Occupy Syracuse brings you:

What is the FED? Why Should it End?

How to take back our money supply from the bankers
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws." -Mayer Rothschild You may have noticed a growing movement calling to "End the FED." When the United States were first formed the most important political issue was the money supply. The raging controversy only died down in the 20th century, and now many people never stop to consider who creates our money and how it affects our lives. Only recently has the monetary issue returned to the fore in modern politics. It's time to review the facts of our money supply, and consider some alternatives. Who Controls the Money Supply? There are two commonly held myths about money: Myth #1: The government prints our money. The FED is controlled 58% by the executive branch and 42% by private banks

Myth #2: Banks loan us money from deposits that they hold. Truth #1: Actually money is printed by a bank called the Federal Reserve (The FED.) The FED is not part of the US government, but owned by private banks that participate in the Federal Reserve System. However ownership of the FEDs stock does not confer voting rights like a normal corporation. The actions of the FED are determined by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC,) the body responsible for expanding and contracting the money supply (by purchasing and selling government debt) and determining interest rates. The FOMC is composed of seven Fed governors, and 5 Reserve Bank Presidents (Ref. 1.) The governors are appointed by the president of the US; the regional Federal Reserve Bank Presidents are elected by the board members of the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks (Ref 2); the board members of the 12 Federal Reserve banks are elected by the private member banks (Ref 3.) In short, control of the FED is 58% in the hands of the executive branch, and 42% in the hands of private banks. Truth #2: When banks make loans they actually create 90% of the money with only 10% already existing as reserves (ref 4.) This is called fractional reserve banking, and allows banks to expand the existing money supply by making loans.

Money is first created when the FED buys government debt, and then expanded nine times more when the banks issue loans based on the newly created money; our money supply is almost completely in the hands of the banks. There are several problems with this system: 1. Wealth concentration- when the money supply is expanded the value of all existing money is decreased; acting like a hidden tax on all savings. The people who benefit are those who spend the new money first. This causes wealth to concentrate in the banks, the military, and other government subsidized industries; while the peoples savings are devalued. 2. Endless debt and bankruptcy- money is never created without a corresponding debt. Whether it is a government bond or a private loan, the debt is due with interest. But the interest is not created when the money is issued. Consequently all of the debts can never be repaid and defaults are ensured. When the default does occur, the bank takes real assets posted as collateral. If there were no debts in our money system How do we End the FED? there wouldnt be any money There are two main schools of thought - Marriner Eccles, chairman of the Federal when it comes to ending the FED: Reserve Board 1. The sound money camp, led by Ron Paul, would like to eliminate fractional reserve banking and replace the FED with a commodity backed currency. The simplest way to envision this is to start with the gold standard- a dollar is redeemable for a certain amount of gold. Now imagine that instead of just gold the dollar is redeemable for a basket of commodities; like the consumer price index. This index could even include services. The advantage to this solution is stability; keeping expansion of the money supply tied to the growth of the real economy. 2. The green-backer camp, led by Dennis Kucinich, would like to keep the benefits of full monetary flexibility, but take it out of the hands of the banks. The National Emergency Employment Defense Act of 2011, submitted to congress by Kucinich, would eliminate fractional reserve banking and make the FED part of the Treasury. The government would have the power to print money to achieve the goals of full employment, modern sustainable infrastructure, and fully funded education and healthcare. Whether you are a green-backer or an advocate of sound money both camps agree that the power of money creation must be restored to the government. The elegance of this movement is that all that is necessary is to change the myths that many people currently believe into reality: that the government prints money and banks lend money that they have on deposit. Author: Seth Rutledge; view his blog at AlchemicalNursery.org. Learn more at OccupySyracuse.org
Ref. 1 philadelphiafed.org/education/teachers/resources/day-in-life-of-fomc/ Ref 2 federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/banks/default.htm Ref 3 newyorkfed.org/newsevents/news/aboutthefed/2009/an090824.html

Ref 4 Modern Money Mechanics, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago