In my continued efforts to learn more about the people and processes involved in creating the global economic crisis, I'm currently slogging my way through the Wikipedia article on the Federal Reserve Bank. One of the most disconcerting things I've found so far have been the seemingly contradictory high court decisions concerning whether or not it is accountable to the public, since it is only a "quasi-public" institution.
The very existence of the Central Bank/Federal Reserve Board as a private, for-profit, yet public and semi-regulated entity seems to me both a symptom and a cause of America's economic schizophrenia, which has resulted in the global economic meltdown.
I also learned that the current Federal Reserve Board of Directors, whose members are appointed by the President, currently has two vacancies. Now I'm wondering why appointments to the Supreme Court get so much media coverage, when appointments to a powerful board that controls the economy gets relatively so little.
Although I describe myself as a free-market capitalist and an enthusiastic defender of the the stock market, I should add a caveat, that being that I refuse to participate in usury. Unfortunately, our economic system, is built largely upon the concept and practice of usury, or, as I prefer to call it, the poor pay more doctrine. In my view, usury is not a valid part of the definition of free-market venture capitalism, but rather, one of the defining features of vulture capitalism.
As a Christopher Hitchens-style atheist, I don't take sides in religious crusades. I view religion as one of the major obstacles to continued human evolution, as well as the single biggest threat to the continuation of the species. However, this is not to say that one cannot sometimes find something resembling morality in some religious tenets, while rejecting the religion as a whole. Now that I have thoroughly alienated everyone equally in the name of necessary objectivity, let me now say that I find Islamic economic theory morally superior because it does not incorporate the practice of usury.
I will go further and say that I believe that one of two vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board should be filled by Muhammed Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The other should be filled by an Islamic economist for purposes of diversity, cross-cultural exchange and mutual understanding. It is vital that profits are once again connected to real activities, real products, real investments in sustainable businesses, rather than being tied to nothing more than speculation, manipulated data, and the creation and exploitation of poverty.
Here is a link to a short article listing some of the advantages of Islamic banking and how it may have prevented the global economic crisis. The concept of sharing risk and reward, a basic cornerstone of venture capitalism, is one of the focal points.
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/...