End the Fed? Would someone please explain this to me?

[PredFan]

Ron Paul and his supporters are often talking about ending the Federal Reserve. Not being an economist I really have no idea what this entails. Can someone explain it to me?

 

[PredFan]

There are no Paul supporters who can explain this?

This isn't a call out thread or any kind of troll thread, I just want to know.

 

[Sundial]

I can't answer exactly on topic, because I'm not a RP fan or supporter, I don't know what his plan is - or if he has one. Generally RP types are gold-bugs, so I suspect they'd require banks to keep some amount of gold for each dollar they issued. Or maybe they think anybody should be able to print money, and it should be up to the free market to decide which currencies to accept.

From a left-wing perspective, the way to end the Fed would be to simply merge it with the Treasury. In that case there'd be no need to issue bonds anymore (unless they just wanted to, for other reasons). The government would spend by issuing bank credits, and tax by deleting them. Decisions about whether to tax more or spend less would be determined by unemployment and inflation, not deficits or debt.

 

[PredFan]

Kind of interesting that with all the Paul supporters, no one seems to really know what ending the Fed entails.

 

[1ManRev]

I'm a bit of a novice myself when it comes to economics, but here's what I understand from Ron Paul's stance.

He argues against the constitutionality of the Federal Reserve, a private bank (yes, it is a private entity) that has sole control over they country's money supply, and has little to no oversight of its actions. It essentially has a government-mandated monopoly on the American money supply- something that a free-market idealist like Paul totally opposes. The value of the dollar has declined significantly through inflation since 1913 (when the Federal Reserve was first established).

In the past decade there has been growing opposition to the Fed on both sides of the isle. However, where Dr. Paul tends to seperate from the rest of the pack is that his ultimate goal is not for the Fed to operate with more transparency, but to do away with it altogether. I can't say for certain what he proposes in place of this, but I believe he's an advocate of the Gold Standard, and perhaps even allowing competing currencies.

 

[1ManRev]

And if you're curious as to why someone with such a lack of knowledge in the subject would be so willing to back Ron Paul on his monetary policy... The guy did predict the oncoming recession while other "expert" economists laughed in his face. He has probably read more books on economic theory than most of the other GOP candidates combined. And for that he's gained my trust.

I would like to do some research myself someday regarding Austrian vs Keynesian (sp?) economics so that way I won't have to just take his word for it.

 

[WatertheTree]

Ron Paul and his supporters are often talking about ending the Federal Reserve. Not being an economist I really have no idea what this entails. Can someone explain it to me?

Your not getting a good response because you have to study money and the federal reserve.

A simple youtube search for 'understanding money' should be very revealing. There is a cartoon one that is 40minutes long that I highly recommend to get you started. "Money Masters' is a must watch to, but I wouldnt make it your first. Its 3 hours long and covers the history of modern day banking from when gold was first used.

Just search google for 'political documentary'. Mainstream media doesnt support content that raises questions so the internet has enabled people to communicate like never before.

 

[occupied]

Ending the fed is a pipe dream, even bringing transparency may be practically impossible.

 

[PredFan]

Thanks to 1manrev and waterthetree for the help.

 

[PredFan]

I believe that Dr.Paul wants to replace the Fed with the gold standard. I'd love to hear how he's do that.