President for a whopping 7 months before getting sacked in 1998 only to find solace for his expiring unemployment benefits in the public sector) has written the most idiotic "research" piece to come out of the Federal Reserve since 1913, and the Fed has written a lot of idiotic research since then - after all you don't destroy 98% of the dollar's purchasing power in 97 years with non-idiotic research. But this just takes the cake. In "Economics is Hard. Don’t Let Bloggers Tell You Otherwise" Kartik says: "I argue that neither non-economist bloggers, nor economists who portray economics —especially macroeconomic policy— as a simple enterprise with clear conclusions, are likely to contribute any insight to discussion of economics and, as a result, should be ignored by an open-minded lay public."

[2046]

Here's something interesting from Chairman of the New York Fed, Lee Bollinger, explaining back in July:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629804575324782605510168.html

Journalism Needs Government Help

The institutions of the press we have inherited are the result of a mixed system of public and private cooperation. Trusting the market alone to provide all the news coverage we need would mean venturing into the unknown—a risky proposition with a vital public institution hanging in the balance.