Who Will Control the Fed?

Aug 31, 2009

Politicians from both parties are trying to exploit widespread anger, sometimes striking a populist pose. Republicans played on resentment to government, accusing the Federal Reserve of interfering in the “free” market place, as if these companies could exist without taxpayer-provided life support.

Democrats took the opposite tack, criticizing the Federal Reserve for not regulating the banks and big financial companies enough, not protecting the consumer and the public.

Regulate the banks? What a laugh! The banks literally own the Federal Reserve. They are the “shareholders” in the twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks. Bankers make up the regional Federal Reserve Banks boards of directors, and they participate directly in the decision-making of the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C.

It is not the Federal Reserve that regulates the banks, but the bankers that regulate the Federal Reserve! The fact that Obama nominated Bernanke for a second term just means that the big banks approved of how Bernanke follows their orders.