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FED Conspiracy theories

mike3

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I'm wondering about this. What is it that makes the Federal Reserve system a popular target for conspiracy theories?
 
mike3 said:
I'm wondering about this. What is it that makes the Federal Reserve system a popular target for conspiracy theories?
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No clue, personally. They always complain about it being a private institution, but somehow I doubt their opinions would change if it were a legitimate government agency.
 
mike3 said:
I'm wondering about this. What is it that makes the Federal Reserve system a popular target for conspiracy theories?
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Decisions that the Fed makes and actions that they take have a very big impact on the overall economy, which in turn effect everybody in the country. How could it not be a ripe target for conspiracy theories.
 
I think the chief complaint about the Fed and other central banks is not that its some sinister conspiracy, but that its not run in the interests of most ordinary people.
 
Soily said:
I think the chief complaint about the Fed and other central banks is not that its some sinister conspiracy, but that its not run in the interests of most ordinary people.
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If thats true, its a pathetically weak argument. They could say the same thing about any economic or political institution (and would have just as little evidence for it too).
 
It's like the NIST of the financial world: a large entity with an obscure mandate, which does things that most Joe Blow CT types don't understand. Add in the distrust of "banksters" that's endemic to the CT mindset, and you're there.
 
Envy. Just like my feelings about the chap down the street that just bought a new Mercedes. He's GOT to be doing something fishy...
 
LightinDarkness said:
If thats true, its a pathetically weak argument. They could say the same thing about any economic or political institution (and would have just as little evidence for it too).
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That some bankers are greedy and reckless is hardly a contesious statement in light of the terrible damage they have wreaked around the world in the last 3 years. But it's really the whole system represented by the fed, the Bank of England etc, the politicians, the rating agencies and the regulators that has not been run in the interests of ordinary people. The evidence for that is all around you, in mangled public finances, unemployment, tax rises and savage government spending cuts. All things that affect ordinary people far more than they do the bankers and the oligarchs themselves.
 
Soily said:
I think the chief complaint about the Fed and other central banks is not that its some sinister conspiracy, but that its not run in the interests of most ordinary people.
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That's the same excuse they use against the government in general. Most of that is based on some bizarre belief that, "if nothing they do has a direct benefit to me, they don't work 'for the people'."
 
cwalner said:
Decisions that the Fed makes and actions that they take have a very big impact on the overall economy, which in turn effect everybody in the country. How could it not be a ripe target for conspiracy theories.
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That, and what the Fed does and how it is set up is not a simple matter to explain,and get to be highly technical.
 
Horatius said:
It's like the NIST of the financial world: a large entity with an obscure mandate, which does things that most Joe Blow CT types don't understand. Add in the distrust of "banksters" that's endemic to the CT mindset, and you're there.
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I freely admit that I don't have anything above a basic understanding of how the Fed Operates.
 
Soily said:
That some bankers are greedy and reckless is hardly a contesious statement in light of the terrible damage they have wreaked around the world in the last 3 years. But it's really the whole system represented by the fed, the Bank of England etc, the politicians, the rating agencies and the regulators that has not been run in the interests of ordinary people. The evidence for that is all around you, in mangled public finances, unemployment, tax rises and savage government spending cuts. All things that affect ordinary people far more than they do the bankers and the oligarchs themselves.
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Is Oligarch the new Lefty word for "Evil Capitalists?".
 
Cl1mh4224rd said:
That's the same excuse they use against the government in general. Most of that is based on some bizarre belief that, "if nothing they do has a direct benefit to me, they don't work 'for the people'."
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TO be accurate, you have just as many Left Wing Conspiracy Theories about the Fed as you do right wing ones.
 
I shudder to think how screwed up things might become if the FED did operate to benefit people directly. What makes the FED a necessary institution is that it often does things that are very unpopular and not directly beneficial to the masses because things need to be stabilized for the future. Controlling inflation, for example, is always unpopular in the immediate sense but think of how bad things would be if no one ever did it.
 
Travis said:
I shudder to think how screwed up things might become if the FED did operate to benefit people directly. What makes the FED a necessary institution is that it often does things that are very unpopular and not directly beneficial to the masses because things need to be stabilized for the future. Controlling inflation, for example, is always unpopular in the immediate sense but think of how bad things would be if no one ever did it.
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Yes because most people, during an era of vast money supply expansion, have experienced nothing but falling or static prices and increasing wages. And yes, that was sarcasm.
 
Soily said:
That some bankers are greedy and reckless is hardly a contesious statement in light of the terrible damage they have wreaked around the world in the last 3 years. But it's really the whole system represented by the fed, the Bank of England etc, the politicians, the rating agencies and the regulators that has not been run in the interests of ordinary people. The evidence for that is all around you, in mangled public finances, unemployment, tax rises and savage government spending cuts. All things that affect ordinary people far more than they do the bankers and the oligarchs themselves.
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I can see you've bought the frothing at the mouth populist rage party line, but that doesn't count for evidence.

The economy goes in cycles - it always has, it always will. It needs no malevolent force to do so.
 
Soily said:
Yes because most people, during an era of vast money supply expansion, have experienced nothing but falling or static prices and increasing wages. And yes, that was sarcasm.
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So let's destroy the future to bring about some short term alleviation for a short term problem. This is precisely why the FED shouldn't be doing just whatever is considered popular at the time. Populist currency supply policy has always led to ruin.
 
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