Mossh

Welcome!

Hello Mossh, welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Our intro page contains a lot of helpful material for new users - please check it out! If you need help, visit Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on this page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Tom (talk - email) 03:31, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Re: the courts acknowledge that the Federal Reserve is a privately owned corporation.

I do not claim to be an expert on this subject, but when you introduce something potentially controversial to an article, you should first try to discuss your additions on the article talk page. This method is to establish consensus and for others to introduce challenging positions. See Talk:Federal Reserve System. --Tom (talk - email) 03:35, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

It's not exactly privately owned...its independent.

Interpreting the Official Response

If you take a look at the Federal Reserve FAQ, it lists who owns the federal reserve.(Or it tries to)..

The Federal Reserve System is not "owned" by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution. Instead, it is an independent entity within the government, having both public purposes and private aspects.

As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve derives its authority from the U.S. Congress. It is considered an independent central bank because its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms. However, the Federal Reserve is subject to oversight by Congress, which periodically reviews its activities and can alter its responsibilities by statute. Also, the Federal Reserve must work within the framework of the overall objectives of economic and financial policy established by the government. Therefore, the Federal Reserve can be more accurately described as "independent within the government."

The twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, which were established by Congress as the operating arms of the nation's central banking system, are organized much like private corporations--possibly leading to some confusion about "ownership." For example, the Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks. However, owning Reserve Bank stock is quite different from owning stock in a private company. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, and ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the System. The stock may not be sold, traded, or pledged as security for a loan; dividends are, by law, 6 percent per year.

So essentially, the federal reserve is an "independent"(private) bank with a confidential list of shareholders(other banks). Smallman12q (talk) 18:27, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

• There are also numerous videos on how ron paul has tried to get the list of shareholders and his interpretations as to who owns the "independent" federal reserve.

See [Talk:Federal Reserve System]Smallman12q (talk) 18:29, 24 January 2009 (UTC)