Posted on 03/13/2010 10:49:44 AM PST by ConservativeHideout
CBSNews Business has an article entitled “Bernanke Fights House Bill to Audit the Fed”. In that article the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke says “I don’t think the American people want Congress running monetary policy.” What!? Did I read that correctly? Yes, I did. Obviously, Ben Bernanke either does not believe in the Constitution of the United States or he has never read it.
In Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution (Powers of Congress) it says “To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.” In fact, the Congress was unconstitutional when it passed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 which gave birth to the Federal Reserve. In gave away its power to regulate money to a third party – a third party which has very little oversight.
Further in the article, it gives a transcript of Bernanke’s interview with Jim Lehrer at PBS. He says, “What people don’t understand is that this bill would give the GAO (Government Accountability Office), the authority to audit monetary policy. And what does that mean? That means if the Federal Reserve decided a year from now that because of incipient inflation it was time to raise interest rates, that the Congress would say, ‘Ah, the GAO’s going to audit that decision. It’s going to subpoena your materials. It’s going to demand information from members of the FOMC. It’s going to evaluate your decision. It’s going to report to Congress.’”
Just so that you understand, The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the “congressional watchdog,” GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. The head of GAO, the Comptroller General of the United States, is appointed to a 15-year term by the President from a slate of candidates Congress proposes.
The FOMC is a component of the Federal Reserve System and is charged under United States law with overseeing the nation’s open market operations. It is the Federal Reserve committee that makes key decisions about interest rates and the growth of the United States money supply.
So what Bernanke is really saying is that he doesn’t want Congress to do their job by sticking their nose into the policy making decisions of the FOMC. Maybe they are afraid that Congress will object to the Fed’s decisions to print billions of dollars which causes inflation or lowering interest rates to discourage saving and increase borrowing.
It is interesting to me that the bill he is fighting against, “The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009” (h.r. 1207 or s. 604) has 317 co-sponsors in the House and 32 co-sponsors in the Senate. This mix of representatives is both Republicans and Democrats showing broad bipartisan support.
When Ron Paul introduced this bill on February 26, 2009, he said “Madame Speaker, I rise to introduce the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. Throughout its nearly 100-year history, the Federal Reserve has presided over the near-complete destruction of the United States dollar. Since 1913 the dollar has lost over 95% of its purchasing power, aided and abetted by the Federal Reserve’s loose monetary policy. How long will we as a Congress stand idly by while hard-working Americans see their savings eaten away by inflation? Only big-spending politicians and politically favored bankers benefit from inflation.”
Ron Paul is actually in favor of the abolishment of the Federal Reserve. In a speech before Congress on September 10, 2002, he said that since its creation the Federal Reserve has been victimizing Americans through their “boom-and-bust” monetary policies. Because of the Fed’s inflationary policies, the purchasing power of Americans has eroded away, which represents a real, if hidden, tax imposed on the people.
It is really time to abolish the Federal Reserve. It would finally allow Congress to reassert its constitutional authority over our monetary policy. However, until that can be accomplished then the Transparency bill is needed and has a lot of support. Check to see if your Senators and House of Representative are co-sponsors. We especially need more support in the Senate to get this bill passed. All three of mine are co-sponsors; here is where you can check to see if yours are:
Senator Co-Sponsors: Click Here
House of Representative Co-Sponsors: Click Here
Senate Sponsor: Sen Bernard Sanders [VT]
House of Representative Sponsor: Rep Ron Paul [TX]
If you representatives in Congress are not on the list, go to http://www.congress.org/ to email them today.
Here is the email I sent to the Committees where these two bills currently are. If you wish to use it, feel free (however, remember to change the committee name at the end):
The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the powers to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.
Congress unconstitutionally delegated this task to the Federal Reserve in 1913 without sufficient oversight and control. Congress needs to take this first step in controlling the actions of the Federal Reserve and put monetary policy making back in the hands of Congress.
I ask that you bring this piece of legislation to a floor vote and that the members of the Banking, Housing & Urban affairs support this bill.
Here are the links to the contact form for the two committees. I urge you to write to them also.
House Financial Service Committee http://financialservices.house.gov/contact.html
Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
Original Post: Faithful in Prayer
If Democrats had control of the money supply, they would print themselves a fortune and waste our wealth. It's bad enough that they have control of the congressional spending. Let's not double down.
How about repealing the Federal Reserve Act of 1913?
Quite frankly, I do NOT want Congress (this one or others) to determine monetary policy. I also think a lot of the “Fed is Evil” folks take things waaaay too far. Do we need a better monetary policy? Yes. Do we need Congress to run it? Just like with healthcare, HELL no.
Roger that.
And it’s certain that most of the morons now infesting Capitol Hill — Dems AND Pubbies — would totally screw up the thing but at least we could KICK THEIR ASSES OUT EVERY TWO YEARS, something we cannot do witb Helicopter Ben and his merry band of thieves on the Fed.
You say “thieves” is too strong. Nay, nay mon ami.
Think about it: HOW MUCH WEALTH COULD YOU STEAL IF YOU HAD ADVANCE NOTICE WHICH WAY INTEREST RATES AND THE MONEY SUPPLY WERE HEADED? Can you say BILLIONS??
You hit the nail on the head.
...and we don’t want Bernanke running fiscal policy.
OK, good points all. But who do we give this power and responsibility to? The fed is a flawed system, and Congress is filled with criminals. Then what?
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