4 ms·

Since the Fed is not property of the government, but rather an associtation of bankers Doesn't that mean that government is already out of Coin Manufacture?

• blackguardx 18y ago
  The U.S. Mint makes coins, not the Federal Reserve. They are two separate entities. To further complicate things, the Bureau of Engraving, still a different agency, is responsible for making bills. All these organizations are related to the U.S. Treasury, however. Our system is much more complex than Ron Paul and fellow gold standard libertarians would have you believe. They exploit this complexity for their own purposes. Because the system is hard to understand, they try to convince people into thinking that a simpler one would be better. This probably isn't the case, however. Sure, some simplifications could take place, but they would potentially have large impacts on our economy and society. Our system has evolved to become what it is today and any changes should be made with much consideration and caution. Macroeconomics is a very complicated field. There are many theories about macroeconomic behavior and none fully explain or predict all economic situations. In microeconomics, one can do experiments to test the various theories, but macroeconomics is another beast entirely. I would be wary of anyone who tells you that they fully understand how the economy works and has solutions to solve the problems of our day. The economy of the world is a very complex system. I do not pretend to understand it, but know enough to see that changes can have vast and unforeseen consequences.
  • dpatru 18y ago
    Of course any economic process, when you look at it closely, can appear complicated. To use an old example, think of all that is necessary to make an ordinary wood and graphite pencil. A depth-first investigation of the process shows that wood must be obtained, which requires access to forests, which requires permission to enter land, which implies that land boundaries exist and are recorded, which requires surveyors to determine boundaries, which require surveying schools, which require learning supplies, which among other things require ordinary pencils, so we're back at the start... My point is that it's not a requirement that one fully understands something before one can make suggestions. I don't have to be an expert in surveying school materials to be able to criticize the performance of a pencil. It's enough to have a general understanding. Similarly, it's not necessary to understand exactly how government makes money or through which agency (be it the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the US Mint, Bureau of Engraving, etc.) to criticize that fact that the money is under exclusive government control.