Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Ron Paul's Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Now Has 207 Co-Sponsors


Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Now Has 207 Co-Sponsors

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Now Has 207 Co Sponsors  100609RPAt time of writing, a bill that would see the Federal Reserve bank audited for the first time in 59 years has 207 cosponsers in the House and is gaining traction with every single day.

This means just 11 more are needed for a majority to be reached in the House.

If enacted, HR 1207 will amend title 31 of the United States Code and reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States.

In other words, for the first time since 1950, the the independent financial powerhouse that creates and regulates all money in the US will be forced by law to open its books.

HR 1207 was sponsored and introduced by Rep. Ron Paul. On February 26, 2009, it was referred to the House Committee on Financial Services, where it remains under consideration.

HR 1207 also has a companion bill, S 604: F R Sunshine Act of 2009, in the Senate.

This news also dovetails with reports detailing how the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the panel responsible for investigating the use of bailout money, has issued a subpoena to the Federal Reserve, asking them to hand over all documents relating to the takeover of Merrill Lynch by the Bank of America.

Claims by New York Attorney-General Andrew Cuomo that former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke strong-armed BofA into buying Merrill, could see the two exposed to prosecution.

There is no doubt that the privately owned Federal Reserve is in hot water, and it knows it.

As we reported last week, the Fed is hiring a veteran lobbyist to “manage its relations with Congress”. According to a Reuters report, the Fed plans to hire Linda Robertson, who previously worked for now-defunct energy company Enron, as well as the Clinton administration.

It is also no coincidence that the End the Fed movement has recently been targeted by smear campaigns. The MIAC report cited Ron Paul supporters as potential extremists and the United States Army Reserve Command issued “mitigation measures” in response to End the Fed demonstrations around the country last year.

Ron Paul recently explained to Forbes why the passage of HR 1207 is so important:

The Federal Reserve’s recent and unprecedented actions in the realm of monetary policy have provoked a backlash among the American people. Trillions of dollars worth of loans and guarantees have been provided to Wall Street firms, while Main Street Americans suffocate under harsh taxation, the prospect of higher debt levels and increasing inflation. These events have awakened many Americans to problems with the Fed’s loose monetary policy, the bubbles it has created in the past and the potential hyperinflation it might cause in the future.

One of the fallacies of modern economics is the idea that a central bank is required in order to keep inflation low and promote economic growth. In reality, it is the central bank’s monetary policy that causes inflation and depresses economic growth. Inflation is an increase in the supply of money, which in our day and age is directly caused or initiated by central banks. All other things being equal, inflation results in a rise in prices. A so-called “mild” rate of inflation of 3% per year leads to a 56% rise in prices over a 15-year period. Even a “low” rate of inflation of 2% per year leads to a 35% rise over that same period. How is that conducive to long-term growth?

A common misconception is that the Fed is completely independent of political pressures. While the Fed has far too much authority to make agreements with foreign governments and central banks, or create temporary liquidity facilities, the governors and–more important–the chairman, are appointed by the president.



If passed, HR1207 will ensure that the Fed make public the destination of the trillions in taxpayer “loans” that have been simply handed over to private banks without oversight.

Bernanke will be seated before Congress and forced to answer these questions instead of worming his way out of them, citing “extraordinary circumstances” and the like, as we have seen him do over and over for the past eight months.

The bill, if it becomes law, will expose how the Fed has consistently engaged the inflation of the currency for the gain of a few elite international bankers, further exposing how this kind of criminal action has directly led to financial crises and recessions for decades.

An audit would set the stage for the end of the Federal Reserve and a return of honest money and fiscal policies.

Indeed, Jim Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, today told CNBC that the Fed’s balance sheet is “so out of whack” that the central bank would be shut down if subjected to a audit.

“In essence, the bill requires an audit of the Fed’s activity which shall be made available to Congress,” wrote Glenn Greenwald recently. “What possible arguments exist against this bill? Who opposes an audit of the Fed’s activities and why?”



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Tune in to The Alex Jones Show today (June 10th 2009) to hear Congressman Ron Paul give an update on the progress of HR 1207.

The Daily Paul blog site has compiled a list of Democrats and a list of Republicans who have not signed on to co sponsor HR 1207. If your representatives are in either of these lists, we urge you to contact them and pressure them to cosponser the bill.

A full list of the 207 cosponsers follows. The ever growing list can also be tracked online at the Library of Congress here.

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