Clagewag - I pointed out to Geo that the Fed is accountable to no one and can not be fired. Geo responded that the members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the prez and approved by the Senate, yet no one would argue that the Supreme Court is not part of the government.
The Supreme Court is created by the Constitution and was created as a branch of the government.
The Fed was neither.
It was not created by the Constitution which defines branches of the government not answerable to other branches. Any other federal government agencies are a division or agency of one of the existing branches created by the Constitution. Legislation can not create another branch of the Federal Government. Only an ammendment may do that.
The Federal Reserve was created by legislation, as a private corporation, without agency to any branch of the Federal Government, and is not accountable to any branch of the Federal Government.
It is fallacy that is it is a branch or agency of the government or a quasi-government agency.
And the difference is important. A wholly private corporation owned wholly by private banks has the authority and ability to print as much money as it wants and direct it as it sees fit. The Fed has created out of thin air, trillions of dollars in the last couple of years and to where did they direct that currency? They could have paid off every mortgage in the US with the currency it created and yet the Fed directed that money to the banks that own it. What does that tell you?
The Fed is now buying US treasuries, not directly from the US treasury, but from the primary dealers, who also happen to be the banks that own the Fed. The primary dealers buy treasuries from the US Treasury and they a week or so later sell them to the Federal Reserve for a profit. It is more free money for the banks.
Does the Fed really sound like a government agency created and run for the benefit of the citizenry?
