The Federal Reserve should be abolished.

My OPP is telling half truths to fit with his conspiracy theory this is no debate he is ignoring facts there is no point even debating him. This is one of those many half truths conspiracy theories people use to convince the ignorant which is laughable which you will see.............The FED is a very powerful institution, and the people who run the worlds large banks are a very powerful group of people. No one would claim otherwise. Also, the bankers have common interests, and, like any other group of people with common interests, they do what they can to bring about government policies that favor those interests.Because the FED as the central bank of the United States, implements policies that most directly affect the bankers, they of course are quite concerned with what the Fed does, how it is structured, and who runs it. And, like other elite groups, bankers certainly meet in private to figure out how best to get what they want.With all that said the idea that a small cabal of bankers runs the world through the operations of the FED is wrong on several counts. It is no reason to abolish the FED as PRO would love you to think.The FED was not formed in secret. The FED was created by legislative action, formally and publicly. But there were certainly private meetings that laid the groundwork for it. Of course, the same is true of legislative actions affecting the pharmaceutical industry, Silicon Valley, insurance firms, and the list goes on. Nothing that special about the creation of the FED. Finally, while I am sure that there are many decent people who see the FED and the bankers as the source of the worlds problems, this view is often part of a larger anti Semitism.Jeckyll Island:Following the near catastrophic financial disaster of 1907 the movement for banking reform picked up steam among Wall Street bankers, Republicans, and eastern Democrats. Much of the country was still distrustful of bankers and of banking in general after 1907. After two decades of minority status, Democrats regained control of Congress in 1910 and were able to block several Republican attempts at reform, even though they recognized the need for some kind of currency and banking changes. In 1910 Nelson Aldrich, Frank Vanderlip of National City (today known as Citibank), Henry Davison of Morgan Bank, and Paul Warburg of the Kuhn, Loeb Investment House met secretly at Jeckyll Island. The meeting was held in secret because the participants knew that any plan they created would be rejected automatically in the house of representatives if it were associated with Wall Street. Because it was secret and because it involved Wall Street, the Jekyll Island affair is a favorite source of conspiracy theories. The movement toward significant banking and monetary reform was well known. It is hardly surprising that given the real possibility of substantial reform, the banking industry would want some sort of input into the nature of the reforms. The Aldrich Plan which the secret meeting produced was even defeated in the House, so even if the Jekyll Island affair was a genuine conspiracy, it clearly failed. Conspiracy theorists have long viewed the FED act as a means of giving control of the banking system to the money trusts, when in reality the intent and effect was to wrestle control away from them. History clearly demonstrates that in the decades prior to the FED act the decisions of a few large New York banks had, at times, enormous repercussions for banks throughout the country and the economy in general. Following the return to central banking, at least some measure of control was removed from them and placed with the Federal Reserve. What we know:The Fed regulates financial institutions, acts as the U.S. government's bank, acts as a bank's bank, and is responsible for managing the nation's money. The Fed has two divisions: One group, the Board of Governors, is responsible for setting monetary policy and managing the nation's money the other group, the 12 regional Reserve Banks, acts as the service division that carries out the policy and oversees financial institutions. The regional Reserve Banks represent the private sector. Both of these groups have the same goals.In its role as money manager, the Fed has two primary goals: *Maintain stable prices (control inflation) *Ensure maximum employment and production outputIt achieves these goals indirectly by raising or lowering short term interest rates. Although these are two separate goals, the outcome of each is the same a stable economy. My OPP has shown nothing except the fact is his mind the FED is a conspiracy who knows for what reason. It would be a mistake, however, to ignore the context in which many of these theories exist. To the conspiracy culture, the FED is a vital player in the plot to enslave the world. George Johnson (1984) summarized the conspiracy world view with this following passage: Over the last hundred years, the world view in which bankers, Communists, and Jews are twisted into a single enemy has become so engrained in the minds of some right-wingers that it is difficult to unravel the threads and explain exactly how they are supposed to fit together. The connections are more emotional than rational, but the purpose of a conspiracy theory is to impose a system of inchoate hate. To Liberty Lobby, the world works something like this: By promoting U.S. involvement in foreign wars, the bankers force the federal government into debt. To cover its mounting deficit, the country must borrow money from the Federal Reserve System which is supposedly run by the international bankers or tax citizens through the Internal Revenue Service, another element of the plot. The Soviets benefit because the United States is so distracted by its various foreign ventures that it has no time to oppose the Communist plan to enslave the world with a Marxist superstate. According to the theory, Communists and capitalists only seem to be competitors, while, in truth, they are working toward the same goals: socialism and one world government. Expensive federal social programs increase government borrowing, enriching the bankers. Taxes and government regulation oppress small scale entrepreneurs and businessmen, keeping them from challenging the bankers' wealth. In a one world government, this power over the people would be extended to every continent, strengthening the bankers' stranglehold on the planet (Johnson, pp. 104-105).Johnson wrote this in 1984 when the Soviet threat was still with us. If you strike the words "Soviet" and "Communists" from the text and simply replace them with "socialists," then the plot still retains a fresh relevance for the modern conspiracy believer. Of course, much of this conspiracy theory cannot be falsified -- there's no way to prove there isn't a conspiracy, much like there's no way to prove Santa Clause doesn't exist. This does not preclude the possibility, however, true believers will simply ignore the evidence against the conspiracy theory(as my OPP has done)or just rewrite it a bit so as to make it unfalsifiable. My OPP claims the FED operates against public interest is just absurd and makes no sense. Vote whichever way you want I am not going debate a conspiracy theorist ever again........