Fed Beaten: Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Passes Key Hurdle
• Huffington PostIn 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.
A desperate, last-minute attempt to thwart the move came in the form of an amendment championed by Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) and described by its supporters as more reasonable. On Tuesday, however, the Huffington Post reported that, on a close reading, his amendment would in fact decrease transparency at the Fed by adding additional restrictions.
Backers of the Watt amendment pressed their case on Wednesday by sending a letter from a "political cross section of prominent economists" backing a measure like Watt's. HuffPost reported, however, that those economists might well have be prominent, but they certainly aren't a "political cross section." Seven of the eight economists in question have extensive connections to the Fed -- and half of them are currently on the Fed payroll. Those affiliations were not noted in the letter.
The playbook in Washington often goes like this: When a measure that threatens the establishment builds enough momentum that it must be dealt with, it is labeled as "unserious." The Washington Post editorial board, true to the script, called Paul's measure "an unserious answer to a serious question."
And it particularly rankles the center that a pair of "wingnuts" are behind a successful effort to challenge the prevailing order.
Step Two is for a "serious" compromise to be offered. In this case, it was Watt's amendment. But by the time the vote was called Thursday afternoon, committee members had seen through his measure, recognizing that it was not a compromise effort to bring real transparency to the Fed but an attempt to further shut the the doors.
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4 Comments in Response to Fed Beaten: Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Passes Key Hurdle
Since all lending institution loans to everybody that borrows, are really creations of new money, and since paying back all that money as the loans become due is really GIVING the money to the bank, all this on top of fractional reserve banking... when this becomes apparent through a FED audit, gold and silver coin will become, over night, 1000s of times (not 1000s of %) as valuable as it is with relation to the US dollar.
Stock up on gold and silver coin. Buy a $500,000 house for a couple ounces of gold. Buy a new car for a Silver Eagle.
It never ceases to amaze me the number of uninformed or under-informed Americans. The "Oh woe is me" attitudes pertaining to our current situation and our potential future in America and the wors of the well indoctrinated and "publiklee edjookatd".
Those who lead the fight(s) to regain our liberty while America as established, the Constitution and Bill of Rights are on their deathbed should be embraced, helped, encouraged and supported financially, physically, spiritually, emotionally. Not complained about, dismissed and chided. Unless of course, those who do so want a socialist, communist world government. If we all follow the complainers and quitters we will surely get what the global elite seeks -- eternal serfdom and slavery of our ilk on Earth.
I, for one, am sure as hell not giving up without fighting with every fiber of my being and until my hearts ceases to beat, to restore our republic and our lives as free men.
To those who can't see fighting for their liberty and that of their posterity, but would rather wring their hands in fear and despair and complain about those of us who will fight on, remember these words by Benjamin Franklin: "Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do."
And the immortal words of Samuel Adams: "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!"
Jim Paulson,
TheTruthAboutMinnesota.Org
Good stroke of business. However, these boys have been in the "business" for quite some time. By the time you (US) gets in an audit, "they" would have changed it to be the "North American" currencey. Beyond the US Constitution. With SSP, GAT, NAFTA and others, we will have discovered that our "Constitution" has been usesrpy.
I appricated your efforts, however; as your last President said...."it's just a God damn piece of paper. The President before him brought in NAFTA
Buy Gold if you want. The percentage will work out the same after "they" work out the new North American currency. "Fiat" currenecy will win the war. Gold and Silver you can not eat nor can drink.
Stand...and when in doubt, stand.
Your Friend
]Lowell L Morse
And who, preytell, is going to be appointed to audit The Fed? Wall Street? Ha ha!