Does the US Government own it? Is it privately owned? If so, by who? Americans?..or do foreigners own the US Federal Reserve Bank?
Contestant #3
The short anwser is no one “owns” the Federal Reserve System. It was created by Congress in 1913 to, among other things, formulate US monetary policy and serve as the nation’s central bank. It is an independant government entity, and operates on its own revenue. The FRS provides services to member banks (like check clearing) and charges fees for those services. The FRS is managed by a 7 member Board of Governers. Each Governer is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. A Governer can serve only one 14 year term, unless appointed to complete an unexpired term, in which case a full term can be served after completing the unexpired term. While its decisions do not have to be approved by the President or Congress, the FRS does report to Congress. Congress has the power to change or dismantle the FRS at any time. Each regional FRS bank has a similar structure and reports to the FRS Board of Governers.
Either that, or the Illuminati.
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik
You forgot the Tri-Lateral Commission.
“Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing yourself is enlightenment.” - Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher
Thanks for the info. Another question. Is the Federal Reserve Bank non-profit? If not, where does the profit go?
So do the American people own the assets of the FRBs? You know, like the Real property and such?
Contestant #3
What government agency ever turned a profit? 
The FRS is a government agency, but does not get Congressionally appropriated funds. IIRC, they build a budget based on breaking even or coming out slightly ahead based on planned expenses vs. anticipated revenue.
Yes. All assets of the FRS are government property.
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik
The post office. As I recall, this came up the last time they added an extra penny onto postage. They’re already several million in the black since they stopped getting tax dollars so charging even more seemed to be going against something. Government agencies are supposed to operate on a zero-surplus, zero-debt level which I’d imagine is impossible to acheive.
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Doctor Jackson aksed: What government agency ever turned a profit?
The US Patent & Trademark Office pulls its own, plus some.
OK, guys, that’s why the winking smiley is there. Facetious remark. I knew about the Post Office, but I didn’t know about the Patent office. Interesting.
The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik
Heh… I thought you just meant “no government office is capable of turning a profit because all of their employees wastes tax money on the internet” or something. From now on, whenever you use a smiley face, I’ll need an asterik and a footnote saying exactly what the humor in it was
However, isn’t it interesting that the government offices that turn a profit are the ones treated as a business and not the ones getting the tax dollars? Dunno about the Patent office though…
“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
The PTO has been trying to be changed into a government corporation, so it can turn a profit. It used to be an agency of the Dept. of Commerce. It does gets its funding through all of its fees.
They do collect a lot of those however.
I suppose we could all take a look at http://www.uspto.gov and read the annual report.
The Postal Service/Post Office has never been part of the Commerce Dep’t. Before it became the Postal Service, it was the Post Office Department, and the Postmaster General was a Cabinet member. You can still see buildings, old equipment, etc. with “Post Office Department” or “Post Office Dep’t” markings.
I wonder if we can’t get through a thread without sniping. This one is disqualified.
Nickrz
GQ Mod
I don’t know what Mr. Bredin was reading in my post, but I was referring to the PATENT office, which is almost always called the PTO. It is indeed an agency of the Commerce Department (not always however).
According to its 1997 Financial Report I read on the web, it had more assets than liabilities, but since it is not a corporation like the USPS, it cannot truly be said to turn a profit. It does make a fair amount of money for the government.
Sorry about that. I wasn’t paying attention.
If you want to read a really good book on the Fed, check out “The Creature From Jekyll Island”. The guy who wrote it, and I can’t remember his name, is a bit of a crackpot, but it’s a fun read.