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To: Mark Adams who wrote (108170)	6/12/2001 10:12:26 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Re: BIS having an accurate picture or not. The BIS has been around since 1930, but I really never heard about it much until recently. The BIS was originally set up by the countries which signed the Treaty of Versailles in order to facilitate German reparations to the Allies and repayments of loans by the Allies to the US, and the US wasn't a party because it never ratified the Treaty of Versailles. The name "Bank for International Settlements" reflects the original function - to act as a clearinghouse for gold payments between countries vis-a-vis the reparations and loan repayments. It was also intended to function sort of as a World Bank, but never really did, which is why the real World Bank was set up via the Bretton Woods Accord in 1944. Over the years the function of the BIS has changed, and more recently the US Federal Reserve started attending BIS meetings and getting involved in BIS functions, and has been a member of the BIS Board of Directors since 1994. My impression is that the BIS functions both as a bank for banks, a place where central banks keep some of their foreign reserves and some of their gold, and as an organization for banks, coordinating policy. The BIS has also been publishing economic research and statistics since the beginning, and what I have seen is of very high quality. The question you asked was, "does the BIS have an accurate picture of the US situation"? I think not as well as the Fed does, but it's probably got a much better picture of the world situation. The question I would ask is, "is the BIS objective, or does it have an agenda, and if so, does that agenda include the best interests of the US, or of others?" They are no more objective than the IMF, or the World Bank, or any other multinational organization, but I doubt that it's possible for the Fed to be objective, either, as a participant.