Reddit reviews End The Fed

1.) Answers will vary depending on what "wing" of libertarianism someone adheres to. I'll just focus on two.

Minarchists (Ron Paul/Gary Johnson types) would argue some level of taxation is necessary to maintain an exponentially smaller government than exists now. This vision of government would operate essentially only defense, courts, and police. Minarchists will generally argue for a simplistic consumption tax or flat tax of some sort. Some argue for limited tariffs instead so our citizens are not directly taxed at any point. Their approach is debated internally, but united in that the net taxation would be dramatically reduced. In this world, government continues to collect revenue and spend it on its very limited endeavors - not much has changed besides the scale of collections and operations.

Anarcho-capitalists (Rothbard types) would say that you cannot be logically consistent in arguing the inefficiency of government and moral issue of taxation, which minarchists do argue, and then still accept its role in society. These types will argue for a peaceful transition to an entirely pure market based economy via the privatization of all government services. They point that government services already have private equivalents which are always more efficient: Fedex/UPS vs USPS, government schools vs. private schools, privately operated toll roads, private airport security (which is already the norm in some other developed countries), private binding arbitration, etc. This includes regulatory bodies: NSF and Underwriters Laboratories are real examples of private sector regulators where companies pay to have their products evaluated and approved based on their objective third party standards. So, to answer your question: in their world, government doesn't operate at all and instead all interaction is through voluntary contracts in the market.

Minarchists are usually somewhat sympathetic to the anarcho-capitalism view, but will say it is fantasy because the general populace already views government as a wholly benevolent entity. Personally, I generally believe in anarcho-capitalism and do believe government as we know it is obsolete and unnecessary in the modern world. In the 20th century capitalism brought us a previously unfathomable increase in the standard of living while the institution of government meanwhile slaughtered hundreds of millions in the name of communism, World War I and II, etc. But, off my soap box for now.

2.) This is hard to answer concisely, so I'll instead recommend three books.

The first is FDR: New Deal or Raw Deal. It reviews objective data to argue that FDR & friends were not the godsent savior of the world that government schools teach. The, very oversimplified, conclusion of this book is that FDR terrorized the market with incredibly arbitrary and tyrannical intrusions during his tenure and prolonged what could have been a comparatively simple market correction into the "Great Depression" as we know it. After his death, it argues, the market was returned to a state of normalcy and we were given the incredible boom that followed the end of World War II. If you're really interested in the topic, I suggest giving it a read. It's rather dry, but very interesting since it goes against everything we're taught.

The second book is to review how the government, via the Federal Reserve, intrudes into the economy by manipulating interest rates and thus exacerbating the natural cyclical nature of the market. The Austrian School of Economics, the economic theory that is most often associated with all of libertarianism, argues this is where the Great Depression and, more recently, Great Recession, came from. An easy introduction to this topic is End the Fed. Its, very oversimplified, conclusion is that the Federal Reserve artificially stimulates demand by fixing interest rates below what they would be in an untainted market. This then leads to overconsumption (the bubble) in a whatever area of the economy the government decides is politically fashionable to push at the time.

The third book is to bring in a modern context about the government's role in the 2008 crisis: Meltdown. It applies the Austrian Economic view onto the most modern economic crisis. It's writing style is much more interesting than the first two books I offered and, frankly, it's just more interesting since it happened in our lifetime. The principles can also be applied to the Great Depression and it also references the mistakes made in dealing with it as well since we basically followed the same path. Its, very oversimplified, conclusion is that the government is wholly responsible for the 2008 crisis by setting up an environment that incentivized overconsumption. By violating basic economic laws, it argues, the government created a situation that was doomed to fail and nothing could have stopped it from all crashing down.

3.) To be logically consistent, yes. Heavily regulating economic activities will inevitably spill over into regulating social activities. As a small example, the IRS selectively targeted conservative groups because of their views and sought to destroy them. By having this economic intrusion into the market (the entirety of the IRS as an institution), the government attempted to purge these groups of their basic human right to self-expression.

4.) I do not believe in it. Simply by being born in a physical location does not enslave you into what a former generation believed was your "role" in society. As a small example, you are in no way morally obligated to pay for the inactivity of senior citizens through Social Security (or whatever similar program your country has if you are outside of the US). To say that you are because FDR & friends, before you were ever born, decided to deploy Social Security as a cash grab is sheer nonsense. You are not a slave to some ivory tower politician(s)'s whimsical views on what your "lawful role" in society is supposed to be.

edit: formatting, oops.

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4. Happy reading!

Um, there is no war in Libya. There's a kinetic military action there, but there is no war.

Jeez.

End the Fed

The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an Enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but Coin. If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.

• Thomas Jefferson

In 1910 Federal spending was 6% of GDP.

In 1913 we created the Federal Reserve and passed the 16th amendment.

In 2010 Federal spending is 46% of GDP.

If you are serious about averting dictatorship then we must end the Fed and repeal the 16th amendment

He's already answered in in lengthy detail

We wouldn't have gotten to this point if Americans had elected another Teddy Roosevelt to break-up the monopolies held by financial institutions and certain corporations like News Corp and GE. Or, a Ron Paul in 1988 who would've ended the Fed. Or, perhaps even a Ross Perot in 1992.

This public-private partnership nonsense I hear about is just Crony Capitalism. The only regulation you need is making sure no one ever gets too-big-to-fail. Then moral hazard would be kept at bay.

We also need sound currency and to abolish the Federal Reserve.

Please read the inflation FAQ before posting diatribes.

http://www.amazon.com/End-The-Fed-Ron-Paul/dp/0446549177

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/ted-cruz-could-be-trouble-for-the-next-fed-chair-20130801

http://libertariananswers.com/what-is-the-libertarian-stance-on-the-federal-reserve/

http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/06/third-party-candidates-attack-federal-reserve-system/

Are there any such thing as a Conservative and Liberal Economist? Conservatives want to tighten Federal spending yet send billions overseas. Rob from the poor in a rich country to give to the rich in a poor country.
Liberal Economists....hahahaha. Keynesian was a snake oil salesman, how anyone buys into government can control an economy is scary stupid

This will explain a lot about the fed...