Fed's Bernanke-audit would hurt economic prospects

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday congressional proposals to audit the Fed and strip it of regulatory powers as part of post-crisis reforms could damage prospects for economic and financial health in the future.

"These measures are very much out of step with the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks, and they would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States," Bernanke wrote in a column posted on the Washington Post's website.

The rare newspaper column by a Fed chairman comes shortly before Bernanke testifies before a Senate panel on his renomination to serve a second four-year term at the helm of the central bank and answers a series of steps on Capitol Hill that could diminish the central bank's role.

Lawmakers are angry with the Fed over its emergency bailouts of major financial firms and its failure to prevent the contagion of mortgage delinquencies that crashed the financial system. A proposal to audit the Fed's monetary policy deliberations won a committee vote recently over the objections of House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank.

Frank's Senate counterpart, Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, is himself the author of a proposal to consign the Fed solely to making decisions about setting benchmark interest rates.

Bernanke, in his column, conceded the Fed had missed some of the riskiest behavior in the lead up to the crisis. But he said the Fed had helped avoid an even more damaging economic meltdown and has stepped up its policing of the financial system.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2736073220091128

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Chopper Ben needs to STFU and get out of the way - he is a crapweasel of the first order - he and his cronies are corrupt and stupid and should be sleeping on 10-count thread sheets whilst wearing orange jumpsuits and shackles

[MannyGoldstein]

1. They Don't Deserve Our Trust - Time For Fresh Air and Light

I don't wanna think about what we'll find out - but better to know than to not know.

[jwirr]

2. Only through a full audit can we see what kind of legislation we need

to stop this in the future. All he is warning us about is that if we audit the crooks will run for cover and take their money with them.

[Synicus Maximus]

3. Iagree. There needs to be a full audit.

[avaistheone1]

26. I think the only way there will be a bonafide audit is by placing the Federal Reserve

under Treasury.

[itsrobert]

4. The audit will never happen. The powerful will make a distraction

And I'm afraid what that would be.

[fasttense]

14. I suspect that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would take it to the Supremes

The dancing supremes are big corporate lovers, at almost every turn they have sided with the uber wealthy CEOs over democracy. So, I suspect if a law was passed and signed, that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would file suit asking for an injunction to stop the audit.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke thinks he's king of our money and can do any damn thing he wants with it.

[Truth2Tell]

33. On what basis?

Where in the Constitution would one find authorization for a central bank outside the authority of any branch of government?

:shrug:

[tomm2thumbs]

5. probably the bottom line says 'see Dubai for more info'

heaven forbid anyone knows the real story - it'd be a house of cards

[dotymed]

18. I'll risk the responses..

Maybe it leads to the culprits of 9-11. Remember the billions of $$ of "put options" against United Airlines on 9-11? The TV stations were saying that whoever was responsible could be traced through those huge profits. Then, no more was said about the "money trail." Americans deserve t know who profited off of their (at least) foreknowledge of this event. We know that high ranking gov. officials were warned not to fly that day. Let the sunshine in.

[RedCloud]

6. Send those thieves to a new home in the sun! Right in the sun.

[chill_wind]

7. Rasmussen- in July-- 75% Favor Auditing The Fed

75% Favor Auditing The Fed
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

So much for the ongoing secrecy of the nation’s independent central banking system. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 75% of Americans favor auditing the Federal Reserve and making the results available to the public.

Just nine percent (9%) of adults think that’s a bad idea and oppose it. Fifteen percent (15%) aren’t sure.
Over half the members of the House now support a bill giving the Government Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative agency, the authorization to audit the books of the Federal Reserve Board.

more: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/general_business/july_2009/75_favor_auditing_the_fed

That was in July. over 2/3 of the House now onboard.

Seems like this would be a winning issue for Dems pushing the House amendment and Reform.

http://www.actblue.com/page/auditthefed

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7053383

And it has bi-partisan support:

http://www.auditthefed.com/view-the-coalition/

http://www.auditthefed.com/about-the-audit/

http://www.auditthefed.com/

[niceypoo]

8. Republicans were spewing the same talking point last winter

When people were calling for banks to be investigated for robbing their customers and the country.

"It will undermine confidence in the banks and ruin the economy"

Stunningly brazen BS.

[DallasNE]

9. The Fed Was Front And Center

In the dot.com stock market bubble and the housing bubble. Greenspan failed to use his powers to adjust margin requirements so borrowed money flooded the markets creating the stock market. If that wasn't unough Greenspan and Bernanke took and kept interest rates at a silly low level for over a year, setting up the housing bubble. Because of this it is high time the Fed has increased oversight.

[webDude]

10. can you say, "extortion"?

felon.

[JDPriestly]

11. The more Bernanke resists an audit the clearer the need for an audit

becomes. As for the international community, when our banking system virtually fails and the international community bails it out, then maybe we will think about what the international community thinks and wants. As long as the American people are bailing out the system, then it is what we think and want that matters. We want a good look at the books.

Bernanke must understand that the more he tries to hide the truth, the more the American people need to know it. He does not want us to see just how bad things really are because he does not want to have to deal with the anger of the American people when they learn the truth.

[Greyhound]

12. "the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks"

OMG:rofl:

Consensus of whom? Seeing how they are doing business is going to be bad for business...
:rofl:

"The books are so cooked that if it became general knowledge we couldn't keep stealing!"

[reprobate]

13. The FED is the world's biggest shell game. Here's my question and let's see how

many Americans can answer it correctly: We know the FBI is part of the Justice Dept. and the Coast Guard was part of the Dept of Commerce, but now falls under Fatherland....no, sorry, Homeland Security. So knowing that much What Dept. of our government does the Federal Reserve answer to?

Did someone say 'Commerce'? Now that's just too obvious, come on try again.

Treasury? Even more obvious and more wrong.

Give up? OK I'll giver you the answer.

The Federal Reserve Bank of The United States of America answers to NO DEPARTMENT, BRANCH, COMMITTEE, OR PERSON OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.

The FED is, in fact a privately held corporation, and like any other corporation, it's goal is to make a profit for it's shareholders. It does this by loaning money to the commercial banks around the country and charging interest on that money. Oh yeah, on the side they set monetary policy, but that's not much more than a side effect of setting the interest rate they charge. Remember the bank bail out not long ago? How much was it, near a trillion dollars wasn't it? And how much did the stockholder of the FED make on that simple transaction? Well, at the 1/4 of 1% they've been charging recently, those stockholder made a cool 250 million dollars. Without doing any work for it.

Folks, this ain't a shell game or a ponzi scheme (though Bernie Maddoff would have been proud to think up something like this). But just WHO are these proverbial stockholders? Find out for yourself, just google "federal reserve bank stockholders". But I'll give you a hint to start: The Rothschild family are major holders of the paper for the New York FED Bank.

If I were these people I'd be hoping that the citizens of this nation never found out who really owned the Fed, because the last time so few people controlled so much wealth was in 1789 France when the term 'Basket Head' became so popular.

[Zynx]

15. Try again. The Fed returns its profits to the Treasury.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqfrs.htm#6

"How is the Federal Reserve funded?
The Federal Reserve's income is derived primarily from the interest on U.S. government securities that it has acquired through open market operations. Other sources of income are the interest on foreign currency investments held by the System; fees received for services provided to depository institutions, such as check clearing, funds transfers, and automated clearinghouse operations; and interest on loans to depository institutions (the rate on which is the so-called discount rate). After paying its expenses, the Federal Reserve turns the rest of its earnings over to the U.S. Treasury."

Also, the governors and chairman are subject to Congressional review. They are required to testify at regular intervals to the Congress.

[Celebration]

29. yes BUT

Their members make tons of money on the debt issued by the US government, the interest of which is paid by taxpayers. We could issue currency without paying interest, and not have the Fed.

Also, the owners of the Fed also earn dividends of 6%. And, they won't tell us the owners (except in a general way).

We need an audit.

[Zynx]

38. Of course they make money on buying Treasury bills. That's how we finance most of our debt.

The banks buy it. Someone will make money buying our Treasury bills. It just happens to be the banks. All of those holdings are very clear and out in the open in the member banks' quarterly reports.

Now, if banks didn't hold Treasury bills, they would have to hold something else to protect their excess reserves. They would undoubtedly have to hold riskier assets.

By the way, the 6% dividend is 6% of the share price of their shares in the Federal Reserve. As best as I can tell, this is not a huge amount of money.

[mbperrin]

16. I'm sure that an audit would hurt his buddies at Goldman's

prospects.

I sure hope so, anyway.

Let's see. It's OUR money, so yeah, let us see the books. NOW.

[gratuitous]

17. Don't you know that by observing their operations . . .

You'll change the outcome of their investments! We must not look. We dare not look. 'Twould be the end of all that is Good and Right in the world! Know ye not that when ye look into the Audit, the Audit looketh back? Doom, Calamity, Fear and Ruin would overtake us all.

[mike_c]

19. THIS is the red flag that ought to automatically TRIGGER an audit....

An audit is just information gathering, taking a look at the books and determining how inflows are connected to outflows. Whenever an organization says that simply looking at its records would cause it damage, we can be pretty certain that they're trying to hide something that they should not have done.

[AlbertCat]

24. THIS is the red flag that ought to automatically TRIGGER an audit....

Egg-zakly!

If they don't want to "undermine" the public's confidence in them, they should be HELPING with the audit...allowing it with open arms. After all, they've got nothing ti hide, right?....right?

[jaksavage]

20. Admission of guilt. nt

[notadmblnd]

21. if everything is on the up and up and they have nothing to hide

how could an audit possibly hurt anyone?

[glitch]

22. Only if the cancer can't be cured. nt

[Veilex]

23. first aid 101...

The infection must be lanced and the puss drained out before the wound can heal.
The same applies to the fed... the corruption must be removed before the economy can truly recover.

[avaistheone1]

25. Place the Fed under Treasury.

Let's get this monster who may eat this country alive under control.

[IndianaGreen]

27. Better still, abolish the Fed!

Monetary policy must be on the hands of a government elected by the people.

[avaistheone1]

28. It would be if the Fed came under the control of the Treasury.

[Thickasabrick]

30. STFU Ben....K&R

[Joe Chi Minh]

31. More than the disastrous policies he failed to identify?

[yurbud]

32. what would happen to our national debt if we NATIONALIZED the fed?

[boppers]

34. One time audit or ongoing congressional oversight?

I sure as hell wouldn't have wanted congress influencing decisions of the fed 8 years ago.

[BlueCollar]

35. Frankly Mr. Bernanke....you've lied to me before

I don't believe you now...

[Ter]

36. The Federal Reserve is a huge part of the Secret Government

A private company with One World intentions, it needs to be shut down for good.

[bemildred]

37. Time for "transparency" in the banking sector, top to bottom. nt