Today was one of these simple reports. If the Audit is "simply a report" then it's pretty meaningless and both Pauls, Ron and Rand, have been fraudulently overselling the importance of the Audit as the game-changer that would put the screws on the Fed. And the Audit would not have as many people thinking that it is a bad idea, instead of just another bureaucratic waste of time, for which Congress is infamous. Obviously, it's not "simply a report" and enough (though not quite enough) Republicans understand this:
From Janet Yellen's Advice to Rand Paul -BLV, 2015 February 24
..... Undermining the central bank's political independence would ultimately harm the economy. Studies show that independent central bankers are better stewards of their economies than are politically appointed finance chiefs. The reason is simple: Politicians often favor easy-money policies that promote short-term growth and boost their re-election chances, even if they bring on inflation later. ..... < snip > ..... She might start with Paul, who appears to suffer from both misunderstandings (confusing assets for liabilities on the Fed's balance sheet) and misapprehensions (worrying about inflation, which has undershot the Fed's 2 percent target for three years now) about the Fed's role. Sadly, he is not alone: His bill, which will be the subject of a Senate Banking Committee hearing next week, has 30 co-sponsors, and a version of it has already been adopted by the House. The bill would subject the Fed's balance sheet and monetary-policy deliberations to congressional audits. Yet the Fed is already audited 10 ways from Sunday. Deloitte & Touche and an inspector general perform an audit of the Fed's financial statements, its $4.5 trillion portfolio of assets and their market value, and the central bank's compliance with laws and regulations. The Government Accountability Office further reviews the Fed's internal controls. These reports are available, in all their soporific splendor, to members of Congress. Paul surely knows this. So what is the purpose of his bill? Ask Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, who opposes it. The bill is "an attempt to allow Congress to put pressure on the Fed's members" on monetary policy, he told Yellen. "That would not be a particularly good idea." ..... < snip > < snip > ..... The Fed is already "extensively audited," she said, and Senator Rand Paul's bill to audit it even more "would politicize monetary policy." ..... < snip >
As I've said before, this fixation on the Fed, gold standard and other such economic nonsense is taking Republicans in exactly opposite direction from where they should go - recognize and credit the Fed with the recovery despite horrendous Keynesian "constant stimulus" fiscal policies of Obama and Democrats and deny them any credit for even the weakest recovery on record which came despite fedgov adding $8T to debt (so far) and piling more mandatory liabilities to already overburdened system. But this is a Republican Party, so... 'nuff said.
We could go back to what we had before the Fed. Private banks issuing their own currency. No lender of last resort to halt bank runs...
Yep, the last financial panic of the kind was in 1907, when John Pierpont Morgan played Godfather with the heads of 10 largest banks, to become "lenders of the last resort" and to stave off the run on the banks. It worked, but both the government and financial titans realized that there was a need for central bank. And thus the idea of public-private bridge / Federal Reserve System was born, patterned on the Bank of England. Lest be taken by charlatans, it helps to know history:
When One Man Was the Central Bank - FR, post #9, 2010 December 29
How to Make the Dollar Sound Again - FR, posts #15, #36, 2010 November 15
Blame the Fed for the Financial Crisis - FR, posts #37, #39, #38 WSJ, by Ron Paul, 2011 October 21
Excellent post.