Reply #69: True, it's not a huge deal, but ....

[Diane_nyc]

... together with a whole lot of other "chicken feed" unnecessary expenditures scattered throughout various parts of the government, it's part of a total of a lot of chicken feed.

Anyhow, quite apart from the question of how significant it is, compared to, say, the total size of the national debt, do you think that the dividend to the Fed's member banks serves any useful public purpose?

Some government subsidies do serve a useful public purpose. For example, I'm in favor of subsidies for low and middle income housing in regions where the cost of housing is high.

But I'm in favor of getting rid of pointless subsidies, such as the subsidy to tobacco farmers. Do you agree?

On the other hand, if you think the dividend to the Fed's member banks serves any useful public purpose, what do you think that purpose might be?