The Federal Reserve System (Fed) is responsible for performing the duties of the central bank of the United States. The system was established on 19 13 according to the Federal Reserve Act. This system mainly consists of the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Open Market Committee.

major duty

1. Formulate and implement relevant monetary policies;

2. Supervise banking institutions to protect consumers' legitimate credit rights;

3. Maintain the stability of the financial system;

4. Provide reliable financial services to the US government, the public, financial institutions and foreign institutions.

[Edit this paragraph] Federal Reserve Board of Directors

The core institution of the Federal Reserve system is the Federal Reserve Board of Directors (referred to as the Federal Reserve); Its full name is the Federal Reserve System Board (Federal Reserve System Management Committee, or Federal Reserve System Committee), which is a federal government agency with its office in Washington, D.C.. The committee consists of seven members (including a chairman, a vice-chairman and five members), who must be nominated by the President of the United States and approved by the Senate of the upper house of the United States Congress before taking office. The term of office of the Committee is fourteen years (the term of office of the chairman and vice-chairman is four years, and they can be re-elected).

[Edit this paragraph] The basic functions of the Federal Reserve

1. Relevant monetary policies are mainly realized by three means (open market operation, setting bank reserve ratio and approving discount rate required by the Federal Reserve Bank);

2. Supervise and guide the activities of the Federal Reserve Banks;

3. Supervise banks in the United States, as well as overseas activities of member banks and activities of foreign banks in the United States;

4. Approve the budget and expenditure of the Federal Reserve Bank;

5. Appoint three of the nine directors of each Federal Reserve Bank;

6. Approve the candidates for the president of the Reserve Bank nominated by the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank;

7. Exercise the rights as a national payment system;

8, responsible for the implementation of the relevant laws to protect consumer credit;

9. According to Humphrey. According to the provisions of Humphrey Hawkins Act, reports on the implementation of economic and monetary policies are submitted to Congress on February 20th and July 20th every year (similar to semi-annual reports);

10. Publish the detailed statistical data of the Federal Reserve system and the national economy to the public through various publications such as the Federal Reserve Bulletin); Once a month;

1 1. Submit the annual report of the previous year (audited by public accounting firms) and the budget report (audited by the US General Accounting Office) to Congress at the beginning of each year;

12. in addition, the chairman of the Committee should hold relevant meetings with the president and treasury secretary of the United States regularly, report relevant information in a timely manner, and perform his duties well in international affairs.

[Edit this paragraph] Federal Reserve Bank

The Federal Reserve Banking Area is divided into 65,438+02 reserve areas by 65,438+02 federal reserve banks established by Congress as the operating force of the national central banking system, and according to the federal reserve act adopted by Congress in 65,438+0965 and 438+03, each area has branches of federal reserve banks. Each regional reserve bank is a legal entity with its own board of directors. Member banks are American private banks. Apart from the Bank of China, it is entirely voluntary for other banks to join. Joining the Fed system will guarantee the private deposits of member banks, but a certain deposit reserve must be paid, and the Fed system will not pay interest on this part of the funds.

Before Clinton ran for the presidency, the Federal Reserve regarded monetary policy as the "only lever" to regulate the economy, that is, determined the money supply as the main means to regulate the economy, and formally decided to revise the money supply target every six months. 1one afternoon in July, 1993, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben alan greenspan suddenly announced that the real interest rate would be the main means of macroeconomic regulation and control in the future. This is because the way of social investment in the United States has changed greatly, and a large amount of liquidity is difficult to be included in the money supply. The inevitable relationship between money supply and economic growth has been broken, so the interest rate level remains neutral with the "neutral" monetary policy. It can neither stimulate nor inhibit the economy, so that the economy can grow at its own potential growth rate under the expectation of low inflation, and further investigation. The Fed takes the actual annual economic growth rate as the main criterion and the adjustment of interest rates as the main basis, and all policy arrangements are based on reverse thinking. According to the Federal Reserve, the average annual growth rate of American labor force is 1.5%, and the average annual growth rate of productivity is 1%. Therefore, the potential annual economic growth rate of the United States is about 2.5%, and the main task of the Federal Reserve is to stabilize the annual economic growth rate at around 2.5% by regulating interest rates. Alleviate worries about inflation.

[Edit this paragraph] Federal Open Market Committee

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

The Federal Open Market Committee is another important institution in the Fed system. It consists of twelve members, including seven members of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of new york, and the other four seats are held by another 1 1 president of the Federal Reserve Bank in turn. The Committee has a chairman (usually the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors) and a vice-chairman (usually the governor of the Federal Reserve Bank). In addition, all other presidents of the Federal Reserve Bank can participate in the discussion meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, but they have no right to vote.

The main task of the Federal Open Market Committee is to use open market operations (one of the main monetary policies) to influence the currency reserves in the market to some extent. In addition, it is also responsible for determining the growth rate of the total amount of money (that is, the amount of money newly put into the market) and guiding the activities of the Federal Reserve Bank in the foreign exchange market.

The main decision of the Committee was made by holding a seminar. They hold eight regular meetings in Washington, D.C. every year, and the meeting schedule is announced every year. Usually, related affairs are mainly negotiated through telephone conferences, and of course, special meetings can be held when necessary.

[Edit this paragraph] The Federal Reserve System was launched.

The FEDeral Reserve System (Fed) is the highest monetary policy institution in the United States, which is responsible for keeping the reserves of commercial banks, lending to commercial banks and issuing federal reserve bonds. The Federal Reserve is organized in three layers, with the board of directors as the highest, and 12 Federal Reserve Bank and member banks of the reserve banks.

The basic principles of the Federal Reserve System are "independence" and "checks and balances". As far as checks and balances are concerned, as we all know, the seven directors (including the chairman and vice-chairman) of the Bureau are nominated by the President and subject to the consent of the Senate. For monetary policy resolutions such as raising or lowering the rediscount rate, the collegial voting system is adopted, with one person and one vote, which is a "secret ballot". The chairman's one-vote vote is often voted for the political party that already has a majority of seats. Although the president can master the nomination of directors, chairman and vice chairman, once approved by the Senate, his term of office is as long as 14 years, and he can serve as president for up to 5 times.

As for independence, the Fed is most praised for its personnel independence and budget independence. In addition to the board of directors, it also has the Federal Open Market Operation Committee (FOMC), which is responsible for making long-term monetary decisions and conducting foreign exchange operations according to foreign exchange guidelines, authorized operations and foreign exchange operation procedures.

Due to the strong position of the US dollar in the international currency market, the intervention of the Federal Reserve in the foreign exchange market has attracted special attention. When the Japanese yen appreciates sharply due to the trade surplus, the Bank of Japan had better get the assistance and cooperation of the Federal Reserve if it wants to successfully intervene in the foreign exchange market.

The Federal Reserve is also the main institution for formulating US monetary policy. Since June 1993 and 10, the economic prosperity of the United States has been rising rapidly, which may lead to inflation. Because Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors, ignored public opinion and political pressure and raised the discount rate seven times in a row, the American economy achieved a soft landing and got rid of the threat of inflation.

It is no exaggeration to say that even today, few economists in China know that the Federal Reserve is actually a private central bank. The so-called "Federal Reserve Bank" is actually neither "federal" nor "reserve" nor "bank". Most China administration officials may take it for granted that the US government issues dollars. In fact, the US government has no right to issue money at all! 1963 after the assassination of president Kennedy, the us government finally lost the sole right to issue "silver dollar". If the American government wants to get dollars, it must mortgage the American people's future tax revenue (national debt) to the private Federal Reserve, and the Federal Reserve will issue "Federal Reserve bonds", that is, "dollars".

[Edit this paragraph] Other American Federations

For years, who owns the Federal Reserve has been a taboo topic. The Fed itself is always prevaricating. Like the Bank of England, the Fed keeps information about its shareholders confidential.

Representative WrightPatman has served as chairman of the House Banking and Monetary Committee for 40 years. In the past 20 years, he has repeatedly proposed abolishing the Federal Reserve, and he has been trying to find out who owns it. The secret was finally discovered. After nearly half a century's research, eustace, the author of The Secret of the Federal Reserve, finally got the original business licenses of 12 Federal Reserve banks, which clearly recorded the share composition of each Federal Reserve bank.

The Federal Reserve Bank is the actual controller of the Federal Reserve system. In the document submitted to the Comptroller on May 19 19, 2004, it was recorded that the total number of shares issued was 203,053, including: new york National Bank of New York, the predecessor of Citibank, controlled by Rockefeller and Kuhn Leibo. JP Morgan First National Bank owns 15000 shares; When the two companies merged into Citibank on 1955, it owned nearly a quarter of the shares of the Federal Reserve Bank of new york, which actually decided the chairman of the Federal Reserve. The appointment of the president of the United States is just a rubber stamp, and the congressional hearing is more like a form.

Paul warburg's new york National Commercial Bank has 265,438+0,000 shares; Hanover Bank, of which the Rothschild family is a director, owns 65,438+00,200 shares; ChaseNationalBank has 6000 shares; ChemicalBank has 6000 shares; These six banks * * * hold 40% of the shares of the Federal Reserve Bank, and by 1983, they always * * * hold 53% of the shares. After adjustment, their shareholding ratios are: Citibank 15%, Chase Manhattan 14%, Morgan Trust 9%, Hanover manufacturer 7% and Chemical Bank 8%.

The registered capital of the Federal Reserve Bank of new york is 1.43 billion US dollars, and it is still a mystery whether these banks have paid this money. Some historians think that they only paid half of the cash, while others think that they didn't have any cash at all, just paid by check, and only a few figures have changed in their Fed accounts. The Fed's operation is actually "issuing paper with paper as collateral". No wonder some historians scoff that the Federal Reserve banking system is neither "federal" nor "reserve" nor a bank.

On June 5th, 1978, the Government Affairs Committee of the United States Senate released a report on the interest chain of major American companies. According to the report, the above-mentioned banks have 470 director positions in 30 large companies in the United States/KLOC-0, and on average, 3.6 director positions in each large company belong to bankers. Among them, Citibank controls 97 board seats; JPMorgan Chase controls 99; Hanwha Bank controls 96; Chase Manhattan Control 89; Hanover manufacturing control 89.

1965438+On September 3, 2004, when the Federal Reserve sold its shares, The New York Times announced the share composition of major banks: new york National Bank issued 250000 shares, and Jeames steelman owned 47498 shares; JP Morgan company14500; William rockefeller 10000 shares; John rockefeller 1750 shares; New york National Commercial Bank issued 250,000 shares, and George Baker owned 65,438+00,000 shares; JP Morgan company 7800 shares; Mary harriman 5650 shares; Paul Warburg 3000 shares; Jacob Schaefer has 1000 shares and JPMorgan Chase Jr. has 1000 shares. Chase Bank, George Baker owns 13408 shares. Hanover Bank, let Metz steelman own 4,000 shares; William rockefeller 1540 shares.

Since the establishment of 19 13 Federal Reserve, irrefutable facts show that bankers have manipulated the financial lifeline, industrial and commercial lifeline and political lifeline of the United States, as it was and still is. These Wall Street bankers have close ties with the Rothschild family in London.

The unknown federal advisory Committee

The Federal Advisory Board is a secret remote control device designed by paul warburg to control the Federal Reserve Board of Directors. In the operation of the Federal Reserve for more than 90 years, the Federal Advisory Committee has well realized Paul's idea. Almost no one has paid attention to this institution and its operation, and there is not a lot of literature to study.

19 13 Congressman Glass vigorously promoted the concept of the Federal Advisory Committee in the House of Representatives. He said, "There can't be anything evil in it. Four times a year (the board of directors of the Federal Reserve) meets with the bankers' advisory committee, and each member represents his own federal reserve. Can we better protect the public interest than this arrangement? "Senator Glass himself is a banker. He did not explain or provide any evidence to prove that bankers had protected the public interest in American history.

The Federal Advisory Committee consists of one representative from each of the 65,438+02 regional banks of the Federal Reserve. It meets with members of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors four times a year in Washington. Bankers put forward various "suggestions" on monetary policy to the directors of the Federal Reserve. Every banker represents the economic interests of the region, and everyone has the same voting right. Imperfect in theory, but in the fierce and cruel reality of the banking industry, it is completely another set of "hidden rules". It's hard to imagine a small banker in Cincinnati sitting at the conference table with international financial giants such as paul warburg and Morgan, offering "monetary policy suggestions" to these giants? Either of the two giants took a check out of his pocket and crossed it twice, which was enough to destroy the little banker. In fact, the survival of every small and medium-sized bank in the 12 Fed area depends entirely on the gifts of the five major banking giants on Wall Street. The big five deliberately split the large transactions with European banks into parts and handed them over to their "satellite banks" in various places. And "satellite banks" naturally get these high-return businesses more obediently, and the big five also have shares in these small banks. When these small banks "representing the interests of their respective regions" sit together with the Big Five to discuss the US monetary policy, they don't need much imagination to know the results of the discussion.

Although the "recommendations" of the Federal Advisory Board are not binding on the decisions of the Fed directors, the Big Five on Wall Street will not just go to Washington for coffee with several Fed directors four times a year. You know, it's strange for a super busy man like Morgan, who is also a director of 63 companies, to go back and forth happily if their "suggestions" are not considered.

How is the debt dollar "refined"

As a non-financial professional reader, you may need to read the following contents repeatedly to fully understand the "money-making process" of the Federal Reserve and banking institutions. This is the core "trade secret" of the western financial industry.

Since the U.S. government has no right to issue money, it can only issue money and creditor's rights through the Federal Reserve and the commercial banking system, and then use treasury bonds as collateral for private central banks, so the source of dollars is treasury bonds.

In the first step, Congress approved the issuance scale of national debt, and the Ministry of Finance designed national debt into different types of bonds, including national debt within 1 year, national debt within 2- 10 year and national debt with 30 years. These bonds are auctioned in the open market at different frequencies and times. Finally, the Ministry of Finance sent all the unsold treasury bonds in the auction transaction to the Federal Reserve, which accepted them in full. At this time, these treasury bonds are recorded under the "securities assets" in the Fed account.

National debt is regarded as the "most reliable asset" in the world because it is mortgaged by the US government with future taxes. When the Fed obtains this "asset", it can use it to generate a liability, which is the "Fed check" printed by the Fed. This is a key step in "making something out of nothing". There is no money behind the first check issued by the Federal Reserve to support this "empty check".

This is a beautifully designed step full of camouflage. Its existence makes it easier for the government to control "supply and demand" when auctioning bonds. The Fed gets the "interest" on lending money to the government, and the government gets money conveniently, but it doesn't show a lot of traces of printing money. The obviously empty-handed Federal Reserve is completely balanced in accounting, and the "assets" of national debt are completely equal to the "liabilities" of currency. The whole banking system is cleverly wrapped under this shell.

It is this simple and crucial step that has caused the biggest injustice in the world. The people's future taxes are mortgaged by the government to the private central bank to "lend" dollars. Because they "borrowed money" from private banks, the government owed huge interest. Its injustice is reflected in:

First, people's future taxes should not be mortgaged, because money has not been earned. Mortgaging the future will inevitably lead to the depreciation of the purchasing power of money, thus hurting people's savings.

Second, people's future taxes should not be mortgaged to private central banks. Bankers suddenly have the promise of people's future taxes, and they don't have to pay at all. This is a typical "white wolf with empty gloves".

Third, the government owes huge interest for no reason, and these interest expenses eventually become the burden of the people. People are not only inexplicably mortgaged to their future, but now they must pay taxes immediately to repay the interest owed by the government to the private central bank. The greater the dollar circulation, the heavier the people's interest burden, which will not be finished for generations!

The second step, when the federal government received and approved the "Federal Reserve Check" issued by the Federal Reserve, this magical check was returned to the Federal Reserve Bank, which was converted into "government deposit" and kept in the government's account in the Federal Reserve.

Third, when the federal government began to spend money, large and small federal checks constituted the "first wave" of funds pouring into the economy. Companies and individuals who receive these checks deposit them in their own commercial bank accounts, and the money becomes "commercial bank deposits". At this point, they present a "dual personality". On the one hand, it is the debt of the bank, because the money belongs to the depositor and will be returned to others sooner or later. On the other hand, they constitute the "assets" of banks and can be used for lending. From the accounting point of view, everything is still balanced, and the same assets constitute the same liabilities. However, commercial banks have begun to prepare to "create" money with the help of the high-power amplifier of "FractionalReserveBanking".

Fourth, the savings of commercial banks are reclassified as "bank reserves" in bank accounts. At this time, these savings have jumped from ordinary "assets" of banks to "reserves" of money-making seeds. Under the "partial reserve" system, the Federal Reserve only allows commercial banks to use 65,438+00% of their savings as "reserves" (generally speaking, American banks only put 65,438+0% to 2% of their total savings in their own "vaults" and 8% to 9% of their bills as "reserves"), and 90% of them will be. In this way, 90% of the money will be used by banks to issue credit.

There's something wrong with this. When 90% of the deposits are lent to others, what should the original depositors do if they write checks or use money? In fact, when loans occur, these loans are not original savings, but "new money" made out of nothing. These "new money" immediately increased the total amount of money owned by banks by 90% compared with the "old money". Different from "old money", "new money" can bring interest income to banks. This is the "second wave" of money pouring into the economy. When the "second wave" money returned to commercial banks, more "new money" was created, and its number showed a decreasing trend. By the end of the 20th wave, with the close cooperation of the Federal Reserve and commercial banks, the one-dollar national debt has created an increase of $65,438+00 in currency circulation. If the currency circulation increment generated by the aftermath of the issuance of national debt and the creation of currency is greater than the needs of economic growth, the purchasing power of all "old currencies" will decline, which is the fundamental reason for inflation. 200 1 By 2006, the United States had added $3 trillion in national debt, and a considerable part of it directly entered the currency circulation. Coupled with the redemption of national debt and interest payment many years ago, the consequence is that the dollar has depreciated sharply, and the prices of commodities, real estate, oil, education, medical care and insurance have risen sharply.

However, most of the additional treasury bonds did not directly enter the banking system, but were purchased by foreign central banks, American non-financial institutions and individuals. In this case, these buyers spent the existing dollars, so they didn't "create" new dollars. Only when the Federal Reserve and American banking institutions buy US Treasury bonds will new dollars be generated, which is why the United States can temporarily control inflation. However, the national debt held by non-American banks will expire sooner or later, and the interest will be paid once every six months (30-year national debt). At this time, the Fed is bound to create new dollars.

[Edit this paragraph] The nature of the Federal Reserve

Although the United States was founded more than 200 years ago, the history of money alone can be endless. Milton friedman's classic book "American Monetary History 1867- 1960", with more than 800 pages, only tells the summary of historical fragments, which shows the complexity of economic and monetary history.

After the founding of the United States 179 1 year, with the strong support of Hamilton, then the finance minister and genius, the first central bank was established, but it disappeared 20 years later. 18 16, the second central bank, also disappeared in 1836 under the opposition of then President Jackson. During the 80 years from then to 19 13, the American economy operated without a central bank.

Without a central bank, it is impossible to use appropriate monetary policy to regulate the economy, and without a lender of last resort, the financial system is more prone to problems. Imagine that if all countries in the world lack central banks, I am afraid Lehman Brothers will also go bankrupt in this crisis. After 1836, the American economy was in this unstable state. By 1907, the spreading crisis pushed the American financial system to the brink of collapse. Fortunately, JPMorgan Chase, the financial giant at that time, acted as the central bank and saved the whole system with the help of one person.

Since then, the US government and Congress have felt the need to establish a central bank. Congress passed the Federal Reserve Bill in 19 13, and President Wilson signed it into law. The Federal Reserve Act authorized the establishment of a central bank, and the Federal Reserve was formally born. This is the first fact to judge whether the Fed is a private institution: from the beginning, the Fed was an institution established by national legislation.

However, the Fed does have the illusion of a private institution. The whole Federal Reserve system consists of 12 branches with the Federal Reserve Bureau as the core and all over the country. This 12 branch is composed of local private commercial banks. At first glance, the branches of the Federal Reserve are very similar to joint-stock companies. Why is this happening? This needs to start with the history of the United States.

As the author mentioned in the previous article, the birth of the United States was the result of compromise between 13 former British colonies, so the genes of this country are full of compromises of interests of all parties. The decision to go to war with Britain was the result of compromise negotiations among the colonies, the birth of the constitution and the establishment of the country were the result of compromise after independence, the establishment of the Senate and the House of Representatives was the result of compromise, and the election of the president by electoral college system instead of popular votes was also the result of compromise. The appearance of the Federal Reserve Bill is naturally the result of a compromise.

After 1836, the American banking industry was in a relatively free state, and banks were opened everywhere. By 1920, after the establishment of the Federal Reserve, the number of banks in the United States was as high as 30,000, more than the number of other countries in the world combined. These banks have been free for 80 years. How can they easily accept the supervision of the central government?

In the United States, to pass a bill, senators and representatives from all over the world need to vote in favor. A bill that does not compromise the interests of all localities cannot be passed. Every bank has its own senators and representatives as spokespersons. If most members do not agree with the bill, the Fed system will face difficulties. Therefore, just like the electoral college system designed in the Constitution, the Federal Reserve Bill also designed a system of compromise with banks everywhere.

In order to take into account the interests of private banks everywhere, the bill divides the United States into 12 districts and establishes 12 branches of the Federal Reserve. Local banks participate in the branch, and the board of directors of the branch is elected by the participating banks, and the participating banks can also get dividends every year. This series of regulations are designed to take into account local interests. Judging from these regulations, the Fed system does have the illusion of private ownership.

But the provisions of the bill go far beyond that. The highest authority of the Federal Reserve is the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Open Market Operation Committee (FOMC) in Washington. All seven members of the former are appointed by the president of the United States, including the chairman of the Committee. FOMC is the interest rate-setting institution of the Federal Reserve, consisting of 65,438+02 members, of which 7 members of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve are permanent members of FOMC and have an absolute majority in voting. The other five members of FOMC are rotated by the chairman of the Federal Reserve Branch. It should be pointed out that although the chairman of the branch is elected by the participating banks, the board of directors of the Federal Reserve has the final veto power over the appointment of the chairman of the branch.

It can be seen that although the Federal Reserve Act has harmed local interests, the core rights of the Federal Reserve system are still firmly in the hands of the government. More importantly, although participating banks can get dividends, the bill limits the interest rate of dividends to 6% per year, and the excess income of the Fed needs to be turned over to the state treasury. Besides, anyone with common sense knows that only government agencies can finally use gov on their websites.

The above shows that, first, the Federal Reserve was established after the compromise of local interests, and there is indeed privatization of equity; Second, the Federal Reserve is formally a private joint-stock company, but it is fundamentally controlled by the US government and can be considered as the central bank of the United States. Third, the Federal Reserve Act stipulates that the responsibility of the Federal Reserve is to maintain the normal operation of the economy, maintain price stability, and at the same time serve private companies. At the same time, the bill ensures that the Fed operates independently of the government, with the aim of making the government unable to control the central bank's currency issuance and monetary policy, thus ensuring the relative independence of the monetary and financial systems. (It should be noted that the United States implements the "issuance mortgage" system in currency issuance. By providing 65,438+0,000% qualified collateral, the issuance of Federal Reserve bonds becomes an economic problem with full guarantee, and it is not based on the prescribed limit, which is quite flexible. The biggest feature of American currency issuance system is its strong independence. )