Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Ron Paul wants to "End the Fed"

I received a copy of "End the Fed". It's written by Ron Paul, a member of the House of Representatives from Texas.

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chapter 1

"In the United States, the central bank is the Federal Reserve, the instrument by which our money and credit are constantly manipulated..."

"I've written this book to explain why I think the system of Fed domination must come to an end..."

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In chapter 2 he begins to explain the origins of the Fed.

As I am reading, I'm keeping in mind that his opinion is that the Fed has faults.

He states that the gold standard does not allow for credit without limits.

After going through the chapter, I realize that I didn't learn why the Fed exists "in plain English". Maybe it's because I haven't thoroughly studied finance. Early into this book, I'm ready to strongly suggest you take your time reading it so you can try to understand what is being presented and put it into perspective for yourself.

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He recollects some of the financial history during the 1900s of the United States of America. Included is his perspective on money during his life. No matter how you feel about his postions, agree or disagree, to know the events and history of what helped to shape his feelings is interesting.

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In chapter 4 he recalls the creation of the Gold Commission. Which I was not able to find a lot of information about on the internet...and that seemed very weird to me. Maybe when I get over to my branch of the local library...

Paul believes that "If...we had returned to our senses in 1981, the problems and grave dangers we now face could have been averted."

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Chapter chapter 5, Conversations with Greenspan, is nice and meaty...he starts swinging hard:

"...Greenspan...visited the House Committee on Oversight and Reform...

"Most of his testimony was designed as an attempt to protect his reputation and to explain away his shortcomings a Federal Reserve Board chairman. His testimony was pathetic. He made the point that the computer programs that they were using to anticipate...problems were not well designed...

"History will show that Greenspan, during his years as Fed chairman...planted all the seeds of the finanacial calamity that erupted..."

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As I went through the book, it caused me to have a lot of questions about finances and how the government perceives what is in our best interest. I will need time for study to try to answer all of the questions I now have about it all. There more I read, the more I want to pause and learn about...

This book is not difficult to understand. But unless you are involved in financial markets daily, you will need to take your time to understand what Paul is presenting.

I also intend to seek out other opinions of this book: they will be interesting, and might help me to formulate my own opinion that I can explain and fully support.

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"End the Fed" is published by Grand Central Publishing. It's available in hardcover, paperback (large print available), Adobe ebook, CD audio, and downloadable audio.

A podcast, and an excerpt, are available at http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/books_9780446549196.htm

His MySpace page is at http://www.myspace.com/ronpaul

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