The Federal Reserve - isn’t 

By Bill Sharon

The Federal Reserve is not part of the Federal Government. Regrettably, most Americans are ignorant of this fact. Since the members of Board of Governors of the Fed are appointed by the President, the assumption is that it is but another agency of the Executive Branch, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is owned primarily by private banks that are shareholders and appoint two thirds of the members of the boards of directors of the twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks.

In this context, the expanded powers of the Fed that are being proposed by the Bush administration (and the weakening of the powers of the SEC) presents an interesting event in what passes for risk management these days in the financial services system. Barney Frank, the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee has in effect signed on to this plan following an epiphany some time ago that occurred during his conversation with Charles O Prince, III, the former Chairman of Citibank. According to the New York Times, Mr. Prince was explaining that “structured investment vehicles” were kept off the balance sheet so that his bank could compete with investment banks. Somehow the practices of commercial banks using archaic accounting to keep investments off their books led to the conclusion that regulation should extend to investment banks and hedge funds. There doesn’t seem to be any mention of getting those “structured investment vehicles” back on the balance sheet. (more…)

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 Doing The Work: A Facilitation Guide

By Byron Katie

Use the following four questions and sub-questions to investigate a stressful belief-for example, “My mother doesn’t love me.” (Some of the sub-questions may not apply.)

1. Is it true?

(Close your eyes, be still, go deeply as you contemplate your answer.  If your answer is no, continue to Question 3.)

2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?

- Can you know more than God/reality?

- Can you really know what’s best in the long run for his/her/your own path?

- Can you absolutely know that you would be happier if you got what you wanted? (more…)

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It’s really amazing how crazy America and for that matter the world has become.  Today, not only do we have to fear getting serious illnesses, being robbed, murdered or a slew of other “typical” day to day tragedies, but now new and even more dangerous concerns have presented themselves.  Terrorism, nuclear warfare, an approaching depression and the ever popular global warming are just a few of the new frights that come to mind, and continue to haunt me and a multitude of other young Americans.  In fact, many of us feel as if there is almost nowhere we can go, or activity we can participate in, that is truly safe.  Furthermore, with the depleting value of the dollar, and the rising value of other world currencies, who can afford to travel or participate in enjoyable activities anyway?

However, every time I start to worry about terrorism, the potential effects of the Iraq war or the diminishing value of the US Dollar, I think of the Red Rocks in Sedona, the beautiful beaches in Antigua or even the look on a friend’s face after finally passing that physics test, and I just smile.  I realize that this Earth that God has given us, and even some of the people that we can’t stand, that he has put us on earth with, aren’t the problem.  Instead, my fear is caused not only by this crazy world, but also by the insecurities that I feel and the doubts about my future that creep into my mind.    So to remedy these thoughts, I turn off the TV, shut down my internet, and instead reflect, call a good friend, meditate to one of Albert’s tapes or listen to a Jack Johnson CD.  And as fast as those thoughts entered my psyche; they disappear, and what’s left is a now confident 19 year old, comfortable with the state of the world, and optimistic about the opportunities that God has granted him to change it.

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By Bill Sharon 

The Kabbalists tell us that we can only see 1% of what is going on. The astrophysicists tell us that we can only see 5% (the rest is dark energy and dark matter, although no one really seems to know what either of them are). Kahneman and Tversky, in their work on how people respond to risk tell us that emotion always overrides rational thought (witness the rise in the stock market of hundreds of points on the smallest shred of information that might be considered good news).

So on a good day we are all in the tall grass. For the past five or six hundred years we have been operating on the basis that rational thought separates us from the animals. Now we are being told – not so. What separates us from the animals is our consciousness and our ability to recognize that we are more than our thoughts. This idea comes to us from many teachers with an infinite variety of approaches (Ian Lungold, Albert Clayton Gauldin, Ester Hicks, Neale Donald Walsch and many others). It has become so mainstream that now Oprah and Eckart Tolle are in the midst of a world-wide weekly video conference designed to spread the idea that our minds and our egos are getting in the way of understanding what life wants from us. (more…)

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