Hacker News Reader

Comment by pmiller2 | Hacker News Reader

Potato, potatoe. Who do you think controls "the Fed?" Cui bono?

Your comment would also imply that before there was such a thing as a Federal Reserve, income and wealth inequality didn't exist. This is false.

View on HN

To add a bit more to this, from [1]: “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.”

And "The bigger spender wins congressional races 91 percent of the time" [2].

Talking about policies without even mentioning who makes them, kind of misses the point. Big money controls everything. It's no wonder that people come out to defend them, when they control much of mass media and shape the narratives to such an extent.

[1] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/04/0...

[2] - https://www.vox.com/2014/10/27/7077647/midterms-spending-mon...

It does not imply "wealth inequality is the result of federal policies". It implies that the current transfer of wealth is a result of federal policy.

All they do is regulate the flow of new money, they aren't responsible for tax codes that ensure a widening gap of wealth via the return on capital vs the return on labor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Ce...

They affect the inflation rate and inflation should be thought of as a tax. And its a tax that primarily affects middle class people that keep their wealth in cash rather than assets.

They also implicitly affect asset prices which is probably one of the primary causes of wealth inequality.

Well, considering how the comment literally says "Wealth inequality and social unrest in America is DIRECTLY related to corrupt and/or incompetent (you choose) Fed policies," you'll forgive me for disagreeing.

Federal != Fed, the reserve bank. Close, but not identical.

You are arguing a minor, irrelevant, and largely incorrect point of semantics.

> Who owns the Federal Reserve?

> The Federal Reserve System is not "owned" by anyone. The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 by the Federal Reserve Act to serve as the nation's central bank. The Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., is an agency of the federal government and reports to and is directly accountable to the Congress.

(emphasis added)

https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm

You are the only one in the thread who doesn’t appear to understand it.

What is difficult to understand about "the board of governors is directly accountable to Congress?"

The Romans literally debased their currency into lead as they hit hyper inflation-- then instituted price controls which led to a booming black market. The particular tricks have changed a little over time, it is just more efficient with digital money now. Ruling classes had the basics figured out millenia ago. And it never works.

You are correct, except they didn't debase it into lead. Late Roman coinage was largely copper.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_currency#Debasement

Thank you for the correction and reference :)

The comment implies no such thing. It says that post Alan Greenspan, who started printing money in an unprecedented manner, the Fed saw that it could get away with it and continued the bubble.

Ironically Greenspan also spoke about irrational enthusiasm. Words are cheap.

Then, what does "Wealth inequality and social unrest in America is DIRECTLY related to corrupt and/or incompetent (you choose) Fed policies," mean?

I wish more people noticed this. A lot of the what both the left and right are asking for is really identical.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com