# How would you parse 'End the Fed'? What's that mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751 "2019-09-24T13:44:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/1 "2019-09-24T13:44:56Z")
Just east of Long Island City, Queens, visible from the Long Island Rail Road tracks, is the graffiti’d message “End The Fed”. Quite aside from whether or not that’s a sentiment that you’d endorse, what do you assume it _means_? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/2 "2019-09-24T13:48:15Z")
Probably some cryptocurrency dork who thinks we should be using Bitcoin (or whatever his favorite one is) instead of “fiat currency.” ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/3 "2019-09-24T13:50:39Z")
I’ve never heard anything other than the Federal Reserve referred to as “the Fed.” That said, the statement is hopelessly vague. They could have an issue with FedEx. I can sympathize with that. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/4 "2019-09-24T13:51:28Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Just east of Long Island City, Queens, visible from the Long Island Rail Road tracks, is the graffiti’d message “End The Fed”. > > Quite aside from whether or not that’s a sentiment that you’d endorse, what do you assume it _means_? I would assume it has something to do with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve – [Federal Reserve Board of Governors - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Board_of_Governors) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/5 "2019-09-24T13:52:57Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I’ve never heard anything other than the Federal Reserve referred to as “the Fed.” Agreed, and that’s how I’d interpret the graffiti. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/6 "2019-09-24T13:53:56Z")
Clearly what you are seeing is ten-year-old guerrilla marketing for a [book by Ron Paul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_the_Fed). ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/7 "2019-09-24T14:24:43Z")
Obviously “something else”. It’s a plea for equality. Since the fight to end hunger has been less than successful, the author is proposing that we approach the issue from the opposite angle and end the fed. That way everyone will be hungry and equality assured. Or something. I didn’t vote, wouldn’t skew your poll in such a manner, but divining the meaning if random graffiti is not always a straightforward exercise. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/8 "2019-09-24T15:09:38Z")
As the voting indicates, it clearly, 100% certainty, refers to the Federal Reserve Board. Some people reading it might not understand the reference, but there is no ambiguity for the person who wrote it. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/9 "2019-09-24T15:39:19Z")
The reference is surely to the Federal Reserve Board but I would interpret it the same way I interpret pro-IRA graffiti I have seen in Boston - “That person has taken a stance on something they probably know nothing about”. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/10 "2019-09-24T15:46:56Z")
That small but passionate group of self identified Libertarians has latched onto the Federal Reserve as a potent boogie-man. Ron Paul made hay proposing to “end the Fed”, and our current occupant is beating the drum too. I don’t think Trump really understands any of it, he simply sees the Fed as having some sort of power and, well, that’s no good now, is it? All power must be concentrated in Trump, so let’s get rid of the Fed. Now what would motivate a graffiti artist to choose that phrase? Maybe they are sincere (in their own deeply uninformed way), maybe they are trolling, who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/11 "2019-09-24T16:48:49Z")
> [@Gus\_Gusterson](#): > > “That person has taken a stance on something they probably know nothing about”. That is a pretty good guess considering that that statement is true of most people on most topics. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/12 "2019-09-24T16:52:36Z")
It means closing down the Federal Reserve. I’m not sure what I would understand by it if I didn’t already know the context. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/13 "2019-09-24T16:56:49Z")
“Death to fatties.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/14 "2019-09-24T16:59:40Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > That small but passionate group of self identified Libertarians has latched onto the Federal Reserve as a potent boogie-man. Ron Paul made hay proposing to “end the Fed”, and our current occupant is beating the drum too. > > I don’t think Trump really understands any of it, he simply sees the Fed as having some sort of power and, well, that’s no good now, is it? All power must be concentrated in Trump, so let’s get rid of the Fed. > > **Now what would motivate a graffiti artist to choose that phrase?** Maybe they are sincere (in their own deeply uninformed way), maybe they are trolling, who knows? The Federal Reserve plays a part in quite a few conspiracy theories that are out there, so the artist could have found motivation in all sorts of odd places. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/15 "2019-09-24T19:10:59Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > As the voting indicates, it clearly, 100% certainty, refers to the Federal Reserve Board. Some people reading it might not understand the reference, but there is no ambiguity for the person who wrote it. That’s the way I voted; but I don’t see how you can be quite so sure what’s in the mind of the person who wrote it. (Unless, of course, it was you who wrote it.) I voted on a ‘preponderance of evidence’ basis, not on a ‘beyond any shadow of a doubt’ basis. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/16 "2019-09-24T19:37:57Z")
I majored in economics. It’s surely one of the anti-Fed nuts who thinks we should dissolve the Federal Reserve and go back on the gold standard. That worked so well during the Great Depression. I’m sure there are endless conspiracy theories involved and maybe a bit of religious discrimination as well. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/17 "2019-09-24T19:56:24Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I’ve never heard anything other than the Federal Reserve referred to as “the Fed.” While I would interpret the graffiti as the Federal Reserve, I have encountered a few people who seemed to think “the Fed” meant “the Federal Government”. When I think about it, I can kind of see where this confusion might come from. When you pluralize it and say “the Feds”, that usually means “agents of the Federal Government”, like the FBI, DEA, etc., not “members of the Federal Reserve Board.” ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-parse-end-the-fed-whats-that-mean/840751/18 "2019-09-24T19:58:50Z")
Kill the people who have already eaten.