"Congress probes the Federal Reserve’s controversial lending policies"

[WhiskeyGirl]

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – A congressional hearing scheduled for Tuesday is probing the extent the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank might have contributed to the government’s record debt.

Economists say the roughly $15 trillion in debt is holding back the nation’s recovery from the recession that started in 2008. They also say it could take generations to pay back.

...a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit uncovered evidence the Federal Reserve might have unnecessarily fueled the huge debt with secret, non-competitive loans.

“As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. “This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you’re-on-your-own individualism for everyone else.”

The GAO audit is prompting angry statements from members of Congress who suspect some of the money propped up foreign banks and corporations in South Korea and Scotland at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.

“No agency of the United States government should be allowed to bail out a foreign bank or corporation without the direct approval of Congress and the president,” Sanders said.

The hearing Tuesday by a House Financial Services subcommittee is intended largely to review the GAO report on its audit. Results of a second GAO audit of the Federal Reserve are due to Congress on Oct. 18.

I wonder if Tuesday's hearings will be on CSPAN?

more here - http://gantdaily.com/2011/10/03/congress-probes-the-federal-reserves-controversial-lending-policies/

I wonder how many bad loans the Fed has made since it's creation?  Who applies for all that money?  Who makes the decision to dole it out?

Is this the model for doling out energy/green grants/monies/loans?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Barney wants to fix the Fed...

Should presidents of regional Federal Reserve Banks have a vote on the FOMC, the policy-making committee of the Federal Reserve?

Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) thinks they should not:

    I have long been troubled by the anomaly of having officials– selected with absolutely no public scrutiny or confirmation– voting on some of the most important decisions the federal government makes. Therefore, I introduced H.R. 1512, which eliminates the role of the Federal Reserve’s regional presidents as voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee. The Federal Reserve (Fed) regional presidents, 5 of whom vote at all times on the Federal Open Market Committee, are neither elected nor appointed by officials who are themselves elected. Instead, they are part of a self-perpetuating group of private citizens who select each other and who are treated as equals in setting federal monetary policy with officials appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Would more direct control of U.S. monetary policy by Congress and the President be more consistent with democratic principles than the current system? I can think of several reasons why it might not be.

Why can't we just eliminate the Fed?  Open the books?  Transparency?

Why can't we use a market basket of currencies in this country?  Let Americans save in Swiss Francs for example?

The election cycle raises a second reason why giving elected officials more direct control over monetary policy need not serve the public’s best interest. By over stimulating the economy today, it might be possible for a president to increase his or her chances in the near-term election. The adverse consequences of that policy may not be perceived by the public until after the election, when it is too late to change the outcome.

hmmm...

more here - http://wallstreetpit.com/84738-monetary-policy-and-democracy

All I can hear "You just don't want poor people to have houses..."

If Barney missed the whole collapse of 2008, with seeds going back for a decade, what is he missing?

A White House controlled Fed?  More corruption?  Debt slavery for hundreds of years?