The sneakernet of the Federal Reserve
(Just a picture I took with my phone)
You might have heard of a study of a giant data dump of taxi rides in New York City. It was just released a few days ago, and it's not pretty:
NYC taxi ride data suggest cozy relationship between big banks and the Fed
Fresh from the University of Chicago, an analysis of more than 500 million taxi rides shows a disturbing pattern of people taking rides from the biggest banks in New York to Federal Reserve Bank of New York to gather news of the Federal Open Market Committee meetings at the Fed. From the article:
The data show a striking increase in rides from the commercial banks to the New York Fed almost immediately after the midnight lifting of the communications blackout. Tight restrictions on Federal Reserve staff communications are in force until midnight the day after an FOMC announcement, and rides to the New York Fed are elevated between 1 and 4 a.m. thereafter. The timing and location suggest that information pertinent to the conduct of monetary policy is being shared. The Fed might, for example, seek information on bond market conditions or provide clarification about the announcement.
Isn't it interesting how the people closest to the Federal Reserve Bank feel such a strong need for the privacy of face to face meetings to gather information on the most important decisions made in one of the greatest halls of power?
Why don't they use Telegram Chat? How about Facebook Chat? Or even Hangouts? They could even write their own super-encrypted insider chat program by hiring the best of the best developers off Wall Street or Silicon Valley, but they didn't. They ride in cabs in the dead of night to get the information they need for the next big deal straight from the Fed.
The data in this study shows how people at the worlds biggest and most powerful banks really feel about the security of their computers and their phones. I guess they're really worried about surveillance in the surveillance state they created through their own influence in public policy.
Worse, these are the most privileged, most advantaged people in the world. They could pretty much have anything they wanted if they asked for it. But here they are, scurrying to and fro in the night to gather what is about as close as you can get to insider information without breaking the law.
Yeah, they're going by the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law. I'm sure they talk a good game about free markets and capitalism. But judging by the way they beat a trail to get that fresh scoop of news, free markets are great, as long as they're the first to market.
In contrast, monetary policy in cryptocurrency is out in the open for all to see. The code that runs the mining rigs for proof of work coins and the witness rigs for proof of stake coins is open source. In fact, for many coins, the source code for the programming, the rules that determine how the coins are "minted" or transferred in a transaction, that code can be found on Github. For those who don't know, Github is a great place for people to share code and collaborate on coding projects.
Most cryptocurrencies also have democratic governance systems that permit open deliberations on coin creation and transaction processing, you know, like "monetary policy" at the Fed. And since the code is open source, anyone can re-use the code to create their own coin and offer it to the public. Of course, creating a cryptocurrency that actually has value as a currency is an entirely different matter. But I think it is fair to say that the most successful cryptocurrencies also have the most transparent governance. Everything is above board with currencies like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and EOS.
You simply won't find that kind of transparency with the Fed or the banks that feed off of that prized information disseminated by the Fed. I can remember the days when former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan used to wipe billions off stock market equity just by dropping a comma. I think those days are gone now.
Who knows how long the taxi river has been going on with the FOMC meetings? But I'd bet that this relationship between the big banks and the Fed has been around for decades, if not since the inception of the Fed.
Here is the kicker. These people are supposed to be the best and the brightest in the banking industry, but they still need that helping hand, first dibs on the golden info. These are the same people who bet against Main Street while the housing bubble got big. These are the same people who could shape public policy at will to favor their industry, and still tanked the economy. These are the biggest banks are that had access to the best information possible, and still found themselves bankrupt on September 30th, 2008.
Good thing those banking elves didn't take selfies and post them on Facebook while they were meeting with the Fed. We wouldn't want to put the Fed in an unfavorable light now, would we?
A basic guaranteed income in the context of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
A sort of political movie review: Star Wars: Rogue One
Happiness isn't getting everything you want - happiness is a skill
The opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy
Fate, impunity and altruism
Alternatives are being developed as we speak. But will we like the force of the free market?
As a young economist, I spent three months (a summer intern job) working in the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board on the mall in D.C. I also happen to have been educated in economics at the University of Chicago, so I feel some pride of association in the cleverness of looking at taxi data!
Young people need to seize the day. But to avoid making things worse, young people need to empower themselves with both knowledge of the current system, and community among each other. Young people need to say to themselves and to each other, "We are powerless and we don't have a clue how the current system really works. What are we going to do about that? What are we going to do to empower ourselves?"
My advice is that you focus on morals. Commit to living unselfishly. Do not associate with or otherwise tolerate selfish people in your lives. Draw together in real community with genuine love for one another. Focus on the practical essentials, such as getting an education and establishing yourselves as productive, engaged, vigilant citizens. Study economics if you have the opportunity, for you cannot understand your world without studying economics formally at the university.
The main thing is for you to play the game of life to win, without cheating. Focus on empowering yourselves, and don't waste time worrying about what the selfish people are doing.
Indeed, I do follow that advice. But I also think it's important to be informed about what the selfish people are doing so that I can avoid giving them unwarranted support.
I suppose that was the intent of the article. To inform people that, "Hey, look over there at all the handsome suits. Why do they need an advantage to win in life when, it seems, they've already won?"
I've long held a certain fascination for the Fed. The power to create money is surely awesome. The question is, "Do the people who wield the power to create money accept the responsibilities that go along with that power?"
Their behavior as indicated in the taxi ride data suggest otherwise. :)
I was there long enough to see how they think and what they care about. My advice is that you focus on your own morals and on knitting yourselves into real community. Use your political power to clean house. The most important place to clean house is with your locally elected judges. Give the boot to any judge who does not uphold the Constitution and the other laws.
When I tell the story of what the thoroughly out of control corrupt judges and attorneys and bureacrats in Googleville (Mountain View, California) and in Santa Clara County are doing to me and have been doing to me for eight years, you will understand why I tell you that you need to shift your focus.
You are beginning to awaken, but you do not yet have a clue about the depth of the shit that you are in and you do not yet have a clue about what you need to do.
I am that clue. Will I die before anyone takes the time to listen to my plan?
Send me a link to your best post on the subject, I'll read it.
Stay tuned. I am enhancing the software that generates the pages of the "archive" link on my web site so that the table of contents page for each year is informative enough for people to easily find the evidence for each incident. Once the archive is usable, it will serve as proof for claims that I will make in essays and in steemit blog posts.
The short version of the story is that I tried to speak with signs to express political-right opinions on civic issues such as queer sexuality, speaking English, gender roles, the "December shopping spree", and global warming. I did this in Googleville (Mountain View, California). That was in 2010. I've been tangled up in Court for eight years now with unending misdemeanor complaints against me. The police operate totally outside of the law, and the local judges have their backs, and the whole court system here is totally renegade. Googleville isn't just a company town; it's a company country.
I can prove everything. You won't believe how out of control this county (and this State) is. This is Deep State stuff that hasn't come out yet and that puts the Deep State scandals at the national level in a whole new light.
That's why I am trying so hard to encourage people to stop thinking like children and start thinking like adult men and women. I need you all to help me with this, not just be waiting for me to entertain you. I will lose my life if the bad guys start to take me seriously before you do.
I noted some of the alternatives in my article. :)
As to whether or not we want a free market, I'm not even sure that a free market is possible. Entrenched interests will always try to use their power to manipulate the market, unless they truly want the market to be free. Any market where there is an exchange of value will also be subject to manipulation by public or private interests, some visible, some not so visible, at least, until the most powerful interests decide to stand down.
Whether or not the market is free really depends on the distribution or concentration of wealth and/or power. Until the people of the world decide to become more vigilant about how the market operates, I'm not sure it's possible to have a free market. And since money is a relatively recent invention set upon humanity, I think it will be some time before the people of the world adapt to money.
good post and content thank you for your contribution
You're welcome. I'm glad you liked it.
Coins mentioned in post: