Ron Paul's Hour of Power

By Patrick J. Buchanan

The decades-long campaign of Ron Paul to have the Government Accountability Office do a full audit of the Federal Reserve now has 313 sponsors in the House.

Sometimes perseverance does pay off.

If not derailed by the establishment, the audit may happen.

Yet, many columnists and commentators are aghast.

An auditors’ probe, they wail, would imperil the Fed’s independence and expose it to pressure from Congress to keep interest rates low and money flowing when the need of the nation and economy might call for tightening.

They cite Paul Volcker, who to squeeze double-digit inflation out of the economy in the late Carter and early Reagan years, drove the prime rate to 21 percent, causing the worst recession since the Depression. Volcker, they claim, prepared the ground for the Reagan tax cuts and seven fat years of prosperity.

That decade, America created 20 million jobs — and another 22 million in the Clinton era. Without Volcker putting the economy through the wringer, it could not have happened. And had he been forced to explain his decisions, Congress would have broken his policy.

Such is the cast for Fed independence.

But if true, what does this say about our republic?

Is it not an admission that, though Congress was created by the Constitution, and the Fed is a creation of Congress, our elected representatives cannot be trusted with the money supply, cannot be trusted with control of the nation’s central bank? To have decisions made in the national interest, we need folks who do not have to answer to voters.

If this be true, the republic is closer to its end than its beginning, when Thomas Jefferson said, “In questions of power, let us hear no more of trust in men, but rather bind them down from mischief with the chains of the Constitution.”

Others contend that were it not for the independence and vision of Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, the economy might have gone over the cliff and into the abyss after the Lehman Brothers collapse in October 2008.

What opponents of Paul’s audit are thus saying is that elected legislators must be kept out of the temple where the great decisions about the economy are made, that these decisions must rest with bankers and economists answerable, as is the Supreme Court, to themselves and no one else.

But has the performance of the Fed been so brilliant any intrusion upon its privacy is sacrilege?

Among the failures of the Fed is the Great Depression. As Milton Friedman related in his Monetary History of the United States, for which he won a Nobel Prize for Economics, the Fed hugely expanded the money supply in the mid-to-late 1920s.

Following a path of least resistance, the money flowed into the equity markets, where stocks could be bought on 10 percent margin. The market soared, and a huge bubble was created. When it popped, scores of thousands of investors conducted a run on the banks to get their money out to meet their margin calls.

Thousands of banks, short on cash, closed. One-third of the money supply was wiped out, and the Fed failed to replenish the lost blood. Thus did the Fed cause the Great Depression.

Smoot and Hawley were framed.

Moreover, every bubble from the dot-com of the late 1990s to housing this decade is a result of Fed policy. For unless there is an excess of money sloshing around, funds that surge into one market, be it housing, stocks or Third World loans, have to come out of another.

Moreover, if the Fed has not failed dismally in its duty to keep prices stable, how come candy bars and Cokes that cost a nickel in the 1950s cost 50 or 75 cents today, and new Cadillacs that sold for $3,200 in the late 1940s cost $55,000 or $60,000 now? Who is responsible for inflation, if not the Fed?

Moreover, it is now conceded that the Fed, in the early years of this 21st century, kept interest rates near 1 percent for too long, and created the bubble that popped in 2008 and almost brought down our own and the global economies.

Because the Fed can create money out of thin air, we have been able to wage wars on credit, shovel out trillions in foreign aid, World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans, and run humongous budget and trade deficits that have brought our country to the brink of ruin.

And if Bernanke is a genius, how is it he didn’t see the train wreck coming and had to double-time it to the Hill with Hank Paulson to plead for $700 billion to bail out AIG, Fannie and Freddie, and buy all that rotten paper on the books of Citibank & Co.?

The greatest economy the world had ever seen has been horribly mismanaged and virtually ruined by the decisions of presidents, Congress and the Federal Reserve. Main Street has been wiped as Wall Street was bailed out. Why?

Bring on the auditors!

Source: Buchanan.Org

The Federal Reserve is preparing to grab more power

by John Tate

This week, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on Barney Frank's financial regulatory reform bill, which is yet another thousand page-plus attempt to increase the powers of Congress and the Federal Reserve while destroying more of what little free market our country has left.

Contact Congress and tell your representative you have seen enough of the federal government's thousands of pages of regulations and tinkering around in our economy.

Composed of several bills, the final package up for vote is H.R. 4173, slyly titled "The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act." With amendments, this legislation now exceeds 1500 pages!

H.R. 4173 would create more government bureaucracies to interfere with market operations, and, according to Subtitle G of the bill, the federal government would also have direct authorization to take over and break up any financial institution it deems to be "too big to fail."

So imagine what Congress, well-skilled in articulating pseudo-justifications, would then be able to do, by law, to any institution that resisted its interventions!

Your representative needs to hear from you immediately! Find your congressman's information here.

Be sure to urge your representative to set a new tone in Washington by instead supporting an up or down, standalone vote on Audit the Fed, H.R. 1207. Before Congress even considers the Federal Reserve's future role in our economy, it should know what the Fed is up to with the powers it currently has.

It's long past time to deliver the answers the American people want and deserve about what is being done with their money.

Tell your representative to oppose H.R. 4173 and to push for a standalone vote on Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill!

Source: Campaign For Liberty

Audit the Fed – or end it? | fed, paul, auditing - Opinion - The Orange County Register

Sometimes persistence meets opportunity. Dr. Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican congressman from Texas who ran an enthusiastic but ultimately quixotic campaign for the presidential nomination last year, has introduced a bill to audit the Federal Reserve System going back to 1983. He finally got some traction on the idea this year. His bill attracted 317 co-sponsors (180 Republicans, 137 Democrats). It is slated to be voted on and probably approved today as part of a much broader package of new government regulations on financial institutions.

Ironically, Dr. Paul will probably vote against it. His whole purpose in politics is to reduce regulation and government involvement in the economy, and he'll stick to those guns even though the bill has a little sweetener he likes.

Such adherence to principle is admirable and all too rare. Support for the idea of auditing the secretive Fed probably does not reflect widespread support for Dr. Paul's ultimate goal of abolishing the Fed, but a rising populist resentment of powerful secretive institutions and a sneaking suspicion that the Fed contributed to last year's financial fiasco and then focused on protecting bankers and other fat cats.

We hope support for auditing the Fed leads to more fundamental questioning of whether the Fed should exist at all. It's worth noting that the Fed was supposed to stabilize the money supply and the economy, but since it was formed in 1913, panics, downturns and financial fiascos have been more frequent and severe than they were before.

Whether that comes to pass, auditing the Fed and making its operations less opaque seems to be an idea whose time has come.

Source: Orange County register

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Academics Spar With Populists Over Fed Audits

A group of academic economists – including several Nobel Prize winners, leaders of respected economic journals and former Fed officials – is dialing up its call for lawmakers to drop plans to subject the Federal Reserve to more scrutiny by the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress.

In a letter to leaders on the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee, the economists say a bill proposed by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Tex.) and Alan Grayson (D., Fla.) to let the GAO review Fed monetary policy would do “serious harm to the economy.” They warn increased congressional oversight would harm the Fed’s independence and ability to fight inflation.

Mr. Paul has built a popular movement in part on his attacks against the Fed and won large support in the House for his bill. Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, has a growing body of academics on his side. Some 270 economists have signed the letter, including Edward Prescott, Myron Scholes, Daniel McFadden, Fynn Kydland, Roger Myerson and Robert Engel, all Nobel winners.

Source: LewRockwell.com

Help Ron Paul End the Fed's Secrecy

In her latest Washington Post article, "A lonely voice against the Fed now leads a chorus," Tomoeh Murakami Tse covers Ron Paul's efforts to Audit the Fed, his newest book End the Fed, the development of his libertarian philosophy and rejection of Keynesian economics, and his reasons for opposing the disastrous financial regulatory bill, even though a Fed audit is attached as an amendment. Quoting Dr. Paul:

"That's my tradition," he said. "I won't vote for a bill that's a disaster because 1 or 2 or 5 percent of it is an improvement."

It's time to make a stand for principled action. An audit being passed along with Frank's regulatory bill would have its impact minimized by the vast powers granted to the Federal Reserve.

Help Ron Paul know his voice is not the only one calling for central bank transparency: contact Congress and demand a legitimate audit of the Federal Reserve with a stand alone vote of HR 1207 on the House floor.

Source: Campaign For Liberty

Forget the Audit: Just Go Ahead & Abolish the Federal Reserve

By Jim Trafficant

ON MARCH 17, 1993, I addressed the House of Representatives in one of the many “budget” debates. Over the past 16 years, many publications and books have reprinted my speech.

They viewed my speech as being on target. Researchers have written to me regarding the speech, confused because it was printed in two areas of the Congressional Record. My floor remarks were brief, but I inserted the entire speech into the “extension of remarks” section of the record.

Nevertheless, the speech stands today as prophetic. America is bankrupt, and it’s growing worse by the day. The U.S. government was technically dissolved by the “Emergency Banking Act” of March 9, 1933. THAT’S A FACT.

If you have any doubt, just look around. Foreclosures and unemployment run rampant. The dollar is dropping so low it could fit under a closed door with a top hat on, yet every day the mainstream media is trying to convince us that the recession is over. Who’s kidding whom? If you take Social Security and Medicare out of our economy, it’s a full-blown depression—a total belly-up depression.

The real rub emanates from the fact that the “trustees” who preside over U.S. bankruptcy are the international bankers, via the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

I proclaim that all U.S. offices, officials and departments are now operating within a de facto status in name only under “Emergency War Power.”

Our constitutional form of government was technically dissolved and replaced by a so-called “democracy,” a government in actuality being a socialist-communist order under a new governor for America.

You must be thinking that I’ve lost my marbles by now—I don’t blame you. But, here come the facts. This chicanery occurred when authority was transferred and placed in the Office of the Secretary of Treasury under the governor of the International Monetary Fund. [Public Law 94-564].

In essence, the dollar was changed from a “promise to pay a dollar in silver or gold” to a “federal reserve note.” Now think about it: the dollar became a “promise,” not “money.”

The U.S. dollar is a debt instrument, nothing more than another debt obligation of the American people. And where is this obligation to be paid? You probably guessed it, to the Federal Reserve Bank.

Let’s tell it like it is. Federal Reserve notes are literally unsigned checks written on a closed account. It’s nothing more than inflatable paper creating more debt through inflation every time our currency is devalued.

Truth is, inflation is actually another tax; invisible, never seen, but a tax just the same. I don’t know about you, but I always thought that a “contract” under common law is only valid if it involves an exchange of some “good and valuable consideration.”

If that’s not enough to frost your pumpkins, check this out: The Federal Reserve System is a sovereign power structure separate and distinct from the U.S. government. It is in fact, a private corporation.

We, the people of these United States, owe this private corporation consisting of international bankers a mountain of debt. The collateral on this debt is our very own homes and properties.

We the people are nothing more than tenants and sharecroppers, renting our own property from the Federal Reserve Bank. Most Americans are mortgaged to the hilt with few or no assets, working harder and profiting less, constantly in debt to a private corporation they know little or nothing about.

BEAM ME UP. This has gone on way too long—WAKE UP AMERICA.

This is nothing more than economic slavery to a bunch of international fat cats. Our Constitution has been turned upside down, violated and discarded like toilet paper. Unbelievable.

It’s not rocket science folks—CONGRESS SHALL COIN MONEY, so mandates the Constitution. It’s very clear to me: the Federal Reserve System should be abolished, not just audited so the politicians can feel good, but abolished. Enough is enough. In closing I say “audit this.”

Source: American free Press

End the Fed Rally -- Nov. 22

For Everyone Who Wants HR 1207 to Happen, A Must Read By Edwin Vieira.

Edwin Vieira is a Constitutional lawyer that supports Ron Paul.

This is from his article Smashing the Axis of Financial Fraud

{ A snip }
Even earlier, Thomas Jefferson had predicted the reason for such a sorry state of affairs:

From the conclusion of the [W]ar [of Independence] we shall be going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights.[2]

Jefferson was all too prescient. Ever since his day, the political class has looked elsewhere than to the American people for support—and always found it from the financial class.

The financial class has arrayed itself on the side of the political class, and the political class has arrayed itself on the side of the financial class—not just in an incestuous coupling, but in the veritable fusion of a political-cum-financial hermaphrodite: the full integration and consolidation of bank and state.

This unholy alliance has always centered around a mechanism by means of which the financial class can create ersatz “money” out of nothing tangible—through a monopolistic national bank (the First and Second Banks of the United States), then a national banking conglomerate (the National Banks of the Civil War), and finally a fully corporative-state banking apparatus (the modern Federal Reserve System), all operating on the basis of “reserves” so increasingly fractional that they have now become essentially fictional. Through the General Government, the political class has guaranteed the continuance of this scheme, in one form or another, for more than two hundred years.
By so doing, the political class has always been able to count on the support of the financial class—but only at the cost of enabling the financial class to exercise exorbitant influence over the General Government, and through the General Government over the American people themselves.

The true name of this system is financial fascism......much more at link:

Source: News With Views

The Fed At The Heart Of Control Of Our Country

Who controls things in Washington DC, really? americans dont understand how their system really works, Thugs with Ivy League Degrees run the show, debt monetized at a frantic pace and makes matters worse, delinquent and default mortgages, banks get money for nothing

Last week the Dow added 1.3%, the S&P 1.5%, the Russell 2000, 0.2% and the Nasdaq 100, 0.7%. Cyclicals rose 2.6%; transports 3.8%; consumers 1.7%; utilities 1.3%, as banks fell 0.3% and broker/dealers fell 0.6%. High tech fell 0.2% semis 1.1%; bitoechs 1.9% and Internets rose 0.2%. Gold bullion rose $3.00 and the HUI was unchanged, but up 47.5% on the year. The USDX, the dollar index fell 1.1% to 75.62.

The 2-year T-bills fell 2 bps to 0.83%, the 10-year notes rose 2 bps to 3.41% and the 10-year German bund added 8 bps to 3.28%.

Freddie Mac 30-year fixed rate mortgages rose 5 bps to 4.92%; the 15’s rose 4 bps to 4.37% and the one-year ARMs jumped 7 bps to 4.60%. The 30-year fixed jumbo fell 6 bps to 6.00%.

Federal Reserve credit declined $12.9 billion, up 21% yoy. Fed foreign holdings of Treasury/Agency debt rose $4.1 billion to a record $2.865 trillion. Custody holdings for foreign central banks expanded at a 17.5% rate ytd, and yoy 15.2%.

M-2 narrow money supply fell $23.3 billion to $8.341 trillion, that is 5.9% yoy.

Total money market assets dropped $42.3 billion to $3.404 trillion. They have declined $427 billion ytd, or 14.1% annualized.

The charade in NYC and Washington goes on. There is no question that our government is controlled by the unelected that lurks behind the scenes or are appointed as bureaucrats to run our country. It was never more evident than when administrations changed last January. Team A replaced Team B, all of whom just happen to be members of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group. There is no debate. There is only one plan and that is for one-world government. These are the Illuminists who will Shepard us into final bondage. This is what our government is all about today and has been since WWII.

The heart of the elitist control mechanism is the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department. Control of our country emanates from these two entities. They control the purse strings of our nation. They allow us to pay for our own destruction. This is achieved by taxation and debt. The system in place has been used for centuries to keep control over people. The elitists want total power over us and all the inhabitants of the world.

Their plans to bring down the world’s economic and financial structure is well underway. The problem is that the public has begun to discover what they are up too via talk radio, the Internet and publications such as the International Forecaster. That has caused the elitists to accelerate their plans and that has opened the window of opportunity for us.

This is why now it is the appropriate time to pass HR1207 and SB604, bills to audit and investigate the Federal Reserve. Once the public discovers what these elitists have been doing to the American people for almost a century, they will disband the Fed and turn its job of monetary policy back to the Treasury where it was placed by our Constitution. This way we will have control and transparency. The next step will be to close the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington.

t has been two years since the beginning of the credit crisis and the breakdown of our economic and financial structure. The plan by the elitists since then has been to keep the system functioning as long as possible so that they can continue their massive frauds and corruption; or until the time is ripe to allow the system to collapse. These plans are ably assisted by 95% of our House and Senate who are bought and paid for. The corruption is so widespread that investigations do not take place and the guilty are protected and at worst pay a fine.

Due to these machinations the America we have known is gone. Our country is run by thugs in $3,000 suits with Ivy League degrees.

Most Americans do not understand what is going on or don’t care to know. Most are ill-educated and do not really and a chance of comprehending what is going on. That is compounded by drugs and alcohol and a steady stream of media propaganda and brainwashing produced by NYC and Washington. Our daughter teaches the fourth grade and 20 of 23 students are not passing. They are split three ways: white, black and Spanish speaking. Then there is no ‘Child Left Behind,’ which will make sure they pass summer school and when they graduate they will be functionally illiterate. It doesn’t get much worse than this. When we went to school one or maybe two out of 30 wouldn’t pass and they were kept back for a year. It is outrageous. They spend all their time studying for federal government mandated tests, and learn little else. Our three grandchildren read one to four extra books a week and fortunately really excel in their studies. It can be done, but it takes lots of work and dedication something that most parents do not have time for. This in part is what is responsible for America’s failure and lack of leadership. Leadership, which is totally in the hands of the wealthy Illuminists. If it is any consolation the rest of the world isn’t doing much better.

The geniuses, the masters of the universe, have a broken system. This time the system they have deliberately destroyed cannot be resurrected. Due to talk radio, the Internet and publications such as the IF they had to accelerate their program for on-world government and they are scrambling, hoping they’ll be successful, and unscathed. We will make sure they’ll be no chance of that.

As a result of these machinations America is at the mercy of its creditors and for all intents and purposes is bankrupt. The only thing left holding America together is its imperial armies that eventually will collapse for lack of funding. Foreigners are not going to stand for monetization indefinitely. Yes, the players know the system has failed, and some have already broken ranks. If they had not Forex assets in sovereign reserves would not have fallen from 64.5% to 62.8% over the past nine months, as proof of that.

We have told you where we have been headed over and over again for more than ten years and we have been almost totally right unfortunately. If we do not stop these monsters we and our ancestors will live in bondage for ever. That is why passage of HR1207 and SB604 are so important. We have to drive a stake through the heart of the Illuminist machine. That heart is the Fed. If we are unsuccessful we are doomed to chaos and perhaps revolution. Americans had best wake up and snap out of denial.

Most analysts try to figure out what others within the financial and economic sphere are doing. Unfortunately they are burdened by playing within the system. They cannot see what is really going on because for one reason or another they are forced to frame their results within the inner sanctum of the Illuminists. This is the cover that is used for deliberately destroying nations. These ideas cannot simply be avoided. You would think reading history that all these brilliant people wouldn’t be deceived, but they have been. Every time, what they are doing has been tried, has been a failure. Deliberate collapses, destroyed currencies, social chaos and revolution. During the French Revolution 300,000 people such as these lost their heads. Perhaps this time it will be 3 million. Inflation can only be controlled by deflation and deflation is totally uncontrollable. Misguided isn’t the word for it. Smug and arrogant they’ll again be proven wrong and unfortunately we will all pay a terrible price.

The progenitors of this false economic policy, Keynesianism, have brought the distortion of price mechanisms, created unlimited opportunities for speculation and they have thrown all discipline to the wind. This is the basis for our current Federal Reserve System, which is the engine for such a philosophy. As a result of this policy we will be entering hyperinflation next year and the dollar will continue to fall in value.

Even though gold and silver are suppressed, gold hit a new high this past week. The CRB index did as well with oil leading the way. This is all a manifestation of coming hyperinflation and a falling dollar.

The Keynesians are pumping the money supply and monetizing domestic and foreign debt at a wild pace. The deflationary undertow continues strong as residential and commercial property prices continue their decent. The final impact is still two or more years away.

There are few financial reports that do not include bogus accounting. The FASB changed the rules last year and allowed mark-to-model accounting. Let’s see if they reinstate mark-to-market January 1st. The Basel Accords have been simply ignored and no one discusses them. Exclusive of present on and off balance sheet losses, banks are going to get hit with more residential foreclosure losses and they will be hit by 35% more commercial losses over the next two years. If nothing else the banks cannot refinance perfectly good loans because they do not have the funds to do so.

The big question for the banks is will the government perpetuate this fraud? We do not know, but we rather think they may for the good of the country. If fraud continues it will be for the benefit of Illuminists who run the banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies and transnational conglomerates. Either way again all they are doing is buying time; the end result will be the same. The banking, brokerage and insurance businesses are still broke. Nothing has been done to fix the underlying problem. There have been no structural changes, just the same old criminality. Any changes are patchwork for the public. Stimulus packages, home loan modification and $250 checks for seniors who will not get a COLA increase for the next three years. It is like the mad hatter has been set loose.

Where are the tariffs on goods and services we so desperately need to bring production and jobs back from the third world? Without them everything else is futile. Offshore tax-free earnings, now some $1.3 trillion, are too juicy for the Illuminists to give up. Then again, what better way to destroy an economy, as we wrote in 1967 in the American Mercury?

Then there is the outrageous scam of terrorism and mindless, endless war to again fill the coffers of the Illuminists and rid the world of useless eaters.

Monetization only makes matters much worse, as we shall see when hyperinflation revisits us next year. In this process the dollar is allowed to collapse and it was planned that way.

Borrowers have sold more than $1 trillion in US corporate bonds in 2009, the fastest pace on record. Citigroup and General Electric were the year’s biggest issuers. Sales compare with $873.2 billion in all of 2008, and $1.17 trillion for 2007, the biggest year for bond sales.

The record rally in the price of loans owed by the riskiest corporate borrowers may end a two- year drought in leveraged buyouts. Banks provided almost $7.5 billion of high-yield loans in the U.S. and Europe since July 1 to finance acquisitions, more than double the amount in the three months ended June 30 and more than four times the figure in the first quarter.

Central banks flush with record reserves are increasingly snubbing dollars in favor of euros and yen, further pressuring the greenback after its biggest two-quarter rout in almost two decades. Policy makers boosted foreign currency holdings by $413 billion last quarter, the most since at least 2003, to $7.3 trillion. Nations reporting currency breakdowns put 63% of the new cash into euros and yen in April, May and June, the latest Barclays Capital data show. That’s the highest percentage in any quarter with more than an $80 billion increase. World leaders are acting on threats to dump the dollar while the Obama administration shows a willingness to tolerate a weaker currency in an effort to boost exports and the economy. The diversification signals that the currency won’t rebound anytime soon after losing 10.3% on a trade-weighted basis the past six months, the biggest drop since 1991.

US foreclosure filings climbed to a record in the third quarter according to RealtyTrac Inc. A total of 937,840 homes received a default or auction notice or were repossessed by banks, a 23% increase from a year earlier.

The Chicago Transit Authority proposed service cuts and boosting some bus and train fares 33% to close a $300 million budget gap prompted by pension obligations and the weak economy.

The volume of delinquent commercial mortgages jumped sevenfold last month as borrowers who got loans with lax terms fail to make debt payments amid sinking real estate values, according to Credit Suisse Group AG. In September, installments on $22.4 billion of mortgages were at least 60 days late, up from $3.2 billion a year earlier. The delinquency rate rose 33 bps to 3.34%.

Even as the economy continues to struggle, much of Wall Street is minting money — and looking forward again to hefty bonuses.

Many Americans wonder how this can possibly be. How can some banks be prospering so soon after a financial collapse, even as legions of people worry about losing their jobs and their homes?

It may come as a surprise that one of the most powerful forces driving the resurgence on Wall Street is not the banks but Washington. Many of the steps that policy makers took last year to stabilize the financial system — reducing interest rates to near zero, bolstering big banks with taxpayer money, guaranteeing billions of dollars of financial institutions’ debts — helped set the stage for this new era of Wall Street wealth.

You can’t make up stuff like this! Facing jeers over outlandish pay, the CEO of Goldman Sachs stresses the social goods of his firm's business.

Blankfein, speaking at a breakfast conversation hosted by Fortune, emphasized that the investment firm serves "an important social purpose" by channeling pools of money held by pension funds and others to companies and governments around the world…

But Blankfein said principal trading -- trades the firm makes for its own account -- makes up just a small fraction of Goldman's profits. [Perhaps Blankfein needs remedial math.]

How can Blankfein make such an absurd claim when in the last quarter $10B of Goldie’s $12.4B in revenue came from trading? Obviously Blankfein believes people are stupid given his statement that Goldies principal trading makes up a small fraction of Goldie’s profits. What a crock! And Al Capone used to run soup kitchens.

Borrow from the Federal Reserve at zero and lend to Treasury for a profit. That's some racket. The banks have no incentive to lend. Most of them still have a significant amount of bad loans sitting on their books that they don't want to recognize as nonperforming. If the banks recognize these bad loans, all the write-offs may force them into bankruptcy. Instead, they hope that over time renegotiated loan terms will eventually allow the borrowers to make their payments. This ordeal could last at least a decade if this cycle is similar to other crises, like Japan's lost decade of the 1990s…banks can earn a huge spread by borrowing virtually unlimited amounts for nothing and lending that same money back to the Treasury.

Source: The International Forecaster

Americans Want Federal Reserve’s Secret Shenanigans Exposed

A recent survey by a major U.S. polling firm has found that an overwhelming majority of Americans support auditing the privately owned and controlled Federal Reserve.

According to the respected national polling company Rasmussen Reports, 75 percent of American respondents said they “favor auditing the Fed and making the results available to the public.”

In a press release issued in late July, Rasmussen did not specifically cite Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill (H.R. 1207), instead vaguely referring to the fact that “half the members of the House now support a bill giving the Government Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative agency, the authorization to audit the books of the Federal Reserve Board.

Support for the bill has grown now that the Obama administration is proposing to give the Fed greater economic regulatory powers.”

It also noted that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, during a recent town hall meeting, tried to convince the gathering that the American public does not believe government should be involved in managing money.

“I don’t think the American people want Congress running monetary policy,” he said. Rasmussen’s pollsters certainly showed that the American people disagree with Bernanke and want the secret fiscal operations engaged in by the Federal Reserve Board exposed.

During a telephone survey of 1,000 adults conducted between July 27 and July 28, the polled found that only 9 percent of respondents opposed the plan, saying that they think it is a bad idea to scrutinize the country’s central bank. Another 15 percent said they were not sure. Other findings by Rasmussen include:

46 percent of Americans say the Fed chairman has too much power over the U.S. economy. Fifty-one percent of those taking the survey oppose expanding the Fed’s regulatory powers. 54 percent of Americans believe interest rates will continue to rise in the coming years by as much as 20 points.

“So much for the ongoing secrecy of the nation’s independent central banking system,” concluded Rasmussen. Since AFP’s last report on the Audit the Fed bill, six new congressmen have signed up to co-sponsor Paul’s landmark bill bringing the grand total to 282. They are:

Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif), Rep. Laura Richardson (DCalif.), Rep. John A. Boccieri (D-Ohio), Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.) and Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.).

The Senate version of Paul’s legislation (S. 604), introduced by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Ver.) has 20 cosponsors. They include: Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Sen.Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Sen. Russell D. Feingold (D-Wisc.), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Sen.Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Sen. Blanche L. Lincoln (D-Ark.), Sen. JohnMcCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.).

Source: American Free Press

Fed warns on Congressional scrutiny - AGAIN!

The Federal Reserve warned on Thursday that a growing congressional threat to curtail its independence would destabilise markets and raise the cost of servicing US debt for “current and future generations”.

Ron Paul, the Texas Republican, has gathered the support of a majority of the House of Representatives for a bill that would audit the Fed’s monetary policy decisions. He told a Congressional hearing he wanted the power to prevent the Fed being "secret and clandestine and serving special interests”.

The Fed is struggling to face down a political backlash from different parts of Congress amid scepticism over its policies designed to restart the flow of credit and the award of new powers to curb systemic risks.

Donald Kohn, vice-chairman of the Fed, argued at the House financial services subcommittee hearing that any sense of political interference would negatively affect markets. “Any substantial erosion of the Federal Reserve’s monetary independence likely would lead to higher long-term interest rates as investors begin to fear future inflation,” he said.

Not only did Mr Kohn argue that the Fed should be given the power to regulate large systemically significant companies, but he argued against giving up responsibility for consumer protection, asking Congress to overturn the Obama administration’s proposal to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

”I would hope that the Congress might think about whether there are ways of strengthening the Federal Reserve’s commitment to consumer regulation as an alternative to creating a new regulator,” he said.

As US authorities have considered how to reform the country’s regulatory regime in the wake of the current economic crisis, the Fed has been drawn into an argument with other regulators over who oversees the US’s largest financial institutions.

The conflict appeared to end with the Obama administration giving power over systemically significant insitutions to the Fed, with additional oversight from a council of regulators including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

But critics in Congress have not given up an attempt to push all or more of the power to the council, taking it away from the Fed. The hearing on Thursday heard support for that view. Mr Paul’s audit bill now has more than 250 co-sponsors.

Source: FT.Com

FED FOCUS-Bid to clip Fed's wings gains support in Congress

WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) - A proposal from a long-time congressional foe of the Federal Reserve that could give lawmakers sway over monetary policy has won the support of a majority in the House of Representatives, alarming officials at the U.S. central bank.

The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, put forward by Republican Representative Ron Paul of Texas, now has 250 co-sponsors in the House. It will get air-time on Thursday during a congressional hearing on Fed independence that will feature testimony from the Fed's No. 2 official, Donald Kohn.

Public anger over the trillion dollars the Fed has put into play to battle the financial crisis and bail out investment bank Bear Stearns and insurer American International Group (AIG.N) has created a backlash and calls for more accountability.

A proposal from President Barack Obama to put the Fed in charge of monitoring risks to the entire financial system has intensified the scrutiny.

Paul has tapped into this anger and put forward a 2-1/2 page bill that would explicitly repeal a provision of law that prohibits the Government Accountability Office, a government watchdog agency, from auditing monetary policy decisions.

Fed officials see this as a dangerous intrusion on their independence that could hinder their ability to make the best long-term decisions for the economy.

Paul, however, thinks Congress needs more control.

"Why should they be independent? Independence to them means secrecy, do whatever they want, spend billions of dollars, bail out their friends," Paul told Reuters Television.

Paul's bill, which is co-sponsored by 78 Democrats, would also expose Fed transactions with foreign central banks, Fed emergency lending operations and discussions between Fed officials to scrutiny by the GAO, which can offer policy suggestions to lawmakers.

To become law, the bill would need to win support from the House Democratic leadership, who have yet to show an appetite to move the bill. It would then have to pass the Senate, where support would likely be scarcer.

But analysts say Congress is unusually sensitive to the public mood in the wake of the crisis and say the bill must be taken seriously.

"This is the most populist Congress that we've seen in decades and legislation like this can quickly gain momentum if it is ignored," said Jaret Seiberg, a financial services policy analyst at the Washington Research Group.

Citing the recent congressional clamor over executive compensation and new rules on credit cards, he said Democratic leaders may be wary of blocking legislation they feel is picking up popular support.

"This Congress has shown that when the electorate is upset it will act extraordinarily quickly ... This should not have any legs at all, and the fact that it does shows how populist this Congress has become," Seiberg said.

The Fed, for its part, is taking Paul very seriously.

"My concern about the legislation is that if the GAO is auditing not only the operational aspects of our programs and the details of the programs, but is making judgments about our policy decisions, that would effectively be a takeover of monetary policy by the Congress," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said during congressional testimony on June 25.

That would be "a repudiation of the independence of the Federal Reserve, which would be highly disruptive to the stability of the financial system, the dollar and our national economic situation," he warned.

Co-sponsors of Paul's bill say the intention is not to clip the Fed's wings, but simply to let a little daylight into a very secretive institution.

"It is important for them to remain independent. But I still believe that these are taxpayer dollars, and the more light that is shined on expenditures and cost analysis is something that the taxpayer is entitled to," said Representative Shelley Capito, a Republican from West Virginia.

An effort in the Senate to attach a matching bill to other legislation was thwarted on procedural grounds.

But analysts say the bill could be offered up as a possible Republican amendment to any finance bill until midterm elections in November 2010 in the hope of persuading a few more Democrats to give it their backing.

"There's a trade-off between their business as a central banker and their need for stability in the financial system and also their accountability and transparency," said Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who is a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee. "That's going to have to be worked out. I don't think there's yet a complete conclusion as to how that's done," he told Reuters.

Source: Reuters

Helping the Mad Hatters Understand the Tea Party Phenomenon

In April, a large number of well-attended Tea Parties drove the media mad. The movement has grown, and we can tell that these displays matter because the Mad Hatters aren't ignoring them.

* On air personalities with maturity-levels rivaling Beavis and Butthead could not resist the juvenile references of calling the attendees "Teabaggers," which according to the Urban Dictionary is a sexual act. Gee, weren't they clever?
* Other alleged reporters sought to portray the attendees as uncontrollable nut jobs who didn't realize all this spending was good for them.
* A Hollywood celebrity joined in the fun, labeling attendees small-brained, delusional people with a racist vendetta.

As you can see, far from ignoring you, they've put your Tea Parties in Gandhi's ridicule stage... verging on the attack and burn stage.

Your Tea Parties are driving the media mad as a hatter. But if these rallies keep building, someday the Mad Hatters will be building monuments to you.

Here at DownsizeDC.org, we are opposed to Random Acts of Liberty. By Random Acts of Liberty we mean those tactics which require a great deal of energy, but have no future plan -- big ideas that don't build into something else. Schemes of this sort are as common as sand, and they can suck a movement dry.

But frankly, we're encouraged by the Tea Party movement. The size, the repetition, and the critical response to it, all indicate effectiveness. And more and more Americans will feel comfortable considering our ideas, not to mention associating with them, as these movements grow larger. Success breeds success.

Indeed, the tax parties are growing and spreading, and the folks coming out are getting signed up to join various groups -- to keep working after the big event is over. This is a huge key: Getting folks involved... Growing armies (Sound familiar?).

Obviously, we'd like to grow the Downsize DC Army. And there have been a lot of requests for Downsize DC materials for these protests.

I am pleased to announce that we've created two simple flyers. Both can be printed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and are available at our website in pdf.

* One flyer, which we released a few months ago, is a general Downsize DC flyer, inspired by the mood of the April 15th Tea Parties. It has a simple, but nice graphical flair. It comes "two-up" on a page (every sheet you print is actually two); just cut each page in half.

* The other handout is full page sheet -- an introduction to both the Read the Bills Act and Write the Laws Act.

* In addition, you can order The Downsize DC Vision, our 16 page, color, glossy report (every new donor receives one). We can rush a package of 45 Visions to you in Priority Mail box for $99. If you want to order a stack, please contact us at Feedback@DownsizeDC.org

And if what we're offering here isn't what you're looking for, perhaps you can come up with materials of your own. If you do, please share them with us at the Feedback address.

In April, I was privileged to speak at one of these Tea Parties. It was Americana. Despite the smallness of the city, about 400 attended. They were polite and personally upbeat. They were not partisan, rather they cheered when I and other speakers scorned the major parties by name.

The assembled crowd seemed to love my talk, and one of the attendees invited me to the event I'm attending Thursday. The title of my presentation was, "A Three Trillion Dollar Federal Budget Cannot Possibly Be Constitutional."

I will give this same speech at the events I'm doing Thursday and Saturday. I'll point out that Congress has power to allocate funds or pass binding laws in 22 different areas, 20 of which are listed in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. This is the doctrine of Enumerated Powers.

A bill to require Congress to state where it gets the authority for any bill the body votes upon has been introduced by Rep. John Shadegg. It's called The Enumerated Powers Act, and today's Educate the Powerful action item is to send a message to your Representative and Senators to join Mr. Shadegg in sponsoring this bill.

* On Thursday, July 2nd at the Cadiz, Ohio courthouse, starting at 6:00pm.
* Then again on Saturday, July 4th at a rally that runs from 1:00 - 4:00pm in Pontiac Park, Defiance, Ohio.

Source: DownsizeDC.Org

Chair of Federal Reserve and several others are suspected of committing crimes, who will prosecute?

Well, here it is folks, a very small example of the major criminal activity of the criminal bankers that are running our country. You heard it right from the Judges mouth, these men have been exposed to have committed a crime, and should be charged and prosecuted for it!

I have been blogging about this criminal regime of bankers who are robbing us and running our government from behind a curtain of secrecy over and over again. It is important that we take note of this recent exposure. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE THAT RUN OUR ECONOMY, THAT CONTROL OUR CURRENCY, OUR INTEREST RATES, THAT ARE TELLING US TO BACK OFF FROM AUDITING THEM OR THEY WILL COLLAPSE OUR ECONOMY! Hmm, Mr. Bernanke, that sounds alot like the threat you employed to force Bank of America to purchase Meryll Lynch for 17 billion dollars more than it was worth, that you would "fire" the president if he did not go through with the deal.

Now, if we choose not to leave you alone, if we demand to see what activity you have committed to behind closed doors concerning our money and our economy, you will bankrupt us?

SCREW YOU! And screw the rogue administration under Obama who is now moving with force to protect and further empower you!

When will people get it? These are the people in control. They have a transnationalist philosophy which they live by, they have no allegience to the United States, only to profits the burden of which is carried on the backs of the American taxpayers. They have shown not only a willingness to ignore and operate outside of the law, but have taken the position that they are above the law telling us to back off or the dollar, and our economy, just might collapse.

We know all of this! WE SEE AND HEAR IT COMING RIGHT FROM THE MOUTHS OF THESE CRIMINALS! AND IN THE WORST ACT OF TREASON OF ALL, OBAMA, AT A TIME WHEN SCANDAL AND CORRUPTION, SECRECY AND SUSPICION SURROUND THE FEDERAL RESERVE, IS MOVING SWIFTLY TO EMPOWER THE FED WITH LEGAL CONTROL OVER OUR ENTIRE FINANCIAL SECTOR AND MARKET, AND TO PROTECT THEM FROM ANY SERIOUS SCRUTINY.

No wonder Geithner is the Secretary of Treasury, he is the former Chair of the Federal Reserve!!

CORRUPTION AND SCANDAL ARE THE WORKS OF THE MOVERS AND SHAKERS RUNNING THIS COUNTRY AND THIS ECONOMY BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF SECRECY.

CONVICT THE CRIMINALS! IT IS TIME TO TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK.

It's time to put criminals behind bars!

Source: The Fading American Dream

Federal Reserve warns The People to BACK OFF

"Effectively be a takeover of monetary policy by the Congress...a repudiation of the independence of the Federal Reserve...would be highly destructive to the stability of the financial system, the dollar, and our national economic situation." -Bernanke

This is a threat of economic collapse if we, The People, try to audit the private, independent Federal Reserve who controls our monetary system. We were warned about this by our founding fathers. James Madison told us, "History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit and violent means possible, to maintain their control over governments, by controlling money and its issuance." President Andrew Jackson openly stated, "If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations. I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic, inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a monied aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country."

Now, the Federal Reserve is under public scrutiny for the first time. The American people are growing wary of the actions of the Fed that are taken completely in secrecy involving our money. They issue our money, and we are charged interest on every dollar they issue. You like paying taxes? You like working 3 to 5 months out of the year to pay those taxes? What if you found out that those taxes were going to cover the interest these bankers are charging our government to issue our money? Well, that is exactly what is happening, and it has been for nearly 100 years.

People are starting to realize a few things. They are realizing, first of all, that the Federal Reserve is not even Federal. They are realizing the the Fed controls our complete monetary system, and now under Obama will gain control of our complete financial system including regulatory oversight into private business, and that this is as far from free market as you can get. They are also beginning to learn that the Fed operates in complete secrecy with no oversight or regulation, and can therefore handle our money and our debt in any way they choose, including investing in foreign entities, using our own money.

Now, as H.R. 1207 passes into the Senate and gains momentum, and as the Federal Reserve has been caught red handed in a cover up of coercion and intimidation involving the mergers and sales of some other private financial institutions, they are warning us to back off.

Bernanke, the Chief Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and the 4th most powerful man in the world, is telling us that if we do not back off, we will face economic collapse with certainty.

What should we do? Should we heed the warning of the 4th most powerful man in the world, and arguably the most powerful man in America? Should we back down and say, "oh, well, you know it's ok. Go back to doing your business in complete secrecy. Manipulate our markets, endebt us without end, meddle in foreign affairs with our money. Hell, do whatever you want. Just don't collapse our economy!"

I mean, what kind of a response is appropriate here? Do we buckle under and let them continue to operate our economy in secrecy? HELL NO! We deserve to know exactly how our money is handled, where it is put, and why we are trillions in debt and this administration not only continues to enlist the printing presses of the Fed but moves directly to PROTECT AND EMPOWER the Fed even further.

Screw this guy. This is OUR money and OUR lives that are being handled here. America has a right to know what it's international Federal Reserve is doing with it all.

Source: The Fading American Dream

Ron Paul’s Bill Would Put Fed on the Hot Seat

Treasury Department Secretary Timothy Geithner is calling on Congress to hand the privately owned and controlled Federal Reserve even more power to regulate financial markets at a time when there is growing support among legislators to put Fed bankers on the hot seat by giving federal officials the authority to audit the central bank.

In the June 29 edition, AMERICAN FREE PRESS reported that the Federal Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 1207) introduced by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) had picked up “enough sponsors to get it out of committee and onto the floor of the House of Representatives.”

The bill gives the federal government the power to audit the privately owned and controlled Federal Reserve and its various funding arms, which have loaned, given out or guaranteed trillions of dollars to various Wall Street pals and financial institutions. At that time, the bill had 226 co-sponsors—more than half the entire membership of the House. Since then, however, the number has grown to 243, with more joining every day.

The rising popularity of Paul’s bill contrasts sharply with recent statements made by Geithner, who wants to give Federal Reserve bankers even more power to regulate financial institutions. The problem for Geithner is that it was former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan’s loose fiscal policies that have largely been to blame for the economic woes facing the country. For decades, Greenspan flooded the world with U.S. dollars, creating the perfect environment for Wall Street speculators and bankers to dig themselves a financial hole so deep that they took Main Street with them.

Now, as part of a sweeping financial overhaul proposed by the Obama administration, Geithner wants to give the Fed even more power to oversee the largest financial firms such as Citigroup and Bank of America. It’s the equivalent of putting the fox in charge of the brooder after he’s already eaten most of the chickens in the henhouse.

During a recent hearing on the matter, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), a longtime critic of the Fed, grilled Geithner: “What makes you think the Fed will do better this time around?”

Geithner could only respond that empowering the Fed “made the most sense, given the circumstances.”

It should be no surprise that Geithner continues to side with the central bank given the fact that he served as the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2003 to 2009. The New York Fed is considered the most powerful of the regional central banks due to its location near Wall Street and the leadership role it plays in setting monetary policy.

Meanwhile, Paul’s call to audit the Fed continues to make headlines across the country.

In mid June, CBS News reported in depth on Paul’s measure, which “mandates a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve.”

“The tremendous grass-roots and bipartisan support in Congress for H.R. 1207 is an indicator of how mainstream America is fed up with Fed secrecy,” Paul said.

“I look forward to this issue receiving greater public exposure.”

By Christopher J. Petherick

Source: American Free Press