re: Let's talk the Federal Reserve a little further

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You expect me to know the ownership structure of every one of those organizations?

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Holy shite, was that the answer?

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or what its mission actually is.

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to guide humanity's path for eternity, of course.

an eternity










of love

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Holy shite, was that the answer?

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Yes, and a valid answer. Did you see the list? Some of them I recognized as being publically traded, as well as being in my portfolio.

So I, at least, am a part owner of the member banks making up the Fed. So if you have any requests for Federal Reserve activities, just shoot me an e-mail, and I'll see that your concerns are addressed:

GetBent@aol.com

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to guide humanity's path for eternity

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You obviously haven't been paying attention, it's to maximize employment and keep inflation near 2%.

In order to stimulate the economy during a recession, the Fed lowers its rate. If the rate is 0%, there's not much room for lowering until you're literally paying people to borrow money. In order to build a cushion, the Fed will raise the rate during strong periods of the economy so that when they need to, they can lower it again.

You titty babies are too addicted to cheap money. 6% is a reasonably low rate for a 30 year fixed mortgage. People today are panicking as rates are still even below 5%.

The Feds raised the interest rate to make damn sure that Donald Trump would not be reelected in 2020. This was a political rate hike nothing less and nothing more.

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Can't suck too much blood too fast, though. Might kill the host. Yeah, I get it. Thanks.

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If I didn't know better, I'd swear a Communist wrote that.

No value judgement, just making an observation.

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Who owns the Fed?

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Needs to be audited so we can find out...

Actually the Fed has an internal audit department. Got a job offer from them, but it seemed so stodgy I went with a start up bank instead.

The Fed actually earns a lot. They pay almost nothing for the deposits they take and they own a pretty large portfolio of treasuries. Huge, risk free, spread. The Fed delivered $80.2 billion in profits to the US Treasury in 2017.

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If I didn't know better, I'd swear a Communist wrote that.

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Please. No one suckles the host like communists, or "Communists," as you've chosen to honor them.

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- KPMG LLP

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Thankfully, KPMG can be fully trusted when they perform audits.

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In 2003, KPMG agreed to pay $125 million and $75 million to settle lawsuits stemming from the firm's audits of Rite Aid and Oxford Health Plans Inc., respectively.[45]

In 2004, KPMG agreed to pay $115 million to settle lawsuits stemming from the collapse of software company Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV.[46][47]

In 2006, Fannie Mae sued KPMG for malpractice for approving years of erroneous financial statements.[48]

In February 2007, KPMG Germany was investigated for ignoring questionable payments in the Siemens bribery case.[49] In November 2008, the Siemens Supervisory Board recommended changing auditors from KPMG to Ernst & Young.[50]

In March 2008, KPMG was accused of enabling "improper and imprudent practices" at New Century Financial, a failed mortgage company,[51] and KPMG agreed to pay $80 million to settle suits from Xerox shareholders over manipulated earnings reports.[52]

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In 2017, KPMG terminated five partners in its audit practice, including the head of its audit practice in the US, after an investigation of advanced confidential knowledge of planned audit inspections by its Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.[65][66] This followed criticism about KPMG's failure to uncover illegal sales practices at Wells Fargo or potential corruption at FIFA, the governing international body of soccer.[66] It was reported in 2017 that KPMG had the highest number of deficiencies, among the Big Four, cited by its regulator in the previous two years.[67]

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On 13 February 2018, the 'Big 4' accountancy firms, including KPMG, were described by MP Frank Field as "feasting on what was soon to become a carcass" after collecting fees of £72m for Carillion work during the years leading up to its collapse.[79] KPMG was singled out for particular criticism for signing off Carillion's last accounts before a profit warning in July 2017

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Rachel Reeves, chair of the business select committee, said: Auditing is a multi-million-pound business for the Big Four. On this morning's evidence from KPMG and Deloitte, these audits appear to be a colossal waste of time and money, fit only to provide false assurance to investors, workers and the public. [...] Carillion staff and investors could see the problems at the company but those responsible - auditors, regulators, and, ultimately, the directors – did nothing to stop Carillion being driven off a cliff.[81]

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KPMG audited Carillion for 19 years, pocketing £29 million in the process. Not once during that time did they qualify their audit opinion on the financial statements, instead signing off the figures put in front of them by the company's directors.

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KPMG is part of the "Big Four", formerly the "Big Five". It is well known what happened to Arthur Andersen.

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Wasn't this rate hike already expected and baked into the market? Then why did the market move down on the news?

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Powell wouldn’t come right out and say it but he was giving off the impression that Fed policy enacted during the financial crisis may have created economic cross currents..., translation, artificially inflated equities.

One way to correct over inflated equities is to raise interest rates. A shite load of retirees will gladly take a 3-4% annual return with little risk and that money is flowing out of equities at an ever increasing rate.