Hello, this is Ron Paul with your weekly update for January 10th.
Last week, the 112th Congress was sworn in. I am pleased that I will be chairing the Monetary
Policy Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee which has oversight of the Federal
Reserve. Obviously, this position will facilitate my efforts to ensure the Fed provides the
American people with more information about what they have been doing with and to our
money.
Not surprisingly, since my chairmanship was announced, apologists for the Fed have been
recycling the old canard about how increased transparency threatens the Fed's so-called
political independence. By 'independence' they are referring to the Fed's ability to
greatly impact the economy with virtually no meaningful oversight. We only recently
learned that the bankers at the Fed were able to use the latest financial crisis to bail
out Wall Street cronies and foreign central banks with billions of dollars that were created
and wasted instead of appropriated and voted on by representatives of the people. The Fed
and its supporters in the Congress vehemently fought even this small bit of transparency
and without this one-time provision in the Financial Reform Act forcing disclosure we
would still not have this information.
Indeed, we are in the dark on so much of what the Fed has done. This is extremely dangerous
for our country, yet this power and secrecy is defended as some kind of public good, which
is patently ridiculous. Our government is based on a system of checks and balances.
With no check on the Fed, it is no surprise it has thrown the economy wildly off-balance.
The solution is not to reinflate the bubbles the Fed created or to continue to devalue
the currency or to throw billions at failing banks and corporations. The solution is to
return sanity and freedom to monetary policy. Forcing the entire country to use a medium
of exchange that is subject to the whims of elite bankers and their cronies on Wall Street
is not sanity. Hoping that an unchecked all-powerful behemoth banking cartel will solve any economic
problem is not sanity.
The problems the Fed was originally created to solve now look miniscule compared to the
problems it has created. If political independence erodes the purchasing power of the currency
by 98%, destabilizes the economy with radical booms and busts, all while increasing unemployment
and tipping us ever closer to hyperinflation, perhaps it is time to try a little transparency
and accountability instead. Better still, we should try goving the people true economic
freedom.
Make no mistake, the Fed is not truly independent of political pressure. Its chair is appointed
by the president and it is a creature of Congress. Congress has a duty, albeit a neglected one,
to exercise oversight of the Fed. However, even if it was politicially independent, it
is not independent of the influence of Wall Street. One only has to look at the revolving
door between the Fed and the big banks to know that. Disclosure of TARP funds confirm
this. It is nothing short of cruel and criminal for Congress to stand idly by while the life
savings of Americans are inflated away to nothing. It is high time Congress insists
on getting complete information on what the Fed has been doing and for whom.
My hope is that exposing the truth will demonstrate the insanity of the status quo and more people
will call for sensible changes, such as legalizing competing currencies.
Thanks for calling this update. A new update is placed on this number, 888-322-1414 every
Monday. The written text can be found on my website www.house.gov/paul under the heading
"Texas Straight Talk". Thanks for calling.
