http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/28/frank-bill-mandating-comp_n_271384.html
QuoteRep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told a Massachusetts audience at a recent town hall that the House will pass legislation this fall mandating a "complete audit" of the Federal Reserve.
The bill to audit the Fed, H.R. 1207, was introduced by libertarian Fed critic Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and is backed by well over a majority of the House. Frank's comment suggests it won't just be left to languish in committee.
"I want to restrict the power of the Fed in a number of ways," said Frank in response to a question about the bill.
"They have had since 1932... the right to intervene in the economy almost whenever they" wanted to, Frank said, noting that the Fed relied on its extraordinary lending power to forward billions to financial institutions last fall. He intends to curtail that lending power, he said.
"Finally we will subject them to a complete audit," he said. "I have been working with Ron Paul, the main sponsor of that bill. He agrees that we don't want to have the audit appear as if it is influencing monetary policy, because that would be inflationary and Ron and I agree on that."
Defenders of an independent monetary policy, including much of the political elite of both parties, argue that politicizing monetary policy would destabilize the financial system, devalue the dollar and lead to higher interest rates.
"If monetary policy is seen as not being independent that could shake people's confidence in the dollar. I mean, we are dealing with a world of nervous people," Frank told HuffPost in June. A politicized monetary policy is assumed to be inflationary because politicians have an incentive to run-up deficits and then have inflation reduce the value of the debt -- a policy that would harm debt-holders such as China.
"One of the things the audit will show is what the Federal Reserve buys and sells, and that will be made public," Frank said. "But not instantly, because... you would have a lot of people trading off of that, and you would have too much impact on the market. Again Ron agrees with that, so we will probably have that data released after a time period of several months, enough time so it wouldn't be market-sensitive. That will be part of the overall Fed regulation that we are inducting."
Story continues below
The questioner followed up: "By the end of the year?"
"The House will pass it probably in October," said Frank.
The bill hassteadily picked up co-sponsors since it was introduced, with rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans coming together in an unusual way. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has his own legislation pressing for Fed transparency, became the symbolic 118th cosponsor of Paul's bill.
House passage will put pressure on the Senate to act. The upper chamber has had a similar bipartisan coming-together, with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a socialist, and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), as far from a socialist as imaginable, cosponsoring a version of Paul's bill.
Wall Street has been pushing back against opening up the Fed. A federal judge recently ordered it to disclose who the bank is lending to and what collateral it's getting in return. The Fed is appealing, arguing that such disclosure would damage it and the banks receiving the loans.
The Clearing House Association, a coalition of financial industry players, joined the Fed in protesting the decision.
"Experience in the banking industry has shown that when customers and market participants hear negative rumors about a bank, negative consequences inevitably flow," said Norman Nelson, vice president and general counsel for the group, according to Bloomberg. "Our members have accessed the discount window with the understanding that the Fed will not disclose information about their borrowing, especially their identity."
Clearing House members include: Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
Now that HR 1207 is moving to the House (and I commend Rep. Frank for working with Rep. Paul on that), maybe we can get working on HR 833...
It's also nice to know that all of the sign waving in front of our local Federal Reserve bank really has sent a message to the people in Washington. I was beginning to wonder if anyone outside of the DHS had noticed...
Quote from: stephendare on August 28, 2009, 09:01:51 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/28/frank-bill-mandating-comp_n_271384.html
QuoteRep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told a Massachusetts audience at a recent town hall that the House will pass legislation this fall mandating a "complete audit" of the Federal Reserve.
The bill to audit the Fed, H.R. 1207, was introduced by libertarian Fed critic Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and is backed by well over a majority of the House. Frank's comment suggests it won't just be left to languish in committee.
"I want to restrict the power of the Fed in a number of ways," said Frank in response to a question about the bill.
Barney needs to get an army!
"They have had since 1932... the right to intervene in the economy almost whenever they" wanted to, Frank said, noting that the Fed relied on its extraordinary lending power to forward billions to financial institutions last fall. He intends to curtail that lending power, he said.
"Finally we will subject them to a complete audit," he said. "I have been working with Ron Paul, the main sponsor of that bill. He agrees that we don't want to have the audit appear as if it is influencing monetary policy, because that would be inflationary and Ron and I agree on that."
Defenders of an independent monetary policy, including much of the political elite of both parties, argue that politicizing monetary policy would destabilize the financial system, devalue the dollar and lead to higher interest rates. This won't be as easy as we hope. The One party will do what they can to obstruct this if the public doesn't apply heavy pressure.
"If monetary policy is seen as not being independent that could shake people's confidence in the dollar. I mean, we are dealing with a world of nervous people," Frank told HuffPost in June. A politicized monetary policy is assumed to be inflationary because politicians have an incentive to run-up deficits and then have inflation reduce the value of the debt -- a policy that would harm debt-holders such as China.
"One of the things the audit will show is what the Federal Reserve buys and sells, and that will be made public," Frank said. "But not instantly, because... you would have a lot of people trading off of that, and you would have too much impact on the market. Again Ron agrees with that, so we will probably have that data released after a time period of several months, enough time so it wouldn't be market-sensitive. That will be part of the overall Fed regulation that we are inducting."
Story continues below
The questioner followed up: "By the end of the year?"
"The House will pass it probably in October," said Frank.
The bill hassteadily picked up co-sponsors since it was introduced, with rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans coming together in an unusual way. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has his own legislation pressing for Fed transparency, became the symbolic 118th cosponsor of Paul's bill.
House passage will put pressure on the Senate to act. The upper chamber has had a similar bipartisan coming-together, with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a socialist, and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), as far from a socialist as imaginable, cosponsoring a version of Paul's bill.
Wall Street has been pushing back against opening up the Fed. A federal judge recently ordered it to disclose who the bank is lending to and what collateral it's getting in return. The Fed is appealing, arguing that such disclosure would damage it and the banks receiving the loans.
The Clearing House Association, a coalition of financial industry players, joined the Fed in protesting the decision.
"Experience in the banking industry has shown that when customers and market participants hear negative rumors about a bank, negative consequences inevitably flow," said Norman Nelson, vice president and general counsel for the group, according to Bloomberg. "Our members have accessed the discount window with the understanding that the Fed will not disclose information about their borrowing, especially their identity."
Clearing House members include: Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
While Ron Paul and Barney Frank make strange bedfellows, I like to hear that somone is trying to do something about the Fed. Perhaps my assesment of Frank as one of the insiders was wrong.
Barney Frank is also good on legalizing internet gambling and (I think?) marijuana. Other than that...not so much. Ron Paul is great on just about everything except immigration.
Immigration wouldn't be such a big issue if you got rid of the ridiculous number of social programs and eliminated the income tax. Then there's less of a reason for people to come here and nab a free ride; the main people coming here would actually be ones willing to work and pay into the system, and that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. People flood in now because they can take money out of the system without paying in (which is absolutely ridiculous).
...for which they get paid. Then ship the money home to their native country. Without paying income taxes. Thus taking money out of the system without paying in.
Hooray for what looks to be a sincere attempt on auditing the Fed. Good luck though.
Illegals who commit identity fraud do in fact pay income taxes. If they use a real, or fake SS number, taxes are withheld and no rebate is forthcoming. There are a few audacious illegals who will file a return and recieve a rebate. This is based on my personal experience, and I have no verifiable data to back up any claim. I do know it to be truth.
If an illegal immigrant is being paid "under the table" then all the money is his to keep. The same applies for an American citizen, without the option to return home WTSHTF.