Jr Deputy Accountant v SF Fed: Round 2
4.25.09

As I pointed out this morning before I headed out to my second End the Fed rally planned for 10a at the Embarcadero in SF, I would like the record to reflect that I don't necessarily want to end the Fed. I do and feel that we'd all be much better off but as yet no one has offered a viable alternative (social credit? gold coin? Ok, how do you propose we do that?) and dismantling the beast we call the Fed would cause uncontrollable chaos if nothing were set up to replace it or at least ease the transition.

At the end of our little rally, some 3 hours after it began, I popped a squat on a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco planter, my "The Joke is on You, America!" sign carefully balanced between my thighs (hot, right? Sound money is always hot!), calling "No more bailouts!" and "End the Fed!" to passing cars.

Oddly enough, I was fortunate enough to spend a few moments talking with a member of a progressive liberal group who agreed wholeheartedly with my argument. We discussed the education of this strange group of 18 - 34 year olds (along with a few OGs, of course) who follow Ron Paul and are happy to send out the sound money warning call. "My problem with all of this," I said, gesturing with my "End Forever Debt" sign towards the protesters gathered to our left, "is that if you are going to go after something as large as the Federal Reserve, you need to know who you're fighting. Few in this group understand open market operations, interest rates, the functions of the 12 regional banks. What if you told them their paychecks wouldn't get processed if we ended the Fed tomorrow? They'd walk away."

She echoed my sentiment and we would have spent more time talking except Dprogram.net's webmaster appeared talking about 9-11 Truth and Alex Jones. I suggested (politely, of course) that if he wanted to give his pitch more legitimacy, he might consider keeping Jones' name out of it.




Midway through the rally, a fellow protester who looked like he might have had a Ron Paul action figure under his bed was talking about the bipartisanship of this movement, or rather how some participants have turned it into a left/right issue.

Turning to him I asked "Are you leftist or rightist?"

"Extreme leftist," he said, grinning. There went my Ron Paul action figure theory, but I suppose with my skunk-streaked hair and tattoos, I don't look all that much like a conservative either. Good thing the libertarians have a reputation I guess.

I thrust out my hand and grinned back, "I'm a conservative and the DHS considers me a right-wing extremist, nice to see we can agree on this one thing! I watch Fox News all the time!" I was kidding on that last part. Thankfully they got the joke.

Win one for bipartisanship.

And as my new progressive liberal "friend" said, the problem with "End the Fed" is that it is an extreme answer to a very real problem. She's absolutely right. Knowing that does not mean I'd rather stay at home (since no one is going to have a "Reform the Federal Reserve!" rally in this town) but it certainly makes my objective all that much clearer. But we knew that already, didn't we, kids?

We discussed having me do a guest speech for her group's upcoming lecture series on the money problem and how so many are still so entirely in the dark. Sadly, even those who consider themselves "enlightened" to the Fed problem also seem to be in the dark to some extent.

In other End the Fed awesomeness, each time the call went out "Federal Reserve, who do they serve?" I was happy to call back "Goldman Sachs!"

"Federal Reserve, who do they serve?" "JP Morgan!"

"Federal Reserve, who do they serve?" "Citigroup!"

You get the point. My voice is nearly gone from all the "NO MORE BAILOUTS!" screaming at tourists wandering through Union Square. But they paid attention and that's the important part. Even if we bopped just one of the sheeple on the head to say "Hey, did you know that the Fed is neither Federal nor has any reserves?" and they went home to consider the gravity of this, our job is done. For today at least.

We handed out information, flyers, recruited folks to join the march along the way, and at the end of the day, it was a low-drama event. No media coverage. No paparazzi. No SFPD in riot gear spraying us down with pepper spray. Just random giggles from passersby at some hilarious signs (and a certain Bernanke ZIRP t-shirt) and a lot of questions. What do you mean the Fed isn't federal? should not be a question most Americans ask - sadly, that's what we get all the time.

"Federal Reserve, who do they serve?" "Bank of America!" Well... not anymore since Paulson threw Bernanke under the bus and Ken Lewis snitched them both out. Again, a perfect example of the movement is that few even knew about Bernaulson's alleged securities fraud in the BofA/Merrill deal. Hello! Aren't we paying attention here? Someone? Anyone? Am I on crack and making all of this stuff up? As much as it feels that way sometimes seeing as how I'm reporting on the Bizarro happenings day in and day out, each Fed and Treasury move stranger than the last, sadly, this is all too real.

Even though I am on team "Reform the Fed," I'll certainly be at the next one. And the next one. And the next one. Until at last sane money is restored in America and everyone lives happily ever after. Or something close. I'll settle for anything better than what we've got now and mostly just want the Fed to lay its cards on the table and be honest about what it is and what it is doing. Keep dreaming, right? Yeah, well, I don't plan on stopping any time soon.

All in all, it was nice to see different viewpoints converge on this one issue - and as my new progressive friend so astutely pointed out, you've got to remove the politics if you're going to get anywhere. She's right. But "End the Fed" isn't my movement. I've got my own little version of "revolution" to worry about.

Our unifying thread? HR 1207 to audit the Fed. You know me, I'm all about an audit! Woo! Break open the books and let's see what the Creature from Jekyll Island has been up to... Yay!

Renewed by our event, I suppose now it's time to get back to poking at Goldman Sachs and what those diabolical pricks have been up to. Thanks, San Francisco, for a satisfying day in the sun against the Fed. Yes, the patron saint of protesters smiled upon us with a warm SF day - thank God. The Bernanke 00% shirt just isn't funny if it's covered up by a hoodie.

This guy gets it.

Ron Paul on speaking recently with a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors confirms that the Fed understands that they are destroying the US Dollar. They know exactly what they are doing which makes their actions not just irresponsible but criminal. Treasonous. Blatantly deceptive. Among any other number of sins.

RP: You know, interestingly, just recently, I cannot name his name but I was talking to a former member of the Federal Reserve board and told him about the bill [HR 1207] and he was friendly enough.

I said, “What do you think of that?” He said, “I think it’s not a very good idea”. And I said, “Do the people at the Federal Reserve ever talk about, are concerned about the dollar”. I said, you know, I’m always talking about the dollar and what this is going to do to the dollar. And I said, “Do they know that all this debt and inflation could hurt the dollar?” He says, “Yes, they do.” He confirmed it. He said, “They absolutely do.” He says, “But they can’t answer your questions in public because it would cause panic.”

Mmm hmm.

If the Fed is playing above the table, they don't need to fear HR 1207. But we know better than that, don't we?

Pics of the event may be found via Twitpic and Flickr.