Be Careful Wishing for the Fed’s End

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/weekinreview/01fed.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=imagine:%20the%20fed%20dead&st=cse

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine 
Date: Sun, May 1, 2011 at 9:25 AM
Subject: re: Be Careful Wishing for the Fed’s End
To: letters@nytimes.com


To the Editor:

   Roger Lowenstein daintily avoids mentioning what the Fed is. As a private (or--at best--a quasi-governmental) institution, the Fed's mandate to make a profit is not always in the nation's interest. Ask the Greeks or the Portuguese or the Germans what happens when a nation is no longer master of its own mint.  The Greek and Portuguese economies are in shambles because their currencies were over-valued, and the Germans are grumbling about having to bail them out.  The Fed is not the only option to the gold standard. Our Federal government was its own banker at various periods in our history. It's fiat currency whether we print money at need or we borrow it from the Fed. The latter solution has the disadvantage of putting us further into debt.

Barry Haskell Levine