sounds reasonable

[Teazer]

Teazer, you love the slow pitch, don't you? You blew up my comments, creating strawmen along the way, then dismissed anything supporting them. Your grammar even got sloppy, tisk, tisk.

T33Z3R ftw kekeke !

How's the economy doing? How is the Fed doing in it's number one stated goal of maintaining financial stability? How have they done at preventing financial crises since their inception almost 100 years ago? Would you say Chrysler and GM going bankrupt is relevant to a discussion about the Fed?

Sure, the first part was crappy. Not particularly more so than without it though, but it gives people something to blame. The last 30 years have been pretty good, particularly considering the Fed doesn't control fiscal policy, nor many other areas of financial regulation which have all been destabilizing.

Right now, the amount of legal and policy changes going on by all branches of the government + other related bodies makes for difficulty in long run planning for companies and individuals. Personally I'd prefer the Fed to be less interventionist, but we'll really have to wait and see how well they've done when/if they manage to pull in the money they've created.
Chrysler & GM? IMO should have little to do with a discussion of the Fed, except where it & other governmental arms can facilitate pushing them through bankruptcy as fast as possible. Why, did you have something in mind?
On a wish list, I'd like the SEC to be more active in prosecution of its job, but since they are, and have been, easily constrained by Congress in terms of policy as well as budget, it looks like more of their workload will get pushed on the Fed who doesn't have such worries. I'd prefer that not happen, since right now the Fed's overall goals are clear, though difficult. With more goals comes more intervention, policy changes etc which disturb the markets more, as well as open the Fed up for greater influence from outsiders.

[Michael]

How's the economy doing?

The last 30 years have been pretty good, particularly considering the Fed doesn't control fiscal policy, nor many other areas of financial regulation which have all been destabilizing.

Fascinating, truly fascinating reply. Volcker takes interest up to 28% IIRC in '78, Greenspan brings it down to 1.5% in '05, and yet the Fed has nothing to do with fiscal policy and there's no connection between this and the economy, or the inflation when the monetary supply increased from 1 trillion to 14 trillion during that time period. The up and down of the money supply and interest rate, I suppose if I read you right, has nothing to do with the so-called business cycle. And things are "pretty good" because anything bad is irrelevant.

[Teazer]

You might want to look up the definitions of fiscal and monetary.

[Michael]

Yes, yes, I knew you'd say that. Keep splitting hairs.

[Michael]

Here is why when we're talking about the Federal Reserve it is ridiculous to pretend that they do not have a great influence on both monetary and financial policy.

Obama Regulatory Reform Plan Officially Establishes Banking Dictatorship In United States

“The final plan….is expected to sidestep most jurisdictional disputes and simply impose across the board standards to be applied by all financial regulators, according to administration and industry sources, ” reports the Washington Times.

In other words, the Fed, which is already totally unaccountable to Congress, is to be placed in complete control of the entirety of the U.S. financial system, to do as it wishes without repercussion.

As the LA Times reports, the government, in conjunction with the private Federal Reserve, would effectively have the clout to simply seize and take over any company it desires.

“The ’sweeping overhaul’ of the financial system detailed by Geithner on behalf of the Obama administration does not overhaul the system at all,” writes Prins, “giving the Fed a bigger role, creating a ‘council of regulators’ to oversee the existing oversight bodies and allowing the biggest Wall Street players to maintain their status, leaves the system intact.”

“The Federal Reserve is not a fully public entity. It has amassed a set of $7.87 trillion worth of facilities and other entities through which it has lavished cheap loans in return for questionable collateral from the banking system. It has kept the true nature of these transactions a secret despite numerous FOIA requests. And, it has actively promoted the creation of bigger institutions in a chaotic environment, rather than putting the brakes on the creation of these giants,” concludes Prins.