I'm curious as to what "democratizing the Fed" entails in practice? Do we get to vote and have town hall meetings on interest rates? Impeach Greenspan if he has a sordid affair? I'm having a hard time picturing participatory finance policy (which is why i lean towards scrapping the whole mess). Outside of capitalist conflict over Fed policy, what would the hypothetical leftist Fed look like?
suresh
>
>>My top reforms:
>>
>>democratize the Fed
>>strengthen its full-employment mandate
>>regulate for fair credit allocation in minority communities
>>create public banks in poor neighborhoods to take over basic
>> fin services (check cashing, etc.)
>>
>>Was that too anti-semitic?
>
>No. I agree with the public banks part. Take it up with the
>bourgeoisie - they won't be pleased.
>
>As for "democratizing the Fed," it'd also be nice to democratize
>Congress. That aside, this is where we get into the Kalecki
>kontroversy. Most industrialists don't want labor markets to be too
>tight. They may have a slightly more generous definition of full
>employment than your average denizen of the bond pits, but not much.
>In other words, there's no significant difference between big
>industry and big finance over Fed policy. If there were, the Fed
>would be a lot more controversial politically than it is.
>
>"Minority communities" need credit less than they need infrastructure
>investment and social spending. The last thing they need is to be
>deeper in hock to The Man.
>
>Doug
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