Jem. This is especially for you, though I have a hunch Dice are Cast will be equally educated by it...
A young man, named Nathan Tankus, who has made a detailed study of Fed -- Treasury operations contributed the below remarks which I have excerpted from a longer piece. To see the entire post on his Substack blog go to Nathantankus.substack.com, 'archive,' and scan for "The Federal Government Always Money-Finances Its Spending: A Restatement [N.B. -- Tankus is leaving Substack and moving to Ghost. Should you want to follow him.]
Jem, there is absolutely no need to thank me for helping you clear up this long harbored misunderstanding of yours. It's been my pleasure.
A young man, named Nathan Tankus, who has made a detailed study of Fed -- Treasury operations contributed the below remarks which I have excerpted from a longer piece. To see the entire post on his Substack blog go to Nathantankus.substack.com, 'archive,' and scan for "The Federal Government Always Money-Finances Its Spending: A Restatement [N.B. -- Tankus is leaving Substack and moving to Ghost. Should you want to follow him.]
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Conspiracy theorists often think that the Federal Reserve System is a private entity, and thus control of our monetary system is completely in private hands because of details surrounding the structure of Regional Federal Reserve Banks. In fairness to them, while this claim is wrong, it's understandable why they think so. Chartered “private” banks are formally authorized by law to act in the interests of shareholders and deliver payouts which are dependent on their own profits. These Chartered banks, in turn, must purchase shares in their local Regional Federal Reserve Bank in order to become a Federal Reserve “member bank” and have access to the Federal Reserve. I can already hear the voices of the conspiracy theorists: “see!! The Bankers OWN SHARES IN THE FEDERAL RESERVE, ITS A PRIVATE ENTITY!!”
Conspiracy theorists often think that the Federal Reserve System is a private entity, and thus control of our monetary system is completely in private hands because of details surrounding the structure of Regional Federal Reserve Banks. In fairness to them, while this claim is wrong, it's understandable why they think so. Chartered “private” banks are formally authorized by law to act in the interests of shareholders and deliver payouts which are dependent on their own profits. These Chartered banks, in turn, must purchase shares in their local Regional Federal Reserve Bank in order to become a Federal Reserve “member bank” and have access to the Federal Reserve. I can already hear the voices of the conspiracy theorists: “see!! The Bankers OWN SHARES IN THE FEDERAL RESERVE, ITS A PRIVATE ENTITY!!”
This, however, is less than it appears. For while these contracts are called “shares”, they don’t entitle Federal Reserve member banks to anything like what shareholders in big banks like Citibank (or any other company in the Fortune 500) are entitled to. Here, it's worth quoting a Federal court case from last year called Wells Fargo v. United States:
To summarize, the “shares” chartered banks own of Regional Federal Reserve Banks are really debt contracts, net profits from the Federal Reserve System are delivered to the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board jointly owns and controls the Regional Federal Reserve Banks along with the U.S. Treasury. As a result, the “money” (settlement balances in checking accounts created for the benefit of chartered banks and governments) the Federal Reserve System creates is a product of the Federal Government even though they are “unappropriated dollars”, similar to the Mint. Government owned corporations, such as the Post Office, are regularly consolidated with the rest of the Federal Government for analytical purposes. Similarly, its appropriate to consolidate the entirety of the Federal Reserve System with the rest of the Federal Government.
..."
Congress has transferred functional ownership and control of the FRBs [Federal Reserve Banks]
to the Treasury and to the [Federal Reserve] Board [...] Further, we are not moved, as the district court was, by the fact that private banks serve as the FRBs’ nominal shareholders [...] Today, the United States, not the nominal shareholders, are the economic owners of the FRBs. Among other things, Congress has provided that the net earnings of the FRBs be “recorded as revenue by the Department of the Treasury,” FRB Amici at 17, and the FRBs are required to remit all their excess earnings to the United States Treasury [...] Thus, the “capital” contributions made by member banks function as debt interests owned by the member banks, not equity interest [...] money created for the Term Auction Facility or the Discount Window is as much a product of the “public fisc” as money that is distributed by the Treasury Department
to the Treasury and to the [Federal Reserve] Board [...] Further, we are not moved, as the district court was, by the fact that private banks serve as the FRBs’ nominal shareholders [...] Today, the United States, not the nominal shareholders, are the economic owners of the FRBs. Among other things, Congress has provided that the net earnings of the FRBs be “recorded as revenue by the Department of the Treasury,” FRB Amici at 17, and the FRBs are required to remit all their excess earnings to the United States Treasury [...] Thus, the “capital” contributions made by member banks function as debt interests owned by the member banks, not equity interest [...] money created for the Term Auction Facility or the Discount Window is as much a product of the “public fisc” as money that is distributed by the Treasury Department
To summarize, the “shares” chartered banks own of Regional Federal Reserve Banks are really debt contracts, net profits from the Federal Reserve System are delivered to the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board jointly owns and controls the Regional Federal Reserve Banks along with the U.S. Treasury. As a result, the “money” (settlement balances in checking accounts created for the benefit of chartered banks and governments) the Federal Reserve System creates is a product of the Federal Government even though they are “unappropriated dollars”, similar to the Mint. Government owned corporations, such as the Post Office, are regularly consolidated with the rest of the Federal Government for analytical purposes. Similarly, its appropriate to consolidate the entirety of the Federal Reserve System with the rest of the Federal Government.
..."
Jem, there is absolutely no need to thank me for helping you clear up this long harbored misunderstanding of yours. It's been my pleasure.