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Lecture 6: THE ORIGINS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE

OBJECTIVES:

 
✔ To understand the different events that led to the creation of the Federal Reserve with a particular emphasis on the role of bankers and politicians in the unfolding of those events.
 
✔ To consider whether financial panics are really "natural" phenomena or whether they are panics artificially manufactured by the wealthy to allow the Federal Reserve to act in the interest of the wealthy
 
✔ To understand the significance of the Jekyll Island Conference and the circumstances under which the meeting was held. In other words, which individuals were at this meeting? Was the public informed of this meeting and its participants? 
 
 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

 
1. What was the Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1908 and what was the significance of its passage?
 
2. What indirect role did the powerful banker J.P. Morgan play in the creation of the Federal Reserve system?
 
3. What are the many ways in which the financial elite can play a strong role in deciding Federal Reserve policies although the Federal Reserve is meant to serve public interests?