Deception and Abuse at the Fed

Deception and Abuse at the Fed
Author: Robert D. Auerbach
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2009-06-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0292782802

The Federal Reserve—the central bank of the United States—is the most powerful peacetime bureaucracy in the federal government. Under the chairmanship of Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), the Fed achieved near mythical status for its part in managing the economy, and Greenspan was lauded as a genius. Few seemed to notice or care that Fed officials operated secretly with almost no public accountability. There was a courageous exception to this lack of oversight, however: Henry B. Gonzalez (D-TX)—chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services (banking) Committee. In Deception and Abuse at the Fed, Robert Auerbach, a former banking committee investigator, recounts major instances of Fed mismanagement and abuse of power that were exposed by Rep. Gonzalez, including: Blocking Congress and the public from holding powerful Fed officials accountable by falsely declaring—for 17 years—it had no transcripts of its meetings; Manipulating the stock and bond markets in 1994 under cover of a preemptive strike against inflation; Allowing $5.5 billion to be sent to Saddam Hussein from a small Atlanta branch of a foreign bank—the result of faulty bank examination practices by the Fed; Stonewalling Congressional investigations and misleading the Washington Post about the $6,300 found on the Watergate burglars. Auerbach provides documentation of these and other abuses at the Fed, which confirms Rep. Gonzalez's belief that no government agency should be allowed to operate with the secrecy and independence in which the Federal Reserve has shrouded itself. Auerbach concludes with recommendations for specific, broad-ranging reforms that will make the Fed accountable to the government and the people of the United States.

Inflation Expectations

Inflation Expectations
Author: Peter J. N. Sinclair
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2009-12-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135179778

Inflation is regarded by the many as a menace that damages business and can only make life worse for households. Keeping it low depends critically on ensuring that firms and workers expect it to be low. So expectations of inflation are a key influence on national economic welfare. This collection pulls together a galaxy of world experts (including Roy Batchelor, Richard Curtin and Staffan Linden) on inflation expectations to debate different aspects of the issues involved. The main focus of the volume is on likely inflation developments. A number of factors have led practitioners and academic observers of monetary policy to place increasing emphasis recently on inflation expectations. One is the spread of inflation targeting, invented in New Zealand over 15 years ago, but now encompassing many important economies including Brazil, Canada, Israel and Great Britain. Even more significantly, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the United States Federal Bank are the leading members of another group of monetary institutions all considering or implementing moves in the same direction. A second is the large reduction in actual inflation that has been observed in most countries over the past decade or so. These considerations underscore the critical – and largely underrecognized - importance of inflation expectations. They emphasize the importance of the issues, and the great need for a volume that offers a clear, systematic treatment of them. This book, under the steely editorship of Peter Sinclair, should prove very important for policy makers and monetary economists alike.

The Great Debasement

The Great Debasement
Author: Craig R. Smith
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-11
Genre: Devaluation of currency
ISBN: 9780971148277

After 100 years of deliberate debasement, the U.S. Dollar is dying. Our politicians have deceptively siphoned off so much of its value that a 2012 dollar has only two pennies of the purchasing power of a 1913 dollar.This Great Debasement of America's money is by far the largest confiscation of wealth in world history--and you, your children and your grandchildren are the ones on the losing end of this century-long policy.The Federal Reserve System, created by Progressives in 1913 to give America an 'elastic' money, has taken on such enormous and far-ranging powers that it has become 'the fourth branch of government' that killed the gold-backed dollar, and replaced it with an impostor currency, a central cause of today's dangerous economic problems.On the 100th Anniversaries of the 1912 Progressive takeover of America and 1913 imposition of the Fed and income tax---still working together synergistically to transform the U.S.A.--- we expose, and show how to reverse, the Progressives' Great Debasement of America.

A Moral History of the Inflation

A Moral History of the Inflation
Author: Hans Ostwald
Publisher: The Obolus Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2023-03-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1777499534

Journalist Hans Ostwald (1873–1940) describes life in Germany during the early 1920s, a period when money lost its value so quickly that people used eggs rather than cash as units of exchange. Rich in anecdotes and contemporary reports, the book discusses both the social and psychological effects of the hyperinflation: grinding poverty, an increase in crime, a decline in moral standards, and a frenzied desire to make the most of the present, since no one could be certain of what the future might hold. “It was a time of significant revaluation — in material as well as in spiritual things. He who had been rich and able to indulge in every worldly pleasure soon counted himself lucky if some well-meaning people offered him a bowl of warm soup. Lowly clerks became bank directors overnight, with seemingly inexhaustible funds at their command. In those days, for- eigners who lived on small pensions at home could come to Germany and live like kings. Everything seemed to have been turned upside down.” Although Ostwald’s moral history has often been cited in works dealing with the Weimar Republic, this is the first complete English translation. It contains more than a hundred photographs and illustrations.

Black Gold Stranglehold

Black Gold Stranglehold
Author: Jerome R. Corsi
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2021-05-14
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1637580517

It is estimated that Americans consume more than 25 percent of the world's oil but have control over less than 3 percent of its proven supply. This extremely unbalanced pattern of consumption makes it possible for foreign governments, corrupt political leaders, terrorist organizations, and oil conglomerates to place the citizens of the United States in a stranglehold of supply and demand. There is no greater proof of this than the direct relationship between skyrocketing gas prices and the exploding wealth of those who control the supply of oil. In Black Gold Stranglehold, Jerome R. Corsi and Craig R. Smith expose the fraudulent science that has been sold to the American people in order to enslave them: the belief that oil is a fossil fuel and a finite resource. On the contrary, this book presents authoritative research, currently known mostly in the scientific community, that oil is not a product of decaying dinosaurs and prehistoric forests. Rather, it is a natural product of the earth. The scientific evidence cited by Corsi and Smith suggests that oil is constantly being produced by the earth, far below the planet's surface, and that it is brought to attainable depths by the centrifugal forces of the earth's rotation. In great detail Corsi and Smith explore the international and domestic politics of oil production and consumption. This includes the wealth and power of major oil conglomerates, the manipulation of world economies by oil-producing states and rogue terrorist regimes, and the political agenda of radical environmentalists and conservationists who obstruct the use of oil reserves currently controlled by the U.S. government. The authors offer an understanding of the dangerous situation America faces because its currency is no longer tied to any precious and truly scarce metals such as gold, as it was until 1973. This situation could easily lead to the devastation of the U.S. economy if Middle Eastern countries are able to enact current plans to accept only the Euro or gold-backed currencies such as the Gold Dinar instead of the U.S. dollar as the standard currency for oil. Black Gold Stranglehold will dramatically change the debate about oil. The significance of its message is sure to cause thoughtful people to reconsider the current dependence of the U.S. economy on imported oil.

Deadly Spin

Deadly Spin
Author: Wendell Potter
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2010-11-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1608193500

That's how Wendell Potter introduced himself to a Senate committee in June 2009. He proceed to explain how insurance companies make promises they have no intention of keeping, how they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and how they make it nearly impossible to understand information that the public needs. Potter quit his high-paid job as head of public relations at a major insurance corporation because he could no longer abide the routine practices of the insurance industry, policies that amounted to a death sentence for thousands of Americans every year. In Deadly Spin, Potter takes readers behind the scenes of the insurance industry to show how a huge chunk of our absurd healthcare expenditures actually bankrolls a propaganda campaign and lobbying effort focused on protecting one thing: profits. With the unique vantage of both a whistleblower and a high-powered former insider, Potter moves beyond the healthcare crisis to show how public relations works, and how it has come to play a massive, often insidious role in our political process-and our lives. This important and timely book tells Potter's remarkable personal story, but its larger goal is to explain how people like Potter, before his change of heart, can get the public to think and act in ways that benefit big corporations-and the Wall Street money managers who own them.

Reducing Inflation

Reducing Inflation
Author: Christina D. Romer
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2007-12-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226724832

While there is ample evidence that high inflation is harmful, little is known about how best to reduce inflation or how far it should be reduced. In this volume, sixteen distinguished economists analyze the appropriateness of low inflation as a goal for monetary policy and discuss possible strategies for reducing inflation. Section I discusses the consequences of inflation. These papers analyze inflation's impact on the tax system, labor market flexibility, equilibrium unemployment, and the public's sense of well-being. Section II considers the obstacles facing central bankers in achieving low inflation. These papers study the precision of estimates of equilibrium unemployment, the sources of the high inflation of the 1970s, and the use of non-traditional indicators in policy formation. The papers in section III consider how institutions can be designed to promote successful monetary policy, and the importance of institutions to the performance of policy in the United States, Germany, and other countries. This timely volume should be read by anyone who studies or conducts monetary policy.

Encyclopedia of Deception

Encyclopedia of Deception
Author: Timothy R. Levine
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 1094
Release: 2014-02-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1483306895

The Encyclopedia of Deception examines lying from multiple perspectives drawn from the disciplines of social psychology, sociology, history, business, political science, cultural anthropology, moral philosophy, theology, law, family studies, evolutionary biology, philosophy, and more. From the “little white lie,” to lying on a resume, to the grandiose lies of presidents, this two-volume reference explores the phenomenon of lying in a multidisciplinary context to elucidate this common aspect of our daily lives. Not only a cultural phenomenon historically, lying is a frequent occurrence in our everyday lives. Research shows that we are likely to lie or intentionally deceive others several times a day or in one out of every four conversations that lasts more than 10 minutes. Key Features: More than 360 authored by key figures in the field are organized A-to-Z in two volumes, which are available in both print and electronic formats. Entries are written in a clear and accessible style that invites readers to explore and reflect on the use of lying and self-deception. Each article concludes with cross references to related entries and further readings. This academic, multi-author reference work will serve as a general, non-technical resource for students and researchers within social and behavioral science programs who seek to better understand the historical role of lying and how it is employed in modern society.

Inside American Education

Inside American Education
Author: Thomas Sowell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 567
Release: 2010-05-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1439107629

An indictment of the American educational system criticizes the fact that the system has discarded the traditional goals of transmitting knowledge and fostering cognitive skills in favor of building self-esteem and promoting social harmony.