Posted on 09/25/2009 10:45:34 AM PDT by Palin Republic
House lawmakers want to pry open the books of the famously secretive Federal Reserve with legislation that would subject the central bank to a sweeping congressional audit.
The effort is overwhelmingly bipartisan. Hardline conservatives and liberal Democrats have banded together in their criticism of the Fed as a major power broker in the financial system that doesn't answer to Congress.
Friday's debate comes as lawmakers consider a proposal by President Barack Obama that would give the Fed new powers to prevent another economic crisis.
"Nobody in my district thinks that the Fed has done such a wonderful job of running the economy that we should continue to cloak them with secrecy for the purpose of protecting them from second-guessing criticism," said Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat.
The Fed is pushing back, warning that its ability to stabilize prices and monitor interest rates would be compromised if it knew politicians were looking over its shoulder.
The House proposal would "cause the markets and the to public to lose confidence in the independence and the judgments of the Federal Reserve," Scott Alvarez, the board's top lawyer, told the House Financial Services Committee in testimony.
The legislation is championed by Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas Republican whose extreme libertarian bent usually doesn't generate consensus in Congress. But as of Friday, Paul's legislation had attracted 295 co-sponsors with a range of political philosophies, including Hawaii liberal Rep. Neil Abercrombie and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, an outspoken conservative from Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
I don’t think anyone wants to look under the covers.
This is MY Fed. I built it and I’m not sharing it with ANYBODY! /s
Wish I did.
Calamity upon calamity will prevent that, imho.
The verb should be "refuses to answer" rather "doesn't answer." The Federal Reserve is charged in the Federal Reserve Act with reporting to the Congress, and they have willfully refused to do so.
While an audit is certainly a good idea, it might well be better to simply give the Fed the Jacksonian treatment.
On the other hand, the calamities will likely remove the evil critters anyway.
Anarchy is likely.
. . . at some point, particularly the middle of the country and in some of the war zones . . . virtually total anarchy will reign.
The Fed is powerful, quietly powerful. They will fight this tooth and nail and it will take years.
Let’s throw some subsidized shrimp on the grill and celebrate this with a cold one!
Comgress is upset because the Federal Reserve spent the money that they wanted to spend.
The legislation is championed by Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas Republican whose extreme libertarian bent usually doesn’t extend to shrimp subsidies.
you may be right. Are we,is the economy,ready for this information?
Great video. What I think is wonderful is how liberals and conservatives are coming together on this issue. The Fed and Wall Street need to be cleaned up, and Wall Street emasculated, IMHO.
parsy, who hopes
About time, I’ve wondered why they were allowed to go unchecked since the late 90’s.
Exactly. Remember VOLKER and his single handed manipulation of the economy. AND guess who he has slithered out from under the rock with...OBAMA.
Can you point out anything the federal government has ever been involved with that turned out better afterward?
Whatever Wall Street's sins may be, increased government interference can only make it worse.
When Republicans and Democrats all get behind an issue, it usually means you're about to get screwed.
At least they can distract attention from themselves. I wonder why they would do that? And why conservatives (not you) would fall for it?
OMG! Noob shows his true colors. LOL!
I don’t view all liberals as people out to destroy America. I see most of them as simply misguided. For example, wanting to help poor people by giving them money with little or no strings attached is stupid, and will have bad results, but I do not think it is any more an intentional assault on America, than the typical conservative who simplistically thinks the way to handle massive medical malpractice is to reduce the ability of the dead, sick, and injured to sue.
So, if both are finally on to Wall Street’s b*llsh*t, that is a good thing. Both of them got on the deregulation bandwagon, and now maybe they can fix their mistakes.
parsy, who hopes people have finally had enough of Wall Street
Close. The illusion of our economy is teetering, though they're desperately trying to maintain the con.
The actual economy is toast...fantasy...a popcorn fart in the wind. Nothing can change that now.
And I thought this thread was about the House trying to blame the Fed, not Wall Street?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.