"If people understood the banking system they would revolt." ~ Henry Ford?

If they were smart they would but they have fluoride dumbing them down, they have pesticides and lead in their food killing their brian cells. The government and banks have us just where they want us. Smart enough to work dumb enough to not ask questions or seek answers and dumb enough not to believe the answers

Here are some myths. The Federal Reserve System is complicated.

For starters, while the Federal Reserve Banks are privately owned, they are given a charter by Congress. Moreover, the President appoints the chairman's head. If the Federal Reserve started doing whatever they want, Congress would relinquish its charter.

Also, the fed CANNOT JUST PRINT MONEY. True, they can expand the money supply, which is different. They have two main tools to do this with.

1) The federal reserve discount window rate. All member banks can borrow money from the federal reserve at the discount window assuming they meet all of the federal reserve conditions. The idea behind this is that the fed can either raise or lower the interest rate. Since in theory the feds lendable funds are unlimited, they can manage the total amount of lendable funds available by manipulating the discount rate. This is what the fed is talking about when they say the fed is hiking or lowering rates. If the fed wants people to borrow less (less money creation) it will raise the rate, if it wants be to borrow more (more money creation) it will lower the rate. This is a loan that MUST BE PAID BACK IN FULL THE NEXT DAY. Yes these loans can be rolled over from day to day assuming that the banks continue to meet the federal reserve's operating guidelines. Banks that are going broke can't just borrow from the fed. This was why the fed had to go to treasury and congress to get the TARP Bailout money.

Another tool of money creation is open market operations. The fed's primary objective is price stability. In other words, their goal is to create stable prices. Therefore, it generally wants to target an inflation rate of 0%. While in the real world this is not possible they try to get close. The fact is, by mandate the fed is supposed to take deflation just as seriously as inflation. Deflation hasn't been taken as seriously, because we don't see it as much, but it does look like it may be happening now. If the fed is worried about deflation, it will print money to buy assets into the open market. These assets must meet certain capital requirements. They are supposed to buy assets that make money. During this crisis the fed did stretch the rules a bit, however, what the fed did buy is assets of value. If we start seeing inflation, the fed can always sell these assets back into the open market to lower their overall prices. In addition to this, selling them drains money out of our system and lowers the multipliers.

The fed overall has a decent track record. Except for the Great Depression and a brief spat in the 1970s the fed has maintained pretty good control over our currency, better than pretty much any other country.

Managing a country's currency isn't easy since it is often open to attack and speculation and the behaviors of people is not exactly easily predictable.

The fact is we primarily create money through debt creation. What this means is that we issue a loan for that money. In short, this created money must be paid back, so unless the fed keeps pumping the money back in, then the money is eventually removed. This actually puts downward pressure on prices which is why the fed has to inject mind boggling amounts of money to restore the economy and stave off the risks of inflation. The fact is, the massive amount of debt that was issued several years ago is coming due, putting downward pressure on prices.

http://www.econ180.com/

You're talking about the USA banking system. Not all countries have the same banking system. Some are much better than others. Many wealthy Americans prefer to bank in other countries such as Bermuda, or Switzerland, where the banks are more stable and pay better interest. Likewise, many countries are much worse than the USA , like Greece or Zimbabwe. Every country has a central national bank to organize the private banks and manage the money supply. Without a central bank, there'd be no national currency and banks would go broke a lot more.

Ford was 50 years old when the fed was created, 70 when we abanded the gold standard and he died a few year after the FED started conducting monetary policy as they do now. Since Banking has alway been revolting and still is, he could have said this at any time in his life, but it would be of interest to know when, so we would know which system he was talking about.

Henry didn't understand the words " in God we trust" how powerful it is. The world prosperity might not only have to change from the conveyor job to a just in time job, but from gold standard to fiat money. The banking system has to be regulated, but it is not a reason to decline a proposal of the banker's son.

I've said that quote many times to people. I have no idea why people don't stand up for the truth. To be honest, I'm surprised more politicians (and people of interest) aren't assassinated.

I doubt I want to learn the truth.

It isn't that simple. That is the problem with attempting to explain to someone a complicated structure in the space of a few minutes.

Claims that the Federal Reserve is private is a MYTH. "Ownership" of the Federal Reserve is misunderstood by most people. The Federal Reserve is actually controlled by a 100% governmental agency known as the Board of Governors. Each member of the Board of Governors is appointed by a President and confirmed by the Senate. If you actually listen to the video, the man states this.

Beneath the Board of Governors are twelve Federal Reserve district banks. Each district bank does have "stock". However, this stock is significantly different than the stock of a regular corporation. First, the stock is not "sold" to just anyone. Only a bank with a national charter or a state charter can hold this stock (these would be U.S.-based and not mostly foreign owned). National banks are required by law to subscribe to the stock. The amount of stock a bank must hold is set by law and the Board of Governors as a percentage of the bank's paid-in capital. A state bank may subscribe to the stock if the state bank meets certain requirements. The stock can be thought of as representing a bank's membership in the Federal Reserve system.

Each share of stock has a set par value and that does not change. Each member bank pays the par value for the Federal Reserve district bank stock. The stock of a Federal Reserve bank does not confer any rights of ownership in the bank. The only benefits of the stock are: 1) pays a 6% dividend; and 2) each member bank has ONE vote for the district bank's board of directors. The dividend is to recompense the bank for the loss of use of it's capital. Each member bank gets one vote for six seats on the board of directors regardless of the number of shares that it holds. The other three seats on each bank's board of directors are selected by the Board of Governors. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of these boards of directors are selected by the Board of Governors.

The board of directors for each bank are responsible for overseeing the operation of the district banks on a daily basis. This makes them similar to the board of directors of a regular corporation. However, since three of the nine are selected by the Board of Governors and the chairman and vice-chairman are two of those three, this gives the Board of Governors significant input into the district bank operations.

If a Federal Reserve bank were to be dissolved, the member banks would be paid back the amount they paid for the stock plus any unpaid dividend regardless of the value of the Federal Reserve bank. All assets and liabilities would then become the responsibility and property of the U.S. Government.

There have been a few claims that courts have ruled that the Federal Reserve is private. These claims take the court's rulings out of context and misconstrue what the court actually says. In most instances, the court was determining the legal standing of a Federal Reserve district bank and not the entire system. Also, some claims leave out portions of the court's statement. For example, in one such case, the court ruled that a Federal Reserve district bank was a private entity in regards to the Federal Tort Claims Act(FTCA) only. The court also said that a Federal Reserve district bank has been properly held to be a Federal instrumentality in other situations. The FTCA allows individuals to sue the U.S. Government if an employee of a federal entity caused the tort. However, the FTCA does not apply to those entities that have a process for handling tort claims within the legislation governing them. The Federal Reserve Act contains a section regarding tort claims against district banks, the Board of Governors, or any other part of the system.

All of the above is in accordance with law. See 12 USC Chapter 3. I could explain all of this in detail, but there is not enough space provided in Yahoo!Answers.

BTW, if you want to learn about something, take college courses or read books about economics and money and banking. An Internet video is not a reliable source of information. Videos can also be manipulated, just look at all the complaints from people that were "interviewed" by Michael Moore for some of his "documentaries".

EDIT: "Money Masters" is where you get your banking education from? ROFLMAO! Here's an idea, if you want to learn about money and banking, ASK AN ECONOMIST. Not a single one of your sources has any training in economics or banking. I guarantee that I know more about this than you do or the maker of the Money Masters conspiracy theory nonsense video.

The author of "Vile Acts of Evil" is not an economist either. I believe that he is a nurse from San Francisco.

Owners of stock of a corporation, whether it is publicly traded or closely held, have a choice on how much of the stock they want to own, if any. National banks DO NOT HAVE A CHOICE in regards to Federal Reserve district bank stock. Each bank with a national charter is required to subscribe to a certain amount that is set as a percentage of that bank's paid in capital.

Re: "big deal, preferred stock".
No, it is not preferred stock. As I said, the stock does not confer any rights of ownership. Currently, the member banks have paid in approximately $25.6 billion for the twelve district banks. If a district bank were to be dissolved, once the member banks were repaid, all assets and liabilities would become the responsibility of the U.S. Government. If it were truly a private corporation, excess assets would become the property of the stockholders.

Re: "board of directors made up of governors"
I never said the board of directors is made up of governors. I said that three members of the board of directors of each district bank are selected by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system. Also, no, a member of one of the district bank's board of directors may not be a governor. In fact, there are restrictions on who can be on the board of directors of a district bank. At least three of them cannot be shareholders, officers, or even employees of ANY bank.

Re: Woodrow Wilson quote
The quote is fake. There is no evidence anywhere that he spoke or wrote the first part of that quote. The rest of the quote was taken out of context from his book, "The New Freedom", which was published in 1913, BEFORE THE PASSAGE of the Federal Reserve Act. Also, the quotes were actually from campaign speeches he made in 1912.

Now, what were you saying about ripping apart my answer? You should get your information from RELIABLE sources and sources that actually know what they are talking about. So far, the only thing that you have done is shown that you do not know how to investigate things you want to learn about. Instead, your "investigation" consists of finding anything that fits in with your preconceived delusions instead of questioning those sources to see if they are correct.

BTW, there is no reliable source for the Henry Ford quote either. If you read his book, "My Life and Work", you would find that he did not like bankers but was not against a business borrowing money when it was necessary and that would require a fractional reserve banking system.

Here are some quotes for you:
"The wealth of the world neither consists in nor is adequately
represented by the money of the world. Gold itself is not a valuable commodity. It is no more wealth than hat checks are hats." - Henry Ford

"No financial system is good which favors one class of producers over another. We want to discover whether it is not possible to take away power which is not based on wealth creation. Any sort of class legislation is pernicious. I think that the country's production has become so changed in its methods that gold is not the best medium with which it may be measured, and that the gold standard as a control of
credit gives, as it is now (and I believe inevitably) administered, class advantage." - Henry Ford

Finally, anti-Fed conspiracy nuts throw around the 95% devaluation of the dollar like it actually means something. There is always some amount of inflation or deflation in ANY economy. Other than the 1970s, the inflation since the 1950s has been rather tame. In fact, since 1913, the worst year for inflation was actually 1920. A 95% devaluation over a period of 97 years would take an average annual inflation rate of 3.2% which is small compared to many industrialized economies.

The Federal Reserve may not have a perfect track record, but the economy has had fewer recessions and depressions (and most were less severe) in the 97 years under the Federal Reserve than it did in the 97 years before the Federal Reserve.

Yes and yes.