The Fed does not represent you... but it has its hand in your Pocket

By Matt Collins (November 19, 2008)

By far one of the biggest shams ever foisted on the American public, the Fed is nothing more than the creation of "member" banks. Purportedly to achieve the goals outlined in their charter; their only real purpose is to grow their member banks balance sheets. Of course they'll never tell you that...instead you get Federal Reserve double-speak and the ex-CEO of Goldman Sachs in charge of our economic well-being (which he assumes to entail making charitable donations to his alma mater.)

The Fed's structure and operations are notoriously clandestine and obscure. They operate under a shroud of secrecy, they don't release minutes from their meetings until five years later, and - as New York Times reporter Edmund Andrews puts it - even expert policy analysts are usually dumbfounded by the Fed's decisions.

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Currency Controls rear their ugly Head

By Eric Roseman (November 19, 2008)

Indonesia announced foreign exchange controls last week, triggering the first round of restrictions on foreign currency trading. Other nations are sure to follow as economic growth falls off a cliff this quarter, compounded by plunging exports.

As the global financial crisis deepens and spreads to the real economy, more countries will resort to protectionist policies in the emerging markets, eventually imposing semi or hard foreign exchange controls.

The G-20 Summit last weekend in Washington saw a pledge by all members to keep trade flows free of protectionist sentiment. One of the catalysts of the 1930s Great Depression was the introduction of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which raised imports tariffs on foreign goods and, in some cases, shuttered access to U.S. markets. In retrospect, Smoot-Hawley was a disaster, prolonging the Depression in the United States and elsewhere until World War II commenced in September 1939.

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