Travel Getaway: You can bank on a fascinating tour at the Fed in NYC
Arizona Coin Collector
On the story below, I would love to take the tour.
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FROM:
http://www.projo.com/travel/getaways/TRV-GETAWAY-NYC-THE-FED_03-01-09_FHCQ2JI_v9.100d9ff.html
Travel Getaway: You can bank on a fascinating tour at the Fed in NYC
01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 1, 2009
By John Horn
Los Angeles Times
NEW YORK - The stock market was in the middle of another
spectacular gyration. The economic crisis was palpable
throughout Manhattan's downtown financial district, yet
the atmosphere inside the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York was eerily serene, almost like a church.
(STORY IMAGE PHOTO)
http://www.projo.com/photos/20090301/TR0301_Fedreserve_03-01-09_3HDER1Q.jpg
Gold bars are stacked in the vaults
underneath the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York. VIA BLOOMBERG NEWS
It was fitting, for money is worshiped at "the Fed," as
the nation's central bank is known, and a visit to it
feels like a trip to capitalism's cathedral. Where the
bodies of saints would otherwise lie, the bank's catacombs
are stuffed with about $180 billion in gold bars - more
yellow metal than is stowed in Fort Knox, and almost
one-quarter of the world's supply.
As New York tourist destinations go, the historic landmark
on Liberty Street attracts a fraction of the visitors to
the city's more famous spots. But the bank plays a much
more vital part in our daily lives: The Fed implements
monetary policy and, in the New York building's open market
trading floor, handles billions of U.S. government debt.
The bank's free 30-minute guided tour won't leave you
fully grasping the nuances of reserve requirements and
the difference between real and nominal gross domestic
product. Yet you will leave knowing a lot more about
money than when you walked in, and some of it will be
more enjoyable than a college economics class.
The first thing you come across is what looks like an
unguarded gold bar, slowly spinning with the invitation,
"Help yourself!"
But the bar turns out to be a hologram, your hand passing
through it like fog. Although the tour is largely
humorless and strict (you're instructed not to take
pictures or notes in the massive subterranean gold vault),
the displays in the lobby - a stunning foyer adorned with
designer Samuel Yellin's 200 tons of ornate wrought
ironwork - are surprisingly fun, even as they're
informative.
Used bank notes are no longer burned (it's not green to
send up green in smoke) but shredded, and there's $48
million in minced $100 bills in one display, part of the
$105 million in paper currency cut up daily.
Not far away, an exhibit about counterfeiting presents
some really good fakes; only with an oversized magnifying
glass that slides over both the real and the ersatz bills
(along with what-to-look-for pointers in the exhibit)
can you spot the impostor $5, $10 and $20 bills.
Hundreds of rare coins and currency to illustrate the <<<<<<
history of money, grouped by era and region, are on loan
to the bank from the American Numismatic Society. The
highlights include a shekel from 109 B.C., and the most
valuable coin ever sold, a U.S. 1933 Double Eagle that
fetched nearly $8 million in a recent auction.
New York's Fed is one of a dozen Reserve Banks that make
up the country's central bank, and the rest of the lobby
tour outlines their history and role. Once a
clearinghouse for checks and a walk-up sales location for
Treasury bills, the Reserve Banks, among other current
responsibilities, supervise and regulate state-chartered
banks and foreign bank branches.
The bank's top historical exhibits are interactive. The
best is called "Match Wits With Ben" (as in Franklin), a
computer game in which your knowledge of monetary policy
is measured against a clock. There are only seven
questions, but you probably will miss about half of them
unless you dream of stock tables in your sleep.
Sample: What organization did the United States create in
1865 to suppress counterfeiters? Answer: the Secret
Service.
After the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (the World Trade
Center site is a few blocks west), the Fed tour eliminated
a stop in the bank's trading floors, making the trip down
to the gold vault the centerpiece of the visit.
Two dozen business graduate students were in my group
traveling five stories below street level to see the
vault, and they nearly swooned when they saw all the
gold bars (each worth about $320,000) neatly stacked
to the ceiling.
Ninety percent of the gold belongs to foreign countries,
stored in the Fed's little cells for safekeeping. The
bricks are so heavy (about 28 pounds each) that vault
workers wear $500 magnesium boots to avoid smashed foot
bones, and the concrete floor is dented from bars that
once toppled over.
As soon as the tour is over, guests are given a free
little bag of shredded bills. It's a funny souvenir of
one of the bank's functions, but a more
sobering - though unintentional - reminder of the
status of the economy.
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