Federal Reserve Research Paper

[dermeister88]

I have the opportunity to write an anti-fed research paper for my history class in college. The prompt is entirely open-ended (limiting in terms of date span -1865 to present). This is a chance to convince others in the class (more importantly the professor) as to why this institution is hurting the country.
My idea for a thesis is something along the lines of "The existence of the Federal Reserve as a quasi-independent part of the U.S. government has led to the devaluation of the dollar since its inception. To this end, its failure to adhere to its mandate, incorrect manipulation of interest rates, and lack of public disclosure of its lending practices contributed to such a decline in currency value - all processes evident throughout its existence, but in particular, from 1971 to the present."
Any ideas for another thesis? I need some primary/secondary sources, does anyone have any suggestions for those? I'm guessing many will face opportunities to write papers like these in the future, so it might be good to have a thread on it....

[Acala]

I would suggest presenting the Austrian theory of the trade cycle, which lays the blame for the current fiasco squarely at the feet of the Fed.

[Deborah K]

Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin goes into the history of how and who started it.

[emazur]

Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin goes into the history of how and who started it.

This book is an absolute must read. In your essay you should include who benefits at whose expense from the existence of the Fed.

Free book: The Case Against the Fed - M. Rothbard
http://mises.org/books/fed.pdf
audio version:
http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=114

[YumYum]

I am working on a college paper. This is my unfinished annotated bibliography that I am adding more sources to. I need some scholarly journals to add to this list. I hope this helps.


Annotated Bibliography

Griffin, E. (2009). The Creature from Jekyll Island. Westlake Village: American Media.
This book refers to the Federal Reserve System as a “creature” and gives a detailed account of how the Fed came to be, and explores the mystery surrounding the Federal Reserve System. It explains where money comes from and where it goes in what the book describes as the “most blatant scam of history.” It explains how the Fed is responsible for wars, boom-bust cycles, inflation, depressions and prosperity. While they book appears to have a negative bias it will prove valuable in providing the conspirators of this financial system.

Hazlitt, H. (1979). Economics In One Lesson. New York: Crown Publishers.
One of the best books written that gives a layman the basic truths of economics, leaving out all the eco-Babel, which confuses so many novices studying economics. The information provided will provide a firm grasp of basic economic principles and the complex interrelationship of all economic factors and forces. This will prove to be a valuable reference, which defines technical terms of economics in the simplest manner. .

Mankiw, N. (2009). Principles of Economics .Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning.
A college text that gives a favorable view of the Federal Reserve System, and explains economics in complicated terms. Will prove to be helpful in giving the accepted view of economics regarding buying, selling, setting prices, competing for customers, looking for jobs, earning a living, and why markets succeed and why they fail.

Paul, R. (2009). End The Fed. New York: Grand Central Publishing.
A straight forward, easy to read, expose on the Federal Reserve, which explains the reasons why this agency should be abolished. The Fed is blamed for bringing our country to the brink of economic ruin. This book combines history, economics, philosophy, and Dr. Paul’s own life experiences as an eleven-term congressman to explain how, why, and for whom the Federal Reserve has been pulling the strings of the American financial system since 1913, and what can be done about it.

Rothbard, M. (1994). The Case Against The Fed. Auburn: Ludwig von Mises Institute.
This book gives detailed information of the mechanics of the Fed and how much money is printed and where it goes. It gives the names of individuals who work in the Federal Reserve and those who work on the outside. It exposes how other agencies, even the CIA, are held accountable to Congress, and yet the Federal Reserve answers to no one. The Fed hurts the American economy and is leading us to economic collapse. This book provides an in-depth explanation as to why.

Santow, L. (2009) Do They Walk on Water? Federal Reserve Chairmen and the Fed. Westport:Praeger Publishers.
This book examines the Fed’s chairmen and exposes them, not as geniuses, but simply as men who could and can manifest confidence while attempting to navigate an out of control ship. This book explains the inner workings of the Fed and its Open Market Operations, while analyzing each of the recent five Fed chiefs together with extensive economic data that describes their successes and failures numerically, the Fed’s recent mistakes, and policy recommendations.

Schiff, P. (2007). Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse. Hoboken:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
An eerie and extremely accurate book predicting the financial crisis that began on March 15, 2008, which came to a crisis of immense proportion in September of that same year. It explains everything that was creating the housing bubble, which was encouraged by the Fed, and why it would collapse. It predicts what will happen in the near future if drastic measures aren’t taken to correct the existing system and the way it operates. Very valuable information is provided in this book to look at how further disaster can be diverted, and if the Fed is allowed to continue, what changes it must make in its mode of operation to help turn the economy around.

Shull, B. (2005). The Fourth Branch: The Federal Reserve’s Unlikely Rise to Power and Influence. Westport: Praeger Publishers.
A very careful study of the Federal Reserve and its history. It uncovers many of the mysteries surrounding the Fed......

[dermeister88]

Thanks everyone, for all of your helpful suggestions.
There has been recent development regarding this class for me. I should start by explaining that this course is taught by a Johns Hopkins' fresh alumni (in U.S. History). I am currently taking the U.S. History course through JHU, and I fear (based on evidence already) that this prof. may be gearing up for an unfair critique of my anti-fed paper, as well as any subsequent paper mentioning free markets or the like...
Basically this guy mentions in class that his preferred economic system is that of England's (wow). He lauded their regulation which according to him "keeps the robber barons from running amuck, like they did here in America." He also goes on to say things like "some people in this class have a fuzzy understanding of economic terms," implying that my general understanding of economics is inarticulate. He refuses to recognize that something that we call capitalism here is actually corporatism, and will not accept my distinction of such a concept. Any ideas on how to continue in this class, when I am pretty sure I am dealing with a Keynesian at best and a commie at worst?

[Andrew-Austin]

You might also mention this article by Lawrence White of George Mason University. Thomas Woods mentioned it before congress at the recent HR1207 hearing. Its about how the federal reserve has influenced/deluded the economics profession. To the uninitiated it explains how so many mainstream economics can be for the Fed.


INVESTIGATING THE APPARATUS
The Federal Reserve System’s Influence on Research in Monetary Economics
LAWRENCE H. WHITE*
http://www.aier.org/ejw/archive/inve...647-ejw-200508

>>> pdf
http://www.aier.org/ejw/archive/doc_...ejw-200508.pdf

google view as html
http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache...August2005.pdf

And if you want a liberal source on this issue as well as a conservative source, the Huffington post surprisingly has a similar article. X_x