What is the Federal Reserve hidiing from us?
What is the Federal Reserve, our country's central bank, hiding from us?
A recent court ruling directs the Federal Reserve to turn over certain information to Bloomberg LP, the financial information company. Bloomberg wants the Fed to specifically identify the companies participating in its emergency lending programs.
Those programs are a part of the massive bailout engineered by the Fed the the government. While we know that come banks have taken certain emergency funds to prop themselves up, we don't know who and how much. It's being kept a secret. In spite of the court ruling on August 25th, the Fed has still not disclosed the information. They are considering an appeal to another court.
Congress sits on a bill demanding an audit of the Fed. This bill wants even more information. Basically the bill calls for a complete audit of the Fed's operations.
When Ben Bernanke was recently interviewed on 60 minutes, he claimed the Congress wanted to interfere with the Fed's decision-making. But, as far as I know, the bill would allow Congress to conduct an audit. It's does no authorize Congress to make decisions regarding monetary policy - the exclusive province of the Fed.
Since its founding in 1913, the Fed has surrounded itself in an aura of mystery. And it has not allowed itself to be audited by an independent organization.
Remember what it is: a bank; specifically, the central bank of the United States. Every other bank has to submit to audits. In fact, the Fed itself audits many banks as part of their list of responsibilities. But no one audits the Fed.
So since 1913, almost 100 years now, the Fed has managed to operate essentially in secret. And they've done this in a free society whose financial system requires a high degree of transparency. In fact, some of the problems in the recent financial crisis, as it turns out, came about because of a poor degree of transparency on the part of some government agencies and financial institutions. They were hiding facts from the public, even from their own investors.
The government is audited. Perhaps we don't always know all the facts we'd like about the government. But it's operations are regularly submitted to audit. And when it tries to keep information secret, it has to provide a serious reason (e.g., national security) for keeping the information secret.
The Fed doesn't have to provide any serious reasons for keeping information secret. How do they get away with this? More importantly, what are they hiding?
A recent court ruling directs the Federal Reserve to turn over certain information to Bloomberg LP, the financial information company. Bloomberg wants the Fed to specifically identify the companies participating in its emergency lending programs.
Those programs are a part of the massive bailout engineered by the Fed the the government. While we know that come banks have taken certain emergency funds to prop themselves up, we don't know who and how much. It's being kept a secret. In spite of the court ruling on August 25th, the Fed has still not disclosed the information. They are considering an appeal to another court.
Congress sits on a bill demanding an audit of the Fed. This bill wants even more information. Basically the bill calls for a complete audit of the Fed's operations.
When Ben Bernanke was recently interviewed on 60 minutes, he claimed the Congress wanted to interfere with the Fed's decision-making. But, as far as I know, the bill would allow Congress to conduct an audit. It's does no authorize Congress to make decisions regarding monetary policy - the exclusive province of the Fed.
Since its founding in 1913, the Fed has surrounded itself in an aura of mystery. And it has not allowed itself to be audited by an independent organization.
Remember what it is: a bank; specifically, the central bank of the United States. Every other bank has to submit to audits. In fact, the Fed itself audits many banks as part of their list of responsibilities. But no one audits the Fed.
So since 1913, almost 100 years now, the Fed has managed to operate essentially in secret. And they've done this in a free society whose financial system requires a high degree of transparency. In fact, some of the problems in the recent financial crisis, as it turns out, came about because of a poor degree of transparency on the part of some government agencies and financial institutions. They were hiding facts from the public, even from their own investors.
The government is audited. Perhaps we don't always know all the facts we'd like about the government. But it's operations are regularly submitted to audit. And when it tries to keep information secret, it has to provide a serious reason (e.g., national security) for keeping the information secret.
The Fed doesn't have to provide any serious reasons for keeping information secret. How do they get away with this? More importantly, what are they hiding?
Comments