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10 sats \ 5 replies \ @orthzar 17 Jan 2023 \ parent \ on: The Fed Is a Purely Political Institution, and It's Definitely Not a Bank. bitcoin
Ya, you've proven my point. The Fed banks are "government agencies", but with some aspects of Government Sponsored Enterprises, namely dividends.
Plus, corporations are only private in the sense that the government doesn't decide what they produce. But the government makes all other decisions (e.g. ESG policies, the structure of the corporation, whether or not each corporation can sell stock, etc).
In the case of the Fed, it can only do a limited range of things: e.g. lending money and buying financial instruments. Congress prohibits the Fed from doing anything else, like starting up a factory. The Fed is nothing like an ordinary corporation.
The CBs are financing the deficit spending and therefore hold all the power in their hands. You are confusing some laws with real power in my opinion.
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I agree that it is unlike other corporations, and I'm not really claiming it is privately owned, rather that the Fed and the banks aren't really capitalist institutions. The Fed managers are drawn from the banks and the banks earn dividends from Fed activities, but the appointees are chosen by the state, so they have to appease the regime, too.
I think part of what you're missing about the profit sharing between the banks and treasury is that the Fed's lending goes through the banks, so they inherently make huge profits off of the Cantillion effect, by being the first users of the new money.
I'll also admit "own" was a somewhat poor word choice, because you're obviously correct that they are not allowed to use it however they want. It's a loose way of speaking that can be useful with people who don't realize the banks are direct shareholders in the Fed.
Notice though, that it isn't the Fed banks that are government agencies, it is the Board of Governors. The Fed banks are considered "private" corporations, although neither of us would consider that an accurate label.
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