What will the Federal Reserve due with the retierment of Allan Greenspand?
116881
The Federal reserve will continue to do its job, with Dr. Ben S. Bernanke as its chairman. Here is a bit about Dr. Bernanke:\n\n---Dr. Bernanke was born on December 13, 1953, in Augusta, Georgia. He received a B.A. in economics in 1975 from Harvard University (summa cum laude) and a Ph.D. in economics in 1979 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.\n\n---Dr. Bernanke was the Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and Chair of the Economics Department at Princeton University (1996-2002). Dr. Bernanke had served as a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton since 1985.\n\n---Dr. Bernanke has published many articles on a wide variety of economic issues, including monetary policy and macroeconomics, and he is the author of several scholarly books and two textbooks. He has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Sloan Fellowship, and he is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Bernanke served as the Director of the Monetary Economics Program of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and as a member of the NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee. Dr. Bernanke's work with civic and professional groups includes having served two terms as a member of the Montgomery Township (N.J.) Board of Education.
1057986
Nah!  The Feds are just replacing old currency with much uglier currency.
147343
Yes Mike, it's all very well about trust, but what happened in 1929?   Something similar may happen soon.   9/11 set the process in motion; Bush is carrying it further.  Thank goodness I'm a poor man, with little to lose.  You rich people had better buy gold or Chinese currency soonest.\nQuestioner bulabate is very near the mark when he talks about printing money - whose head is in the sand - his or Mike Gilbert's?  I reckon your's Mike, rather than bula's, not that I know much about the subject : in fact I don't think anyone does; not even Alan Greenspan.
196664
no more welfare\nmake more state and fed workers work after laying off about 2/3 of them that are not needed
1082212
I think the issue is more then a depression. The United States is losing confidence throughout the world. Foreign and American investors are turning to Europe as the solidified economy. A depression indicates a periodic significant drop in the economy. I think its going to be much worse. It will be permanent. New jobs consist of unskilled and underpaid positions. When 10,000 Americans are applying for jobs that pay 8 dollars an hour, just so they can work, and basic fuel products, gasoline, natural gas, heating oil etc are skyrocketing, how are people going to afford this at 8 dollars an hour? We are watching the decline of the American dream and hence its empire. This is sadly written by someone who loves America.
730174
To answer your question, let's create a hypothetical situation where we pit a diabolical and evil Fed chairman diabolical against a diabolical and evil President. (OK, partisans, no correlating to real life here).\n\n\nIn this corner: The Chairman of the Federal Reserve board.\n\nStrengths and super-powers: The Federal Reserve Board of Governors has the power to control the nations money supply. This power means they can throw the worlds largest economy in recession, or trigger hyperinflation. They can also create money out of thin air.\n\nWeaknesses:\n\n- The Fed chairman can not unilaterally change monetary policy; it would require a majority board vote.\n\n- The Fed needs Treasury approval to print and distribute currency.\n\n- The president appoints the chairman and all other governors (with congressional approval)\n\n\n\nIn this corner: The president of the United States\n\nStrengths and super-powers: Of all the president's power, the most significant is being commander-in-chief. He has command over the U.S. military and, by extension, has control over about half the military spending in the world. \n\n\nWeaknesses:\n\n- Congressional cooperation\n\n\n\nLet the battle commence! And the play-by-play is:\n\n- The Fed chairman acts first, and calls an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors to create $1T and buy a mercenary army.\n\n- The rest of the board (all presidential appointees) decline to go along with it.\n\n- The President has the Fed Chairman arrested for treason.\n\nAnd the winner of the most powerful position is:\n\n--> The President <--
354582
Although it's anyone's guess (even experts can't predict interest rate levels with any consistency), my bet is that the trend in interest rates will be upward, principally due to continued inflationary pressures (energy costs and growing economies worldwide, e.g. China) and the demand for funds by the U.S. Government (war, disaster and medicare costs).\n\nThis prediction does not preclude some major shock which might cause the Federal Reserve to pump money (liquidity) into the system, thus lowering interest rates temporarily.\n\nIf I were planning to lock in a fixed rate mortgage rate, it would have been a couple of years ago.  If I had not yet done it, I would lock it in now.\n\nThe basis for my prediction is an a 25 year career in investments, principally focused in fixed income (bond) investments.
426382
No, that led to all kinds of perversions of market forces in the past. Liquidity is also an issue. \n\nIf it ain't broke, don't fix it.
266545
The Federal Reserve is owned by the United States of America, it is not privately owned.  Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_reserve for an explanation of the system, but basically the President appoints a Board of Governors that supervise a system of regional reserve banks and commercial member banks.  The board is currently headed by Ben Bernanke, who replaced Alan Greenspan earlier this year.
226795
Well, The Federal Reserve Bank regulate the monetary policy and they also change the interest rate of our economy.
524189
When Nixon allowed the dollar to float taking it off of the silver standard it devalued the dollar and made it no longer as attractive to own and it has been in decline every since, To answer your question, yes I think it will last it may be worth less but it will be our currency into the future.
1140485
It would take a whole course to give you a comprehensive response. You might consider signing up for one at a local college.\n\nMeanwhile, in a nutshell, here's what's happening at this time in the economy: The Fed is always concerned with keeping economic growth at an acceptably high level and keeping the rate of price inflation at an acceptably low level.\n\nWhen the economy gets cooking, the money supply expands (that's actually what inflation is). The business community spends more to satisfy their higher level of business activity, and consumers feel rich so they spend more.\n\nThe US economy has been on a five-year expansion. It's reaching the level where inflation is becoming a serious problem. So the Fed has been raising interest rates to try to keep growth from getting too fast. But consumers have borrowed huge, huge amounts, including in mortgages, so if the Fed "slams on the brakes" too hard by raising interest rates too much, the risk is that a severe recession or worse could set in, triggered by that mountain of debt.\n\nMeanwhile, other economies, especially China and India, have been growing at very high rates. They are gobbling up all of the commodities they can find - oil and gas, lumber, base metals, etc. That adds to inflation.\n\nWe are in the midst of a commodities boom. Mining and energy stocks have come a long way up but have a long way still to go. Many companies have done poorly for several years because they don't operate well in a higher-inflation environment (their costs go up faster than they can raise prices).\n\nThat's a lot of information in one short message. As I said, look into taking an economics course. I was a chemist once, but enrolled in business school and loved every minute of it because of the fascinating and useful things I learned.\n\nBest of success.
1024303
Interest rate worries are the main concern.  Bernake is lookingot hike the prime another .25 caus eof inflation, more then anything thisis keeping all rallies down.  Don't forget the tech bubble burst from 2001 happened when we hit 6.5% interest and many investers think a ressecion will hit again if it goes that high.  Bernake clearly doesn't know what he is doing.
943513
1.  Income tax increases.\n2.  Increase in the capital gains tax.\n3.  Activist judges will be appointed to the bench, and constructivist judges will be Borked.\n4.  Possible impeachment of the President in the House, without conviction in the Senate.\n5.  Heavy regulations on trade will spur higher prices.\n6.  Monetary policy will spike inflation.\n7.  Increased regulations on energy will raise prices, discourage competition, and forestall innovation.\n8.  The Fairness Doctrine could be re-established, and curtail free-speech rights.\n9.  Federal limitations on Municipal bonds would be reduced, lowering the availability of smaller counties and cities to get money from places other that the Fed, and hurting the available capital for infrastructure development.\n10.  Democrats proposed two bills to re-instate the draft in the last decade.  The shift from a volunteer military to a conscription military will erode moral in both the civilian and military sectors.\n\nHonest, Intelligent, and no hatred.  Hope this satifies.
663284
Interesting topic.  Who is going to pay for the increase?
1186988
No, not entirely.  However, a gold standard would eliminate a lot of the incentive to create the types of inflation we've seen in recent history.\n\nInflation comes when the money supply is expanded while the supply of goods and services holds constant.  You end up with more money chasing the same amount of goods, so prices expand upward.  That's the side of inflation we see.\n\nIn a fiat money economy like we have now, the government or the central bank can expand the money supply at will, and inflation can develop.  Since the government benefits from effectively printing up more money, there's a lot of incentive to inflate and disrupt people's lives.\n\nOn the other hand, a gold-standard economy leaves far less room for government or central bank manipulation, and therefore inflation would seem less likely.  On the other hand, there were cases of inflation during times like the California Gold Rush, when lots of new gold came onto the market.  On balance, however, I'm still inclined to think that the gold standard would be more dependable than putting my faith in government bureaucrats to stabilize my money.
864662
It will affect it very positively, over the long haul, provided the dems get their agenda pushed through at some point. Here is why; basic economics.\n\nFirst off, here is a fact; Despite the "pro-business" mantra of most republican administrations and congresses, and most corporations supporting republican candidates for this reason, the stock market actually does better on an annualized basis under a democratic president or congress.\n\nSecond; the war has been the most obscenely needless expense in the last 30 years. The republicans that were in control seemingly forgot one of the most important republican issue, and THE most important non-morality-issue Republicans stand for. Its the basis of the existence of the party; "Smaller government and lower spending." With the US going the way of Orwell's 1984, suddenly the Democrats were the more fiscally responsible choice to make for people who vote with financial reasoning in mind.\n\nLast; odds are good that the dollar will increase in value against foreign currencies  going forward, as people who have been betting in the dollars continued fall against the world basket of currencies because of bad fiscal policy and continued printing of useless fiat currency to finance the war, will likely cover their bets, bringing some value back as people grow more positive the reckless spending will stop. See, to finance the war, the government has been printing money as if that has no effect on the value of our currency, and they do this in the form of debt, (not actual "printing" of hard currency, but for the sake of argument, we'll call it "printing") effectively decreasing the value of a dollar for every dollar they "print". As the perception grows that the war will end sooner rather then later, and the Dems will reign in reckless spending and, even if necessary raise taxes to ensure we stop borrowing from ourselves, the value of the dollar will increase, as there will be less and less of them for every dollar that gets paid off, even if its just on paper.\n\nAnd because of market speculation, this will begin to happen well before any change in policy actually occurs. \n\nFinally, because of the increasing value of the dollar, it will be able to purchase more on the world market, bringing down commodity prices for oil, gold, and anythign else we buy from other countries to keep our country running. Cheaper commodities means more money in consumer and coproate pockets, which means more spending, and more purchasing, and less consumer debt, which in turn causes more wealth creation. A dollar can be spend a hundred times and taxed a hundred times, and still be a dollar. But that dollar brought in more revenue the more it was spendt. More revenue = stronger nation = better economy overall. Plus, if history holds true, people's retirement and investment portfolios will see better increases, creating more wealth and a better standard of living for retirees, as well.\n\n\n********Edited: On a side note, I must say I'm surprised that somebody gave my answer a thumbs down *and probably more to come now) --- y answer is derived from *actual* facts and historical data, along with a knowledgable explanation which, whether you like it or not, is not an outcome I predicted because I hate republicans, or love democrats, or both, (as those are all not true, I hate the concept of the political party altogether,) but rather assembled using an understanding of macroeconomic policy, with at least enough education behind my answer to explain why in the grand scheme of things, this change is more likely to be good then bad. You people are so partisan it absolutely makes me vomit.