11/20/09 Falun, Sweden – Today the House Finance Committee approved the Ron Paul and Jim DeMint amendment to audit the Federal Reserve. It’s a step in the right direction, but the amendment still has some way to go before it sees the light of day. To build momentum, Paul and DeMint have written their opinion in the Wall Street Journal that the “trillion-dollar interventions in the economy merit scrutiny by taxpayers and their representatives.”
Since 1913, the Fed has been in place to defend the dollar while fulfilling its dual mandate of stable prices and full employment. Despite its efforts the US dollar has basically lost 95 percent of its purchasing power over the past 96 years.
Paul and DeMint argue that Fed transparency is required to reveal “who the Fed is giving money to, what types of securities are being purchased and what backs those securities, [and] how much money is being paid for those securities”.
As it stands, the Freedom of Information Act is not sufficient for making these facts public. Even with it in place, media like Bloomberg and Fox News are forced to litigate in order to gain access to the kind of financial crisis-related information that should be readily at their disposal.
Currently, the only Fed supervision in place is the chairman’s twice-yearly appearance before Congress to explain his decisions. As Paul and DeMint explain, “the idea that this constitutes any sort of oversight is laughable.”
See the full coverage from the Wall Street Journal on how Americans deserve a transparent Fed.
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