End the Fed people

[Jacobtm]

Let's say you end the Fed. What next?

[Zarn]

We finally act like a real republic

[Jacobtm]

Do you then want a static money supply, linked directly to stores of precious metals?

What if someone steals all our gold, does the money supply then shrink? Does the money supply increase if we find sunken ships full of bullion? Is the dollar allowed to float against international currencies?

[opebo]

Haha, instant economic collapse.  But remember, there are three legs to the edifice of a decent economic order -1)  monetary policy applied by the central bank, 2) the fiscal stabilizer of redistributionist government spending, and finally, 3) careful and highly controlling regulation.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

1. Legalize Gold and Silver for alternative money.
2. FED goes bust like any other private bank that had once held a monopoly.
3. Gold Standard is set again.
4. Inflation decreases.

[opebo]

1. Legalize Gold and Silver for alternative money.
2. FED goes bust like any other private bank that had once held a monopoly.
3. Gold Standard is set again.
4. Inflation decreases.

But where are your three legs?  Your stool will collapse!

[Yelnoc]

1. Legalize Gold and Silver for alternative money.
2. FED goes bust like any other private bank that had once held a monopoly.
3. Gold Standard is set again.
4. Inflation decreases.

But where are your three legs?  Your stool will collapse!

His stool levitates.

[RI]

Gold standard = instant massive deflation, economic contraction, and, ultimately, complete collapse.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Gold standard = instant massive deflation, economic contraction, and, ultimately, complete collapse.

While the gold standard will in the long term be deflationary, the only reason for massive deflation would be if a poor peg is chosen. Setting the peg too low or too high wlll cause a one-time bout of deflation or inflation, but there's nothing that would require the peg to be set too low.  Indeed, if anything, it would be in interest of the government to set it high so that it can make a one time profit from the increase of the book value of its holdings in gold.

[tpfkaw]

Ideally you would also repeal legal tender laws and allow the free use of alternative means of exchange, which would revert to some form of privately-minted currency that maintains a highly stable value in a market system - probably not the cliched gold standard but maybe some form of currency with a frozen money supply or at least one that increases at a pre-set, known rate, possibly but not necessarily in conjunction with a commodity standard.

Once that happens, it would become impossible to continue the present system of massive regressive wealth transfers by means of minting dollars and giving them to bankers while sapping the middle class's (more like "the 99.99%'s") purchasing power by means of the resulting inflation, and causing the boom-recession cycle because of the large-scale, poorly considered overinvestment caused by taking large amounts of wealth from the middle class (who would spend it on actual consumer preferences) and giving it to leeches (who spend it on speculation).

Actually, you don't even need to end the Fed to do that, you could just repeal legal tender laws.  Ending the Fed would certainly help though, and if legal tender laws can't be repealed the next best thing would be to end the Fed and move to some sort of (real) commodity standard, because then at least you wouldn't be able to have the present system of trapezocracy.

[Wonkish1]

Ideally you would also repeal legal tender laws and allow the free use of alternative means of exchange, which would revert to some form of privately-minted currency that maintains a highly stable value in a market system - probably not the cliched gold standard but maybe some form of currency with a frozen money supply or at least one that increases at a pre-set, known rate, possibly but not necessarily in conjunction with a commodity standard.

Once that happens, it would become impossible to continue the present system of massive regressive wealth transfers by means of minting dollars and giving them to bankers while sapping the middle class's (more like "the 99.99%'s") purchasing power by means of the resulting inflation, and causing the boom-recession cycle because of the large-scale, poorly considered overinvestment caused by taking large amounts of wealth from the middle class (who would spend it on actual consumer preferences) and giving it to leeches (who spend it on speculation).

Actually, you don't even need to end the Fed to do that, you could just repeal legal tender laws.  Ending the Fed would certainly help though, and if legal tender laws can't be repealed the next best thing would be to end the Fed and move to some sort of (real) commodity standard, because then at least you wouldn't be able to have the present system of trapezocracy.

^^^This is the closest I've seen to a sane libertarian argument towards ending the Fed. You end the fed and you go to a private money system it is the only possible option. Google "Suffolk system" and you'll get the idea.


I come across way to many libertarians like Chairman Sanchez up there that think that you can end the fed and move to a Bretton Woods style central bank Gold Standard model(which is what most libertarians think of when they say "Gold Standard".

Well you need a central bank(therefore you need the Fed) if you're going to try to enact a national gold backed and pegged currency system. The idea wont work for 100s of reasons.


Now if you were looking at a private money system then it would be a different story, that quite possibly could work. In theory the first step is as wormguy pointed out; you need to end legal tender laws.

But keep in mind all of this is perfectly fine in economic theory. Even if you could prove definitively to everybody involved that the system would be better their are enormous challenges to doing something like this.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

F*** it, let's just revert to salt and rum as currency!

[Хahar 🤔]

1. Legalize Gold and Silver for alternative money.

Yeah, I don't think the currency police will arrest you if you try to pay for things in gold or silver. They're not illegal.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

1. Legalize Gold and Silver for alternative money.

Yeah, I don't think the currency police will arrest you if you try to pay for things in gold or silver. They're not illegal.

No, but if you hold gold and silver and they increase in dollar value, then you incur capital gains when you spend your money, so the government essentially taxes alternative currencies, even tho they are legal.

[Bacon King]

1. Legalize Gold and Silver for alternative money.
2. FED goes bust like any other private bank that had once held a monopoly.
3. Gold Standard is set again.
4. Inflation decreases.

Those gold and silver prices sure are stable! Pegging the value of our currency to these openly-traded metals certainly wouldn't have any sort of negative economic repercussions at all!

[ag]

Gold standard = instant massive deflation, economic contraction, and, ultimately, complete collapse.

While the gold standard will in the long term be deflationary, the only reason for massive deflation would be if a poor peg is chosen. Setting the peg too low or too high wlll cause a one-time bout of deflation or inflation, but there's nothing that would require the peg to be set too low.  Indeed, if anything, it would be in interest of the government to set it high so that it can make a one time profit from the increase of the book value of its holdings in gold.

Peg of what to what? Presumably, there would be multiple banks issuing multiple gold-backed currency. Or should then it be the Treasury that should be granted a monopoly of minting gold coins?

BTW, the last time I checked, nobody is prohibiting anyone from writing contracts in gold.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Gold standard = instant massive deflation, economic contraction, and, ultimately, complete collapse.

While the gold standard will in the long term be deflationary, the only reason for massive deflation would be if a poor peg is chosen. Setting the peg too low or too high wlll cause a one-time bout of deflation or inflation, but there's nothing that would require the peg to be set too low.  Indeed, if anything, it would be in interest of the government to set it high so that it can make a one time profit from the increase of the book value of its holdings in gold.

Peg of what to what? Presumably, there would be multiple banks issuing multiple gold-backed currency. Or should then it be the Treasury that should be granted a monopoly of minting gold coins?

BTW, the last time I checked, nobody is prohibiting anyone from writing contracts in gold.

I can't imagine any coherent system of taxation without some form of standard currency to use as a reference, regardless of whether it is the sole circulating currency or not. That standard will be set by the government.

[Roemerista]

While certainly there is the privatize money libertarian crowd, I always assumed the end the fed was against manipulating interests rates. You know the whole Austrian business cycle thing, because it created the over extension of capital.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

1. Legalize Gold and Silver for alternative money.
2. FED goes bust like any other private bank that had once held a monopoly.
3. Gold Standard is set again.
4. Inflation decreases.

[tpfkaw]

1. Legalize Gold and Silver for alternative money.

Yeah, I don't think the currency police will arrest you if you try to pay for things in gold or silver.

Oh, but the "currency police" do arrest "you" ("you," of course, being a "domestic terrorist").

[Хahar 🤔]

1. Legalize Gold and Silver for alternative money.

Yeah, I don't think the currency police will arrest you if you try to pay for things in gold or silver.

Oh, but the "currency police" do arrest "you" ("you," of course, being a "domestic terrorist").

Paying with gold and silver is different from using fraudulent currency that happens to be struck in gold or silver.