Vahe H Apelian
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These words from the Declaration of Independence are familiar and often quoted. The congress adopted the final text of the Declaration of independence on July 4, 1776. Franky speaking, as far as I am concerned, Life and Liberty derive meaning for me because of the third, that is to say the unalienable right to pursue Happiness . I wonder pursuing happiness has been enshrined in any country’s charter or declaration of independence. The finances of a U.S. citizen contributes greatly towards a person’s pursuit of happiness, even though happiness is not surely a measure of money only.
The U.S. Constitution thus has created a government with three branches we all know, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branch. In this manner the Constitution establishes a system of checks and balances to ensure equitable and accountable governance. But the U.S. constitution does not say that there should be a central bank, which in case of the U.S. is The Federal Reserve. The name may be misleading. The Federal Reserve is not a federal institution. But, the federal reserve system, as far as I am concerned, is the institution, that assures the law- abiding citizens of the U.S. have an assurance of the worth of their hard earned money to pursue happiness.
The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States. It was founded by a Congressional act in 1913, to help assure the stability of the American banking system, and wrench it away from political manipulation. The Federal Reserves is a complex institution that is both privately and publicly owned. Its governing board reports to Congress. It acts sort of the floodgate of money the U.S. Treasury Department prints, and in this manner acts as the checks and balances of the U.S. fiscal governance. While the U.S. Treasury, a cabinet level institution, prints money, it can make it available to the public only through the Federal Reserves which acts as the barometer of the free market’s need for the right amount of money to keep it healthy.
The Central Bank in Lebanon was established in 1963 and is entirely owned by the state. The collapse of Lebanon’s monetary system is attributed to corrupt governance of the state officials, notably Riad Salameh, who was the governor of the country’s central bank. I quote, “Salameh's monetary policies, along with government corruption and mismanagement, are said to have led to a crisis marked by falling growth, currency devaluation, banking sector collapse, and widespread poverty.” Lebanon used to brag that it has the largest gold deposit in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) counties, to safeguard the Lebanese Lira's value. I do not know what happened to its gold reserve.
When I left Lebanon in 1976, a U.S. dollar was worth around 3 Lebanese Liras. In a few years it was trading around 1500 LL for a dollar and thus wiped out my parent’s life-long savings. But they were not the only ones, of course.. On February 15, 2024 the Central Bank started exchanging the dollar to its market value which is around 90,000 Lebanese Liras for a U.S. dollar.. Corruption of the Central Bank, with no checks and balances, was endemic in Lebanon all along.
Sometimes in the 1960’s, the 50 piasters disappeared from circulation in Lebanon, It turned out that its silver content was for more valuable than its trading face value. Lebanon being Lebanon, it would not surprise me a bit that those in the higher up bought all the available 50-piasters from the central bank at its face value and had them processed for their far more expensive silver content. It even would not surprise me that Lebanese officials, being Lebanese officials, had the government continue on minting the silver containing 50-piasters while they hoarded the minted coins, until the government ran of its silver stock, after which legislation was passed to have the composition of the 50-piasters changed. I had a few. They sure well heavier than the newly minted. I do not know what happened to the ones I had. Recently I checked online about the old Lebanese 50 piasters, and found out that they are available for purchase for those to whom the silver-containing 50-piasters evoke memories of the bygone days in Lebanon. But it’s expensive. In a good condition each is retailed up to $70 U.S. dollars.
The other day I was aghast reading in NY Times that Trump and his allies are devising plans to reduce the independence of the Federal Reserve. It is natural that the politically ambitious and the rich would want to have more control and leverage over the country’s central bank, and in case of the U.S., over the Federal Reserve, which should be accountable only to the Free Market and keep it healthy, and away from the manipulation of the ambitious.
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