Under attack, Bernanke studies politics
Survival » Fed scrambles as its power comes under more fire than at any time in years.
By Edmund L. Andrews
The New York Times
Updated: 11/11/2009 01:10:36 PM MST
Washington » With the Federal Reserve under more intense attack than at any time in decades, Ben Bernanke, the professorial chairman of the central bank, was schooled last month in how to handle the increased political demands of his job.
For months, he had warned -- without anyone on Capitol Hill appearing to listen -- that a seemingly innocuous bill to let Congress "audit" the Fed would gravely threaten the central bank's independence.
It was alarming enough that the bill's author was Rep. Ron Paul, the quixotic Texas Republican whose new book, End the Fed , had just landed on the best-seller lists. Despite vigorous protests by Bernanke, nearly 300 House lawmakers and 30 senators had endorsed Paul's bill.
But when he sat down shortly after 8 a.m. on Oct. 1 at the Rayburn House Office Building for coffee and muffins with Rep. Barney Frank, the rumpled and wisecracking chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, he took in some blunt advice.
Continues and Comments: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/wire.php?view=8672
Sen. Christopher Dodd's quest for single bank regulator faces fierce opposition
Critics including bankers, regulators and fellow legislators warn that his plan overlooks the strengths of the current patchwork and ignores the potential downsides of consolidation.
By Brady Dennis and Binyamin Appelbaum
November 12, 2009
Reporting from Washington - Sen. Christopher J. Dodd this week joined the generations of dreamers who have called for eliminating the nation's muddle of banking regulators, arguing that a single agency would be more efficient and would end the ability of banks to choose the most lenient supervisor.
"The financial crisis," Dodd (D-Conn.) said, "exposed a financial regulatory structure that was the product of historic accidents, one after another, over the past 80 years, created piece by piece over decades, with little thought given to how it would function as a whole and unable to prevent threats to our economic security."
Continues: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/wire.php?view=8664
To Preserve Liberty, We Must Understand Monetary Policy
Posted by Matt Hawes on 11/13/09 3:39 PM
In his latest C4L update, Congressman Ron Paul discusses recent events that will have a significant impact on monetary policy, talks about the dollar, and answers a question concerning the IMF.
VIDEO (7:55): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts88V...layer_embedded
SOURCE and COMMENTS: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=28484
How the Fed Helped Pay for World War I
Mises Daily: Thursday, November 12, 2009 by John Paul Koning
Governments can pay their bills in three ways: taxes, debt, and inflation. The public usually recognizes the first two, for they are difficult to hide. But the third tends to go unnoticed by the public because it involves a slow and subtle reduction in the value of money, a policy usually unarticulated and complex in design.
In this article, I will look under the hood of the Federal Reserve during World War I to explain the actual tools and levers used by monetary authorities to reduce the value of the public's money in order to fund government war spending. This example will help readers better understand the more general idea of an "inflation tax," and how such a tax might be used in the future to fund the state's wars.
Continues: http://mises.org/daily/3828
Ron Paul Interview
Posted by Matt Hawes on 11/12/09 6:42 PM
Dr. Paul interview Friday morning on CNBC's Squawk Box about Audit the Fed.
VIDEO (10:57): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJuPR...layer_embedded
SOURCE: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=28453
What Is the Fed Hiding?
Posted by
Thomas Woods on 11/13/09 3:07 PM
Robert Wenzel recently asked this question over at Economic Policy Journal.
An excerpt:
Quote:
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They are hiding something here that they don't want the general public to see. I suspect it might have to do with gold transactions. It's just a gut feeling, but my gut tells me the Fed leased out most of, if not all, of its gold somewhere under $500 per ounce, probably under $350. Thus, in order for central banks, who borrowed the gold (and then sold it to raise cash), to pay the Fed back in gold, they would now have to go and buy gold back at three to four times the price they sold it at. In other words, a number of central banks aided and abetted by the Fed are now short huge amounts of gold and are losing more money everyday gold ticks up. And the Fed is in the embarrassing position of having loaned the gold out and is afraid to call in the gold loans, since it would put enormous pressure on parts of the central bank cabal and push the gold price much higher, the exact opposite of the Fed's intentions when they leased the gold out.
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Read the whole thing: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com...ed-hiding.html
SOURCE and COMMENTS: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=28522