Should private citizens be allowed to compete with the Federal Reserve?

I agree. We’re dealing with a bunch of criminals… who unfortunately… have the privilege of interpreting the way laws apply to them. It’s up to us to hold them accountable and push for real change.

This is america, if they get enough people to agree with them then ripe banana they are innocent!

Oddly enough, my dad (who I don’t have a lot of politics in common with) was arguing and ranting with me about the Federal Reserve just a few days ago.

Yes, private citizens should be able to compete, imho….supposedly we’re a “free society” which means that monopolies (unless heavily government regulated) are bad. The Federal Reserve, when viewed in that light, is both a monopoly AND less transparent than the electric companies, etc, which are heavily regulated monopolies.

Remember Enron? Of course we do. As a result of their shenanigans…well, we know what happened. They didn’t get punished enough but, that was a government blessed monopoly that abused their power. There are tons of examples where government regulated monopolies abuse consumers, etc.

Is the Federal Reserve the exception? Since we can’t audit them, the obvious answer is ‘yes’.

I, for one, can’t wait to vote the idiots in power out as all of them are worried about the wrong issues.

Yeah… seems like we’re upside down in a benthic storm of wars and problems that have sh!t all to do with making our lives better… while congress wrings their hands. I recall a month or so ago reading of the White House issuing a condemnation for the sentencing of Russian Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky for fraud and thinking… WOW!!!… the hubris of our leaders knows no bounds.

I don’t necessarily believe we should just allow anyone to start up their own currency. But I totally agree we need to do something about the fed. At a minimum we need to audit them and open up the whole process to complete transparency. I don’t have any real hope of that every happening though…

I don’t understand how or why currency should differ from everything else? We are required to honor the corrupt Federal Reserve System. No one was required to buy into or honor the liberty dollars. People made the choice to. If arcades and county fairs are capable of instituting private currency in the form of tokens and tickets… the bar isn’t set too high for the rest of us.

You point out that an overhaul of the system is unlikely. I will add that it is unlikely because of the benefit the Federal government receives from the system… eg the ability to spend limitlessly and pass the expense off through inflation… and because of the free money the current system spends buying off government officials.

Since it is unlikely… why shouldn’t we be seeking alternatives?

I understand what you are saying, and I mostly agree. But in today’s digital world, it would be quite difficult conduct business without set currencies. Imagine the logistical nightmare if vendors had to accept hundreds of different currencies just from one country? Lets just get rid of the fed, and go back to a gold standard. That would go a long way to correct the theft that has been going on for the past century. But like I said, that ain’t happenin’ in the near future.

These would be opt in systems. For the time being online transactions would be handled in federal reserve notes… or any other currency the parties choose. If… in the future there are no more federal reserve notes… or we are no longer obligated to honor them… then a medium of exchange of intrinsic value may be in order. If there are a myriad of different representative currencies down the line… then we would deal the same way we did before… by converting the values. This would weed out the corrupt… and bankrupt systems because no one would accept their currencies. You’re right… it will require a little more effort on the part of the people… but it is worth it if it keeps the systems honest and protects the wealth of the people.