Guest Post by
When it comes to the Fed, Congress is mired in hypocrisy. The anti-regulation, de-regulation crowd on Capitol Hill shuts its mouth when it comes to the most powerful regulators of all – you and the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, Congress goes along with the out-of-control, private government of the Fed—unaccountable to the national legislature. Moreover, your massive monetary injections scarcely led to any jobs on the ground, other than stock and bond processors.
– From the post: Ralph Nader Destroys the Federal Reserve in Open Letter – Calls it “Out of Control, Private Government”
Rand Paul’s signature “Audit the Fed” legislation failed to garner the 60 votes needed in the Senate to move the measure forward. Of course, this is merely the latest in a never-ending series of banker victories, and a truly devastating blow against liberty, free markets, transparency and any hope for government by the people and for the people. Ensuring that light is never shined on the Fed’s shady, corrupt and unaccountable bailout activities has always been a key goal of the American oligarchy, and they succeeded once again.
Kudos to Rand Paul for trying, and respect to Democrat Bernie Sanders for voting in favor. Elizabeth Warren voting against is inexplicable and indefensible.
More from MarketWatch:
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A bill that would have allowed Congress to order reviews of Federal Reserve interest-rate policy decisions failed a procedural test in the Senate on Tuesday as supporters failed to come up with the 60 votes needed to cut off debate on the measures.
The measure to curb the powers of the Fed has been a central theme of the presidential campaign of Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky. The legislation would end a ban on the Government Accountability Office’s authority to audit the U.S. central bank’s monetary policy moves that has been in place since 1978. The Republican House has already approved the measure.
The bill was designed to “pull back the curtain and uncover the cloak of secrecy” at the Fed, Paul said on the Senate floor. He said there had not been a full accounting for the swelling of the Fed’s balance sheet — to $4.5 trillion from roughly $800 billion before the financial crisis.
Just 53 senators voted to halt debate on the bill Tuesday. Sixty or more votes for “cloture” would have paved the way for possible final passage of the bill.
The bulk of the opposition to the measure came from Democrats.
Because supporting an unelected, unaccountable bank cartel is so liberal.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, who is ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, said Congress should “keep its hands out of monetary policy.”
Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen called the bill “a grave mistake” and warned the measure could lead to higher market interest rates.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, voted for the measure.
The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. An amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Wall Street reform law passed one year ago this week directed the Government Accountability Office to conduct the study. “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,” said Sanders. “This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you’re-on-your-own individualism for everyone else.”
Among the investigation’s key findings is that the Fed unilaterally provided trillions of dollars in financial assistance to foreign banks and corporations from South Korea to Scotland, according to the GAO report. “No agency of the United States government should be allowed to bailout a foreign bank or corporation without the direct approval of Congress and the president,” Sanders said.
The non-partisan, investigative arm of Congress also determined that the Fed lacks a comprehensive system to deal with conflicts of interest, despite the serious potential for abuse. In fact, according to the report, the Fed provided conflict of interest waivers to employees and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and corporations that were given emergency loans.
For example, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase served on the New York Fed’s board of directors at the same time that his bank received more than $390 billion in financial assistance from the Fed. Moreover, JP Morgan Chase served as one of the clearing banks for the Fed’s emergency lending programs.
In another disturbing finding, the GAO said that on Sept. 19, 2008, William Dudley, who is now the New York Fed president, was granted a waiver to let him keep investments in AIG and General Electric at the same time AIG and GE were given bailout funds. One reason the Fed did not make Dudley sell his holdings, according to the audit, was that it might have created the appearance of a conflict of interest.
To Sanders, the conclusion is simple. “No one who works for a firm receiving direct financial assistance from the Fed should be allowed to sit on the Fed’s board of directors or be employed by the Fed,” he said.
The investigation also revealed that the Fed outsourced most of its emergency lending programs to private contractors, many of which also were recipients of extremely low-interest and then-secret loans.
The Fed outsourced virtually all of the operations of their emergency lending programs to private contractors like JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. The same firms also received trillions of dollars in Fed loans at near-zero interest rates. Altogether some two-thirds of the contracts that the Fed awarded to manage its emergency lending programs were no-bid contracts. Morgan Stanley was given the largest no-bid contract worth $108.4 million to help manage the Fed bailout of AIG.
A more detailed GAO investigation into potential conflicts of interest at the Fed is due on Oct. 18, but Sanders said one thing already is abundantly clear. “The Federal Reserve must be reformed to serve the needs of working families, not just CEOs on Wall Street.”
To read the GAO report, click here.
Now here’s how the Senate voted:
Par for the course in…
For related articles, see:
The Federal Reserve Refuses to Provide Names Requested by Congress in Probe
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
Both my lame-assed Senators were “nays”. Are some of you getting a clearer picture of why I’m for Bernie Sanders? We need this shit fixed and fast. There are zero guarantees Trump would do anything positive but butter his own bread with this bunch, after all, everything’s a “deal” to him.
Bernie, on the other hand, with little to gain but justice, is saying a lot we can agree with, AND he knows HOW to get it done. Trump is clueless.
Both mine voted yes!
FTR, both of my senators voted yea, must be because I called.
The auditing would have shown (or are there several sets of books?)
just how much the “Fed” gave to foreign banks (to cover the fraud) in
total. And the real QE, and what fees were pd to administer and advise.
The Goldman bankers, and Citi, Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley etc.
are truly vile. $$$$$…and the gov just loves to protect them and their
hush $.
This is probably the year of decision when the Banksters crash the dollar, impose Marshal Law, implement & implant the Mark of The Beast Chip, their e-money and abject slavery of the Goy.
“Elizabeth Warren voting against is inexplicable and indefensible.”
No, Elizabeth Warren voting against is just more proof that she is controlled opposition, living up to her nickname – Fauxcahontas.
I’m surprised it got that many votes. But really, an audit wouldnt do anything. It was public information when the Fed pulled system liquidity in 2008 and caused the crash. The Fed is actually very transparent in its operations. This isnt rocket science. Their actions of the past 8 years have been rather open. The only thing we might see from an audit is how exactly they are affecting the stock market during options expiration weeks. But even there I dont think we’d really see anything meaningful. And does it matter anyway? The market is going to go where it is going to go regardless of opex games. Right now the Fed is withdrawing liquidity. This will drive the market down, just like QE drives it up. That’s really all we need to know about the Fed, and we dont need an audit to see it.
If you want to reign in the Fed, there is only ONE way to do it: stop the treasury from writing bonds. It is Congress that gives the Fed its ammo, through deficit spending. But as the market declines, sooner of later these clowns are going to explode the deficit. Then the Fed will get what it wants: more bonds to buy. It is ALL about the deficit.
Warren is phonier than Hillary. Does it mean anything to supposedly informed people that she worked out of an office in the Federal Reserve when she was Consumer Poobah?
Bernie voted yea, interesting, both MI senators (D’s) voted nay, no big surprise.
Guillotine the Fed. Audit the heads!
At least one of the republicrats in PA voted yes. Ted Cruz is the real fraud here, and the idiot republicans are fallilng for his schtick.
I really can’t believe that sheeple here refer to the people in the senate as “My Senator”
They are not your Senators
They are bought and paid for by the PTB.
Thinking that our problems are going to be solved in some sort of political process is infantile.
Has anyone else noticed that the stock market takes a serious shit every time one of these bankers’ balls bills comes up for a vote? “You pass this bill and we’re going to drop it to fucking zero.”
Really doesn’t matter that it failed.
Very few people would understand or care about it.
And nothing can be done about it anyway, no one seems to have a plan that wouldn’t collapse everything into the world of Mad Max or result in WWIII.
No one man IS Caesar.
I’m shocked……..shocked I tell ya.
What did you expect you stupid sheep?? Every damn time you discuss this like it WILL REALLY HAPPEN….RIGHT !! Here is a clue, IT AIN”T EVER GONNA HAPPEN.
Stop being stupid and start starving Corporate America, that is the only thing that will get their attention.
Show vote. Rand has to go back to running for senate. Since he has no accomplishments as a senator, now he can go, looky, looky. I was gonna fight the fed! He’s at 1% in today’s NYT/CBS poll. I think the country is about tired of these guys. Talk a big game, and then, nothing. Show votes aren’t important. Buy I guess riding mitch McConnell nuts has it’s privledges. Thanks for playing, suckers
Star- We are in full agreement on this one, right down the line. Only suckers would keep falling for this dog and pony show AND Rand Paul and his magical “audit the Fed” schtick.
Never had any doubt. Thanks to the Republicunt Party where a majority don’t mean jack.Cucks knew the bill didn’t have the % to win when they cas thir YEA vote…just more fake wrestling…same as it always was.
[img[/img]
Smoke and mirrors my friends….nothing but..“Republicans have been trying to undermine the Federal Reserve mandate to strive toward full employment,” he added on Tuesday morning. http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/265589-senate-rejects-pauls-audit-the-fed-push
Hey Flash- I actually agreed with you and Starfcker in the same thread…….Do you think we are actually making progress?
Have we reached the tipping point where the citizens hold up the middle finger to these pricks and roll out the guillotines??
The jew cocksucker blumenthal and the nigger loving murphy both voted nay, but that’s to be expected in the People’s Glorious Revolutionary Workers Paradise of CT.
How else would they vote? The entire political hierarchy in CT is made up with traitors and fucktards. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. There are no ‘good guys’ in this shitstorm.