I do wally. They are STILL independent from the Govt in their actions though. How you do not know this is amazing. I knew you were a goofball, just didnt know you were a Desh level goofball.
The Federal Reserve is not independent of the government in their actions. The board of governors and the chairman are appointed by the Senate.
I might point out that the Federal Reserve itself is unconstitutional. It is communism (government ownership of markets) and fascism (government manipulation of markets). In this case, the currency and debt markets in the United States. The Fed has been the cause of crash after crash. First it makes money 'easy' by lowering interest rates, fueling speculation based on debt. This results in 'good times' for awhile, because like any pyramid scheme, the first ones in make a lot of money. It's based on an empty assets however. Sooner or later, the pyramid collapses, and we have another crash. This is not because of capitalism, it because of the Federal Reserve manipulating the debt market.
Congress never had authority to create the Federal Reserve, and no President ever had authority to steal gold from people (like FDR did). The problems of fiat money are occurring worldwide, because fiat money has the same problems, no matter where it's used. More and more people are becoming aware of these inherent problems, and are already looking around for another currency.
Governments WANT fiat currency. It allows them to expand indefinitely, simply by printing money. Governments WANT inflation so they can pay off the bonds they've accumulated using the newly printed funny money.
They can also just issue new bonds, increasing debt. Like an individual living day to day off of credit cards, soon or later it all comes crashing down. No one is willing to buy more of the debt and the government (or individual) can't pay the bills anymore. The ONLY difference between the two is the government's ability to try to print it's way out of it's problems. It's like the individual trying to pay off his debts with Monopoly money.
It doesn't work. This is what is happening now. It is happening to any government based on fiat money. Worldwide, it's a race to the bottom. The only question is who will get there first.
China and Russia are both stockpiling gold. Russia is moving toward a gold currency. Iran is already there, but that's hardly a significant economy in the world. The U.S. is broke, and there's no fixing it unless Congress makes a 180 and stops spending and borrowing so much money.
The value of ANY currency is based on faith, even the value of gold. By 'value', I mean the ability to trade the money for something that is desired. Money is really nothing more than a medium of barter, nothing more.
Money is also a unit of account. You can set a price with it. ALL money are these two things, whether it's fiat, gold, Bitcoin, clamshells, or whatever.
Right now, faith in fiat money is failing. We will see a historic change soon. Not just a crash in the United States, but a crash worldwide. It cannot be stopped by any government, because they are all doing the same thing (with certain exceptions).
My advice? Invest in things of hard value...gold, real estate, diamonds, silver, fine art, etc. Don't invest in any currencies. The decision on which currency will be used has not yet been made by the people. Investing in companies (the stock market) is extremely risky during these times, particularly in companies with a lot of debt.
