PoliticalAction.com Blog

Representative Ron Paul continues to receive cosponsors on his Audit the Fed bill (H.R. 1207). With 245 cosponsors in total, one has to wonder why this bill has been unable to move ahead in the House for floor debate and an eventual floor vote.

The Senate companion bill (S. 604) offered by Senator Bernard Sanders (R-VT) carries only 3 cosponsors (Senators Mike Crapo, R-ID; Jim DeMint, R-SC; and David Vitter, R-LA). However, the Senate version of the bill had a chance for passage when Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) opted to attach S. 604 to the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act (H.R. 2918) as an amendment. DeMint’s attempt to force the Senate to consider the bill through the amendment process failed when Senate leaders rejected having a vote on the amendment claiming it violated Senate rules. The appropriations bill passed without a vote on the DeMint amendment, even though the bill had several other provisions for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit various other agencies. (Click here for a video of Senator DeMint’s statement on his amendment.)

This issue cannot be ignored forever. With more and more support to audit the Federal Reserve, congressional leaders will soon have to deal with this issue in one way or another.

Continue to contact Congress and urge them to support H.R. 1207 and S. 604. If your representative and senators are co-sponsors already – GREAT! If not, you should continue to call, e-mail, or visit their office. Let them know that you support a complete audit of the Federal Reserve and that you wish for them to become a sponsor of either H.R. 1207 or S. 604.

Thank you,
Your friends at The John Birch Society

July 6, 2009

Dear Friend of Liberty,

Earlier today, the first shot in our battle to pass Audit the Fed through the U.S. Senate was fired on the Senate floor by Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina.

Senator DeMint, who has a well-deserved reputation for taking the battle to the other side in the Senate, once again proved why he is such a valuable ally in our fight to bring transparency and accountability to the Federal Reserve.

A little while ago, the Senate voted to pass HR 2918, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act. This $3 billion bill contains, among many other things, provisions for GAO audits on certain agencies.

Seizing on a chance to take quick action to bring Audit the Fed up for a vote, and with the GAO provisions in mind, Senator DeMint attached the full text of S 604, the Senate version of Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill, to HR 2918 as Senate Amendment 1367 before it was considered for final passage.

However, Senate Democrats refused to even allow a vote on the amendment! That’s right. The internationalist, Fed-loving elite in the Senate used a parliamentary tactic to shut down DeMint’s amendment.

After Senator DeMint brought Audit the Fed to the floor, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska raised a “point of order” to prevent a vote, claiming that the amendment violated Senate Rule 16 by “legislating” on an appropriations bill. The Senate president agreed, and the amendment was shot down.

Senator DeMint did not back down, though, and directly challenged Senate leadership by pointing out the other GAO audits contained in the bill. As Senator DeMint listed them off, the Senate president was forced to agree with Senator DeMint that each one he described, all of which would be left in for final passage, also violated Senate Rule 16.

Which tells us at least one thing: the problem wasn’t with “legislating” on the bill or violating Senate Rules (which is commonly done). Shooting down the amendment was about preventing a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve for the first time in its history!

Senate leadership is hoping this issue will just fade away so they can get on to what they deem to be more “important” business, like dictating what kind of healthcare plan you and I can carry or passing destructive Cap-and-Tax legislation.

But the American people deserve answers on what the Fed has done with trillions of our tax dollars and what they are committing us and future generations to as part of their secret deals with foreign central banks and governments.

The leadership decided today to turn their backs on transparency, but our fight is just beginning.

As Senator DeMint made clear on the floor, the Audit the Fed bill has wide bipartisan support. He rightly warned the Senate that even if they delay today, they WILL have to deal with the issue on the floor.

It is up to you and me to back up Senator DeMint’s words by making sure the momentum continues to build and the bill comes up for a final vote.

The rejection of the Audit amendment is just the first battle in our war. Now is the time to really put the pressure on the U.S. Senate to Audit the Fed!

Senator DeMint fired the opening salvo and showcased the hypocrisy of the Senate for allowing other GAO audits to be included in the bill while refusing to even allow a vote on Fed transparency.

Again, we’re just getting started. Senator DeMint will keep fighting to pass Audit the Fed on its own or as an amendment, and we need to continue putting pressure on our senators to do everything in their power to achieve a floor vote!

Visit our Audit the Fed action page for contact information to call, write, and fax your senators and urge them to support S 604 and to push for a final vote.

Together, we will finish this fight to Audit the Fed!

In Liberty,

John Tate

President

June 29, 2009

Dear Ms. Serdula:

Thank you for contacting me in regards to H.R. 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009. As I work to meet the needs of our community and our nation, please know how much I value having the benefit of your views.

During this current recession it is crucial that we take action to
jumpstart the economy and put Americans back to work, while always being mindful of the bottom line. Reckless spending without oversight is not the answer. As your Congressman, I have strongly advocated the need to monitor our spending and ensure transparency in all government agencies and programs.

For these reasons, I am pleased to report to you that I am a proud
cosponsor of H.R. 1207. As you know, H.R. 1207 requires the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the Federal Reserve banks and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System by the end of 2010, and to submit a report of their findings to Congress. The bill also lifts certain previous restrictions that limited the GAO’s ability to perform audits on federal agencies. The Federal Reserve plays an important role by serving as a backbone for the banking system, but it has too often conducted its operations in an unclear manner and with minimal oversight. In light of its responsibilities, it is imperative that the Federal Reserve’s operations are fully transparent, and I believe H.R. 1207 contains the measures necessary to ensure that this is the case. By eliminating restrictions on GAO audits, the bill will open up the Fed’s funding facilities – such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, Term Securities Lending Facility, and Term Asset-Backed Securities Lending Facility – to Congressional oversight. Congress and the American people will be able to monitor how and to whom the Federal Reserve is lending taxpayer dollars.

Our recent economic difficulties further underscore the need for
openness and accountability in this area. You may also be interested to know that I voted for H.R. 384, the Troubled Assets Relief Program
(TARP) Reform and Accountability Act of 2009. This important bill would bring much needed accountability and transparency to the way in which TARP money has been distributed to banks and financial institutions. I’ve been very upset to hear the reports of how this money has been distributed, and even angrier to hear that it required the threat of a subpoena to force financial institutions to release details about their involvement with this program. In particular, I felt it was necessary to shed light on the half a trillion dollar deal, made last November, in which the Federal Reserve purchased mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and then contracted out the management of these securities to four private investment firms. The American people have a right to know how this arrangement was conducted, which is why I introduced an amendment to H.R. 384 that requires the Federal Reserve to disclose how the investment managers for the MBS Purchase Program were selected. In addition, the amendment necessitates that the government provide details of both the manager contracts and the steps taken to ensure that the program remains free from conflicts of interest. This amendment unanimously passed the House on January 15, 2009, and H.R. 384 is currently awaiting consideration by the Senate.

Guaranteeing oversight and financial responsibility has always been one
of my foremost priorities. In the last session of Congress, I introduced H.R. 5467, the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act
of 2008. This legislation, which was cosponsored by Congressman Ron
Paul, requires the head of each federal agency to annually review all
agency programs and identity those programs and activities that made
payments that should never have been paid – either through error or
ineligibility. This bill is a necessary step in the process of getting
our fiscal house in order, and I look forward to reintroducing it to the
111th Congress and working towards its passage.

Hearing from the families I serve is vital to doing my job right.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your concerns and I hope you will keep in touch with me on this or any other issue that is important to you. To stay informed of my work, or to sign up for my electronic newsletters, please visit my website at http://patrickmurphy.house.gov . Also, please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can help in any way. You can reach my office in Washington at 202-225-4276, my office in Doylestown at 215-348-1194, and my office in Bristol at 215-826-1963.

Sincerely,

Patrick J. Murphy
MEMBER OF CONGRESS

By Anne Flaherty, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve threatened to force the ouster of Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis if he didn’t follow through with plans to buy Merrill Lynch & Co., Republicans said Wednesday after reviewing internal documents.

Republicans also said there was evidence that the government tried to restrict information related to the merger from being publicly released.

However, none of the documents showed that the government explicitly instructed Bank of America to hide Merrill Lynch’s losses from shareholders, they said.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is investigating claims that top government officials, including then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, urged Lewis to go through with the acquisition and not disclose to shareholders the details of Merrill Lynch’s deteriorating financial state.

Lewis was scheduled to testify on Thursday before the panel, which is chaired by Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y.

Bank of America has received $45 billion from the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. As part of that money, the bank received $20 billion in January after Lewis requested it to help offset mounting losses at Merrill Lynch.

According to an internal memo prepared by the committee’s Republican staff, Paulson and Bernanke “put a gun to the head” of Lewis and Bank of America’s board of directors to force the merger even though Lewis “felt it was his duty to his shareholders to try his luck in the legal system and back out of the deal.”

As proof, Republicans cite several documents including an e-mail by an employee at the Richmond Federal Reserve who said Bernake had made it clear that if Bank of America backed out and needed financial assistance, “management is gone.”

Just a few weeks after the deal was completed, Bank of America’s fourth-quarter earnings report showed the hit its balance sheet took on the Merrill Lynch transaction, making Lewis the target of shareholder anger.

In January, Bank of America reported a $2.39 billion fourth-quarter loss and Merrill Lynch disclosed a loss of more than $15 billion.

By: CNBC.com | 10 Jun 2009 | 09:55 AM ET

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet is so out of whack that the central bank would be shut down if subjected to a conventional audit, Jim Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, told CNBC.

With $45 billion in capital and $2.1 trillion in assets, the central bank would not withstand the scrutiny normally afforded other institutions, Grant said in a live interview.

“If the Fed examiners were set upon the Fed’s own documents—unlabeled documents—to pass judgment on the Fed’s capacity to survive the difficulties it faces in credit, it would shut this institution down,” he said. “The Fed is undercapitalized in a way that Citicorp is undercapitalized.”

Grant said he would support legislation currently making its way through Congress calling for an audit of the Fed.

Moreover, he criticized the way the Fed has managed the financial crisis, saying the central bank’s target rate should not be around zero.

“I think zero is the wrong rate for almost any economy,” Grant said, adding the Fed has “embarked on a vast experiment in moral hazard. Interest rates are the traffic signals in a market economy, and everything’s green. … You have to wonder whether these interest rates are the right clearing rate or rather they are the imposition of a central bank.”

Amid a disparity between analysts predicting there will be no rate hikes soon and the fed funds futures indicating tightening by the end of the year, Grant said he thinks the Fed indeed will begin raising rates as inflation creeps into the picture.

Fed funds futures have fully priced in as much as a half-point rise in the target rate from its current range of zero to 0.25 percent.

“If the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when there’s too much unanimity of opinion, then one begins to worry about this,” he said. “The Fed proverbially has been late.”

By Scott Lanman

June 9 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee for e-mails and documents related to Bank of America Corp.’s purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. after the panel was unable to obtain them through a request last week.

The central bank will comply and seeks confidentiality for the information, a Fed official said today on condition of anonymity. The panel said it wants to secure the Fed documents for a hearing scheduled for June 11, and Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis has agreed to testify.

The move is part of increased congressional scrutiny of the central bank, which helped craft a government aid package enabling Bank of America to absorb Merrill Lynch in January. Lewis told New York state investigators in February that he was pressured in December by Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to complete the Merrill acquisition amid mounting losses at the brokerage firm.

“It does sound like the parties aren’t getting along,” said Oliver Ireland, a former Fed counsel who is now a partner at Morrison & Foerster in Washington. It’s “unusual” for Congress to subpoena information on bank supervision from the Fed, he said.

The committee served the subpoena today, Jenny Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for the panel, said in a telephone interview. The central bank received the subpoena, the Fed official said.

Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, a New York Democrat, and Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich, chairman of the domestic policy subcommittee, sent Bernanke a letter this month requesting 43 items, including e-mails from Bernanke and other officials, meeting notes and the Fed’s analysis of the companies’ merger.

Withheld Documents

The Fed “refused” to provide the documents, resulting in the subpoena, California Representative Darrell Issa, the panel’s senior Republican, said in an e-mailed statement today.

In an April letter to Kucinich, Bernanke said the Fed “acted with the highest integrity” during its discussions with Bank of America on Merrill Lynch and didn’t seek to withhold any information from the public on Merrill Lynch’s losses.

Bernanke said in the letter that information collected by the Fed up to that point consisted of “confidential supervisory information or confidential business information, both of which have traditionally been regarded as material that should not be made public, especially in the case of institutions that continue to operate.”

Ranking Republican

Towns and Issa agreed to the subpoena today, the panel said.

“The marriage between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch was a shotgun wedding pushed by the Federal Reserve,” Issa said in his statement.

Bank of America acquired the brokerage on Jan. 1.

Bernanke said in February that Bank of America had sufficient time to study its acquisition of Merrill Lynch from September until mid-December, when Lewis asked about canceling the transaction. “We didn’t see any realistic legal way to break the deal,” Bernanke said at the time.

Bank of America has sold $45 billion in preferred shares to the U.S., more than any other bank except Citigroup Inc. The bank agreed to a loss-sharing plan with federal regulators in January on $118 billion in assets, mostly involving securities held by Merrill Lynch. Bank of America in May said it is negotiating to end that agreement because improving credit market conditions make the protection unnecessary.

By Robert Schmidt

June 5 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve intends to hire a veteran lobbyist as it seeks to counter skepticism in Congress about the central bank’s growing power over the U.S. financial system, people familiar with the matter said.

Linda Robertson currently handles government, community and public affairs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and headed the Washington lobbying office of Enron Corp., the energy trading company that collapsed in 2002 after an accounting scandal. She was also an adviser to all three of the Clinton administration’s Treasury secretaries.

Robertson would help the Fed manage relations with lawmakers seeking greater oversight of a central bank that has used emergency powers to prevent Wall Street’s demise. While she wasn’t tied to Enron’s fraud, her association with the firm may raise questions, analysts said.

“Some members of Congress think there are votes in attacking the Fed” after it “unnecessarily and unwisely entangled monetary policy with fiscal policy,” said former St. Louis Fed President William Poole. “The Fed is going to have a tricky time of unwinding what has been done” and will need to “keep in touch with members of Congress more thoroughly,” said Poole, now senior fellow with the Cato Institute in Washington.

Robertson served under Treasury Secretaries Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin and Lloyd Bentsen. She didn’t return calls seeking comment.

Summers Tie

Summers now heads the White House National Economic Council. Along with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, he is leading Obama administration efforts to broaden the economic rescue and overhaul financial regulation. He has been mentioned as a possible successor to Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke should Bernanke not be renominated when his term ends in January.

Robertson is likely to start at the Fed in July and have the title of senior adviser to the Board of Governors, the people familiar with the situation said.

She was considered for a senior post under Geithner at the Treasury but ran up against the Obama administration’s restrictions on hiring lobbyists, the people said.

“People have been asking whether the Fed is capable of getting its job done right,” said Lynn Turner, a former chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Hiring a former lobbyist from Enron will surely make one wonder.”

Lawmaker Pressure

Robertson would confront a range of issues in the newly created position. Congress is looking to subject the Fed to more scrutiny, and some lawmakers have suggested that district bank presidents should be confirmed by the Senate.

Some legislators have also expressed opposition to the Obama administration’s attempt to make the Fed the regulator in charge of financial companies deemed too-big-to-fail.

In addition, the central bank has been become a target to some members of Congress who’ve posted online videos of their interrogations of Fed officials during public hearings.

One YouTube clip, of Florida Democratic Representative Alan Grayson’s grilling of Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman, has garnered almost 500,000 views in about a month.

Robertson is expected to advise the Fed on communications strategy, the people said. In recent months, Bernanke has pushed to make the traditionally secretive institution more open. He’s done a television interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” program and taken questions from reporters at a National Press Club function in Washington.

According to her biography on the Johns Hopkins Web site, Robertson has spent more than 25 years working on federal legislative issues.

While Robertson’s Hopkins biography makes no mention of her work at Enron, federal disclosure documents show she joined the company in 2000 after working at the Treasury. Robertson, who signed some of the forms, said she lobbied on energy and tax issues.

Below is a list of famous quotes about the Federal Reserve.

“It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” — Henry Ford

“We have, in this country, one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board. This evil institution has impoverished the people of the United States and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it.” — Congressman Louis T. McFadden in 1932 (Rep. Pa)

“Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money lenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and manipulates the credit of the United States” — Sen. Barry Goldwater (Rep. AR)

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than beaurocracy. It denounces as public enemies all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe.” Abe Lincoln

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.” — Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President.

“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and it’s issuance.” — James Madison.

“This [Federal Reserve Act] establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President [Wilson} signs this bill, the invisible government of the monetary power will be legalized….the worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency bill.” — Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. , 1913

“A great industrial nation is controlled by it’s system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the world–no longer a government of free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men.” — President Woodrow Wilson

“By this means government may secretly and unobserved, confiscate the wealth of the people, and not one man in a million will detect the theft.” — John Maynard Keynes (the father of ‘Keynesian Economics’ which our nation now endures) in his book “THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES
OF THE PEACE” (1920).

“While boasting of our noble deeds were careful to conceal the ugly fact that by an iniquitous money system we have nationalized a system of oppression which, though more refined, is not less cruel than the old system of chattel slavery. — Horace Greeley

“The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from it’s profits or so dependant on it’s favors, that there will be no opposition from that class.” — Rothschild Brothers of London, 1863

“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes it’s laws” — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

By BRIAN BLACKSTONE – Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON — U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday urged lawmakers to commit to reducing the nearly $2 trillion budget deficit, warning that the government can’t borrow “indefinitely” to meet the growing demand on its resources.

Mr. Bernanke also reiterated that the pace of economic contraction appears to be slowing, setting the stage for a return to growth later this year.

“Unless we demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer run, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth,” Mr. Bernanke said in prepared testimony to the House Budget Committee. (Read the full remarks.)

The White House estimates that the budget deficit will reach around $1.8 trillion this year and fall to about $900 billion by 2011. That, Mr. Bernanke said, will push the debt-to-GDP ratio from 40% before the financial crisis began to 70% by 2011, which would be the highest since after World War II.

“Certainly, our economy and financial markets face extraordinary near-term challenges, and strong and timely actions to respond to those challenges are necessary and appropriate,” Mr. Bernanke told the House panel.

However, the retirement of the Baby Boom generation will place even more of a burden on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, and “we will not be able to continue borrowing indefinitely to meet those demands,” he said.

Mr. Bernanke suggested that fiscal concerns may already be having an effect in the markets. Yields on longer-term Treasury securities and fixed-rate mortgages have risen, he noted.

“These increases appear to reflect concerns about large federal deficits but also other causes, including greater optimism about the economic outlook, a reversal of flight-to-quality flows, and technical factors related to the hedging of mortgage holdings,” he said.

Mr. Bernanke adhered closely to the Fed’s cautiously upbeat outlook for the economy. Consumer spending, he said, has been flat since the start of the year and sentiment has improved. Housing, he said, “has also shown some signs of bottoming” and lean inventories should eventually spur production.

Still, he cautioned that even when an upturn begins, growth will remain below its long-run potential “for a while.”

“Sizable” job losses, he said, should continue for “the next few months,” pushing the unemployment rate higher. The government releases May payroll figures Friday. Economists expect another payroll decline of over 500,000, raising the jobless rate past 9%.

Against that backdrop of widening economic slack, inflation should fall over the next year compared to 2008, Mr. Bernanke said, though an improving economy and stable inflation expectations “should limit further declines in inflation.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Bernanke said the ability of banks to raise new capital “suggests that investors are gaining greater confidence in the banking system.”

But while financial conditions have improved since the start of the year, they remain under stress and continue to act as a brake on the economy, he said.

Texas Straight Talk – A weekly column
Rep. Ron Paul (R) – TX 14

I have been very pleased with the progress of my legislation, HR 1207, which calls for a complete audit of the Federal Reserve and removes many significant barriers towards transparency of our monetary system. This bill now has nearly 170 cosponsors, with support from both Republicans and Democrats. Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a companion bill in the Senate S 604, which will hopefully begin to gain momentum as well. I am very encouraged to see so many of my colleagues in Congress stand with me for greater transparency in government.

Some have begun to push back against this bill, and I am very happy to address their concerns.

The main argument seems to be that Congressional oversight over the Fed is government interference in the free market. This argument shows a misunderstanding of what a free market really is. Fundamentally, you cannot defend the Federal Reserve and the free market at the same time. The Fed negates the very foundation of a free market by artificially manipulating the price and supply of money – the lifeblood of the economy. In a free market, interest rates, like the price of any other consumer good, are decentralized and set by the market. The only legitimate, Constitutional role of government in monetary policy is to protect the integrity of the monetary unit and defend against counterfeiters.

Instead, Congress has abdicated this responsibility to a cabal of elite, quasi-governmental banks who, instead of stabilizing the economy, have destabilized it. It took less than two decades for the Federal Reserve to bring on the Great Depression of the 1930’s. It has also inflated away the value of our currency by over 96 percent since its inception. It has invisibly stolen from the poor and given to the rich through this controlled inflation, and now openly stolen through recent bank bailouts. It has predictably exacerbated the very problems it was meant to solve.

Detractors have also argued that the Fed must remain immune from the political process, and that that more congressional oversight would distort their very important decisions. On the contrary, the Federal Reserve is already heavily entrenched in the political process, as the Fed chairman is a political appointee. High level officials routinely make the rounds between positions at the Fed, member banks, Treasury and back again, taking care of friends and each other along the way.

As far as the foolishness of placing complex monetary policy decisions in the hands of politicians – I couldn’t agree more. No politician or central banker, no matter how brilliant, is smart enough to know more than the market itself. The failure of central economic planning has been witnessed over and over. It is frankly beyond me why we ever agreed to try it again.

To understand how unwise it is to have the Federal Reserve, one must first understand the magnitude of the privileges they have. They have been given the power to create money, by the trillions, and to give it to their friends, under any terms they wish, with little or no meaningful oversight or accountability. Thus the loudest arguments against greater transparency are likely to come from those friends, and understandably so.

However, it is the responsibility of every member of Congress to represent the interests of the people that sent them to Washington and find out what has been happening with our money. As the branch of government with the power of the purse, we really have no other reasonable choice when the economy is in the shape it is in.