They (the Federal Reserve) havebeen given the power to create money, by the trillions, and to give itto their friends, under any terms they wish, with little or nomeaningful oversight or accountability.
by Ron Paul
Ihave been very pleased with the progress of my legislation, HR 1207,which calls for a complete audit of the Federal Reserve and removesmany significant barriers towards transparency of our monetary system. This bill now has nearly 170 cosponsors, with support from both Republicans and Democrats.
Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a companion bill in the Senate S 604, which will hopefully begin to gain momentum as well. I am very encouraged to see so many of my colleagues in Congress stand with me for greater transparency in government.
Some have begun to push back against this bill, and I am very happy to address their concerns.
The main argument seems to be that Congressional oversight over the Fed is government interference in the free market. This argument shows a misunderstanding of what a free market really is. Fundamentally, you cannot defend the Federal Reserve and the free market at the same time. TheFed negates the very foundation of a free market by artificiallymanipulating the price and supply of money – the lifeblood of theeconomy. In a free market, interest rates, like the price of any other consumer good, are decentralized and set by the market. Theonly legitimate, Constitutional role of government in monetary policyis to protect the integrity of the monetary unit and defend againstcounterfeiters.
Instead,Congress has abdicated this responsibility to a cabal of elite,quasi-governmental banks who, instead of stabilizing the economy, havedestabilized it. It took less than two decades for the Federal Reserve to bring on the Great Depression of the 1930’s. It has also inflated away the value of our currency by over 96 percent since its inception. Ithas invisibly stolen from the poor and given to the rich through thiscontrolled inflation, and now openly stolen through recent bankbailouts. It has predictably exacerbated the very problems it was meant to solve.
Detractorshave also argued that the Fed must remain immune from the politicalprocess, and that that more congressional oversight would distort theirvery important decisions. On the contrary, theFederal Reserve is already heavily entrenched in the political process,as the Fed chairman is a political appointee. Highlevel officials routinely make the rounds between positions at the Fed,member banks, Treasury and back again, taking care of friends and eachother along the way.