“The measure, which has garnered 257 co-sponsors from both parties, would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a full audit of the Fed’s operations, including its monetary policy deliberations.”
So apparently, Congress is pushing for a bill to audit the Fed. This was sponsored by Ron Paul - a person who has outwardly said that he wants to abolish the Federal Reserve.
I thought the whole point of the Federal Reserve is that it’s supposed to be unaccountable to Congress. Bernanke is not perfect, but I would much prefer that he handles monetary policy than those finance-illiterate clowns in the house of representatives.
“Most recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) launched a campaign to remove banking officials from the boards of the regional Fed banks, saying it presents a conflict of interest.”
I bet this clown has no issues with say… union leaders being on the board of companies.
An audit of the Fed is likely a waste of time, as such an audit wouild only find out that the Fed is doing exactly what it is supposed to do , which will delight its supporters and horrify its detractors.
just whom should the central planners of the federal reserve be accountable to, then ? no one ?
It is absurd that the Fed is able to refuse to provide minutes of meetings to members of the House committee which oversees them (this has happened, see the chapter “conversations with bernanke” in ron paul’s book “end the fed”.
This bill is not about the House handling monetary policy, rather it is about the Fed providing more information to elected officials.
The whole point of the Federal Reserve is to handle the monetary policy for the United States. Central bank independence isn’t a goal in and of itself. People should only favor central bank independence to the extent that it facilitates successful monetary policy. Central bank independence that serves to hide their failures is not a positive.
Further, no one, not even Ron Paul, is suggesting we turn over monetary policy to Congress. That’s a strawman. Many of the people who are most critical of the Fed believe in rules rather than discretion. Turning it over to Congress is the ultimate in discretion.