"Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?"

[WhiskeyGirl]

You can't disregard economic law in perpetuity without someday paying a penalty. What economic law is the Fed ignoring? The law that says that when you spend more money than you take in, you go bankrupt. The Fed has been postponing that day of reckoning through the Bretton Woods agreement, which placed the dollar as the de facto international currency since WWII. But that can't go on forever when you keep debauching the currency.

That's why we need to audit the Fed, so as to keep them in line. HR 1207 and S 604, the bills that will audit the Fed, will do that. And for the first time, the Fed is sweating bullets. They are really afraid at what an honest audit might reveal. Good. Let's put on the heat more and more until they crack.

Our country faces a financial disaster and I personally think it can't be avoided, but know this-the blame cannot be put on President Obama, nor on former President Bush, nor any other politician. It is totally the Fed's fault. Since the Fed has kept their decisions out of the hands of the politicians all these years, they cannot now blame anyone else for the financial mess we're in, nor for what is coming.

There's a Latin saying that is applicable here: Quis custodiet ipsos custodies? Or: Who keeps the keepers? Good question. Who keeps the Fed? They say that they want to keep monetary decisions out of the hands of the politicians, but at least the politicians are answerable to the people. Who will make sure that the Fed won't give in to old fashioned greed and use their power to line their own pockets? Remember, we're talking about trillions of dollars here. That's a BIG temptation.

read more here -
http://www.examiner.com/x-22208-Salt-Lake-City-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m9d3-The-failure-of-the-Federal-Reserve

[Deenie]

Whiskey Girl - I so wish you and I could IM

Re: Federal Reserve - in happenstance within the Dictionary
Quid pro quo (From the Latin meaning "something for something")[1] indicates a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. English speakers often use the term to mean "a favor for a favor" and the phrases with almost identical meaning include: "what for what," "give and take," "tit for tat", "this for that", and "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours".

Whiskey I* love your posts

[WhiskeyGirl]

Partly in response to this huge increase in the Fed's power (its secret lending is equal to two-thirds of the federal budget), more than 270 representatives in Congress have co-sponsored a bill that would have the Government Accountability Office audit the Fed...

Most people might consider it perfectly reasonable to have Congress's auditing arm review what the Fed has done with $2tn of the taxpayers' money to ensure that everything is proper. After all, we wouldn't let other government agencies spend one millionth of this amount ($2m) without some sort of record that could be verified.

OK, Bernanke warned Congress that if the Fed had less independence, it could lead to "reduced economic and financial stability." We have just been through a year in which the Great Depression was a more frequent topic of conversation than the Superbowl, World Series, and Oscars combined. In fact, Bernanke is given credit for preventing another Great Depression. The Congressional Budget Office is now projecting that unemployment will average in the double digits throughout 2010 and it will not be until 2014 that the unemployment rate falls back to its normal level.

Who's going to be paying all that debt that comes due in 2012?  Where is the money coming from?

For some strange reason, other nations are recovering from the depression/recession much faster than the U.S.  Why?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/07/ben-bernanke-federal-reserve-congress

"Tens of billions remain in bank bailout fund"

The government has tens of billions of dollars left in the eye-popping $700 billion bank bailout fund created last fall, prompting a debate in Congress over what to do with it.

The Treasury Department wants to keep the money at its disposal in case the economy gets worse. But fiscal conservatives like Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama want the money kept to pay down the national debt.

According to GAO, the government has disbursed approximately $339 billion and promised $102 billion more. That leaves some $259 in the fund plus the $70 billion banks have repaid.

The Treasury Department says it already has plans for some of the remaining money and predicts the available funding in TARP will be much lower, about $127 billion.

"We need to end the bailouts and return that money to the taxpayer," said Bachus, R-Ala.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8599770

I think the debt should put the nation in survival mode.  End deficit spending.  Pay down the debt.  Return tax and spending for social programs to the states.  It's too easy for Washington to use the National Credit Card and force future generations into debt bondage. 

imho

[WhiskeyGirl]

"...545 people are responsible for our woes"

We as citizens of the United States of America cannot propose budgets like the president can. Nor do we have the constitutional authority to vote on appropriations like the House of Representatives has. We cannot write tax codes or set up fiscal policy like Congress can, nor control the monetary policy as the Federal Reserve can through Congress.

The transformation of a citizen to a politician works (kinda) like this: A nonpolitician decides to run for office and the intentions are always honorable. He communicates the wants and needs of his constituents and votes accordingly. The longer the nonpolitician remains in office, an amazing transition begins to take place.

He becomes an important person. Special-interest groups seek him out. Many avenues of opportunity, public and private become available. He begins to experience POWER. He no longer represents those constituents who voted him into office, but now votes for what he deems is best for them and not necessarily what they want. The longer he remains in office the more entrenched a politician he becomes, unwilling to give up the power he now has.

Wake up, America! We should vote all politicians out of office and institute mandatory terms, as we do for the president. We need to remove all "perks" and have those 545 politicians work as the rest of America is expected to.

http://www.starbulletin.com/editorials/20090917_just_545_people_are_responsible_for_our_woes.html