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wing of the party; Brandeis agreed with Bryan. Wilson convinced them that because Federal Reserve
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notes were obligations of the government and because the president would appoint the members of the
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Federal Reserve Board, the plan fit their demands. However, Bryan soon became disillusioned with
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the system. In the November 1923 issue of "Hearst's Magazine" Bryan wrote that "The Federal Reserve
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Bank that should have been the farmer's greatest protection has become his greatest foe."
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Southerners and westerners learned from Wilson that the system was decentralized into 12 districts
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and surely would weaken New York and strengthen the hinterlands. Sen. Robert L. Owen of Oklahoma
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eventually relented to speak in favor of the bill, arguing that the nation's currency was already
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under too much control by New York elites, who he alleged had singlehandedly conspired to cause the
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1907 Panic.
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Large bankers thought the legislation gave the government too much control over markets and private
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business dealings. The New York Times called the Act the "Oklahoma idea, the Nebraska idea" –
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referring to Owen and Bryan's involvement.
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However, several Congressmen, including Owen, Lindbergh, La Follette, and Murdock claimed that the
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New York bankers feigned their disapproval of the bill in hopes of inducing Congress to pass it.
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The day before the bill was passed, Murdock told Congress:
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You allowed the special interests by pretended dissatisfaction with the measure to bring about a
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sham battle, and the sham battle was for the purpose of diverting you people from the real remedy,
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and they diverted you. The Wall Street bluff has worked.
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When Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act on December 23, 1913, he said he felt grateful for
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having had a part "in completing a work ... of lasting benefit for the country," knowing that it
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took a great deal of compromise and expenditure of his own political capital to get it enacted.
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This was in keeping with the general plan of action he made in his First Inaugural Address on March
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4, 1913, in which he stated:
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We shall deal with our economic system as it is and as it may be modified, not as it might be if we
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had a clean sheet of paper to write upon; and step-by-step we shall make it what it should be, in
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the spirit of those who question their own wisdom and seek counsel and knowledge, not shallow
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self-satisfaction or the excitement of excursions we can not tell.
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While a system of 12 regional banks was designed so as not to give eastern bankers too much
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influence over the new bank, in practice, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York became "first among
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equals". The New York Fed, for example, is solely responsible for conducting open market
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operations, at the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee. Democratic Congressman Carter
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Glass sponsored and wrote the eventual legislation, and his home state capital of Richmond,
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Virginia, was made a district headquarters. Democratic Senator James A. Reed of Missouri obtained
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two districts for his state. However, the 1914 report of the Federal Reserve Organization
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Committee, which clearly laid out the rationale for their decisions on establishing Reserve Bank
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districts in 1914, showed that it was based almost entirely upon current correspondent banking
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relationships. To quell Elihu Root's objections to possible inflation, the passed bill included
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provisions that the bank must hold at least 40% of its outstanding loans in gold. (In later years,
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to stimulate short-term economic activity, Congress would amend the act to allow more discretion in
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the amount of gold that must be redeemed by the Bank.) Critics of the time (later joined by
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economist Milton Friedman) suggested that Glass's legislation was almost entirely based on the
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Aldrich Plan that had been derided as giving too much power to elite bankers. Glass denied copying
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Aldrich's plan. In 1922, he told Congress, "no greater misconception was ever projected in this
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Senate Chamber."
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Operations, 1915-1951
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Wilson named Warburg and other prominent experts to direct the new system, which began operations
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in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts. Warburg at first
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refused the appointment, citing America's opposition to a "Wall Street man", but when World War I
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broke out he accepted. He was the only appointee asked to appear before the Senate, whose members
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questioned him about his interests in the central bank and his ties to Kuhn, Loeb, & Co.'s "money
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trusts".
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Accord of 1951 between the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department
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The 1951 Accord, also known simply as the Accord, was an agreement between the U.S. Department of
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the Treasury and the Federal Reserve that restored independence to the Fed.
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During World War II, the Federal Reserve pledged to keep the interest rate on Treasury bills fixed
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at 0.375 percent. It continued to support government borrowing after the war ended, despite the
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fact that the Consumer Price Index rose 14% in 1947 and 8% in 1948, and the economy was in
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recession. President Harry S. Truman in 1948 replaced the then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve
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Marriner Eccles with Thomas B. McCabe for opposing this policy, although Eccles's term on the board
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continued for three more years. The reluctance of the Federal Reserve to continue monetizing the
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deficit became so great that, in 1951, President Truman invited the entire Federal Open Market
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Committee to the White House to resolve their differences. Eccles's memoir, Beckoning Frontiers,
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presents a detailed eyewitness account of this meeting and surrounding events, including verbatim
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transcripts of pertinent documents. William McChesney Martin, then Assistant Secretary of the
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Treasury, was the principal mediator. Three weeks later, he was named Chairman of the Federal
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Reserve, replacing McCabe.
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Post Bretton-Woods era
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In July 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve
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Board amid roaring inflation. Volcker tightened the money supply, and by 1986 inflation had fallen
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sharply. In October 1979 the Federal Reserve announced a policy of "targeting" money aggregates and
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bank reserves in its struggle with double-digit inflation.
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In January 1987, with retail inflation at only 1%, the Federal Reserve announced it was no longer
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going to use money-supply aggregates, such as M2, as guidelines for controlling inflation, even
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though this method had been in use from 1979, apparently with great success. Before 1980, interest
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rates were used as guidelines; inflation was severe. The Fed complained that the aggregates were
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confusing. Volcker was chairman until August 1987, whereupon Alan Greenspan assumed the mantle,
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seven months after monetary aggregate policy had changed.
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2001 recession to present
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From early 2001 to mid-2003 the Federal Reserve lowered its interest rates 13 times, from 6.25% to
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1.00%, to fight recession. In November 2002, rates were cut to 1.75%, and many rates went below the
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inflation rate. On June 25, 2003, the federal funds rate was lowered to 1.00%, its lowest nominal
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rate since July 1958, when the overnight rate averaged 0.68%. Starting at the end of June 2004, the
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Federal Reserve System raised the target interest rate then continued to do so 17 more times.
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In February 2006, President George W. Bush appointed Ben Bernanke as the chairman of the Federal
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Reserve.
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In March 2006, the Federal Reserve ceased to make public M3, because the costs of collecting this
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data outweighed the benefits. M3 includes all of M2 (which includes M1) plus large-denomination
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($100,000 +) time deposits, balances in institutional money funds, repurchase liabilities issued by
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depository institutions, and Eurodollars held by U.S. residents at foreign branches of U.S. banks
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as well as at all banks in the United Kingdom and Canada.
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2008 subprime mortgage crisis
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Due to a credit crunch caused by the subprime mortgage crisis in September 2007, the Federal
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Reserve began cutting the federal funds rate. The Fed cut rates by 0.25% after its December 11,
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2007, meeting, disappointing many investors who had expected a bigger cut; the Dow Jones Industrial
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Average dropped nearly 300 points that day. The Fed slashed the rate by 0.75% in an emergency
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action on January 22, 2008, to assist in reversing a significant market slide influenced by
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weakening international markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average initially fell nearly 4% (465
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points) at the start of trading and then rebounded to a 1.06% (128-point) loss. On January 30,
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2008, eight days after the 0.75% decrease, the Fed lowered its rate again, this time by 0.50%.