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Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

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Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#91
post #35

My main concern about libra is that, by being strongly tied to real currencies, libra issuers (not just facebook, all of them) have effectively assumed the role of unsanctioned mints, with the ability to damage the stability of each currency because libra is not tied to the international exchange system: if you pay facebook, or anyone else, $10 and they convert that into libra, now they have $10 that they will absolu…

Every bank and credit card is also an unsanctioned mint. It works fine. The actual minting of money has not been a major factor in managing the money supply in a long time. It's all done by setting interest rates.

Insofar as this rhetorical framework is concerned, they're actually sanctioned, not unsanctioned.

Banks and credit issuing institutions are heavily regulated and have a variety of criteria that must be met to legally operate in that capacity.

Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its an independent currency: if it changes rules in a way users dont accept it would stop being used. Lets not confound the capacity to build a token with the capacity to levy taxes. The latter is the scary one. The former is just playing with casino chips and airline miles.

Yeah it would but what abkut the value of the currency when they change the rules?

It would go down, or up, like with any other currency.

Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#93

Of course he does. His job, his entire worldview, is based on technocratic control of the economy. Breaking the government monopoly on currency threatens everything about him.

> Breaking the government monopoly on currency threatens everything about him This is naive. Breaking governments’ holds on currency would be supremely lucrative for bankers. See the American free banking era.

These two are not mutually exclusive

Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#94
post #84
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for recognizing that calling a cryptocurrency decentralized is an extraordinary claim.

you are welcome, but that would be the "ordinary" claim

I assert with exactly as much evidence as you (zero) that it is the extraordinary claim.

Show me a so-called "decentralized" coin that is designed to not just be dominated by a handful of miners. It's a natural consequence of proof of work, isn't it? Large-scale miners will always be able to buy electricity for cheaper than your average person.

Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#95
post #23
post #15

Well he should have. Or maybe it's just for show. Libra can be a great tool to control the rising markets in africa. Perhaps this will end with a compromise that gives Fed control over the network.

I don't know man? There are things happening in Africa right now that make me think FB won't be a major player in Africa in the future. The Africans have been smitten by the Chinese protectionist model. That new free trade agreement they have actually specifically excludes your company from benefiting if you're using goods or services from outside the zone where options exist inside the zone. Don't misunderstand me,…

Facebook is a major player in Africa right now.

Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#96
post #54
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every bank and credit card is also an unsanctioned mint. It works fine. The actual minting of money has not been a major factor in managing the money supply in a long time. It's all done by setting interest rates.

> The actual minting of money has not been a major factor in managing the money supply in a long time. Very much not true. Quantitative easing, the process of minting money to inject liquidity into the economy, was a core tenet of the Obama administration’s* response to the Great Recession. Literally trillions of dollars created to purchase bonds and mortgage backed securities to prop up the economy. Edit: It was dur…

> "Edit: It was during the Obama administration but implemented by the Fed, which is independent of the White House administration (thank god.)"

I was half-listening to Jerome Powell (Fed Chairman) testify before congress today and one congresswoman (CW) asked him (JP) something like:

CW: Are there any tools you need that we can give you?

JP: No, we have all the tools we need at the moment.

CW: Well what about directly purchasing municipal bonds? I learned you aren't allowed to do that.

JP: That type of activity is outside the scope of our mandate.

CW: Well there are many cities going bankrupt that need someone to buy the bonds so if we give you the power to do that will it help if you can buy them?

JP: The best thing you can do to help is have a sane fiscal policy and reduce the deficits.

Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#97
post #96
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The actual minting of money has not been a major factor in managing the money supply in a long time. Very much not true. Quantitative easing, the process of minting money to inject liquidity into the economy, was a core tenet of the Obama administration’s* response to the Great Recession. Literally trillions of dollars created to purchase bonds and mortgage backed securities to prop up the economy. Edit: It was dur…

> "Edit: It was during the Obama administration but implemented by the Fed, which is independent of the White House administration (thank god.)" I was half-listening to Jerome Powell (Fed Chairman) testify before congress today and one congresswoman (CW) asked him (JP) something like: CW: Are there any tools you need that we can give you? JP: No, we have all the tools we need at the moment. CW: Well what about direct…

How did she respond to that last statement? Do you have the transcript?

Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#98
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know man? There are things happening in Africa right now that make me think FB won't be a major player in Africa in the future. The Africans have been smitten by the Chinese protectionist model. That new free trade agreement they have actually specifically excludes your company from benefiting if you're using goods or services from outside the zone where options exist inside the zone. Don't misunderstand me,…

Facebook is a major player in Africa right now.

Sure, now.

All I'm saying is that after reading through some of those regs, clearly it'd be prudent to bet on African properties for those playing the long game.

Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#99

My main concern about libra is that, by being strongly tied to real currencies, libra issuers (not just facebook, all of them) have effectively assumed the role of unsanctioned mints, with the ability to damage the stability of each currency because libra is not tied to the international exchange system: if you pay facebook, or anyone else, $10 and they convert that into libra, now they have $10 that they will absolu…

There's a difference that could be important: Libra is effectively a bank, and like other banks creates money, but the new money is not denominated in dollars, it's in Libra. If American banks create too many dollars, that's a problem for every American, since Americans up to now have been pretty much stuck with using dollars. If Libra mismanages their supply and reserves, the main effect will be on the market price of Libra, right? Am I understanding things correctly?

With the banks we're used to there's a potential tragedy of the commons in that their separate decisions all affect the shared money supply, which is indistinguishable, so one reason to have a central bank is to get some overall control of those distributed decisions. A distinct competing currency already under a single decision maker doesn't so obviously need that extra governance. I don't know, maybe it does, but I'd like to see the reason spelled out.

(Hayek raised this point in his Denationalisation of Money.)

Re: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Has ‘Serious Concerns’ with Facebook Libra Proposal

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing about Libra denounces the power of central banks. Facebook just becomes an unregulated central bank.

They can't be a central bank because they are not a government.

> They can't be a central bank because they are not a government.

Isn't the federal reserve in the United States a private corporation that is not part of the government?

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