Saturday, February 28, 2009

Ron Paul to Submit Bill Calling for Audit of Federal Reserve

Remarkably, one of the most powerful organizations of the federal government, the Federal Reserve, is not subject to audit. Congressman Ron Paul wants to change that. He announced yesterday that he will be submitting a bill in the House of Representatives calling for an audit of the Fed. Paul states:

The Fed is now pledging to reveal to the public more about its economic predictions, and calls this greater transparency. This is little more than window-dressing, at best, utterly useless at worst...

So while it might be nice to know what fantasy-infused outlook the Fed has on the economy, I am much more interested in what they are doing as a result of their faulty, haphazard interpretation of data. For instance, what arrangements do they have with other foreign central banks? What the Fed does on that front could very well affect or undermine foreign policy, or even contribute to starting a war.

We also need to know the source and destination of funds provided through the Fed’s emergency funding facilities. Information such as this will provide a more accurate and complete picture of the true cost of these endless bailouts and spending packages, and could very likely affect the decisions being made in Congress. But with so much of the Fed’s business cloaked in secrecy, these latest initiatives will not even scratch the surface of the Fed’s opaque operations. People are demanding answers and explanations for our economic malaise, and we should settle for nothing less than the whole truth on monetary policy.

The first step is to pass legislation I will soon introduce requiring an audit of the Federal Reserve so we can at least get an accurate picture of what is happening with our money.
This bill might have legs, Paul reports that several congressman, including Democrats, have approached him with interest in co-sponsoring the bill. Paul also reports that Barney Frank, Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, may be willing to hold hearings related to the bill.

3 comments:

  1. Thank god. I have urged my Congressman to co-sponsor it. Unlikely, but I urge all to turn up the heat on this. The first step to returning to economic freedom is transparency.

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  2. Even more than simple transparency, we need to expose what the Fed is really doing so others can see, as a step towards shutting it down.

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  3. Sounds like a plan

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