http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... -pace.html

The US dollar has surged to a four-year high against a basket of currencies and has punched through key technical resistance, marking a crucial turning point for the global financial system.

And this is AFTER QE has ended (something I wasn't paying attention to, and happened without me noticing).

What a lot of people don't realize is that the US Federal Reserve is a private bank.

" If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporation that grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless...."

Thomas Jefferson
(One of the founding fathers of America)

Still buying into any misinformation that sounds like something you want to believe...

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/jefferson/banks.asp

Although Jefferson certainly expressed disdain and mistrust of banking institutions and paper currency on many occasions, this particular quotation bears all the hallmarks of being a retroquote — "words placed posthumously in the mouth of a well-known dead person":
No documentation ties it to its putative originator.
Its earliest known reference did not appear until long after the death of its supposed originator.
Multiple sources are claimed for its origins.
Contextual information indicates the words are of more recent origin than claimed. According to the Jefferson Encyclopedia, the earliest printed reference to this quotation found so far appeared in a 1937 Congressional subcommittee report, which means there is no known record of these words having been attached to Jefferson's name until well more than a century after his death (1826). And even
though this quotation has bedeviled historians for several decades now, no one has yet turned up any Jeffersonian speeches or writings or other documentation demonstrating that Thomas Jefferson ever uttered or wrote these words.

Meanwhile:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/14/news/ec ... ouseholds/

"Number of U.S. millionaires hits new high"

The number of U.S. households with a net worth of $1 million or more, excluding primary residence, rose to 9.63 million in 2013, according to a new report from Spectrem Group, a consulting and research firm.
That's more than a 600,000 leap up from 2012, and the highest number on record.

That's 600,000 people who became millionaires in the last 2 years...

Snopes is know for speculative assumptions, misquotes, faulty research, and a laundry list of errors. The bottom line is that The FED is a private bank run for profit and not a US government agency. The question is, for the profit of whom and why is a private bank able to issue and manipulate the currency of the United States. Right on the front of US money it says: "United States Federal Reserve System." So a private for profit bank has its hand in the pocket of every American citizen and others around the world?

So many millionaires with millions backed by nothing but the paper its printed on, the Riel and the dollar have something in common there.

"And I believe.... that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armys."
Thomas Jefferson
1816 letter to John Taylor

so is OD saying it's all good now? cuz we got more millionaires. No mention of percentage increase of poor, etc. Might point out that a million ain't such a big deal anymore. It would be EASY to spend one million on PART of a house. Or one house and one car. An so on.
That woulda been a lot more fun to spend in the 60s and even 70s.

Sailor: so you'll finally be skeptical of SOMETHING you read on the internet at least... too bad it's one of the most trusted sources for debunking misinformation. Hold on to those rationalizations... they'll get you through.

Curious: I'm saying that the dollar is at an all time high, we're hitting a record number of people entering the 1mill plus group, and it's accelerating. Downplaying the million in assets mark is just silly... sure, anyone can find a way to blow a million overnight. Hell, Brewster managed to find a way to blow 30 million in 30 days, and that was in 1985 dollars. In fact, it was based on a book so really would have been 1902 dollars! Doesn't mean that a million isn't a sign of significant wealth. Most people getting to the million mark aren't going to just stop there, it's an indicator. Those people will keep doing what they did to get there, or more since they have means to work with. They are a significant demographic for increasing the savings rate, as well as a good source of fuel for the mid-long term investment market. Which is where most small businesses will live. 80% of American millionaires are the first in their families to become millionaires, this shows a lot of upward mobility as a national economy... which is a good thing.

Here's a nice short breakdown showing how the numbers really run out when given fuller context, with the poor getting richer faster than the rich are, by economics professor Steve Horwitz:


The pizza analogy sums up very nicely what a lot of the doom&gloomers like to do... talk about % of totals, without talking about differences in the SIZE of totals.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank is hardly a "private" bank. It is composed of a Board of Governors selected by the President and approved by the Senate and the federal government sets the salaries of the board and its president. The bank's authority is derived from statues enacted by Congress and is and always has been subject to oversight by the U.S. Congress. The federal government receives the bank's net profits.

Does this sound much like a "private" bank?

The FED is however independent since its monetary policy does not have to be approved by the President or Congress and that the terms of the board members are not aligned with election cycles. It was designed to be independent of the current whims of politics since at times it must take unpopular actions to counter a prevailing manic or panic condition.

Maybe its independent status is where the incorrect notion comes from that the Fed is a "private" bank.

Bottom line is that its not an agency of the federal government, so is a private bank no matter who elects the puppets they put out front. Board of governors selected by whom? Most selected by attorneys.(Pres is usually an attorney, as are congressmen.) It should be a federal agency that like others is not at the whim of the every 4 years elections (think J. Edger Hoover of the FBI for an example. Presidents/Congressmen were afraid of him for good reason.)

Just like our "Three Branch's of Government" for checks and balances has become a scam. The Pres/VP, usually attorneys (or beholding to the bar association), Congressmen-Usually attorneys or their pac money comes from bar association sources and the Supreme Court- All members of the American Bar Association. The American government is run/manipulated by a private club (American and state Bar Associations.) BTW/ I ran head long into a state bar association that manipulated what judges I got and stopped cases from being heard by a jury or even getting to court, so have real insight into this private club. Having your day in court does not exist in America anymore, just like its currency is now backed by "smoke n' mirrors." The Federal Reserve and the American Judicial System, Same Same, but Different. Two sides of the same coin. Two of the biggest scams on the American people.

I asked a friend who was making a least a $Million a year, by insider trading in the stock market, how to get started, "Easy", he said, "Start with a $Million". "Fuck.", I said, "I would have to sell my houses for that cash."