http://laist.com/2008/10/10/pencil_this_infriday_3.php All comments for Pencil This In...Friday en-us 2008 la_zach Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:30:26 -0800 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss tincanorange@gmail.com tincanorange@gmail.com 60 http://laist.com/2008/10/10/pencil_this_infriday_3.php#comment-1484984 http://laist.com/2008/10/10/pencil_this_infriday_3.php#comment-1484984 Comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:49:54 -0800 <p>Barf on the ridiculous conspiracy theory part of that sign. Critics of capitalism have a hard enough time being taken seriously without having to compete with nonsense.</p> http://laist.com/2008/10/10/pencil_this_infriday_3.php#comment-1484782 http://laist.com/2008/10/10/pencil_this_infriday_3.php#comment-1484782 Comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:18:54 -0800 <p>The information in the photograph's art piece is incorrect and misleading. There is no Federal Reserve Bank with a monopoly over anything, and it certainly isn't a private company. Twelve separate Federal Reserve Banks serve separate areas across the nation. Only chartered banks (a few thousand exist) are allowed to borrow or use the Fed's services. Shares of the company are not available to the general public, only depositors (that is, the member banks) hold shares (they do not actually own them, nor may they sell them). These shares only grant voting rights towards the board of directors of the regional Regional Federal Reserve Bank in question. This board (which acts only in an oversight capacity and has little power to set policy) hires a Bank President who is charged with managing the bank. Four of the Regional Bank Presidents (out of twelve) take turns sitting on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, a large body of people appointed directly by the President (these appointees outnumber the Bank Presidents 7:4). It is this body, whose members are answerable to Congress, which has the actual power to set policy, rules over loans, interest rates, fees, and other important matters.</p>