Recent events have proved that the paper-money system of this country may be used as an engine to undermine your free institutions, and that those who desire to engross all power in the hands of the few and to govern by corruption or force are aware of its power and prepared to employ it.
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It is one of the serious evils of our present system of banking that it enables one class of society--and that by no means a numerous one--by its control over the currency, to act injuriously upon the interests of all the others and to exercise more than its just proportion of influence in political affairs. The agricultural, the mechanical, and the laboring classes have little or no share in the direction of the great moneyed corporations, and from their habits and the nature of their pursuits they are incapable of forming extensive combinations to act together with united force.
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The paper-money system and its natural associations--monopoly and exclusive privileges--have already struck their roots too deep in the soil, and it will require all your efforts to check its further growth and to eradicate the evil. The men who profit by the abuses and desire to perpetuate them will continue to besiege the halls of legislation in the General Government as well as in the States, and will seek by every artifice to mislead and deceive the public servants. It is to yourselves that you must look for safety and the means of guarding and perpetuating your free institutions. In your hands is rightfully placed the sovereignty of the country, and to you everyone placed in authority is ultimately responsible. It is always in your power to see that the wishes of the people are carried into faithful execution, and their will, when once made known, must sooner or later be obeyed; and while the people remain, as I trust they ever will, uncorrupted and incorruptible, and continue watchful and jealous of their rights, the Government is safe, and the cause of freedom will continue to triumph over all its enemies.
But it will require steady and persevering exertions on your part to rid yourselves of the iniquities and mischiefs of the paper system and to check the spirit of monopoly and other abuses which have sprung up with it, and of which it is the main support.
Now likely the system will collapse in a decade or two (or earlier), just like it did before in the 1970s, but we won't call it a collapse or even a default. — ssu
A question from someone not from the USA: why do purported remarks by the founding fathers have a quasi-religious importance to so many Americans? This stuff can have an irrationalist edge, as seen from Abroad. — mcdoodle
So, there you are. That's why. — Bitter Crank
You don't recall it correct this time, swstephe.From what I recall, Jefferson made comments against private banks and was warning on the dangers of not having a federal regulating bank like other countries. So he would probably have been partially relieved if he had seen the Federal Reserve, but maybe thought it was still too private. — swstephe
The Dodd-Frank Act created the interagency Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and authorized a permanent staff to monitor systemic risk and consolidated bank regulation from five agencies to four. The DFA granted the Federal Reserve oversight authority and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) resolution authority over the largest financial firms. The Dodd-Frank Act consolidated consumer protection rulemaking, which had been dispersed among several federal agencies, in the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
(see The Battle over the Bank: Hamilton v. Jefferson)In 1791, Hamilton proposed that the United States charter a national bank in order to take care of Revolutionary War debt, create a single national currency, and stimulate the economy. Jefferson argued that the creation of a national bank was not a power granted under the enumerated powers, nor was it necessary and proper. Both gentlemen presented their arguments to Washington, and ultimately Washington agreed with Hamilton.
The Fed is the lender of the last resort... not the overseeing regulator — ssu
We just experienced one of the worst banking crises and financial collapses in history totally comparable to the 1929 crash. — ssu
Or the crisis morphed into another... in Europe, for example. But yes, the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve is quite as big as it was during the financial crisis. It hasn't increased lately, but the mortrage back securities garbage is still there. And so are the US treasuries, which have increased since the financial crises.Actually, we just put it off. The bail-out was designed to counter loss of confidence. With a $19 trillion debt, the capacity for warding off that sort of loss is diminished. — Mongrel
(CNBC, 29th September 2016) German officials could be about to find themselves in an uncomfortable position: Being called on to show they're ready to rescue a bank in a part of the world where such operations are considered taboo.
Deutsche Bank came under intensified market fire Thursday, the latest salvo being a Bloomberg report that a small number of hedge funds are trimming their sails at the German bank.
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