by Smitty (via Galt’s Girl)

It isn’t clear whether this will be more than a promotional stunt:

However, the Swiss Stock Exchange has not been deterred from new involvement with the yellow metal. Together with Scoach Switzerland, the stock exchange for structured products, the management has the plan to introduce the listing and trading of products in so-called XAU gold units – which have an exact value of one troy ounce of gold – in October. Gold will act just like a currency: paying the profits of investors from speculative transactions. The same applies if an investor had to pay the bill on losses from transactions in Swiss financial markets – in this case the difference could be offset in the form of gold. Investors who want to make use of the new gold currency must open an account with Swiss financial services provider Six Securities Services. All transactions made through this account will subsequently be calculated in the XAU gold units that work in the same way as any other paper currencies such as the US dollar or the euro.

If nothing else, this development may help that slow-learning head of the Federal Reserve figure out if gold is money.

Interesting times. We may need to End the Fed before the Fed ends us.

by Smitty (via Reboot Congress on Twitter)

Yeah, had to look up the SI prefix on that one. Tyler Durden over at Zero Hedge reveals something you’ve more or less suspected, but didn’t want to go all tinfoil hat about, emphasis original:

. . .Wall Street’s (not to mention the rest of the world’s) biggest banks received a total of $1.2 trillion in previously secret Fed loans, in addition to the trillions in public backstops and loans from the US Treasury. As a reminder, “denominated in $1 bills, the $1.2 trillion would fill 539 Olympic-size swimming pools.” The best summary of this ongoing collusion between the Fed and Wall Street, in which it once again for the nth time becomes clear that all the Fed cars about is making sure its banking masters are never impaired, is from the article itself: “Even as the firms asserted in news releases or earnings calls that they had ample cash, they drew Fed funding in secret, avoiding the stigma of weakness.” And there you have it: everything that come out of Wall Street is and has always been a lie. . .

Now, I love my country, the Constitution, and its symbols; however, the level of global deceit involved with the Federal Reserve is such that I will agree: Americans have a substantial reason to be ashamed over this. This blog calls on all GOP Presidential candidates to estimate the number of shotgun shells they estimate it will take to put this zombie down, in the name of all that’s decent.

It is time to End the Fed.

Anticipating Bernanke’s kiss-my-rebuttal, he’d probably say that we want him on that bank, we need him on that bank. Bunk. This is a man, in a long series of men, on a policy bender, cheerfully deciding that what we all need now is a little more hair of the bitch. If Bernanke wants to stress test his wallet, that’s his prerogative. If our government fails to protect my wallet, and that of my children, then my government is illegitimate, unrepresentative, and debased.

It is time to End the Fed.

The Creature from Jeckyll Island will celebrate a century of undead, anti-Constitutional existence in 854 days, as of 22 August, 2011.  Of the two conferences in the American Political Football League that have perpetuated this monstrosity, the GOP is relatively more likely to step up to the [expletives go here] plate and finalize the Fed.

It is time to End the Fed. Come to think of it, 1.2 teravolts would probably vaporize the Fed nicely.

Related Rick Perry thoughts at Chicago Boyz. Meanwhile, The Moderate(ly Progressive) Voice links CBS giving a platform to the frequently helpful Ben Stein beclowning himself. Just because the Federal Reserve has been a slow-motion heist, Ben, does not justify it.

by Smitty

Senator Sanders (D-upe) underscores that from the mouth of bozos truth occasionally escapes:

“You can argue that the chairman of the Fed is more important than the president of the United States, but very few Americans understand what the Fed does,” says Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who successfully pushed for the Fed to disclose more about its secretive bank lending. Addressing the press, Mr. Sanders says, will be “a step forward.”

Here, in a graph, is what the Federal Reserve does, Senator Sanders:
As the economy continues its slow-motion capsize, keep in mind that the centennial of the Federal Reserve is coming the year after next. Can we bring about its demise? Why yes: yes, we can. Thomas Sowell on the Fed:

When someone removes a cancer, what do you replace it with?

Via GaltsGirl on Twitter, here is some intriguing Fed news:

In terms of the larger trends, the fundamentals that have caused so much pain and economic woe over the last ten years or so remain intact. If anything, they’ve gotten worse. We’ve gotten currency debasement, not just in the U.S., but especially in the U.S. dollar, which is not just any currency, but the world’s reserve currency.

We’ve got a truly mind-boggling expansion of the reach of government into all aspects of society and the economy, with all that that implies in terms of regulation, taxation, controls over investments and finance, impact on personal liberty, and so forth. By recognizing this destructive trend for what it is, investors can position themselves to avoid the worst, and to profit by betting on things like the continuing debasement of the dollar.

So that’s the big picture.

There is growing evidence that in the next month or two, we will head into a very dangerous period. The Fed has been extremely supportive of the U.S. government’s insane spending, polluting its own balance sheet by buying up toxic loans by the hundreds of billions and by pumping enormous quantities of cash into the money supply.

You don’t have to look very hard to understand why we have seen some small recovery in the economy, much of which has been driven by the financial sector that has been the recipient of so much largess – it was bought and paid for by the government, working hand in glove with the Fed.

But there is about to be a fundamental change in this arrangement. It appears that the Fed has decided that it’s time to take a step back from its monetization – or quantitative easing (QE), as they now term it – in the hopes that the market will step in to fill the large gap it will leave.

Unfortunately, there is going to be massive pressure to do whatever it takes to support the reality show Obama II: It Just Gets Creepier.

by Smitty (via Insty)

Taking one eye off the ObamaCare debacle for a minute, one of the things that is going to make restoring the Constitution to full vigor a challenge is the lack of reasonable monetary policy.
Bloomberg reports that Ben Bernanke, the dude behind the financial curtain, might have to let you know the details of robberies past:

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled today that the Fed must release records of the unprecedented $2 trillion U.S. loan program launched primarily after the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The ruling upholds a decision of a lower-court judge, who in August ordered that the information be released.

The Fed had argued that disclosure of the documents threatens to stigmatize borrowers and cause them “severe and irreparable competitive injury,” discouraging banks in distress from seeking help. A three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected that argument in a unanimous decision.

Thanks, Fed. You throw the economy and the dollar under the bus to save your cronies. Are said cronies even in the US? One sort of hopes we’re going to find out, but there is precious little precedent for accountability where the Fed is concerned.
See Ron Paul’s End the Fed. It is just 3 years, 9 months until the centennial of the Federal Reserve Act 2012 candidates worthy of support should be talking about how they are going to replace an un-elected, unaccountable, opaque organization which says quantitative easing where honest people say ‘stealing’, with an organization more in keeping with the Constitution, that document under such heavy assault just now.
In fact, I daresay that, had the Internet existed 100 years ago, the Federal Reserve Act would be greeted will all the lusty cheer afforded ObamaCare.
Meanwhile, I’ve got to make some signs for the rally tomorrow on Capitol Hill. Twice in a week! Hail to the Community Organizer in Chief, and an agenda that mobilizes America, albeit against some highly unsavory legislation.
All joking aside, the Federal Reserve, augmented by the 16th Amendment, forms a chief enabler for our delinquent Federal government. A major agenda item for the national come-to-Beavis meeting triggered by this atrocious Congress/Administration is a plan to restore the meaning of the Bill of Rights, which was to protect the private citizen from Federal over-reach.