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TechnoratiAlan Grayson says 'Audit the Fed'
Eighty thousand people have now seen the famous Youtube of Fed Vice Chair Donald Kohn refusing to answer Alan Grayson's questions about where all the money is going. By law he doesn't have to. Despite the fact that they have printed or guaranteed some $2 trillion dollars in the past year, the Fed answers to no one, and no government entity can audit them.
Last month Charles Grassley tried to push a bill through the Senate which called for the Fed to be audited, but Richard Shelby watered it down before it passed. Now there are 165 cosponsors of Ron Paul's Federal Reserve Transparency Act in the House, but 135 of them are Republicans.
Alan Grayson is trying to bring Democrats on board:
The Federal Reserve has refused multiple inquiries from both the House and the Senate to disclose who is receiving trillions of dollars from the central banking system. The Federal Reserve has redacted the central terms of the no-bid contracts it has issued to Wall Street firms like Blackrock and PIMCO, without disclosure required of the Treasury, and is participating in new and exotic programs like the trillion-dollar TALF to leverage the Treasury's balance sheet. With discussions of allocating even more power to the Federal Reserve as the ‘systemic risk regulator' of the credit markets, more oversight over the central bank's operations is clearly necessary.
Why is the administration fighting this? Well, it's no secret that Larry Summers would very much like to take over as Fed Chair when Ben Bernanke's term is up next year. Why would he want that kind of scrutiny? But what Larry Summers wants and what is good for the country may be two different things.
Please join me, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, James K. Galbraith, Dean Baker, Bill Black, Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge, Yves Smith of NakedCapitalism, US PIRG, Public Citizen, Mike Farrell, Digby, Rob Kuttner, Ian Welsh, Bill Greider, Stirling Newberry, ANWF, Les Leopold, Mike Lux and others in supporting Alan Grayson and asking Democratic members of Congress to cosponsor the Federal Reserve Transparency Act.
Where does your member of Congress stand? Find out here. And if they aren't one of the 135 Republicans or 30 Democrats cosponsoring this bill, why not?
Sign the statement here that will be circulated to members of Congress as Rep. Grayson tries to get the 53 more cosponsors needed to pass the bill. And be sure to check the box if you'd like to have your name publicly displayed on the page.
11 Comments so far
Show AllAUDIT the living hell out of the FED. The Pentagon too, while we're at it. I would love to see banks take their place as just another industry in this country, forced to compete and submit to the law, and live or die based upon their merits, like any other business (well, I should say 'domestic' rather than multinational business). I'm not happy with multinationals in control of our currency, and the very idea of every dollar having debt attached to it should piss off anyone that can do just a little bit of math. I'm not opposed to inflation any more than I am against currency restriction, because both can be used to consolidate wealth. But in our current system Inflation = taxation without representation unless that currency is created via legislation by elected representatives, and done without debt. Wow, that almost rhymes.
The behind-the-scenes banksters who run the U.S. do NOT submit to audit or scrutiny of any kind.
JFK tried to challenge them -- no sitting U.S. president has since. It is now well understood what that will earn you.
If we're ever to be out from under these vampires they must be dragged out into the sunlight and exposed -- no other way.
I am glad to see Naomi Klein on that list as well as several others. I also see Krugman who has been very outspoken during this financial "crisis" is not, which doesn't surprise me, considering what a phony he is. Just like the issue of defense spending and war separates real libertarians from phonies, this separates people who aren't just using progressive issues for their own power grab. I'm glad to see Naomi Klein recognizes more than one sort of shock doctrine.
great article jane! i would like to see larry summers in the movie '' the longest yard 3''
playing the waterboy. boy that would be a thrill ! anybody care to jump in and flesh out
the rest of the roles? oh and obama plays the qb calling the old double reverse as he is
the unequivocal master at this particular play!
From the article:
"...Larry Summers would very much like to take over as Fed Chair when Ben Bernanke's term is up next year. Why would he want that kind of scrutiny?"
Er, what scrutiny?
I tried to sign the statement, but it wouldn't take my entry & I didn't see any appropriate feedback button on the site.
Funny, how few Dems are supporting this necessary measure (my own Rep, Peter deFazio, is among the few. I'll have to thank him.) Do you suppose they suspect they have something to hide?
Oregoncharles
Audit, then Abolish. The Fed is debt slavery.
Truer words were never spoken.
And so is the entire debt based currency system. BUT, JFK tried and we know what happened to him.....since then, this is something the prez (s) avoid to keep their asses alive.
An excellent argument for getting more members of Congress to support these bills, enough so that any Presidential veto can be overridden.
"But what Larry Summers wants and what is good for the country may be two different things."
What Larry Summers wants and what is good for the country are always two different things.