Bernanke Responds To Calls For An Audit Of The Federal Reserve (PBS Jim Lehrer Clip)

Excerpt: Bernanke responds to calls for an audit of the Federal Reserve (2:06).  As I've written before, the last thing we need is Congress dictating monetary policy and influencing interest rate decisions.  I have never supported that portion of HR 1207. 

B-52 is disingenuous however when he states that the Fed is open to an audit of its balance sheet and investments.  For months they have fought transparency and FOI lawsuits brought by Bloomberg and Fox News. They released AIG counterparty data only after threats from Congress, and they are still fighting transparency on Maiden Lane I,II and III.  Further questions surround the $400 billion in ring-fenced asset guarantees given to Citigroup and Bank of America.

Watch

Comments

[IlDente]

Only evil fears the truth

[Sonic Ninja Kitty]

“’Independent of politics’ has a nice, neat ring to it…. But these are government agencies and operations we are talking about, and…government, unlike private industry on the market, is not accountable either to stockholders or consumers. Government can only be accountable to the public and to its representatives in the legislature; and if government becomes ‘independent of politics’ it can only mean that that sphere of government becomes an absolute self-perpetuating oligarchy, accountable to no one and never subject to the public’s ability to change its personnel or to ‘throw the rascals out.’ If no person or group, whether stockholders or voters, can displace a ruling elite, then such an elite becomes more suitable for a dictatorship than for an allegedly democratic country. “

From The Case Against the Fed, by Murray Rothbard. Download the entire work from a pdf found at http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=search&q=the%20case%20against%20the%20fed

People should think long and hard about who's best interest the Fed is working in. If you think a consortium of private bankers is working in the public's best interest you are very naive.

[DailyBail]

Nice links, Sonic. Thanks..