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Carrying Capacity Network Action Alert
August, 2009
E-ALERT
Carrying Capacity Network
ASAP! Coalition E-Alert
AUDIT THE FED!
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House Bill 1207, The Federal Reserve Transparency Act, seeking to audit the Federal Reserve has quietly gained more than 245 sponsors in the House of Representatives and is now gaining momentum as it awaits a hearing in the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA). Congressman Frank, notoriously unwilling to confront the issue of Federal Reserve oversight, has continued his evasion, stating through his office that he has not yet taken a position on this bill. Even Frank himself stated that the Federal Reserve has too much power, but said “It’s the law, there is nothing we can do about it.” Certainly the Congressman hasn’t forgotten that it was Congress who gave the Federal Reserve its power in the first place, and it would take little more than the passage of a bill such as House Bill 1207 to take some of that power away.
The Federal Reserve is neither a Federal institution, nor a reserve of any kind. It is a small consortium of large, privately-owned, for-profit banks, whose identity is kept secret, that have been authorized by Congress to set monetary policy and create money out of thin air, for profit. In a rare interview with 60 Minutes, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke states that Congress, rather than using the U.S. Treasury to create new money at no cost, allows the Fed to create money with a simple ledger entry, which the Fed then loans back to the government, at interest, which is paid by the taxpayer. In fact, almost $2 trillion in government bailout money has been created by the Fed with just a few simple ledger entries. At this very moment, the government is paying millions of dollars in interest daily, which could be saved by having the U.S. Treasury create the money instead.
Worst of all, there is virtually no oversight over ANY of the money created and distributed by the Fed and no say over how or where it is spent. In a video that is nothing short of infuriating, the Federal Reserve’s own Inspector General states that even she does not know who has received more than $2 trillion in bailout money nor does she know how those who did receive it have spent it. She also states that the she has never audited the Federal Reserve, which is the Inspector General’s primary responsibility under the law. This lack of oversight has led to $11.9 billion being funneled though insurance giant AIG to investment bank Goldman Sachs and billions more to other Fed banks. The fact that Congress and U.S. Taxpayers are not told to whom The Fed lends or gives money is outrageous. The reality is that the Fed purposefully keeps this information secret. When the Fed was asked by the government to turn over documents disclosing lending practices and financial information, they provided only heavily redacted documents where large portions of the documents were blacked out or altogether missing.
The Federal Reserve is so concerned over the results of an audit that they have hired, using taxpayer dollars, a public relations lobbyist, to lobby Congress not to pass House Bill 1207. Given the level of secrecy and self-dealing within the Federal Reserve, it should come as no surprise that the new hire, Linda Robertson, was a former employee of Enron, the now-defunct energy company found to be falsely inflating profits in what was, at the time, the largest financial scandal in U.S. history. This scandal has since been dwarfed by Fed bankers, who have produced the largest financial debacle in world history.
The Federal Reserve Transparency Act is a compromise bill, seeking simply to audit self-interested, private bankers that have been totally exempt from any oversight, yet are responsible for almost half of this country’s annual debt. In 2008, the U.S. government paid the Fed an astounding $451 billion in interest payments alone. This year, that number is set to reach about $675 billion. These figures represent INTEREST PAYMENTS, not principal payments, which means our overall debt to the Fed of more than $2.5 trillion, goes up, but never goes down. If the Federal Reserve Transparency Act is brought to the House floor for a vote, it is widely accepted that the bill will pass the House with little trouble (it is not hard to see why). With overwhelming support from the House, the pressure for the Senate to pass the bill will be overwhelming. The real question is, will Congressman Barney Frank release the bill and allow the vote? He may be attempting simply to stall the vote long enough for the Fed’s new PR wizard to lobby against the bill.
In a recent hearing, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke issued what many view as a threat to stall the economy, if the Fed were audited, saying it would “be highly destructive to the stability of the financial system.” Just last week, several of the largest websites supporting the Federal Reserve Transparency Act were broken into (known as “hacking”) and either destroyed or taken offline. The Fed bankers will stop at nothing to retain their stranglehold on our economy and line their own pockets. Take these simple steps to encourage policymakers to stop wasting TRILLIONS of dollars and use the U.S. Treasury to create new money, not the Federal Reserve.
- Call Barney Frank! As Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank has the authority to hold hearings on the bills, instead of ignoring the issue. Instead of using existing statutes as an excuse for letting the Fed control U.S. monetary policy, he should work to change or eliminate those statutes. Contact his office and let him know that you want the government to stop needlessly wasting hundreds of billions of dollars every year, enriching a small group of private bankers. You will need to call or write his office, as Congressman Frank does not have an email address.
Congressman Barney Frank
2252 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5931
- Call your Senator and Congressman and ask that they support House Bill 1207 to audit the Federal Reserve as well as House Bill 2755 to abolish the Federal Reserve.
- Click here to contact your Congressional Representative in the House! Spread the Word! Many people, even legislators, are unaware of how the Federal Reserve operates and how U.S. monetary policy is set. The banks belonging to the Federal Reserve are kept secret and there is no transparency as to how they operate. This needs to change. Please pass the information in this letter along to anyone that may be interested. Go to www.carryingcapacity.org to support CCN's efforts!
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