Alan Grayson: "Today was Waterloo for Fed secrecy"
Ryan Grim at Huffington Post has the details on the intrigue going on in the House yesterday with efforts to finally audit the Federal Reserve and find out where all those trillions of dollars are going.
In an unprecedented defeat for the Federal Reserve, an amendment to audit the multi-trillion dollar institution was approved by the House Finance Committee with an overwhelming and bipartisan 43-26 vote on Thursday afternoon despite harried last-minute lobbying from top Fed officials and the surprise opposition of Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who had previously been a supporter.
The measure, cosponsored by Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), authorizes the Government Accountability Office to conduct a wide-ranging audit of the Fed's opaque deals with foreign central banks and major U.S. financial institutions. The Fed has never had a real audit in its history and little is known of what it does with the trillions of dollars at its disposal.
The amendment expressly blocks Congress from interfering with the independence of monetary policy decision-making, but opponents of the measure said that the political pressure would inevitably follow.
.
AUDIT the FEDERAL RESERVE!
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Feed Americans.
Unfortunately sometimes incredibly unpopular decisions have to be made in the name of the economy...
Are we talking about auditing or politicization?
W
"Are we talking about auditing or politicization?"
Both. There are some politicians who are entirely about politicization in order to advance the influence and control of their political party. There will be others that are concerned with the secrecy of the Fed.
One thing contributing to the opaqueness of the situation is the corporate media, as usual, concentrating on the non-news. For instance, why the U.S. focuses on the Sarah Palin novel, some parts of the world hear of the possible proxy war between Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite), occuring in Yemen.
In the case of the Fed, I'm suspecting the "surprise" is going to pertain to the "quantitative easing" that is being engaged in to finance the national debt. China, in particular is not to happy about it, seeing that they hold so much assets in dollars.
To my chagrin, the quantitative easing (printing of money) has been used to finance the national debt and keep interest rates low. It had always been my theory that government borrowing would lead to higher interest rates on treasury securities, on a supply/demand basis, but that gets thwarted by the printing of money. While this matter has been discussed in the fringes of the media, I suspect the politicization will involve this quantitative easing as a major "revelation" of the audit.
The bottom line is, we consume more than we produce. This was masked by a Nasdaq bubble, then a real estate bubble, and now by a Federal borrowing/printing of money bubble. We either need to get lower the costs of consumption, or increase production, probably some of each. Health reform was a means of lowering the costs of consumption, thwarted by government corruption.
I don't see a whole lot of good out of this, because it doesn't address the root, core cause of our problems, namely, that corporate bribery of our politicians has resulted into this becoming a government of the corporation, working for the corporation. Until there is government corruption reform, there can be no meaningful health reform, fiscal reform, or any other kind of reform. I think all this audit will do is undermine the credibility in the Fed, and cause the borrowing costs of this country to go up. That will probably benefit those who want to "starve the beast" of government. Seems they already got a good start on that, by turning over to Obama, two military quagmires, and a collapsed banking system.
..abolish them altogether. As Grayson stated, with every 'new' (more correctly nonexistent) dollar they approve the creation of, our money just becomes so much more worthless paper. I'm tired of paying four bucks for a jar of peanut butter.
Government + the Federal Reserve = organized crime
If money is becoming more and more worthless paper, why do you care how many worthless dollars you pay for peanut butter?
In fact, it seems like a good deal. You get real peanut butter in exchange for something worthless.
And now, let the amendments to hide the results from the American public begin!
Oh... that was kinda cynical. I'm sorry. Was that too cynical?
This country needs more cynicism to overcome the gullibility that is running wild.
The Federal Reserve needs to remain independent of the Government system. They cannot be held down by the senators and congressman that are looking for soundbites who are only in session for a few years. They are trying to make big statements to regain votes. Currently its popular to denounce the FED, To make them look like the bad guy.
Honestly we cannot have the FED under any sort of leash by congress. Especially this congress who are currently comprised of immature demogoging people.
The bailouts of 700Billion to the banks last year was necessary. Like it or not. I am tired of people critiszing the FED for bypassing congress and going ahead with the bailouts. Congress FAILED us on giving the banks the money it needed and the stock market proceeded to crash 1500 points within a few days.
I do not understand why most of you guys including the republicans want the Federal Reserve to be controlled by the already incompetent Congress.
Beware of what you ask for. If the Federal Reserve had to get permission from people who make extreme comments to gain votes by the lowest class of people then we are in trouble in the future. The federal reserve is the smoothest running system of govt we have. Because it is not hindered and stopped by the branches.
If you want to see what happens when we appoint people to a program that is then run required to get govt approval then look no further then NASA. To the naked eye, they are a great organization. To those who know better, the one time senators of 30 years ago who made changes to NASA's agenda are now seeing why we are falling behind in space to 16 other nations.
You don't fully understand what this amendment means.
Please investigate this a little bit before jumping to conclusions.
You must have alot of faith in the democrats and republicans who run the system already in the house and senate.
Do you watch the videos played on C&L?
how is this even a reply? FAIL
how bout u read my past comments and see if im trolling or not.
Republicans and democrats both voted for this pathetic legislation. So your agreeing with republicans on this legislation.
Like I said, its the popular thing to be against the FED, gets you all the chicks (votes)
... but completely unmonitored, uncontrolled banking is good?
Where have you been for the last few years?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
That was Wall Street not the Federal Reserve system. They bailed out wall street to save us from the great depression. Many of you fail to comprehend how big the crisis was. How congress failed us, and how the FED had to bypass congress to keep the system from collapsing
Yours are the kind of comments that make C&L a very unpleasant place to be.
Everyone is equally entitled to the pursuit of happiness. Wasn't that once self evident?
[Cramthra, I'm giving you a break. You have been insulting, nasty and rude. See ya in a few days-Sitemonitor]
I really don't know what you mean by that. It's not the foul language that offends me. Shit, I use expletives like they're fucking going out of style.
Pete the Liberal posted a lengthy argument. It can be refuted with another. You've offended my sense of intelligent discourse, even though I'd probably be on your side if you bothered to elaborate actual arguments.
Everyone is equally entitled to the pursuit of happiness. Wasn't that once self evident?
Agreed – and a very nasty precedent when dialog devolves into “You’re a poo-poo head! – NO! YOU ARE!”
This type of retort eliminates all rational thought. It eliminates discourse and purpose (and makes the site-monitors work too hard).
And they play hard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icIwKaci3MI
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
lol I do like Alan Grayson...
cmon dude, stop the immature language, they are deleting ur posts for it.
I would rather have the federal reserve which is run by academics be stealthy then open. I dont want thes academics who are looking out for the best of our nation to be beholden to the senators and congressman who have proven themselves to be irresponsible with power.
The uncontrolled banks were done by wall street, not the federal reserve system.
but isn't the Federal reserve owned by the very banks that benefit from it the most?
Hardly academic. The constituent members of the Fed have money on the line and are free to manipulate the system to maximize their own profit even at the expense of the system as a whole.
Senators and Congresscritters certainly have their faults. But (unlike bankers) they can be replaced and do not have such a blatant conflicts of interest.
And where is this bright (though imaginary) line between Wall Street and bankers? They are the same (insurers as well).
That's, um, the problem.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Not to worry, Pete. I'm sure they (cough) have nothing to hide.
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
And how do you know that they "are looking out for the best of our nation"? This is an assumption that cannot be proven, and if you look at the value of the dollar since 1913, when the Federal Reserve took over, you will see that it has dropped over 95%. Is that in our best interest? Drop any sort of stability (gold backed dollars), and inflate it to death?
The best protection against inflation is a balanced budget, since a deficit seems to be made up by the printing of money. But that said, since 1933, generations have been born, worked and retired, without problems. Where we ran into problems was in merging investment banking with the commercial banking, off-shoring our manufacturing with this "free trade" ideology, and through corporate corruption of the government. Auditing of the Fed isn't going to fix any of these problems.
Until we fix government corruption, nothing else is fixable. In particular, the issue of corporate bribes to persuade Representatives, Senators, and the President to act contrary to the interests of the citizens and the country as a large needs to be addressed as the primary and foremost issue. The Fed issue is secondary to a corruption issue.
Exhibit A: Why is it that people at the rating agencies aren't charged with conspiracy to defraud investors by misrepresenting mortgaged backed securities as grade 'AAA', with knowledge that these securities weren't entitled to such a rating? That's what enabled the derivatives, and the collapse of the financial system.
I think this whole issue is designed to keep people pursuing tangents that won't address the underlying causes of the present situation. Government corruption = the Present Situation.
I think you are a mole.
He's got some screwy ideas about the oversight role that the government does actually have over the Fed, but so do a lot of people.
And why is it that people don't understand that "liberal" does not mean "of the left". A true liberal is non-ideological, someone who considers all of the possible solutions to a problem and chooses the best option without the aid of a purity test.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
what this means.
If you do, can you please explain why you feel that a full audit of the Fed is not a good thing?
It may do a lot of good. Unfortunately, our media and some politician have malevolent intent, and will skew the results, no matter what they are.
Take health care. All of a sudden, in unison, from Newt, to Sarah, to Grassley, we had this talk of "death panels", as though this was a new concept. We've always had an equivalent concept known as “generally accepted standards of medical practice” that limited medical spending. All these new-fangled imagined "death panels" was all about was the same exact concept that has guided insurance reimbursements all along.
I'm assuming that the policy of "quantitative easing" is going to be tossed around as a political football. Anything other the the quantitative easing issue will be quite interesting to me. Anyone in Congress making statements of indignation concerning the quantitative easing will be full of it. That's what I'm waiting to see. Of course, I'm interesting in seeing anything other that the quantitative easing coming out, but absent that, the audit will be a negative for the country, because all I see is, is a driving up of interest costs on the debt.
But, a preventing of the audit kicks down the road the core problem, which is that we don't produce as much as we consume, and (perhaps) the Fed is implicated in masking that problem. But it isn't going to resolve the problem. First and foremost, we have to get rid of the politicians that are working against the people because of corporate bribery.
with the bulk of what you are saying.
but I still feel that there needs to be far greater transparency with regards to the Fed.
Hell, there are some like Mike Whitney that believe we should abolish the Fed all together. I'm not sure I'm ready to go that far, but we have a right to be more involved.
this is such a childish remark
"The bill is not designed to empower politicians to increase the money supply, choose interest-rate targets, or adopt any of the rest of the Fed’s central planning apparatus, all of which is better left to the free market than to the Fed or Congress. It seeks nothing more than to open the Fed’s books to public scrutiny. Congress has a moral and legal obligation to oversee institutions it brings into existence. The convoluted scenarios by which merely opening the books will lead to an inflationary catastrophe at the hands of Congress are difficult to take seriously."
From:
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php...
Now that is funny
the fed is an undemocratic institution, and serves mega-banking interests. is about time we might be able to peer behind the wizard's curtain.
signed,
lowest class of person
I almost sprayed the monitor reading your closing.
(May I borrow it sometime?)
"If the US government enforced its banking laws like it did its park regulations, we wouldn't be
in this damn park in the first place." OCCUPY.!!
.
The Federal Reserve is As federal as... The federal express.
Pete Said:
"The federal reserve is the smoothest running system of govt we have"
Wow we can see hoe 'smooth'they run.
These are private Bankers who always will put their personal interest above of the American's.
The main funtion of goverment is to oversight and to regulate.
if by "smooth" pete meant facilitating the financialization and securitization of the economy, then i agree.
but, i doubt that is what he meant
independence of a central bank has some good aruments for it, but the fed has lost its independence a long time ago.
joint press conferences with treasury, monetary policy to get politicians reelected, monetization of government debt...it's a secretive government agency, not independent.
The bailouts were necessary. The question is, did the bailouts go where the money needed to go. The short answer is no it did not.
That has become self evident with the most recent rounds of bonuses given to top people within the banking industry. The money that we the taxpayers gave to the banks, through congress, did not help one individual. That money was spent paying off the bank's debts--most of them foreign-- so the banks would not become insolvent.
The money ----borrowed from China ---- would have been put to much better use by giving each and every American a check for $1,000,000.00. That would have taken care of the mortgages, credit card default and back taxes.
Problem solved.
To suggest that oversight of the FED, which is not a government organization, is not needeed is absolutely ridiculous. Please research how the FED came about and the abuses that they so regularly carry out.
...you should really read "The Monster from Jekyll Island" to get a better handle on what the Federal Reserve is about. But aside from that, we can't have a 'private' organization of bankers whose membership is not disclosed to the public be dictating the ebb and flow of our economy without having some measure of checks and balances. Auditing the Fed is the very least we could do. Personally I'm for complete abolishment of the Fed.
The Federal Reserve IS NOT a part of the United States federal government and there aren't really any reserves. It is a private corporation, owned by private stockholders, operated for private profits. The FED does not operate with the public interest in mind.
The FED is the gatekeeper of the entire monetary system. The fact that it is not audited now is absolutely absurd.
You can see the "Money Masters" by going to this location.
http://www.gamingthemarket.com/video-archive
I also don't want the Federal Reserve controlled by an incompetent congress. Rather I want to see the Federal Reserve abolished entirely, and our money system run by the treasury department, as the Constitution requires. Article 1, section 8 states that only congress shall have the power to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures. What is the wisdom of putting our money system into private hands, that operate in secrecy, and cannot even be audited by our government? Better to have it in the open, so that we can have a public discussion over good/bad policy, and at least know what is really happening, but as it is, we know only what the Federal Reserve lets us know. They could just as well be robbing us blind.
Generations of Americans have grown up, worked, and retired under a stable economy since World War II. We have to look beyond that time to see what went wrong. I do recall a warning about a "sucking sound" of American jobs leaving if we signed a certain "free" trade agreement. And since that signing, we've had nothing but bubble economics (Nasdaq, real estate, Fed printing of money) to shield the population from the consequences. But, bubbles aren't sustainable.
The Fed audit, in and of itself, isn't a bad thing. The spin is going to be the issue. Unfortunately the average American doesn't seem to be the brightest bulb. And, I think they'll be manipulate by the corporate media into voting for bad choices.
They are supposed to take our money and not tell us what they do with it. Isn't that how a democracy is supposed to work?
In other words, does this bill need Senate approval or does the House wish to independently audit the Fed?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
...senate approval.
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
~
Corruption favors the wealthy.
about 30 senate co-sponsors right now
Or should I just bring a casserole?
Thanks, r.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
.
Where are the (R)epublitrolls that complain about the perceived lack of transparency?
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Feed Americans.
...think "Pete the Liberal" is?
(hint: dont go by names)
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
actually no im not a troll. Jeez I gotta be on the same side of an issue otherwise im percieved as a turncoat.
...working together.
watch Alan Grayson expose the fact that the federal reserve is manipulating wall st markets!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXmNpdYpfnk
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
every single republican in the house cosponsored this bill.
a lot of democrats do too thanks to grayson, but 120 do not.
I'm certainly not a Ron Paul conspiracy theorist but I'm glad he and Alan Grayson are doing this. Anything that increases the power of the little man and decreases that of the elite I support.
I am encouraged to see a staunch progressive and a staunch libertarian working together on this.
I'd like to see more such alliances.
Everyone is equally entitled to the pursuit of happiness. Wasn't that once self evident?
Isn't staunching what you do to an arterial cut?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
unless you want those progressives and libertarians bleeding out all over those fancy Capitol carpets..! Try direct pressure first.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
Independence is fine, but if the Fed is working actively against the best interests of average Americans, they there should be some mechanism to determine that. If the Fed consists of predominantely members of the industry, I suggest that the best interests of Americans are not being represented.
It is a true shame that our "representatives" have fallen so far from what they are supposed to be.
Mr. Grayson is a shining star in a bucket of shit.
That's just grease.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
"....surprise opposition of Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.)"
Surprise? Uh. Why is that such a surprise"
Barney Frank: Top Contributors
1. American Bankers Assn. $76,950.
Surprise!!!
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contri...
"I can't keep doing this on my own with these...people."
he acted like he supported it in the past (as chairman of that committee) but I always suspected there's something wrong.
I guess Big Banking doesn't mind frank's rheotoric against them as long as he brings the important votes home.
let's see how that goes from here. the democratic leadership is still denying a bill a vote on the floor, that has a majority of the house as COSPONSORS, including a lot of democrats thanks to grayson.
that's democracy I guess, pelosi-style...
I guess Ol' "Saber Tooth" just ain't no "Big Daddy"!
"If you can't eat their food, drink their booze, screw their women and still vote against them, you have no business being up here." -Jesse Uhruh.
(Ok...So the "screw their women" part doesn't apply to Barney, but you get the idea.)
"I can't keep doing this on my own with these...people."
I am not sure what the money masters have on Frank, but it must be something juicy to get Frank to go along. That Patriot Act sure is a bitch.
You may be right "moonsha" , it doesn't smell right does it ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZgwNutwK0Y
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVGSKVkkyhc
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
...where our taxpayer dollars are going, and if there are entities (special interests, corporations) who have excessive influence on the Fed.
I think we are all missing the point. Unless the Fed is controlled by Congress, as it was before 1913, then we are talking about a breech of the Constitution whenever they print or lend taxpayer money.
Simply:
Section 8. The Congress shall have power:
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.
The Fed is illegal and should be deleted and recompiled.
Blah, blah, blah the economy would have collapsed without a bailout - the collapse was carefully orchestrated by Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs employees got a record bonus this year because they followed the plan perfectly.
Article I, section 8 also states: "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
There also was no Federal Reserve before the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, there were regional banks. But that set-up help lead to the Bank Panics of 1813, 1857, 1873, 1893 and 1910.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
First comes the Bill then comes the amendments then come all the loops to allow the criminals protection.
I refuse to believe anything until I see some Big Time people going to Big time Jail.
I refuse to believe anything until they breakup the Socialist to big to Fail, (jail those that threaten to sink this country, I highly recommend death for Treason just shoot the bastards we'll sort it out later)
I refuse to believe until Mr. Geithner and Sumner are Investigated removed and Charged with crimes).
Look I want to see these people Fined ,Investigated and Jailed. A man or woman can go to jail for stealing a $12.00 shirt or blouse but this scum can steal Millions and Billions endanger the lives of thousands of people and then be allowed to walk away. I do believe it is time to shut the Socialist Corporations down and do it NOW.
This has been a great read, all you folks should be commended.
Being for transparency i must ask the question, are people ready to understand that money is a promise. It represents a value. On a finite planet we have infinite amounts of money. Just remember every time you learn the rules they change the game.
I am going to go out and split some wood and stoke the fire. It's a bit cold today.
The wickedness of pride has lost the light to understand how little grace is earned an how much given.
Barney Frank cannot be trusted I'm sorry to say.
Republicans are liars and simply cannot be trusted.
Comments are closed on this entry