User talk:Jasonpeck

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[edit] Commentary removed from America: From Freedom to Fascism

Dear fellow editor:

The following material inserted into the article on 6 July 2006 by Jasonpeck has been removed:

The preview of this movie, available at www.freedomtofascism.com, is full of half truths and deceptions. The entire segment on the federal reserve, for example, is particularly disturbing in its inaccuracies and lack of objectivity. Russo interviews people from all walks of life and asks them if they knew that "the fed" was a private corporation. He then tells them that it is. This is intellectually dishonest because it doesn't really tell the whole truth.

The fed is truly a unique entity. It's not really government, nor is it really private. The 12 regional banks are owned by the member banks. When a person decides to open a bank, he is required to purchase stock in the fed (the 12 regional banks as a system). This stock is not like other stock. It does not pay dividends, and the owner of the stock is not allowed to profit from it in any way. This is just one example of the half-truths that people like Russo are telling when they say it is "privately owned". They don't bother to point out that nobody is allowed to make a profit off of this ownership, nor do they point out that all of the profit above operating expenses goes back into the Treasury. Furthermore, the fed is limited by statute to retain only 6% of profits for operating expense at a maximimum. It's really easier to think of the bank itself owning the stock rather than the bank owner. Good basic info is available at http://www.federalreserve.gov Their FAQ explains this.

Each governor is appointed by the President, and remains indpendent so that he is not under the influence of political pressure. One would shudder at the thought of the mess that would result from congress directly changing monetary policy, especially in an election year. The governors set monetary policy, thus influencing the money supply (and economy) in 5 basic ways. A few examples are: the discount rate, which is the rate that member banks pay for short term loans from the fed, stock margins, which state how much stock can be bought on margin (like a loan), the reserving rate (how much each bank is allowed to loan on their assets).

Nobody profits or gains from the feds manipulation of the economy. Moreover, they do not directly control anything, they passively influence it by changing market conditions. It doesn't always work, but the beauty of this system is that it allows the monetary supply to expand and contract based on the need for money. Money is created when people borrow. One of the problems with a gold standard is that gold is a finite commodity. If a person wanted to open a business, but there was no more gold to finance it, he couldn't do it regardless of how successful it would be. Therefore wealth could not be created, it would have to be dug up out of the ground. With fracional reserve banking, wealth is actually created by assigning a value to a resource without regard to any commodity. From this segment, Russo begins a discussion of credit card companies and their tactics to enslave us with debt. He even goes so far as to say that they are forcing us into debt, but declines to offer any proof that anyone has ever been forced to borrow money from a bank.

Russo's assertion that there is no law requiring an individual to pay income tax is equally absurd. The 16th amendment clearly states, "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." Not only is there a law requiring us to pay income tax, but there is a constitutional amendment.

Many people object to the IRS, the income tax, and even the federal reserve system of banking. Russo takes this objection a step further and suggests that it is a conspiracy against the common man. In doing so, he loses a great deal of credibility.

I haven't seen the film in question. I agree with the thrust of about 99.9% of your commentary, especially the comments about the Federal Reserve System and the Federal income tax, so my sympathies are probably with you. Assuming that the film is really as wacky as has been depicted by some other commentators, your analysis is probably more accurate (in my opinion) than most of the information that is reported to be in the film. The problem is that your commentary is just that: commentary that lacks a neutral point of view for purposes of Wikipedia. Perhaps we can work together to rework this material to strike a balance. Any thoughts? Yours, Famspear 21:43, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Dear Jasonpeck: Hey, I just want to let you know I haven't forgotten about the aforementioned article. Some edits have been made, including the addition of citations to the applicable statutes. I've been jumping from one fire to another for the past few months. Yours, Famspear 19:38, 18 July 2006 (UTC)