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The regional banks are privately owned but the Fed itself is a quasi-government entity. The governors of the Fed are all appointed by the President, so the government controls the Fed. No private organization own or control the Fed.
The regional banks are privately owned but the Fed itself is a quasi-government entity. The governors of the Fed are all appointed by the President, so the government controls the Fed. No private organization own or control the Fed.
The Fed is NOT a government owned agency. Simple as that. There is no "quasi" about it.
The Fed is NOT a government owned agency. Simple as that. There is no "quasi" about it.
This is true... Alan Greenspan stated "Fhe Fed is an independent agency.. There is no agency of government which can overule actions that they take... "
Honestly, I didn't know about the Federal Reserve. I assumed it was under government oversight. That's interesting...because they're what's referred to as a "federal oversight agency" for deposit banks. (I know that having worked with various banking agencies over the years).
I did know about Fannie and Freddie.
What people also didn't know, is that Sallie Mae, the student loan giant, was initially formed by the government to be the government lending arm. Or that Direct Loans is the government's student loan branch.
The Federal Reserve System is not "owned" by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution. Instead, it is an independent entity within the government, having both public purposes and private aspects.
As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve derives its authority from the U.S. Congress. It is considered an independent central bank because its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms. However, the Federal Reserve is subject to oversight by Congress, which periodically reviews its activities and can alter its responsibilities by statute. Also, the Federal Reserve must work within the framework of the overall objectives of economic and financial policy established by the government. Therefore, the Federal Reserve can be more accurately described as "independent within the government."
The twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, which were established by Congress as the operating arms of the nation's central banking system, are organized much like private corporations--possibly leading to some confusion about "ownership." For example, the Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks. However, owning Reserve Bank stock is quite different from owning stock in a private company. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, and ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the System. The stock may not be sold, traded, or pledged as security for a loan; dividends are, by law, 6 percent per year.
From the Federal Reserve website FAQ. FRB: FAQs: Federal Reserve System (http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqfrs.htm - broken link)
Last edited by Emeraldmaiden; 03-13-2009 at 07:45 PM..
Reason: formatting
Honestly, I didn't know about the Federal Reserve. I assumed it was under government oversight. That's interesting...because they're what's referred to as a "federal oversight agency" for deposit banks. (I know that having worked with various banking agencies over the years).
The structure of the Federal Reserve is set to remove it from day to day politics. The governing body of the Federal Reserve is appointed by the President. It is not a private company, it is an independent Federal agency. It was created by an act of Congress and it's operation can be changed by an act of Congress.
This nonsense about it being private is just the prattle of the conspiracy theory nuts
From the Federal Reserve website FAQ. FRB: FAQs: Federal Reserve System (http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqfrs.htm - broken link)
From Greenspan in an interview:
"...first of all the federal reserve is an independent agency and that means basically that ahhh, there is no other agency of government which can over-rule actions that we take; so long as that is in place and there is no evidence that the administration or the congress or anybody else is requesting that we do things other than what we think is in the appropriate thing then the .....relationships don't frankly matter..."
"...first of all the federal reserve is an independent agency and that means basically that ahhh, there is no other agency of government which can over-rule actions that we take; so long as that is in place and there is no evidence that the administration or the congress or anybody else is requesting that we do things other than what we think is in the appropriate thing then the .....relationships don't frankly matter..."
That doesn't change the fact that it is an independent government agency. No, no one can simply overrule the Fed, but the Fed was created by Congress and must be independently audited every year. It is independent for the express reason of keeping it from blowing in the political winds. A certain amount of that is unavoidable, but the length of the board members' terms helps mitigate the effect.
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