Just in case we aren't THAT familiar with the "Federal" Reserve, please take our time to read this book or watch the talk on YouTube:
http://archive.org/stream/CreatureFromJekyllIslandByG.Edward-G.EdwardGriffin/CreatureFromJekyllIslandByG.Edward-G.EdwardGriffin_djvu.txthttp://www.amazon.com/The-Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal/dp/0912986212http://youtu.be/lu_VqX6J93kIt ain't exactly Federal to boot simply because "Federal" Reserve is just like "Federal" Express:
http://www.federalbudget.com/fed.htmlhttp://www.globalresearch.ca/who-owns-the-federal-reserve/10489Encyclopedia Britannica articles aren't free and the cached versions are linked below:
http://web.archive.org/web/20150426190242/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/203437/Federal-Reserve-Systemhttp://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/203437/Federal-Reserve-SystemAnother noteworthy article that was written by John Robbins:
Who's Done More Damage, Bernard Madoff or Alan Greenspan?http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/whos-done-more-damage-ber_b_795250.htmlMadoff lived high and mighty as a billionaire as long as he kept his Ponzi scheme afloat. Greenspan was revered as long as he kept the party going for the ultra-rich, as long as he kept one bubble after another inflated. But with every party, there's always the morning after. The collapse of Madoff's Ponzi scheme bankrupted not just tens of thousands of families, but many charitable foundations, nonprofit organizations, and hospital and school endowments. The bursting of Greenspan's bubbles, on the other hand, decimated the entire U.S. economy, bankrupting tens of millions of families.
In his biography of Greenspan, appropriately titled Greenspan's Bubbles, MSN Money columnist William Fleckenstein recounts the devastating series of bubbles and crashes that directly ensued from Greenspan's policies. The Savings and Loan scandal was the first tip-off. As a paid consultant for Lincoln Savings and Loan, Greenspan was an ardent advocate of Savings and Loan deregulation. When Lincoln's parent corporation went bankrupt in 1989, more than 21,000 mostly elderly investors lost their life savings.
This was, however, peanuts compared to what was to follow. With Greenspan as the head of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, and with his policies running the show, the tech bubble was inflated only to burst in 2000, closely followed by the real estate bubble that began to burst in 2007, and the credit bubble that burst in 2008.
Greenspan's policies contributed massively to each of these bubbles, and thus to their inevitable collapse. Like Madoff's Ponzi scheme, they provided illusory returns, not based on any real goods, services or value provided, but rather on the attraction soaring returns have for new entrants into the game.
The costs of each of these market collapses are measured not in the billions but in the trillions of dollars, and they've come so quickly on the heels of one another that we may think of them as business as usual. That's why it's important to grasp that, prior to Greenspan's arrival, the U.S. had been nearly bubble-free for more than 50 years. The only exception? A brief mania for gold and other precious metals in late 1979 and early 1980.
Prior to running the Federal Reserve, Greenspan headed the National Commission on Social Security Reform. The original intent behind Social Security was generous and benevolent. At the height of the Great Depression, our society resolved to create a safety net that would pay modest benefits to retirees, the disabled, and the survivors of deceased workers. It was the formalizing of the long-respected tradition of supporting elders and others who are less able to fend for themselves. The idea was to create less fear and more economic security.
But once Greenspan got involved, things immediately began to change. His policies triggered a staggering transfer of wealth from the lower and middle classes into the hands of the richest members of society. It is not an exaggeration to say that the resulting concentration of money and power in the hands of the few is undermining the economy, corrupting democracy, deepening the racial wealth divide, and tearing communities and families apart.
It was primarily due to Greenspan's proposals that the Social Security tax rate went from 9.35 percent in 1981 to 15.3 percent in 1990. Social Security taxes are borne primarily by the lower and middle economic classes. They only apply to wage income, not to investment income, so people who work for a living pay through the nose while those who invest for a living pay not at all. Fair, right?