Chairman Ron Paul: "We Must Audit The Fed In 2011" (Video & Transcript)
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Video - Texas Straight Talk - Dec. 13, 2010
Ron Paul Lectures Bernanke: U.S. Moving Towards Fascism
House Monetary Policy Chairman Ron Paul says go back to Princeton, Ben...
Give Us Fed Transparency Or Give Us Death (Op-Ed - Ron Paul & Jim Demint)
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A Full and Complete Audit of the Fed in 2011
Since the announcement last week that I will chair the congressional subcommittee that oversees the Federal Reserve, the media response has been overwhelming. The groundswell of opposition to Fed actions among ordinary citizens is reflected not only in the rhetoric coming out of Capitol Hill, but also in the tremendous interest shown by the financial press. The demand for transparency is growing, whether the political and financial establishment likes it or not. The Fed is losing its vaunted status as an institution that somehow is above politics and public scrutiny. Fed transparency will be the cornerstone of my efforts as subcommittee chairman.
Thanks to public pressure earlier this year, Congress did pass legislation that requires the Fed to disclose some information about its bailout of select industries and companies following the 2008 financial crisis. So two weeks ago the Fed released data concerning more than $3 trillion of assistance it offered to banks through its bailout facilities. After reviewing this data, however, we are left with many more questions about the Fed's "lending".
In the "Term Securities Lending Facility", the Fed was supposed to have loaned against AAA-rated securities-- yet over half of the collateral put up by banks to obtain loans had no listed credit rating. Should we assume that the Fed accepted absolute junk rated securities as collateral for loans? Presumably these securities were so bad that they wouldn’t even publicize their credit rating. So why should our central bank, backed up by your taxes, accept such collateral?
On another note, of the $1.25 trillion purchased under the Fed’s "Mortgage-Backed Securities Purchase Program," only $877 billion in purchases have been publicized. What happened to the remaining $400 billion?
These kinds of limited disclosures by the Fed only underscore the need for a full and complete audit of the Fed’s financial books. This audit should be done by an independent third party, in the same manner that public companies are audited. The Fed should make public its balance sheet, income statement, and perhaps most importantly its cash flow statement. It also should publicize the notes explaining those financial statements.
We seem to forget sometimes that Congress created the Fed-- it is a government-created banking monopoly, and its top decision-makers are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. If the Fed does not perform satisfactorily in the eyes of these politicians and their constituents, the Chairman and Governors may not be re-nominated.
In theory, Congress could even repeal the Federal Reserve Act altogether since it has the authority to do so. Obviously Congress is within its authority to audit an organization it created by statute, and it is time to assume that responsibility.
With 320 Members of Congress cosponsoring my legislation to fully audit the Fed in the 111th Congress, my hope is that we can build on our broad bipartisan coalition in 2011 and continue the push for greater Fed transparency going forward.
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Feb 3, 2011 at 8:51 PM
Reader Comments (9)
http://dailybail.com/home/ron-paul-lectures-bernanke-us-moving-towards-fascism-video.html
http://dailybail.com/home/ratigan-and-ron-paul-discuss-bailout-transparency-bad-collat.html
http://dailybail.com/home/dr-ron-paul-the-two-party-system-doesnt-exist-theres-only-on.html
http://dailybail.com/home/bernankes-worst-nightmare-ron-paul-to-chair-monetary-policy.html
http://dailybail.com/home/ron-paul-bernanke-is-the-greatest-counterfeiter-in-the-histo.html
Sure, end the FED, but replace it with what? No alternative but mining for
yellow rock. Why do some of Ron Paul's supporters know about community
interest-free inflation-free time-based currencies (an Hour always worth
60 minutes of volunteer work owed) and he doesn't catch on. We know
what's wrong with the banking systems engineering and don't need an
audit to know how to reprogram the malfunctioning bank software to the
LETS interest-free time-based currency alternative. UNILETS globally!
I was there. The chanting was thunderous... The lights come up, he takes the stage, and the crowd goes WILD!!!
"FED TRANSPARENCY! FED TRANSPARENCY!"
Yeah, not so much. He sure got watered down along the way.
Politics, Paulitics, it is all a losing game. Buy silver, we can end the Fed ourselves.