Monday, August 24, 2009

Audit the Fed

Is anyone familiar with the Audit the Fed bill? I copied the House version as it is the original one.

Audit and Report of the Federal Reserve System-
‘(1) IN GENERAL- The audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks under subsection (b) shall be completed before the end of 2010.
‘(2) REPORT-
‘(A) REQUIRED- A report on the audit referred to in paragraph (1) shall be submitted by the Comptroller General to the Congress before the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date on which such audit is completed and made available to the Speaker of the House, the majority and minority leaders of the House of Representatives, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the committee and each subcommittee of jurisdiction in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and any other Member of Congress who requests it.
‘(B) CONTENTS- The report under subparagraph (A) shall include a detailed description of the findings and conclusion of the Comptroller General with respect to the audit that is the subject of the report, together with such recommendations for legislative or administrative action as the Comptroller General may determine to be appropriate.’."

(I like the Senate's title though- 'The Federal Reserve Sunshine Act.' Isn't that just cute? XD)

Once we get past all the legal mumbo-jumbo of this bill, we see that the intent of this bill is to make sure the Federal Reserve is being honest- something that has been needing doing for the past several years.

I think that, if this bill were to get passed, it would be a step in the right direction. Of course, it probably won't get passed, since Bernanke has already practically threatened Congress with economic collapse if the bill gets passed.



In this video, he says- and I quote- "My concern about the legislation is that if the GAO is auditing not only the operational aspects of our programs and the details of the programs, but is making judgements about our policy decisions, that would effectively be a takeover of monetary policy by the Congress, a repudiation of the independence of the Federal Reserve, which would be highly destructive to the stability of the financial system, the dollar, and our national economic situation."

I quote from the Constitution- "[The Congress shall have Power To] borrow money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;"

First of all, I want to know why Congress doing their job would be 'highly destructive' to our financial system. Is there something you need to hide, Mr. Bernanke?

Secondly, I want to know why our monetary system is in the hands of a private bank, and private bankers in the first place. The passage quoted above clearly states that it is Congress' responsibility to deal with money matters- not that they delegate it to a private bank.


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1 comment:

Dylan John Callahan said...

No, we can't allow the Congress to control our currency and economy, that would be Constitutional!

(A big no-no in this newly enlightened society.)

The control of monetary policy in an assembly elected by the people is a fundamental rule of a free society.

Why don't we just hand over the U.S. Postal Service to Federal Express? Then we can pretend it's all legal and stuff, because it has the word "Federal"!

These United States need to stop allowing unconstitutional power in the federal government.

END THE FED!

Excellent post.