US Person is something of a constitutional literalist, as is Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), so he proposes to eliminate the Federal Reserve system and give its two main functions to new, separate institutions of banking and monetary policy. The power to create money should be returned to whom the Constitution gave it at the founding, Congress. One of Congress' enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8 is to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures." Pursuant to this explicit grant of power, a designated body of Congress should set monetary policy which directly "regulates the value" of all US money, not just coin. Granted this enumerated power has been historically interpreted to mean the power to mint coins. But in the age of computers where digital account entries expand and contract the nation's money supply, restricting the interpretation of the money clause to minting coins is nonsensical. United State Senators as the elected representatives of the people, should form a standing committee to set national monetary policy-- not a secretive, unaccountable group of private bankers who sit in the Federal Reserve as the Federal Open Market Committee. The Senate's Standing Committee on Monetary Policy, chaired by a member of the President's choosing, could then seek ratification of their decision by simple majority vote in Congress which would then direct the US Treasury to implement its policy decisions on money supply. The banking utility functions of the Federal Reserve should devolve to a system of state banks that might also include regional institutions to facilitate interstate and foreign transactions. A system of state banks existed in the United States before the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. North Dakota's banking needs in the middle of an energy boom are currently being met by a public bank with great success. Regulated state banks would be much more responsive to the business and consumer needs of their residents than a few behemoth banks in New York to big to fail or serve. The bankers of Wall Street that have such unwarranted power over our political system would be significantly reduced in their political influence, and unable to engage in extortion of the 99% that occurred in the Panic of 2008. Whatever the final shape of the fundamental bank reform, it is now clear even at street level, the current structure of the Federal Reserve is dysfunctional and needs to be replaced.
Monday, October 17, 2011
End the Fed
The 99% protest is spreading to more cities in the United States which is a good thing, but the moment is arriving for a few focused themes to emerge for dissemination to the opposition which is the corporate mass media. US Person proposes to "End the Fed". The demand could be one of a select few so as not to confuse the distracted wider public. The demand has the beauty of brevity, and it clearly focuses on the core problem of our fiat money system: money creation, so necessary for businesses to expand and thereby hire more workers, has come under the domination of big bankers through their private club, the Federal Reserve Bank. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) advocates placing the Federal Reserve within the Treasury Department. This reform would probably create more accountability for what is now an publicly unaccountable bank with the power to deflate or inflate the economy and affect the life of every US citizen. However, the proposal falls short because it does not address the problem of the concentration of wealth able to procure lackeys in high public office.
US Person is something of a constitutional literalist, as is Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), so he proposes to eliminate the Federal Reserve system and give its two main functions to new, separate institutions of banking and monetary policy. The power to create money should be returned to whom the Constitution gave it at the founding, Congress. One of Congress' enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8 is to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures." Pursuant to this explicit grant of power, a designated body of Congress should set monetary policy which directly "regulates the value" of all US money, not just coin. Granted this enumerated power has been historically interpreted to mean the power to mint coins. But in the age of computers where digital account entries expand and contract the nation's money supply, restricting the interpretation of the money clause to minting coins is nonsensical. United State Senators as the elected representatives of the people, should form a standing committee to set national monetary policy-- not a secretive, unaccountable group of private bankers who sit in the Federal Reserve as the Federal Open Market Committee. The Senate's Standing Committee on Monetary Policy, chaired by a member of the President's choosing, could then seek ratification of their decision by simple majority vote in Congress which would then direct the US Treasury to implement its policy decisions on money supply. The banking utility functions of the Federal Reserve should devolve to a system of state banks that might also include regional institutions to facilitate interstate and foreign transactions. A system of state banks existed in the United States before the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. North Dakota's banking needs in the middle of an energy boom are currently being met by a public bank with great success. Regulated state banks would be much more responsive to the business and consumer needs of their residents than a few behemoth banks in New York to big to fail or serve. The bankers of Wall Street that have such unwarranted power over our political system would be significantly reduced in their political influence, and unable to engage in extortion of the 99% that occurred in the Panic of 2008. Whatever the final shape of the fundamental bank reform, it is now clear even at street level, the current structure of the Federal Reserve is dysfunctional and needs to be replaced.
US Person is something of a constitutional literalist, as is Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), so he proposes to eliminate the Federal Reserve system and give its two main functions to new, separate institutions of banking and monetary policy. The power to create money should be returned to whom the Constitution gave it at the founding, Congress. One of Congress' enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8 is to "coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures." Pursuant to this explicit grant of power, a designated body of Congress should set monetary policy which directly "regulates the value" of all US money, not just coin. Granted this enumerated power has been historically interpreted to mean the power to mint coins. But in the age of computers where digital account entries expand and contract the nation's money supply, restricting the interpretation of the money clause to minting coins is nonsensical. United State Senators as the elected representatives of the people, should form a standing committee to set national monetary policy-- not a secretive, unaccountable group of private bankers who sit in the Federal Reserve as the Federal Open Market Committee. The Senate's Standing Committee on Monetary Policy, chaired by a member of the President's choosing, could then seek ratification of their decision by simple majority vote in Congress which would then direct the US Treasury to implement its policy decisions on money supply. The banking utility functions of the Federal Reserve should devolve to a system of state banks that might also include regional institutions to facilitate interstate and foreign transactions. A system of state banks existed in the United States before the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. North Dakota's banking needs in the middle of an energy boom are currently being met by a public bank with great success. Regulated state banks would be much more responsive to the business and consumer needs of their residents than a few behemoth banks in New York to big to fail or serve. The bankers of Wall Street that have such unwarranted power over our political system would be significantly reduced in their political influence, and unable to engage in extortion of the 99% that occurred in the Panic of 2008. Whatever the final shape of the fundamental bank reform, it is now clear even at street level, the current structure of the Federal Reserve is dysfunctional and needs to be replaced.