Federal Reserve

[stamen]

Just last night I was reading Mac's comments about the Federal Reserve. I couldn't agree more with him.

I'm I just losing my mind, or did I just read that Bush is proposing to give the Federal Reserve more power, including power over our markets and all the entire American financial industry?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/financial.oversight/index.html

I'm eagerly awaiting Monday morning, but this smells foul. I think a move like this should require a Constitutional amendment. Our nation's financial security should NOT rest in ONE agency -- especially not an agency that is over 50% backed by foreign investors.

I think I'm going to be sick. I guess Monday will be a big day for the few Americans that actually give a crap. My fear is that something like this gets tossed out and passed out of fear, rather than sound Constitutional principles.

[Joshua Pantalleresco]

Just last night I was reading Mac's comments about the Federal Reserve. I couldn't agree more with him.

I'm I just losing my mind, or did I just read that Bush is proposing to give the Federal Reserve more power, including power over our markets and all the entire American financial industry?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/financial.oversight/index.html

I'm eagerly awaiting Monday morning, but this smells foul. I think a move like this should require a Constitutional amendment. Our nation's financial security should NOT rest in ONE agency -- especially not an agency that is over 50% backed by foreign investors.

I think I'm going to be sick. I guess Monday will be a big day for the few Americans that actually give a crap. My fear is that something like this gets tossed out and passed out of fear, rather than sound Constitutional principles.

You do realize the Feds already have the right to print the dollar right? This more than anything is just a validation of a power they've had for a long time. This may sound cynical, but honestly this is nothing more than them coming out in the open.

Not that it's a big secret. Although I admit I cringed when I read that. Am I surprised though? No.

JP

[Crowley]

yeah how about the fact that China could call in our debt at anytime?

[Alex L]

They could, but I doubt they would.

I think they'd probably crash their own economy if they tried to bankrupt the US.

[cactusmaac]

By what stretch of the imagination could China call US debt in at any time?

They haven't given the US a bank overdraft for which the covenants have been breached, they've bought Treasury Bills with fixed dates for repayment. They could decide to dump all their holdings of US debt but in doing so they would be making big losses themselves and the effect on the US economy would merely be short-term.

Not that they're dumb enough to do any such thing since it would open them up to retaliatory sanctions by the US government. Given their dependence on exporting manufacturing goods, they'd be cutting their own throat.

This angst over China is the same jingoistic, economically illiterate yellow-perilism that abounded when Japan was on the rise in 80s.

Foreign governments only hold 25% of US debt. The rest is held by US government programs like Social Security, US individuals, US corporations, foreign corporations and foreign individuals. China holds 21% of the US debt held by foreign governments. That means China only holds about 5% of US debt.

Also by what math trick is the US Federal Reserve 50% backed by foreign governments?

[kingdom2000]

Just last night I was reading Mac's comments about the Federal Reserve. I couldn't agree more with him.

I'm I just losing my mind, or did I just read that Bush is proposing to give the Federal Reserve more power, including power over our markets and all the entire American financial industry?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/financial.oversight/index.html

I'm eagerly awaiting Monday morning, but this smells foul. I think a move like this should require a Constitutional amendment. Our nation's financial security should NOT rest in ONE agency -- especially not an agency that is over 50% backed by foreign investors.

I think I'm going to be sick. I guess Monday will be a big day for the few Americans that actually give a crap. My fear is that something like this gets tossed out and passed out of fear, rather than sound Constitutional principles.

You would think the repubs would be freaking out since the next president could be a Democrat so therefore the Fed leadership would be the same. Course they have shown such a lack of foresight in the past 7 years so I guess this shouldn't be any different.

[Charles RB]

Foreign governments only hold 25% of US debt. The rest is held by US government programs like Social Security, US individuals, US corporations, foreign corporations and foreign individuals. China holds 21% of the US debt held by foreign governments. That means China only holds about 5% of US debt.

This I did not know before.