07/08/09 Great news: The Federal Reserve will retain its right to operate in secrecy.
“Thank God for Rule 16!”
Late yesterday, the Senate majority put the kibosh on a last-hour provision in the 2010 spending bill that would audit the Fed. Not because it’s a bad idea… but because of the arcane Rule 16, which prohibits policy legislation from being added to spending bills. (The kind of “rule” that’s only evoked when the majority gets uncomfortable.)
“The Federal Reserve will create and disburse trillions of dollars in response to our current financial crisis,” said Sen. Jim DeMint, who spearheaded the failed audit addition. “Americans across the nation, regardless of their opinion on the bailout, want to know where the money has gone.” Under his proposed plan, the Government Accountability Office would take a look into the Fed’s discount window lending, various funding “facilities,” bank bailouts and agreements with foreign players.
Shame on Mr. DeMint for such an outrageous request. Down-to-the-wire appropriations should be reserved for truly exigent causes… like protecting the makers of wooden arrows designed for use by children. Why bother wasting the time of the GAO with a simple audit of the most unaccountable monetary body in the world?
You can watch Mr. DeMint get what’s coming to him here. Ron Paul’s bill — that other shameful attempt to audit the Fed — now has 249 co-sponsors in the House. Wonder what brand of parliamentary fine print Barney Frank or Nancy Pelosi might summon to quash that one.
Ian Mathias
Ian Mathias is the managing editor of Agora Financial’s Income Franchise, where he writes and researches about retirement, dividend and fixed income investing. Much of his work is featured in The Daily Reckoning and Lifetime Income Report – Agora Financial’s flagship income investing advisory.
Previously, Ian managed The 5 Min. Forecast, a fun, fast-paced daily look into the future of global markets and macroeconomics. He’s also worked in public relations, where media outlets like Forbes, AP, Yahoo! and MSN Money have syndicated his writing. If he’s not at work, you’ll probably find Ian on a bicycle, racing up and down the “mountains” of Baltimore County. Ian has a BA from Loyola University in Maryland.
The Daily Reckoning is your premier source for making sense of the news Washington and Wall Street generate. Each business day, The Daily Reckoning calls on its stable of world-class writers and thinkers to show you how to get ahead.
Start your 100% FREE subscription to The Daily Reckoning today and you’ll get a free research report, “How to Survive the Fall of Social Security.” Simply enter your email address below to get your free report and join over 495,000 worldwide Daily Reckoning subscribers!
We Respect Your Privacy and We will
Never Share or Sell Your Email Address
This is like being in a nightmare and not being able to wake up! I would have hoped that the tax payers of the USA would have stood up and said “enough” to Goldman Sachs, Congress, The FED and all the rest of the crooks by now. But no, they just bend over and take another reem job. The end is near now folks. The Illuminati have won. The Luciferian team has won, only slavery is left for the rest of us.
We hold the top position… after that, Congress and this current administration (not to mention past administrations) are our worst enemies. The only thing that will change the course of our corrupt and unworkable system would be a bloody revolution or an intellectual, peaceful evolution.
Who are these idiots? Why has it gotten this bad? It’s like… the Roman Empire… Part II.
I recall what I read years ago… “Once people realize they can vote themselves money from the Treasury… the end is near”. I’m sure the Romans thought they would be THE “world power” forever. Guess not! We’re next, unless we get these clowns out of office in the next election.
Is it too late to go back to the English system of years gone by… only land holders can vote? No? I thought so.
Hope and Change: The Cake is a Lie.
The only thing that will stop the Federal
Reserve system (temporarily) is some well
placed C4 charges at all twelve banks.
Should that happen maybe they would get the message that “we the people” are tired
of their crap. I am not an educated man but I do know right from wrong. What big
Ben and his accomplishes are doing is
flat out wrong.
If I can pick up on it surely other people
can to. How much longer till there’s out
and out violence and blood shed? I really
believe that’s what it’s gonna take.
I can’t think of any revoloution that’s
ever been accomplished without it.
Those in power want to stay there. The only way to strip them of it is to defacto
take it away physically.