The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an Enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but Coin. If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered. -- Thomas Jefferson Well, men, I have to say I think Jimmy Rogers hit the nail on the head perfectly. Chalk all and any losses up to Bernanke and the Federal Reserve's seeming insistence that RECESSIONS are always bad, and should be fought. In fact, recessions are a healthy part of the business cycle, and should be welcomed as a means of clearing the deck of the weak and sickly, and preparing the ground for fertile ground going forward. Bernanke cut rates when he should have been raising them. Bernanke failed to raise rates when he should have. Bernanke printed money, expanding the money supply, when he should have been shrinking it. Bernanke used tax payer dollars, yours and mine, to selectively rescue the most reckless firms, such as Bear Stearns, and to open the discount window in perpetuity to financial institutions engaging in pure moral hazard, thus sheltering them from the folly of their actions, and even encouraging others to make even riskier bets, while knowing the Ben would be 'there for them,' in case those bets soured. And SOUR those bets have. And now we all pay for the sheer folly and utter incompetence that is the federal reserve and Mr. Benjamin Bernanke. Watch, absorb and bask in the sheer brilliance and directness of a true genius: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lTXEWh2yT_g&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lTXEWh2yT_g&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I think the Fed's mistake was not realizing how serious the mortgage meltdown was. They wasted a lot of time, then adopted half measures. Half measures that were enough to trash the dollar but not solve the problem. They should have acted aggressively, then cleaned up the mess later. Now they are stuck. They can't raise rates, and we will sit here and have a huge financial crisis anyway.
That quote from Jefferson implies deliberate creation of "inflation and deflation", e.g. economic chaos, not incompetence.
Jefferson's warning was so spot on to all Americans. If only out republic had heeded his words. Whether by intent or incompetence, or a combination of the two, what Jefferson warned against is precisely what we are witnessing today. I'm not old, and I'm not young. I'm not brilliant, nor am I dumb. I do know that we are at one of those rare moments in history, where the federal reserve's actions have endangered the very stability of the U.S. economy in ways rarely seen before.
What? Abolish the Fed? I wish! Central Banks own and govern the world. Too late to stop them. The sheeple don't understand what the gameplan is and so the transfer of wealth continues to owners whose wealth does not appear on any rich list. So if you know what they are up to, join the game and take the money cause if you can't beat them... join them. Roll on the Amero and the new union
you actually believe this b.s. about financial crisis to convine fed they should not raise rates to measely 4% so what if these mortgage or investment banks fail. the sub-prime mortgage business is over. by tightening credit lending,,there is less risk in the system. so the banks can't lend money with no money down. in stocks the margin 50%..why should homes be any different. the financial crisis is inflation and high oil prices.
The Fed cannot be abolished unless there is revolution, which is unlikely anyway. So we have to live with the fact the Fed will stay and economic cycles will be always with us. I would say that people on the top welcome the cycles so that the wealth can be transfered periodically into them from the middle class in the world. The middle class is cheated by this game. What we can do is to protect us by profiting from the cycles. My experience tells me that trading is intellectually boring to me; however, I have to do it in my spare time in order not to be cheated.
This is an interesting series of statements on many levels, and I believe that it contains some sublime wisdom. Why do you think Thomas Jefferson gave the warning he did, and do you think the hazard he warned against has transpired?
Jefferson was intelligent, and more importantly he loved his country and his people. If he were alive, very likely he would start another American revolution.