Should we audit the Fed?

[AndyZ]

I heard that the House of Representatives passed a bill to audit the Federal Reserve.  No news about if it's gone to the Senate yet.  How do people feel about it?  Should we audit the Fed?

[Callie Del Noire]

I heard that the House of Representatives passed a bill to audit the Federal Reserve.  No news about if it's gone to the Senate yet.  How do people feel about it?  Should we audit the Fed?

Personally I think we should audit congress. Every last one of them. 

[Beguile's Mistress]

Personally I think we should audit congress. Every last one of them. 

...and their spouses, parents, children, siblings, in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins and pets.

[Serephino]

I think we have a right to know how much the government is spending, and on what. 

[vtboy]

Audit the Fed? To what conceivable end? It is already perhaps the most transparent of federal agencies. Is there a serious suggestion of material discrepancies between their voluminous reports and 'back up' documentation or that they've departed from generally accepted accounting principles?

I suspect the call for an audit is just more election year stupidity,calculated to suggest the existence of fuckery to those who don't have a clue what it is the Fed does and believe it an organ of the Elders of Zion or Al Qaeda.

[Callie Del Noire]

Audit the Fed? To what conceivable end? It is already perhaps the most transparent of federal agencies. Is there a serious suggestion of material discrepancies between their voluminous reports and 'back up' documentation or that they've departed from generally accepted accounting principles?

I suspect the call for an audit is just more election year stupidity,calculated to suggest the existence of fuckery to those who don't have a clue what it is the Fed does and believe it an organ of the Elders of Zion or Al Qaeda.

I notice the areas where oversight of the federal government is the least tend to be the ones run by elected officials. I also notice agencies with power to investigate those abuses tend to be under budgeted and undermanned and frequently the ones called unneeded.

[AndyZ]

There's really no point in auditing congresspeople; we know how corrupt they are.

Here's a 60 minutes bit on Insider Trading if you've never heard of it: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7388130n

When both the Speaker of the House and the House Minority Leader, Democrat and Republican, are clearly guilty of this, you can't expect too much to get done.  It's just another example of how the government plays by different rules than the rest of us.

[BCdan]

Besides perhaps things dealing with military secrets and witness protection, I don't see why any part of government shouldn't be transparent.  Its our money, make it totally open for us to see. 

[Vekseid]

Audit the Fed? To what conceivable end? It is already perhaps the most transparent of federal agencies. Is there a serious suggestion of material discrepancies between their voluminous reports and 'back up' documentation or that they've departed from generally accepted accounting principles?

I suspect the call for an audit is just more election year stupidity,calculated to suggest the existence of fuckery to those who don't have a clue what it is the Fed does and believe it an organ of the Elders of Zion or Al Qaeda.

I still want to know why the Obama administration blocked release of pre-2008 data regarding the Fed's loan guarantee program.

There may be such a thing as too much government transparency, but even the Fed isn't practicing it.

[vtboy]

Besides perhaps things dealing with military secrets and witness protection, I don't see why any part of government shouldn't be transparent.  Its our money, make it totally open for us to see.

I wonder if those bemoaning the Fed's supposed lack of transparency have bothered to visit its website, www.federalreserve.gov?

With respect to the topic of this thread, the Fed is already subject to audits by independent, external auditors, and many of its major operations are also audited by the GAO and OIG pursuant to special Congressional mandates. For those who are curious, here is the audit page of the Fed's Annual Report for 2011:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/annual-report/2011-federal-reserve-system-audits.htm#BoardOfGovernorsFinancialStatements-5FA64451

What information about "our money" do you think the Fed is withholding?

I still want to know why the Obama administration blocked release of pre-2008 data regarding the Fed's loan guarantee program.

There may be such a thing as too much government transparency, but even the Fed isn't practicing it.

Are you sure you are not confusing the Fed with the Treasury Department which, unlike the Fed, is a part of the Administration?

[Vekseid]

Are you sure you are not confusing the Fed with the Treasury Department which, unlike the Fed, is a part of the Administration?

No, I am not

I am interested in seeing what pre-Dec 1st, 2007 guarantees were made whose secrecy is so critical to the stability of our economy. It's not like - as the report mentions - the New York Fed couldn't have used more oversight in these programs while this program was under wraps.

[Callie Del Noire]

No, I am not

I am interested in seeing what pre-Dec 1st, 2007 guarantees were made whose secrecy is so critical to the stability of our economy. It's not like - as the report mentions - the New York Fed couldn't have used more oversight in these programs while this program was under wraps.

At a guess.. I would say that they had to do something so intrinsically devastating to the public trust in the banks they were bailing out that there would be bankers getting hung by ever street light in Wall Street. SOMETHING bad, possibly bad enough to internationally cripple the US monetary standing for decades. 

Either that.. or something that had it been disclosed within a certain period of time would have been fiscally advantageous to some.

[Vekseid]

Overall the major crisis was a sort of A owes B owes C owes A... situation, massively scaled up.

So the Fed provided a number of guarantees to resolve that situation ("We'll arrange for B to get a loan so they can pay F, R, W, and C, then C can pay A but they need this much extra but they'll get it from Y and P..."). It isn't, in and of itself... 'evil'... per se. But it is wallpapering over a mess, and allowing the source of that mess to fester, and return in however long, rather than allow us to examine and correct the core problem.

Either that.. or something that had it been disclosed within a certain period of time would have been fiscally advantageous to some.

There are rumors to that effect, for sure.

[Callie Del Noire]

Overall the major crisis was a sort of A owes B owes C owes A... situation, massively scaled up.

So the Fed provided a number of guarantees to resolve that situation ("We'll arrange for B to get a loan so they can pay F, R, W, and C, then C can pay A but they need this much extra but they'll get it from Y and P..."). It isn't, in and of itself... 'evil'... per se. But it is wallpapering over a mess, and allowing the source of that mess to fester, and return in however long, rather than allow us to examine and correct the core problem.

There are rumors to that effect, for sure.

I honestly can't see any reason for the Fed to NOT be more open than there was even MORE corporate shady doings that we can't be trusted to know about 'yet' or that someone is holding the fed hostage to keep from going to jail.. well.. FOREVER.   

[GardenoftheDead]

The Federal Reserve is not some mysterious entity that is sitting on some big dirty secret. It's just a central bank.

I think there is a danger to this just like there's danger in the debate of not raising the debt ceiling. If there's any doubt about the financial credibility of the USA, the whole global economy will tank even worse than it already did.

[All Father]

As transparent as it may be, the fact remains that the Federal reserve has a ridiculous amount of influence over the federal reserve. Ron paul is the sponsor of the bill, and, truth be told, he's been saying this stuff for years. This isn't just election year drama. Whether or not you agree with with the bill, these are the reasons that they have for it... RON PAUL - Audit the Federal Reserve!!! - HR 1207

furthermore How the Federal Reserve's central banking system works in under 5 mins.

I'm not saying that i agree with this, but since there was some confusion... these are there arguments in favor of auditing it.

[Oniya]

As transparent as it may be, the fact remains that the Federal reserve has a ridiculous amount of influence over the federal reserve.

Can you clarify this?  It looks a little circular to me.

[GardenoftheDead]

Ron paul is the sponsor of the bill, and, truth be told, he's been saying this stuff for years.

I especially don't give a shit if Ron Paul is the sponsor of the bill.