Why We Must Audit The Federal Reserve

Why We Must Audit the Fed Anders Mikkelsen Today Americans all across the country are experiencing severe economic difficulties. The Federal Reserve Bank is supposed to keep our financial system stable, yet it failed to protect Americans and the banks. It is the premiere institution regulating the economy and the banks, and the Obama administration has proposed to give them more power after they predicted the economy was fine. Throughout this time of financial crises the Federal Reserve admits it has been responsible for the movement of trillions of dollars to U.S. banks and foreign central banks. Since the Fed has not given exact details to Congress and the public, Americans have no way of knowing how all this money is being spent and how it is helping the economy. Why should Congress blindly trust an institution that failed to prevent the housing and credit bubble? Congressman Ron Paul along with 281 bipartisan members of the House of Representative are supporting the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 1207) to audit the Federal Reserve and discover exactly what is going on. However New York City’s Representatives are not cosponsoring H.R. 1207, nor are the state’s Senators supporting the Senate version, S. 604. Many people are attempting to make the argument that the Federal Reserve’s independence will be undermined by passing H.R. 1207. Certainly when the Fed was created in 1913 people thought that without Fed independence populist leaders would institute inflationary policies. Back then gold was $20 an ounce. Since then the dollar has lost 95% or more of its value. However the bill to audit the Fed does not change Fed policy, it only mandates an audit of the Fed to disclose its past actions to Congress. The constitution clearly states in Article I, Section 8, Clause 5, “The Congress shall have Power…To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures.” H.R. 1207 amends section 714 of Title 31 of the U.S. Code and removes the restrictions preventing Congress and its investigative arm - the Government Accountability Office from conducting an Audit the Federal Reserve. This legislation will allow Congress to learn about the Fed’s actions, including agreements with foreign central banks and governments, discount window operations, funding facilities, and open market operations. Public companies are expected to pass audits and explain their finances, as are (rightly or wrongly) individuals paying taxes. The Fed is not an individual with the right to privacy, but something created by Congress. The responsibility of ensuring that the Fed is meeting Congressional mandates efficiently, effectively and lawfully is ultimately belongs to Congress. The Government Accountability Office is best positioned to perform a comprehensive audit requested by nearly two-thirds of the House. The Fed may feel it has something to hide, however the American people have the right to know what the Fed has done with the creation of nearly $12 trillion in credit. Undertaking such inflationary policies are a clear breach of the Fed’s own reasons for the necessity of independence.

John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson "All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from defects in the constitution or confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation."

You can contact your members of Congress at the Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 to find out their position and ask them to support HR 1207 / S 604 auditing the Fed. You can sign petitions here: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/campaigns/hr1207home.php For more information, visit and www.mises.org.