Post your thoughts and comments about this blog post.

And how many of us have even heard of this bank before? The more I read about this the more frightening it is becoming. This bank is like another Federal Reserve controlling the money supply but with who knows what level of oversight.

FDR has always been hailed as the savior but I'm now wondering if he created a monster.

Could it be that this failure is a direct result of the practice of banks lending out more than they actually hold in deposit? Especially when compounded by asinine loan officers and loose lending criteria. But, then again...when banks are more selective and careful with credit applications they are accused of being "unfair" to potential customers.



Seems like there is a very delicate balance to strike between extending credit intelligently and having a profitable business, as opposed to ending in abject failure, requiring more "federal" money.



Perhaps, some of the trouble in the economy can be shared with Federal Reserve policies extending through multiple administrations of both parties.



But, let's not let facts get in the way. Let's scream from the rooftops "see, see...the Republicans suck" which is the implicit message here vis-a-vis the connection to whining and of course, you know, Phil Gramm.



File under: Teh LeftNut

The repugnicans destroyed the regulatory system and now you want to blame the democrats becuase you destroyed the regulatory system. I think Graham is right repugnicans are suffering from a national scitzoprenia. Graham was the one to take regulation off the banking industry and now you and Graham want to blame someone else when the house of cards comes tumbling down. Don't bogart that joint my friend pass it over to me.

I remember this scene from blazing saddles where the black sheriff holds a gun to his own head and says stop or I'll shoot the ni__ er. Well thats what repugnicans have been doing for 8 years. Bush says pass this bill exactly as I want it or I will veto it, the repugnicans in congress say pass this bill exactly like Bush wants it or we will filobuster it to death. So Bush and the repugnicans get the exact bill they want and then blame it on the democrats becuase they voted for it.

okey dokey - if that makes you feel better

I remember this scene from blazing saddles where the black sheriff holds a gun to his own head and says stop or I'll shoot the ni__ er. Well thats what repugnicans have been doing for 8 years. Bush says pass this bill exactly as I want it or I will veto it, the repugnicans in congress say pass this bill exactly like Bush wants it or we will filobuster it to death. So Bush and the repugnicans get the exact bill they want and then blame it on the democrats becuase they voted for it.

And the banking problems have NOTHING TO DO with idiots who could not afford a house, who were TOLD by legit mortgage lenders that they could not afford a house, but who did an end around with SUB-PRIME MORTGAGES???

Yeah, you tell them Anglekisser. Those miscreants what couldn't afford a regular mortgage got one of those back alley loans.
This has its roots in the 1980's when Teflon Ron was in the White House. He followed republican Grover Norquist's mantra about decreasing the size of the Federal Government until it could be "Drowned in a bathtub". Remember the Savings and Loan failures that we had to pay for?
Neil bush and Silverado ring a bell?

Doesn't make me feel better but republicans have been in charge 100% for the last 7 years. So who am I to blame Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Carter. Come on if you got a team that is losing every game you don;'t blame the other team you fire the coach and get some new players.

There is NO QUESTION within my mind why we have all of these problems!!!!

The fact that everyone on this message system keeps talking about what is wrong like they know the cause, makes me wonder if you have brains of your own. Geez!!!

But you have it all figured out!! Maybe you should be running for President....

We have all read your posts. It is the same thing over and over. Conspiracy this. Conspiracy that.

The Federal Reserve is 'quasi-public' banking system. That is the way it was designed way back in 1913. It is another typical bureaucracy who is run by people of power who look out for themselves. Criticism of the system have been ongoing since 1920. Every year someone jumps on the bandwagon to abolish it. Maybe finally the time will come.

That is my opinion. I do not know if it is the cause of all our problems. I am sure it contributes in some way, shape or form. I also realize you just don't squash it tomorrow or pandemonium will occur.

"The increasingly numerous proponents of a gold standard persuasively argue that large budget deficits and large federal borrowing requirements would be difficult to finance under such a standard. Heavy claims against paper dollars, for the Treasury can legally borrow as many dollars as Congress authorizes.

But with unlimited dollar conversion into gold, the ability to issue dollar claims would be severely limited. Obviously if you cannot finance federal deficits, you cannot create them. Either taxes would then have to be raised or expenditures lowered. The restrictions of gold convertibility would therefore profoundly alter the politics of fiscal policy that have prevailed for half a century." Greenspan in 2005

What lawmaker is going to take away their checkbook? None.

Don't believe a word that Greenspan says. Greenspan is NOT on our side.

BTW, if you didn't think of me as one before, I'm an abolishionist

Also why Ron Paul was not taken seriously by the mainstream. Extremists never are.

Aren't all the world's major currencies (The Yen, Euro & Dollar) issued via a fiat monetary system, instead of being backed by a physical commodity (gold standard). What would be the advantage to reverting to the gold standard?

As far as a "One World Currency" issue raised in zeitgeist, the IMF held a forum on this very issue in 2000
One World, One Currency. Destiny or Delusion

Aren't all the world's major currencies (The Yen, Euro & Dollar) issued via a fiat monetary system, instead of being backed by a physical commodity (gold standard). What would be the advantage to reverting to the gold standard?

As far as a "One World Currency" issue raised in zeitgeist, the IMF held a forum on this very issue in 2000
One World, One Currency. Destiny or Delusion

The advantage to going on the gold standard is that money would have value again. There is only so much gold around. To not have gold so plentiful and all over the place (like we have the dollar) would keep the economy in check, so that we don't suffer inflation or deflation. Free market economy works, shifting value around from transaction to transaction. Prices don't go bonkers, and true savings can be had, because the sanctity and the value of the money doesn't change, because there is only so much of it. It also brings us to property rights, and a true free market economy that is prosperous because everyone can take advantage of the stability.

Three problems:

Gold standard can't handle increasing populations without serious problems, i.e. serious deflation (which is as bad as inflation). For every person you add to the population you would have to add gold to the pot...only place to get more gold is through war or trade (and we haven't been so good with trade)

In order for it to work, it has to move within our own country and not leave. a bit tricky with an enormous trade deficit.

Also, we tried before and failed: The Panic of 1837, the second greatest depression, when Jackson tried to return the nation to a metal standard.

The real root of the problem begins in 1793, Hamilton's Report on Manufactures, which sets us up to live in a system which ultimately requires us to consume more than we need, and produce only what we must.

You want to get out of it, the answer is simple. Simplicity. Consume only what you need, let the economy fail miserably until the consuming population comes back to its senses. It will be a bumpy ride, you may want to stock up on canned goods and solar panels.

Yes. All of the world's currencies are being issued via fiat monetary systems, and all stem from supra-national organizations...

The Panic of 1837, the second greatest depression, when Jackson tried to return the nation to a metal standard.

Thanks for the history lesson here. 2fat2ride will have have explain what he means by the hamilton report and its effect on us now.



So my real question for 2fat and Interest is where are we headed? Are all the fiat currencies of the world doomed?

I'm trying to grasp this , so be patient with me.
From what i've found so far, The History of FIAT money
1785-1861 - FIXED Gold standard 76 years
1862-1879 - FLOATING fiat currency 7 years
1880-1914 - FIXED Gold standard 34 years
1915-1925 - FLOATING Fiat currency 10 years
1926-1931 - FIXED Gold standard, 5 years
1931-1945 - FLOATING Fiat currency, 14 years
1945-1968 - FIXED - Gold standard, 26 years
1971 - FLOATING - Fiat currency, 5 months
1971-1973 - FIXED - Dollar standard, 2 years
1973-Present - FLOATING - Fiat currency

We've only ever switched to a floating Fiat currency to pay for wars. Once the Vietnam war's expenses grew more than our GDP could handle (and marshall plan aid was paid back by europe & Japan) a floating currency was again adopted. Since then is it fair to say we've entered the age of petrodollar hegemony?

The World Bank and the IMF are the holders of all of the fiat money. With this fact, it is true that they 'own' the entire world. It is true that they profit off of anything that goes on in the entire world, except the few places left that tribes don't use monetary standards. By 2012-2020, we'll see that no matter how hard we work, all of our money is going somewhere else. By definition, that is really slavery.

on my recent trip (to Mexico) with the human rights groups Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and Witness for Peace. (revealed to me) more than 2 million small farmers who have been displaced since (NAFTA) or with the nearly 270,000 Mexicans whose NAFTA-created factory jobs have moved to Asia. ... communities in southern Mexico where no working-age people remain. ...
. NAFTA has harmed the vast majority of Mexicans as well as working people in the U.S. ...
The next president of the United States needs to rethink U.S. trade policy, beginning with a renegotiation of NAFTA.
-Holly Williams, Lancaster

No doubt that the World Bank, IMF and USAID are all major players on the world's financial stage.
I think you're missing the trade component to all of this. There was a LTE in Sunday's paper and a tv commerical by T-Boone Pickens which put it all in perspective for me.
The letter was from Holly Williams entitled Mexico suffers

The Pickens plan highlights the transfer of money out of the country.
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So to me reverting to a gold standard because it would induce a true free market economy misses the mark. We've gotten ourselves in this boat because NAFTA (a free trade agreement) decimated Mexico's economy. Granting China Most Favored Nation status is decimating ours & Mexico's.


Couple that with going to war in Iraq to seize their oil resources and keep the dollar as the default trading currency. Again don't forget the IMF & world bank contracts Halliburton & Bechtel and to a lesser extent Blackwater are engaging in in Iraq.


So in summation this is all Friedmanesque true free market disaster capitalism in action. If this is where true free markets lead us, no thanks. I'll take a quasi-socialist system any day.

I'll take a quasi-socialist system any day.

Have no fear, we are headed down that path.