Fed Reserve Charter – Massive increase in US debt ownership, renew?

Editor’s Note – As the Federal Reserve approaches its 100th anniversary, and its 100-year charter is about to expire in December we hear little about the fact that it must be renewed.

Or should it? We may have no choice – why, because they now control everything. To end it, may mean the implosion of the entire world’s economy. That “Creature from Jekyll Island” is now Godzilla on steroids, and we do not possess the weapons to even control it anymore.

The Federal Reserve System was created on December 23, 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law.

From OpEd News:

We are told that the Federal Reserve is “above politics” and that it is absolutely vital that the Fed remain “independent”. The reality is that the Federal Reserve has more control over the performance of the U.S. economy than the president even does, and yet most Americans never spend much time thinking about the Fed at all.

It is almost as if someone has instructed us to “ignore the man behind the curtain,” and most of us just blindly obey. With the economy in such a mess and with the national debt exploding so dramatically, isn’t it about time that we had a national conversation about the performance of the Federal Reserve? Isn’t it about time that we evaluated whether the Federal Reserve is doing a good job or not?

So has the Federal Reserve done a good job?

… Well, current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke  has openly admitted that the Federal Reserve helped cause the Great Depression of the 1930s. And there have been 10 separate economic recessions since 1950. So that is not a really great track record.

In addition, it seems very clear that the foolish low interest rate policies of the Fed fueled the massive housing bubble that plunged the U.S. economy into the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression when it finally crashed.

…When the Federal Reserve was created, the U.S. national debt was less than 3 billion dollars. Today, it is more than 5000 times larger.

What is the appropriate word to use when something is 5000 times worse than it used to be?

When you simply look at performance, the truth is that it is really hard to deny that the Federal Reserve has been a complete and total nightmare for the United States.

But instead of shutting it down, Congress has been giving the Federal Reserve even more power.  The Dodd-Frank bill gave the Fed significant new powers and substantial new responsibilities, and the Fed has been exercising those new powers in almost complete secrecy

Now, under the Obama Administration and Ben Bernanke’s control, we have relinquished unprecedented power to a non-government agency – a cabal of banks – should it be renewed? You be the judge:

Top Customer: Under Obama, Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Debt Have Jumped 452%

By Terence P. Jeffrey – CNS News

(CNSNews.com) -  Since President Barack Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, the Federal Reserve’s holdings of U.S. government debt have quintupled, according to the Fed’s official monthly balance sheet.

On Jan. 28, 2009, a week after Obama’s nomination, the Fed owned $302 billion in U.S. Treasury securities. On April 25, 2012, the latest date reported, the Fed owned five and a half time that much in U.S. Treasury securities–$1.668 trillion.

That is an increase from January 2009 of $1.366 trillion—or 452 percent.

Under Obama, the Federal Reserve has become the single largest owner of U.S. government debt. When Obama entered office, entities in the People’s Republic of China were the largest holders, followed by entities in Japan. At the end of January 2009, China owned $739.6 billion in U.S. government debt and Japan owned $634.8 billion.

By the end of March 2012, China’s holdings of U.S. debt had grown to $1.1699 trillion and Japan’s holdings had grown to $1.083 trillion.

Together, the Federal Reserve, China and Japan had increased their holdings of U.S. debt by $2.2445 trillion since Obama took office.

The total U.S. government debt grew from $10.6179 trillion to $15.6233 between Jan. 28, 2009 and April 25, 2012. Leaving out the intragovernmental debt—which the federal government owes itself—the publicly owned part of the U.S. government debt has climbed from $6.2955 trillion to $10.8607 trillion, an increase of $4.5652 trillion.

The $2.2445 trillion of that new publicly owned U.S. government debt that was purchased by the Fed, China and Japan equals 49 percent of all the new debt the U.S. government has sold to the public since Obama took office.

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