Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Fed Thumbs Its Nose at the Public

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The Fed Thumbs Its Nose at the Public

by Yves Smith from Naked Capitalism.

This woman has had a career in the financial services industry. She knows it inside and out, and she's honest, but a believer in the capitalist system. She believes that it can be reformed. Others also, like this guy.

Here she argues persuasively that some of the most powerful drivers of our economy, particularly "The Fed", function in secret, and she wants to change that. In my opinion, she does not understand that private interests have always operated in secret. She doesn't understand that the capitalist system has grown like a cancer in the body of the republic to the point that it has almost completely devoured it.

Private interests have long used a facade of democracy behind which to pull the strings of the economy--a vital segment of any society--to serve their private interests. The most powerful of these private interests are essentially a ruling class. They are called a ruling class simply because they are the people who really rule this country because they "own" most of it. This has happened because of the functioning of private property laws over time under their beloved capitalist system. Because of their power, they also determine most of what happens in our government, media, and education.

The Fed itself, behind a thin veneer of government involvement, is a consortium of private banks that issue our money supply.

Another actor in this drama that she has described is Blackrock investment company. This is a powerful and private investment company where the super-rich, who are mostly members of the ruling class, play with their investments. They are heavily invested in so-called "defense companies"--the manufacturers of killing machines in order to enforce the dictates of The Empire, over which they also rule, on to the rest of the world. Hence the US government's super aggressive foreign policy places considerable emphasis on warfare, the threat of war, and military exports to client states. Read about the Pentagon's latest game plan.

If my argument is correct, then you can understand why the Fed "thumbs its nose at the public."