Is giving the 'Fed' MORE power really the answer?

I am troubled a little bit by this article I found on yahoo:

Bush seeks financial regulation overhaul


The article talks about something I've heard here and there over the last couple of weeks. It seems that the Power's that be, namely Bush and some, in my opinion naive Democrats are pushing to give the Federal Reserve Board more Power than it already has. Included in the powers and general changes that they are planning to make include:

• The Fed, would become a "market stability regulator," giving it the power to check the books not just of commercial banks but of all segments of the financial services industry.
• The proposal would shut down the Office of Thrift Supervision and transfer its functions to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates nationally chartered banks.
• The plan would consolidate the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates stock trading, into the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates futures trades for oil, grains and various other commodities.
• The plan would create a national regulator for the insurance industry (my industry*), which is now largely governed by the states (The Ohio Department of Insurance to be specific). So instead of state regulated insurance industries it would be one National Insurance department.
  
• It would create a mortgage Origination Commission
• "The role Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have been playing to shore up the financial system would be formalized in the administration plan by giving Fed officials greater power to detect where threats might be lurking in the system." - not sure I like this at all - what exactly are those 'greater' powers and what else will the Fed - an entity that has no checks or balances on it - be able to detect?
  

SO basically after the past year, or at least 6 months of a dramatically declining market and economy based mainly on latent effects of the Federal Reserves actions - we are planning to give the Federal Reserve MORE power for putting the American economy on a Collision-course with a recession that many fear has already arrived?

I personally think this is ludicrous, the other thing is I think Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and all the Power's that be who whisper in his ear have done a major disservice (at least in the long run) to the American Public but cutting interest rates so dramatically in such a short term. The fast decline of short term interest rates I believe will only serve to increase inflation dramatically over the long run.

Overall what I mean is by making money cheaper for banks in the short-term you also cheapen the American dollar in the long term for those who have less buying power as it is already. Think of the recent increase in the cost of bread, milk, and other commodities. Furthermore by giving so much power and influence to a part of economic system that is not elected by the people seems to say to me that only the elite and well-connected will have any say in the future if problems arise and they will likely only make changes that help the wealthy out rather than the bulk of America which is the lower-class (a growing Majority) and the middle-class (a shrinking minority).

Bottom line, if you were to ask me if the FED needs More power - I would without a doubt say 'NO THEY DO NOT!'

Larouche and the coming American Depression

I was turned on to an interesting website. Larouchepac.com

I watched the video which is very informative but also fairly boring but, the gist of the video is this - The Germany of the 1920's with their overinflated reichmarks looks a lot like the America of today with the gradually devalued dollars vs,. Euro's.

I won't go too deep into this because I don't like pointing out the problem unless I can think of a solution as well.

The solution in my mind is very simple for America (but in no way easy) :

STOP BUYING CRAP YOU CAN"T AFFORD -

and that applies to both people, US. corporations and (sigh) the government.
Too bad our economy is in large part supported now by people buying stuff they can't afford and or don't need.


Anyway, before I start preaching - check out the video if you have an hour and a half to kill. You might learn something.

Article/Newsbit of the Week: Loonie surges past 108 cents US

So if you didn't check out yesterday's video blog about how Money is Debt you should.

The following article (which is the end result of the above documentary video) can not be easily found on my favorite News source - CNNMoney.com

Instead, I had to look to the often over-looked Canadian media - i.e., Canoe.ca for the interesting article:

Higher commodities, earnings boosts stocks; Loonie surges past 108 cents US

That's right the title says it all, the Loonie (aka the Canadian dollar) is now worth 108 American cents.

Or, put another way, Those magazines that used to say $3 American/$4 Canadian are no longer accurate - it's more like $3 American/$2.76 Canadian...those worthless Canadian pennies don't seem so worthless anymore.

Article/Newsbit of the Week: $915 Billion in credit card debt

So I checked out this article on CNNMoney.com:


The $915B bomb in consumers' wallets

It talks about one of my favorite subjects - hated credit card debt. Credit card companies are starting to get nervous as people in the US are beginning to pay their bills later and later.

Here's an interesting excerpt:

"But credit card debt is different from subprime debt in another way: Unlike mortgages, credit card debt is unsecured, so a default means a total loss. And while missed payments are at a historical low, they show signs of an uptick: The quarterly delinquency rate for Capital One, Washington Mutual, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Bank of America rose an average of 13% in the third quarter, compared with a 2% drop in the previous quarter.

What's more, consumers and the people who market financial services to them may not have learned their lesson. Klaus-Peter Müller, CEO of Germany's Commerzbank, told Fortune he was stunned on a recent trip to the U.S. to see TV ads still aggressively touting no-questions-asked credit. In Germany he's calling for tighter standards."

It's very interesting to me how seemingly wiser heads - German bank CEO's in this instance - have a better idea of what can possibly happen, better than say some of the greedy, American CEO's who are blind when it comes to the long-term implications...more Americans in debt and no quick and easy way to get out.

'Sign up for another high-interest credit card to 'consolidate your' debt!'

And eventually, watch as America as a whole pics up the tab...

Do Americans work too hard?

So I was looking through different articles the other day and found this one:

U.S. workers: World's most productive

In the article it states -

"The average U.S. worker produces $63,885 of wealth per year, more than their counterparts in all other countries, the International Labor Organization said in its report. Ireland comes in second at $55,986, followed by Luxembourg at $55,641, Belgium at $55,235 and France at $54,609."

A little bit further on in the article it points out the fact that -

The U.S. employee put in an average 1,804 hours of work in 2006, the report said. That compared with 1,407.1 hours for the Norwegian worker and 1,564.4 for the French.

Not only do we create the most wealth we work almost 300 hours more on average than other country. I don't know about you, But I think I deserve a longer lunch break...