8.25.09
Good morning everyone! Apparently the President is renominating Ben Bernanke for another term as Federal Reserve Bank Chairman – congratulations to him! (read more HERE) At the same time, a federal judge agreed with a Bloomberg News Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to force the Federal Reserve to reveal what banks and institutions received Fed loans in last fall’s bailout orgy.
This is important since the Fed can severely impact the strength (or weakness) of our dollar and with unlimited ability to print money, can pick and choose winners and losers in the market among companies simply by offering a low interest loan to one company (say AIG) but not another (say Lehman).
It also looks like House Bill HR 1207, the ‘Audit the Fed” bill drafted by Ron Paul, is progressing nicely in the House. This is exciting news because it will allow the General Accounting Office (GAO) the ability to audit (not control simply audit) where the Fed is appropriating its stimulus/lending/purchasing activity. Understand something – the Fed could theoretically, print (i.e. click a mouse button and immediately electronically create) say $10 trillion if it wanted to without approval of anyone outside the Fed. This is enormous power and we would probably all feel better if this power were at least audited. I understand the arguments for Fed independence, and agree with it, though the Fed I would approve of would have far fewer powers. But let’s at least see what they’re up to, shall we?
Chris Grande
