Reply #75: I disagree with the Fed for very different reasons from Ron Paul.

[Capitalocracy]

Why are conservatives against the Fed? One, because they're crazy and don't understand how stuff works. So they want the gold standard, because that's what the crazies have told them works. Two, the ones who are less crazy are already rich. They don't want the pie to ever get bigger. They think if the pie stays the same size, no matter how much the population grows, they'll always have the biggest piece. That's why they're always on about inflation this, inflation that, because they want their money to be safe and never lose value sitting in a Scrooge McDuckesque vault in their mansion not helping anyone. And they know if they ever had a gold standard, they'd be the only ones who had any.

OK, now here's why I'm against the Fed as it works today. I think we need a more democratic, egalitarian method of expanding the money supply. I think one good start would be printing money instead of taxing money for social programs, and making direct government loans to small businesses.

I think the Fed is too close to being a private enterprise, and there's a huge conflict of interest when it's staffed by bankers. Look how well the banks have done off of Fed policy. Coincidence?

I think it is bad that the only way we expand the money supply (which must be done with an increasing population) is by putting it in the hands of private banks to lend out with interest, allowing the banks to act as a filter deciding who gets access to the money. I don't know if you've heard, but apparently banks aren't too keen on lending to small businesses these days, and small businesses are very important in recovering from a jobs crisis. In fact, letting the banks decide who gets the money essentially CREATES a situation where monetary policy is a primary factor in the health of the economy, essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy for the Friedmanites and the Chicago Boys.

A gold standard is ridiculous on the face of it, of course. But so is the concept that money can only be put into circulation in our economy according to the bankers' criteria and with a debt to them attached.

And by the way, if you want to fix the economy, start with a living wage.