Monday, June 11, 2018

Public Opinion about the Fed

Pew has done an interesting opinion survey about the Fed. Pew finds that Democrats and leftists tend to like the Fed while Republicans and pro-freedom Americans tend to dislike it. The breakdown of the opposed-to-favor ratios is as follows. The omitted proportion is "don't know": Rep:48:39; Rep-Cons 54:33; Rep-Mod: 40:13; Dem: 28:57; Cons-Dem: 26:59; Left-Dem: 30:56. Overall, 37:47.
The Fed is among the most-entrenched federal institutions, yet the total difference is a mere 10 points (37:47).
The Fed is an institution that subsidizes the wealthy and those who do not work at the expense of those with moderate and lower incomes. It fosters corrupt, insider relationships among government, money center banks, and Wall Street. It has supported one bubble after the next, to include the Latin American debt crisis; the Hunts' cornering of the silver market; Long Term Capital Management; the millennial derivatives bubble; the ongoing stock, bond, and real estate bubbles; and a whole slew of other kooky bubbles and mistaken economic policies. Leftists like the Fed because it permits ongoing indebtedness to subsidize welfare benefits. Rockefeller Republicans like it because it subsidizes and bails out their incompetent investment decisions.
Unfortunately, though, American indebtedness is now in excess of 105% of GDP, and Social Security will be 25% underfunded in 15 years. Sooner or later the debt bubble will burst, and Americans used to welfare will suffer because of the left's good intentions. The left has always had a taste for gambles that lead to mass suffering, and we will see that outcome again, although I doubt that we will see the mass murders of Cuba, the USSR, and the PRC. Rather, we will probably see some riots and mostly quiet suffering, elderly people eating pet food, and a reversal of the 180-year-old free market trend of lengthening life spans.
I also suspect that conservatives have trouble vocalizing these concerns because elite conservatives are in bed with elite leftists. The military industrial complex, for instance, receives support from the paper money system.

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