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1: The Money Masters Exposed
Does the excess of money worry you? Does the lack of money worry you? Were does money come from? Who owns this money? Most of all who creates this money? A plumber fixes your toilet or shower. He does not make money. A mechanic fixes your car. He does not make money. An accountant balances yours books but he does not make money so who does make money or better creates our money if these people do not and how? This book answers a lot of questions.
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2: Excellent
This book is good overview of fractional reserve banking, the Fed, and their pernicious effects on the economy. With that said, the book is only 150 pages and those desiring a treatise on monetary policy should look elsewhere.
I love Rothbard's writing style. He combines humor with an unshakable search for truth, explaining difficult concepts clearly and thoroughly without belaboring the point.
Overall a great read!
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3: Misleading
Rothbard repeatedly refers to the Federal Reserve as a "federal agency" when it's actually a private corporation. This fact alone condemns the fed more than any of the information in his pamphlet and he SOMEHOW LEAVES IT OUT! How can an author overlook such a simple fact? Seems to me this was written to confuse people about the true case against the fed - ITS NOT FEDERAL!
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4: The Case Against the Fed
The Case Against the FedThis book is a good primer on the Federal Reserve and banking in general. It is not a hard read and is interesting to those who want to learn about this very important part of our economy. Anyone who has even a remote interest in this book should also check out "The Creature from Jekyll Island". THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND - A Second Look at the Federal Reserve - 2008 Edition This book really gets into the subject in a fascinating way. It is really an eye opener and presents the Fed, banking, savings and loans, etc. in a way that is not only instructive but extremely entertaining. This should be a required text in every school!
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5: Bewildering Case Against the Fed
Recently I read a book by Ron Paul and in a review I questioned some of his criticisms of the Federal Reserve. It's not that I'm some kind of defender of the Federal Reserve it's just that his alternative (having Congress in charge of monetary policy) seemed horrifying. Some folks politely urged me to do some further research on the subject suggesting this book so I've done my due diligence and read it.
There is a reoccurring theme when I speak to or read material from self described Libertarians. Apparently the Federal Reserve is a very devious organization that illegally counterfeits money. Counterfeiting is one of the most repeated charges I've heard leveled against the Federal Reserve and it never really made sense to me so I looked up the words definition in the American Heritage Dictionary. Counterfeiting is defined as, "To make a copy of, usually with the intent to defraud; forge". Other definitions said basically the same thing. Is U.S. currency a fraud or forgery given the fact that it is printed with the permission of the Federal government? The accusation seems baseless and bizarre. Since this is one of the primary legs of Mr. Rothbard's argument it leads me to question his entire case.
The main crux of the author's argument, if I understand it correctly, is that the Federal Reserve was created by and for the protection of United States banks to allow them to reap profits above and beyond what would naturally be possible. By going off the gold standard and allowing the Federal Reserve to create money out of thin air, inflation is driven up. The author writes, "The gold standard no longer servers as any kind of check upon the Central Bank's expansion of its credit" but I'm not even sure how the gold standard operated as a speed bump. Is it because it's a finite resource?
Much of the rest of the book is nothing more than a history of how the central bank was initially pushed in the United States. The author lists all the players involved and I do mean ALL the players. Page after page lists name after name until I became dizzy. I guess it's all supposed to sound very conspiratorial but it grew tiresome. His point was that the central bank was created at the behest of wealthy bankers. Is this shocking? I'm not sure. Unless I'm mistaken it WAS created to protect the integrity of banks to ensure customer confidence. Considering the book is a mere 151 pages this lengthy section seemed to be completely superfluous filler. This was the section that dragged the book down to two stars for me.
So in the end the author suggests abolishing the Federal Reserve, liquidating its assets and going back on the gold standard. Somehow I feel as if I'm missing some salient point. Hard currency has become rather quaint in this day and age. Well over 90% of my purchases are done without physical cash ever changing hands. It seems that just about anyone can create money out of thin air by purchasing using credit. I will agree that many of the regulating agencies in our country are set up more to lock out competition than to regulate industry but there seems to be no lack of banks. If the authors point was that the FDIC causes banks to engage in risky behavior I'm not sure that that's true either. I really have to question whether the advocates of returning to the gold standard and abolishing the Federal Reserve actually understand the ramifications or if it just feels good to get rid of a powerful institution. Getting rid of institutions seems to be one of the great pleasures of Libertarians with the Federal Reserve joining the IRS and the public school systems as primary targets. Seems like a bad idea to me but what do I know.
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