The Fed has strayed greatly from its original purpose. This is something that causes a lot of confusion.
In this video I discuss a couple points, interest rates along with the buying of debt as two examples of what has changed, altering the effectiveness of the central bank. Originally the Fed was designed to be more of an insurance company for member banks.
▶️ 3Speak
I guess their lessening purpose led to this. They have become almost useless, so they are trying to make themselves still relevant.
Summary:
In this video, the host Taskmaster4450 discusses how the Federal Reserve (the Fed) has significantly changed from its original design and purpose. He provides a detailed overview of the Fed's original intent and how it has strayed from that over time.
The key points covered are:
The Fed was originally designed as an "insurance company" for banks, meant to provide liquidity and offset bank failures by purchasing commercial paper and other assets from struggling banks. This was the primary function, not buying government bonds.
The 12 regional Federal Reserve banks were meant to have their own interest rates to attract or repel capital as needed in their respective regions. This allowed for localized monetary policy adjustments.
However, actions by presidents Hoover and FDR altered the Fed's mandate, forcing it to buy government bonds and establishing a single, unified national interest rate. This went against the original decentralized design.
Today, the Fed's tools like interest rates are largely ineffective, as the ability to direct capital flows between regions has been lost with the unified rate. The host argues this has made the Fed more of a "propaganda organization" than an effective central banking system.
The host states he will cover the broader changes in the monetary system in a future video. Overall, this video provides a detailed historical perspective on how the Fed has strayed from its original purpose and design over the decades.