Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to government or social control so as to ensure that each citizen's basic needs are fulfilled Sounds like the Democratic party's basic platform. Here is an article about the Democrats in Congress who are members of the Socialist party. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29612 America is a socialist country because about 65% of the economy either works for government, or receives money from the government in the form of transfer payments or works for a private company who get's most of its business from government. John
Nice post. There is so much utter nonsense about socialism that comes from the US right. How many times must it be said that state intervention in the economy and a powerfull state does not necessarily equal socialism. Indeed, capitalism has frequently coexisted very easily with powerfull and oppressive states eg Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and Spain, Pinochet's Chile etc. European capitalism grew hand in glove with European imperialism through powerfull European states. If imperialism is not state intervention in the economy (somebody else's economy), I don't know what is. In more modern times successfull capitalist economies such as South Korea and Taiwan have grown in an environment of extensive state intervention in the economy - perhaps even because of it. Attempting to look at the role of the Fed in terms of capitalism vs socialism is just plain silly. Common sense says the Fed is capitalist in it's beliefs, ideology and actions. And common sense is right about this.
I suppose to answer the thread's question, the Fed is capitalistic because they have capitalized on weaknesses in the Constitution's design and capitalized on their power over the economy to create vast wealth for themselves and their associated commercial banks. While the organization may be capitalistic, that does not mean they are good for capitalism. They may even prefer non-capitalistic means of control. "Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalistic System was to debauch the currency. . . Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million can diagnose." John Maynard Keynes âThe study of money, above all other fields in economics, is one in which complexity is used to disguise truth or to evade truth, not to reveal it.â John Kenneth Galbraith "The decrease in purchasing power incurred by holders of money due to inflation imparts gains to the issuers of money." St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank Review "A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interest, combined in one mass; and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in banks." John C. Calhoun "You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out." Andrew Jackson "With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people.â Friedrich A. Hayek (1974 Nobel Prize - Economics) "Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effective than that which deludes them with paper money." Daniel Webster
prior to 1997 the UK didn't have a "Fed" - the central bank was not independant. and boy oh boy did they screw things up. then in 1997 it was made independant and set a target for long term stability. this is the best the British economy has ever been (in terms of long term growth and price stability). it's also worth pointing out that US long term growth and price stability is largely dependant on the Fed's cyclical approach. people in private financial organisations are increasingly short term driven (eg hedge funds) so they just won't do. imagine if there was no European Central Bank! if banks in random countries (with hugely varying economies) just printed their own money and it was all in a single currency!
Because of it? Surely you didn't read about KIA and etc going bankrupt. I think Singapore and so on are successful because their country is small(Like Lao Tzu said, managing a big country is like frying a small fish--- have to be careful). Direction of capital towards a certain sector either based on economic goals or based on connections(as is in Korea, ironically same for Russia and so on. France did it before too) is largely a socialist thing. As the lending/borrowing is based on connections more than on creditworthiness. And under the fascists in Italy or Nazis in Germany, I don't think any real market economy existed.
Best? Wasn't that in the 19th century? Don't forget, money supply growth in the UK is growing at a rapid 8-9% annually, go figure, any economy would boom under that.
To the first one: Issuers of credit? You mean commercial banks? How do banks profit from inflation? Unless you do Islamic banking which pays no interest on short term deposits To the latter: Fraud existed as well in Roman empire, with coins being devalued by cutting off a corner or something. In 1618, there was huge manipulation of coins in England, circa the Thirty Years War. Rather than explain why the Fed is a scam, you should try to explain a better way of setting up a lender of last resort to prevent a crash in the financial system during times of credit bubble explosions(unless financial system meltdown and reversion to barter economy is what you want)
The Fed is one socialistic component of our "modified capitalistic" economy. I personally think it has been better for us than it has been bad for us ( I'm sorry Ol' Hickory). I think it could possibly be enhanced some if it was de-politicized even further somehow. There is still the threat that another Nixon-like situation can arise. Is Bernanke a hack? Time will tell. Should the districts vote on their reps to the FOMC?
================== Napolean said give me a central bank & a kindergarten & i will rule the world Child may not necessarlly be a Jewish name ; Roth is. FED isnt fed government anymore than FDX is.