Reason.tv: End the Fed - Filmmaker Tad Lumpkin Animates the Financial Crisis

"Any time you give unlimited capacity to print money, then the government's going to grow," says filmmaker Tad Lumpkin.

Lumpkin created the animated feature The American Dream, which is available on YouTube, to explain U.S. monetary policy and its consequences in a way that would be accessible to a mass audience. Although some in the media, and at the Federal Reserve, blame a lack of regulation for the financial crisis, Lumpkin argues that the Fed itself is the primary cause for the collapse of the housing sector.

Lumpkin sat down with Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh to discuss the folly of central banking, why Ron Paul is an important political force, and why it's time to end the Fed.

Shot by Zach Weissmueller, Hawk Jensen, and Alex Manning. Edited by Weissmueller.

Approximately 9:40 minutes.

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Comments

[Ken Shultz]

It's a little conspiratorial for my taste, but what the heck?

So it isn't aimed at me! Not everything has to be.

If it make a connection with some people, then that's a good thing.

Anything that shows the IRS as a vicious monster can't be all bad.

[Linear Actuator]

Lumpkin sat down with Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh to discuss the folly of central banking, why Ron Paul is an important political force, and why it's time to end the Fed.

Shot by Zach Weissmueller, Hawk Jensen, and Alex Manning. Edited by Weissmueller.

[NL]

Wait, the Rothschilds had a secret conspiracy to steal the wealth of the planet, they bought the UK, their tentacles grabbed all the banks, and they killed JFK? Come on.

As an anarcho-capitalist, I really don't feel comfortable being associated with this video. Just comes off paranoid.

Rather than a mega conspiracy stretching through the centuries, I think it makes more sense that politicians acted out of ignorance and self-interest (expanding their authority) and the various mistakes in policy accumulated over time without any regular central coordination.

[yonemoto]

slow down. The rothschilds had a secret conspiracy to take a chunk of the wealth from europe. The UK just fell into their hands, their tentacles grabbed most of the banks. And JFK was shot by a secret service agent (by accident).

[Clark]

And the conspiracy to make you look like a dickhead seems to be coming along nicely.

[BakedPenguin]

Adjust sarcasm meter as needed.

[Ken Shultz]

There should be a symbol for sarcasm on the keyboard.

Or maybe it should have its own special font?

[Ken Shultz]

That play by Rothschild in taking advantage of having the news of Napoleon's defeat before anyone else in London had word--that's part of folk history as one of the greatest powerplays in history.

If this short had blamed our economic problems on Jewish domination of the world economic system, I'd be at the head of the line denouncing it as anti-semitic.

It didn't even mention that Rothschild was Jewish!

I didn't think that bit needed to be in there myself, like I said, the whole thing sounded a little too conspiratorial to me, but that is part of history.

Anti-semites mine the same history as the rest of us--they just use it to support their twisted and sick ideas. Doesn't mean no one else can talk about the same events in history without being associated with some stupid anti-semitic ideology that the short never even mentions.

Aren't historians allowed to criticize the behavior of the French after World War I and the actions of the Wiemar Republic too--all without being labeled as Nazi sympathizers?

This guy thinks the Federal Reserve is at the heart of a lot of our problems--and he uses history going back a ways to illustrate it. I didn't see anything anti-semitic about it.

My two cents? We're not about to get rid of the Federal Reserve. We're not about to go back on the gold standard either. And if the character in that short wanted to avoid having his home foreclosed on? Then all of that could have been avoided if he hadn't signed on to his loan!

I'm still waiting for the short that puts this all in perspective. It has to do with some of us not being able to afford the loans we signed, and the rest of us being forced to bail the banks out because of it. ...and it ends with our President taking the money the banks paid back and squandering it on stimulus--even as the money for the bailouts is still coming out of our future paychecks.

That's the conspiracy. Our presidents took $700 billion out of our future paychecks in an emergency, and when the money was paid back? Our president squandered what was paid back on "stimulus".

...and the money for it is still coming out of our future paychecks.

[sevo]

"I'm still waiting for the short that puts this all in perspective."

And this ain't it.

[Sean W. Malone]

Also, Andrew Jackson's assholishness aside, he did America an immense favor in 1932.

[Sean W. Malone]

or even... 1832

[BakedPenguin]

Assuming the film was accurate about that bit of history, Jackson was right - that was the best thing he ever did.

[Tony]

By causing a 5-year depression?

[yonemoto]

33,733

[Clark]

Lumpkin might not see a connection to antisemitism, but the nazis praising his movie in the comments seem to.

[GSL]

Eh, I give it a C-. Needs more Rothbard, and less Zeitgeist: The Movie.

[shrike]

Ron Paul picks up this idiocy quickly when he alleged the Fed funded Watergate and Saddam Hussein in a hearing last year.

Birchers are the real fucking cement-heads and this video will appeal to them.

[BakedPenguin]

Considering John Stagliano was exec. producer, I'm a little surprised there wasn't more mud wrestling, and that all the cartoon girls kept their clothes on.

I have to wonder if there will be a NC-17 version coming out anytime soon. Instead of Rothchild octopuses, they can have naked JAPs with large breasts. And just to avoid the anti-Semetic claims, they can show naked WASP babes currently running the Fed...

[Sean]

I think C- is about right. The Rothschild stuff is way too conspiracy theory for my taste, and to me it reeks of anti-semitism even if they never mention the fact that the Rothschilds are a jewish family.

Ken also had a good point - starting off with sympathy for the guy who had his house forclosed is a poor choice. You take a loan, you are responsible to pay it or deal with the consequences, no exceptions.

[Ken Shultz]

"You take a loan, you are responsible to pay it or deal with the consequences, no exceptions."

Yeah, where's the short about us working taxpayers going up against the deadbeats a la 300?

[nekoxgirl]

The movie actually got my husband to understand why I keeping talking about the Federal Reserve. I find that to be pretty impressive.

[MrFiveofHearts]

If it stuck to how the Fed is operating unethically? It would have been spot on. but yeah, the Conspiratorial stuff is a bit out there. (Except for the Jeckyll Island bit, which is fucked up, but true.)

Also, I have some issues with "where" this film came from. On the website for the film, it lists Glenn Beck and Fox news as good guys. That makes me suspicious enough, BUT DC Douglas, the guy who got busted for crank-calling a Tea Party organizing group does one of the voices. Weird.

[toddb]

Stop watching after part one and it's not a bad film.

[MrFiveofHearts]

Yeah, toward the end of the first one it starts getting a bit "tin foil hat".

[Stewart]

Started alright, then got all Rothschild on us. Someone who can animate needs to make a short that starts like this one, but at the point where he condemns all fractional reserve banking, needs to instead point out that US law gives us no other choice but to use the Fed's funny money. There is a place for fractional reserve banking, just as there is a place for stocks, bonds, and any other instrument with some risk. Fractional reserve lending should exist alongside full reserve lending, with market guided interest rates governing the flow of money in and out of both. Most importantly, fractional reserve debtors should have to take their losses if a bank run happens.

And all this mumbo jumbo about a cartel of bankers running the world...blah, blah, blah. The problem is that the government funnels us all into the Federal Reserve system. It's that simple.

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[sophie]

Film is a different medium than print. Rather than characters making speeches, Rand's philosophy ought to be shown via the characters doing something interesting.

[kelly]

Whoa...since when did you guys start doing game commentary?

[Tim]

Dubious claim #1:

At around 6:45 in the video, the following claim is made: "The Fed is a private bank owned by private stockholders."

I very skeptical of this claim. I'd like to know if there is any basis for it at all. Who are these "stockholders" anyway? How many shares are there, and how much is each share worth? Do the shares pay dividends?

[Tim]

(Clarification: I mean 6:45 in The American Dream, not this interview.)

[Greg]

According to the video the banks lend money from their vault. When the vault is empty, they borrow it from the Fed. And where does the Fed get its money from? The treasury of course! They print the money and the Fed trucks it to the banks.

I know the video is trying to tell its story to people who have no knowledge of this matter but it is so oversimplified that it is plain wrong.

Because of this, there is no solution to the problem apparent in this video ("End the Fed" isn't enough).

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