lewrockwell.com — The current Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, has openly boasted that the Federal Reserve caused the Great Depression. Of course the Fed’s guilt is not that controversial among free-market economists, but it’s interesting that most Americans still don’t grasp this most basic fact of US economic history.
Jul 10, 2006 View in Crawl 4
rushfanJul 10, 2006
The last time I tried explaining to people that the dollar was worthless that laughed at me and called me crazy. Maybe now people will realize their ignorance. I maintain that the Federal Reserve will lead to America's economic downfall.
jdog1016Jul 10, 2006
In spite of no longer having any real and tangible backing (like gold), the dollar certainly does have worth. Why wouldn't it? All worth is only perceived worth, lest diamonds would just be shiny rocks. The backing is in the perception.
mrkamikazeJul 10, 2006
And all our enemies needed to do was gather up all the dollars then straight trade it for our gold. Gold standard was not a good idea. Dollars being a part of our economy and GDP is better.
trigger0219Jul 10, 2006
Our whole system is based on debt through the money changers. The federal bank isn't owned by the feds, it's a private bank thats out to make money. It was started with only 10% of the money needed to open, but because of marginal reserve, the gov't fronted the rest... super system, eh?I agreed with many here that the system needs to be changed, the "Money Masters" video has lots of further information...(<a class="user" href="http://www.themoneymasters.com/),">http://www.themoneymasters.com/),</a> or on google video (<a class="user" href="http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22Money+Masters).">http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22Money+Masters).</a>
twinklyjesusJul 10, 2006
One of the tenets of writing is "know your audience." Here, I think the author assumed that the internet audience would be a bunch of "trekkies" or "LOTR freaks." He just blew it trying to be "hip."
twinklyjesusJul 10, 2006
"The Fed" didn't exist in the capacity to dump money at that time. The whole purpose of the depression was to bring about a situation that "The Fed" would be allowed to step in and intervene as the "Federal Reserve Bank." At that point, the group of banks (Chase Manhatten [Rockefeller] and others) could gain control of the US economy and capitalize (make money) off the interest on the money loaned to the Treasury Department by backing the currency. Viola! The FDIC was born!
redlibertyxJul 10, 2006
You're forgetting that the only way to increase the supply of gold would be to mine more of it. Paper money can be easily printed, therefore it can also easily be flooded or held back in the market place. It's inherently less stable, and given the right situations and correct handling can soften blows to the economy or even help economies on the upswing. The major problem, in my eyes anyways, is that the Fed often times tries to fix short term problems - the one exception being in the eighties when they successfully knocked back inflation for a decade or two - and since there's a lag effect within the Fed's practices it doesn't help much.In addition I wouldn't put Bernanke out as the most stable person to represent monetary policy. He, unlike Greenspan, doesn't quite understand his Public Relations purpose and he causes all sorts of problems because he is excessively open about different tasks ahead.