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In Advance Of Tomorrow's Hearing On HR 1207 "Audit The Fed"
Tomorrow's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee by Federal Reserve General Counsel Scott Alvarez, followed by Thomas Woods, Jr of the Mises Institute will be most interesting because it will discuss the topic that is so near and dear to everyone's heart: HR 1207, or Ron Paul's Audit the Fed" bill, which is the culmination of the Congressman's life efforts to unmask the Federal Reserve. With the congressional vote on HR 1207 approaching soon, and the bill already having an absolute majority, its passage is a mere formality.
As an appetizer to tomorrow's proceedings we present today's interview of Ron Paul by Dylan Ratigan at MSNBC (Something tells us Ron Paul will not be seen on MSNBC's "Mobile Internet Tsunami" sister network any time soon).
And here is the link for the live webcast starting at 9 am tomorrow. Hopefully some of the questions submitted by Zero Hedge readers and staff will be asked of Mr. Alvarez, who will then proceed to skillfully dodge any and all direct answers.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
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Good work Tyler and ZH staff on keeping this issue alive and at the forefront.
S 604 has 28 sponsors, with Dodd and Frank backing
different bills to gut HR1207 or kill it in
reconciliation if it even comes to vote in the House
or Senate to save face for defrauding taxpayers...
http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/Favorites.CServlet?obj=ID3251493
Dodd is against it, huh? What a surprise. If the good people of Connecticut have anything left in them, they will not return that scum to Washington. Peter Schiff's investement thesis leaves something to be desired, but I think he will make a fine senator.
Agreed, Schiff will make an excellent senator. I think his dislike for our government gets in the way of his investment philosophy. He sticks to his guns too much when the facts change. If the IRS threw my daddy in jail I would be pissed too. Actually, I'm pissed without my daddy being thrown in jail.
I've written my good senator every week since Bear's collapse and since 1207 had about 20 or so sponsors on this issue.
Needless to say, I ALWAYS get the same bullshit response from Dodd.
" I believe that disclosure on the part of the Fed is warranted so that the American people can better understand the risks and the costs of the actions taken on behalf of taxpayers. That is why I, along with the Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), introduced an amendment to the Senate Budget Resolution calling for substantial monthly disclosures by the Fed as to its lending programs."
In other words:
"I understand accountability and I want accountability, as long as it doesn't interfere with my campaign contributions"
He's gone.
Whats gonna stop the Fed & the TBTF (to big to fail) banks
from creating another crisis before the audit ----
what will happen when the new treasury secretary & Obama start speachifying over and over again about impending doom ---
caused by the impending failure of the Fed to act independently
Who is going to believe Ron Paul that the impending failure is good for America?
Though I appreciate this author's point of view point, I think I'm still for the whole pants the Fed idea.
http://www.housingwire.com/2009/09/24/you%e2%80%99d-think-the-fed-was-th...
from your link:
"Second, except for a list of the actual transactions, the dates, amounts and counterparties’ names, the Fed is quite forthcoming about its activities."
The prosecution rests.
Faber calling Ben a CRIMINAL and the end of western capitalism. This guy should be the next bond villain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfuiNjvH9_c&feature=player_embedded
I am an outsider. Yet, we here have been affected by the Madness practised by Banana Ben Bernanke. In many many ways he has destroyed the very notion of a "fair market". Blood sucking bankers are at a vigorous pace destroying whatever sanity that has been left in the market. Actually, they are doing exactly the same damage they have done before. IT is alarming to note that the bankers have decided to Lord over the "world full of millions of unemployed". In any economy, Supernormal profit to bankers can result in only one conclusion,millions of lost jobs. There is no rocket science behind this assertion. Thousands of pages of so called bullshit economic theory is not required to find the root cause of so much of poverty in the world. When bankers make a lot of money a lot of people go bankrupt.Period.
Thank You.
Barney Frank doing his best to derail it
with his Bought and Paid For rant attack on the witness...
http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/Favorites.CServlet?obj=ID3251493
Barney Frank doing his best to derail it
with his 'Bought and Paid For' rant attack
on the witness. House Seats practically empty.
Do they fear the Fed?...
http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/Favorites.CServlet?obj=ID3251493
Good ol' DR.
Did GS grow a goatee?;
Sodden thought:
will the Fed just be replaced by the BIS?
Posted this earlier, an email I got from Grayson today, please follow the links and leave your comments to show your support for Grayson.
Hi Ghostfaceinvestah,
I have good news. There's a hearing this Friday on the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, HR 1207. During the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve expanded its balance sheet to $2 trillion, and refused to tell me or any other member of Congress which banks got that money. This was unacceptable, as we made clear through letters, petitions, and hearings that have received millions of views and thousands of supporters.
Since then, I've been going to the floor and asking my colleagues to cosponsor HR 1207, the bill to audit the Federal Reserve, because we need to find out who got those trillions. In the House, there are now 290 cosponsors of the bill, which means that this bill is going to pass in some form. And Barney Frank, the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, committed to a "complete audit" of the Federal Reserve.
I want to make sure your voices are heard at this Friday's hearing on HR 1207. Tell me why you think the Federal Reserve needs to be audited.
http://action.firedoglake.com/1207hearing
I know people are saying the financial crisis is over, but unemployment is still high, credit is still tight, and no one I know is getting a raise. No regulators have been fired, Ben Bernanke is being lauded in the press for his "brilliance" and we still do not know who has received trillions in bailout money.
This Friday at 9am ET, the House Financial Services Committee will begin to debate a bill to fix the situation. To prepare for this hearing, I want to hear from you why you think we need to audit the Federal Reserve.
http://action.firedoglake.com/1207hearing
Over the course of the next few weeks, I'm going to be engaging in more activities to really push transparency in our financial infrastructure. And I'm going to need your help.
Thanks,
Alan Grayson
Member of Congress
I got the same email. It is from firedoglake, a liberal blog/organization. I have no idea what Grayson's affiliation with the organization is.
same same. how'd I get on that mailing list??
I'd like to reply, but I'd like to know if it is really Grayson asking or just a data gathering program spawned by some Federal Reserve hack designed to get our names and submit them to the guys who run the black ops for after TSHTF. Not that I'm worried mind you. I just don't want to waste the ammo and night vision scope batteries chasing them away.
Good point. to be safe you can just to to Grayson's site on house.gov, should be safer.
"Not that I'm worried mind you. I just don't want to waste the ammo and night vision scope batteries chasing them away."
Now that is some funny shit!!
You probably signed the petition to Audit the Fed at firedoglake that ZH linked/publicized:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fed-transparency-petition-update-1
http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/05/time-to-make-federal-reserve.html
So what's not to like?
"this bill is going to pass IN SOME FORM." (caps added)
I don't get a good feeling when congresscreatures say things like this......it means the bill could be severely de-fanged and de-clawed
it's all in the name of compromise.
I gave a complete expression of my opinion and support for the effort that is being put forward.
Subject: A Toast - with wine - to Ron Paul.
To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine...
And those who don't.
As Ben Franklin said:
In wine there is wisdom,
In beer there is freedom,
In water there is bacteria.
In a number of carefully controlled trials,
Scientists have demonstrated that if we drink
1 liter of water each day,
At the end of the year we would have absorbed
More than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. Coli) - bacteria
Found in feces.
In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.
However,
We do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer
(or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor)
Because alcohol has to go through a purification process
Of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
Remember:
Water = Poop,
Wine = Health.
Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid,
Than to drink water and be full of shit.
There is no need to thank me for this valuable information:
I'm doing it as a public service.
lol, nice.
I will told it to my mom, perhaps she lives me out ... lol ... thanks.
namaste.
In vino veritas!
But beer is proof that G-d loves us and wants us to be happy :)
very healthy
You think the fed keeps records of all of its nefarious dealings? Which set of books are they going to look at? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!
The Fed Coloring Books.
By the way, Ron Paul has a new book out, I just ordered it, will post my impressions once I read it, but you might want to pick it up.
http://www.amazon.com/End-Fed-Ron-Paul/dp/0446549193/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&...
Got first reads at the local library.
Ron Paul is a great man, and a sound economic thinker, but not the best writer.
Cheers,
prat
its excellent. i would recommend Tom Woods - Meltdown and Creature from Jekyll Island as well although creature is a but "tin"
a good read nonetheless
doubt if they keep books at all.
Sorry wildly off-topic, but these will be off-topic on any thread I post them to -
Two weird items this morning:
1) Zerohedge.com has disappeared off Google (I'm in Australia). I'm on my husband's computer so instead of using a bookmark I just type in the name and it's usually right at the top of the Google search. Today - nowhere to be found. The old zerohedge blogger is at the top instead. I had to type the address in the browser bar to find you guys today. Did you manage to piss off Google in some way Tyler? ;-) Say it ain't so.
2) $30 cliff-dive for gold. The usual suspects (Goldman Sucks and JPig) are already so short they're practically six feet under. Anyone know who took it down this time, and with what excuse (and what hope it'll stay there)?
Hate to interrupt all the high fives and toasting on this thread but like I said, wildly off-topic and the mood seems quite cheery here. I figure if you want polite answers to rudely off-topic questions, ask the smiling people.
If you want to know why the price of gold changed, look across The Pond to Merry 'Old Londinium.
If you find the source there, you will also find who owns & runs the Central Banks, even the one in the U.S. I assume they own G.S. as well.
Follow the money. If it switches from excess liquidity to more deleveraging, just hold your nose & jump.
I reckon there'll be plenty deleveraging when (if) the market dives. We're saving up for a BIG buy when that happens. Hopefully, "when". Who knows, maybe a $50, $100 pullback then? Hope so.
That hasn't happened yet so I don't think this dive will last (this being one of the "dips" the Chinese peasants are going to be buying on). I figure New York and London (Grendel and his Mom) are going to have their villainy cut out for them shorting against a billion or so Chinese peasants. The IMF could sell 100% of their gold and it will never see the open market.
Zerohedge.com has disappeared off Google (I'm in Australia). I'm on my husband's computer so instead of using a bookmark I just type in the name and it's usually right at the top of the Google search. Today - nowhere to be found. The old zerohedge blogger is at the top instead. I had to type the address in the browser bar to find you guys today. Did you manage to piss off Google in some way Tyler? ;-) Say it ain't so.
No need to worry. It was done at the request of the United States Treasury Department. Look for the big "buy US Treasuries, safest investment in the world" marketing campaing coming soon to your wonderful country. We are of the mindset that we have been unfairly allowing the Chinese and Japanese the distinct advantage and privilege of purchasing our bonds and thought it would be nice to let you Aussies in on this "once in a lifetime deal".
Noticed that Google issue. Probably Soros and his weather machine again.
F#ck google... use startpage.com
Deadhead, now you tell me. I just ran out and spent all our mining-boom money on hot US equities. AIG, FRE, and C. I have a memo around here somewhere saying those were the Treasury picks this year. Said the Dow was too big to fail.
Australia is constantly trying to figure out how to blacklist sites stuff etc. It's not working so well. You guys have only ONE pipe comeing into the country. You had better put out 2 more pipes or you'll be in trouble.
Rubbish. Our Dear Leader says the internet blacklist is only going to affect kiddypornies. If anyone else gets on the blacklist it's completely by accident and they get taken straight off again if it makes the daily MSM news.
Pipes?
Is that a Yankee term...The only pipes I know of are the ones that no-one uses here 'cause it's (mostly) illegal. And especially not at our house. :-P
Bundles of fiber optic cable OC3's.
Please stop using british terms. You are no longer a colony of the british. Be australian find your own identity.
Onya, cobber, I see you're spoiling for a blue - bit shonky to write in 'strine like a bogan, it confuses the poms and the yanks, but. Leaves me popular as a cozzie at a donger rage. Strewth, she'll be right I guess, but no point spewin' when I'm only writing the Queen's English. ;-)
(You should let Obama know that pipe & rubbish are British terms! He be using those words lately I heard him. Or would you prefer the all-american 'gawbage'...)
Ah well, cheers anyway, mate. I'll nip a schooner for ya this arvo. And if I'm crook after, then a chunder to ya, too!
You made me laugh Dear.
Take off hey <---- Canadian :)
LOL. Reminds me of the night 2 australian ladies were giving me australian speech lessons. I still can't remember what I was trying to enunciate and why they kept saying I was doing it wrong. Something you say when you're mad at someone kind of like. Never try to have a conversation with americans, brits, aussies, irish, canaidans, and scottish people at the same time.
Funny, After a few Fosters, this makes perfect sense.
Here is a possible explanation for gold dive today:
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2009/09/daily-charts-for-gold-s...
Well done, that makes sense. Interesting site, thanks for the tip...we're keen to sell some silver so I'll wait a week or two, see if that looks like a healthier time.
Play this clip in your Computer’s media player
Ron is not making a dime from the book End the FED. It is an educational as well as political promotion tool. All the proceeds are donated to a certain cause or foundation.
Speaking of the liberty and transparency movement - his son Rand could use some small change from those who love principles, probity and decency.
http://www.randpaul2010.com/
He is up against a status quo insider. Let the forces of liberty unite.
Here is the contact information for the Federal Reserve counsel who said it would be bad for us to know what's on the Fed's balance sheet and what it's doing with our money.
Scott G. Alvarez, Associate General Counsel (202/452-3583)
Give the rat bastard a call and let him know how you feel about that, and please pass it on.
He may have a point. It's like you know that your parents had sex to make you, but do you really want them to give you a video of your conception?
This Fed audit may be so ugly it'll make 70's porno look good.
Yes, but your parents having sex has nothing to do with you retiring and purchasing a home.
I'm tempted to say something nasty, but I will go with the notion that you are being sarcastic.
Tongue firmly in a cheek either north or south of the border. :)
"70's porno look good." there you go bashing Bush again.
Hey Marla,
Can you do a jam, maybe, "Burn the Fed Flow". Seems appropriate - or maybe I'm off my rocker. Anyway, "Burn the Fed". Booyah - or Phuck Cramer.
Thanks for posting the link for this and for Volcker... amazing how they'll show any bullsh*t testimony on Baseball and steroids, but when it comes to real economic matters? Why, that's why they have the dancing monkey called Cramhole.
I have a feeling these snakes will have an arsenal of tricks up there sleeve during the hearing tomorrow...
HR1207 is not "the culmination of Ron Paul's life work." That would be abolishing the Fed, not just auditing it. I fear the reason many Congress members support it is because they smell a power grab: audit the Fed, point out shenanigans, then pass a new bill giving Congress some of the Fed's powers. At least that would be more transparent, but I don't want any central economic planning period.
Except that "the Feds Powers" are powers enumerated in the Constitution as Congressional, and were delegated to the Fed by Congress.
I donated to Dr. Rand Paul's Kentucky senate campaign yesterday. I love Dr. Ron Paul. If More of Ron Paul's family would get elected to congress and the presidency, the political atmosphere would look like a cross between the TV show The Walton's and the Kennedy dynasty.
http://www.randpaul2010.com/
Ron and Rand Paul on Fox Business http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egNVX1SAcQQLMAO - That's right and the world would be much better for it in return. 'Night Jon Boy!
I thought I would get a chuckle out of that one. Rand may be the next JFK someday.
I was born and raised in Ky, we don't do things like everyone else. I get a laugh out of those that do, and I appreciated the heads up. A lot to learn. JFK, maybe, much work to be done. A paradigm shift is necessary. I watch with great interest.
I threw some shekels his way as well. I saw Rand speak at a fundraiser here in Austin. Decent, honest, rational, principled aka NO WAY HE CAN GET ELECTED. But I am quixotic and a dreamer.
Keep dreamin' Pigpen. Maybe one day it will happen. I'm with ya.
What's Barney's angle? I suspect he wants to either take the teeth out of the bill at the last minute or get his Congressional hands on the printing press so he can have more power of taxation. By no means does he believe in sound money.
Ron Paul mentioned that Barney wants to make the bill part of the overall financial regulation bill, so I think you are right that he's up to something no good.
Barney Frank is a false flag from hell. Such a rube. He deserves Federal Prison, but it'll never happen.
Keep in mind that criminal toad has been sitting on the bill since February. Apparently they have time to pass a massive cap-and-trade bill that they never even read, but a simple Fed audit bill that's gained a majority of cosigners needs to be nurtured along. This is the same guy that wants to blow up the housing bubble again, because he feels that not enough low-income people are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to suit his taste.
The Elmer Fudd of the House is going to do his damndest to nerf any semblance of effective enforcement out of the bill while propogandizing how magnanimous he was to help get it passed--anyone trusting him on this is a fool.
After reading that mo fo's testimony I'm def going to give his office a call.
Here's the link again but it's total crap
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/alvarez_testimony.pdf
thanks for the link! I gotta pick up the kid so I'll read it later. I looked at the title page and saw the second sentence "The Federal Reserve is accountable to Congress and the American public"
so, you're telling me that what comes next is "...BUT.." and 11 or so more pages....
DH - I know you'll be interested in this bit of news concerning the mortgage line of ownership storyline and MERS...
http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/
I've been following this story. It has the potential to really create some big problems for the banks selling these securities and MERS.
Ron Paul has a good heart, but Grayson .... not so much.
Suppose they audit the Fed Reserve and find out Bernanke never bought anything. He was just putting out balance sheets for us all to kiss.
ZH, just because a majority (appears to) supports doesn't mean it will pass. As a former Hill staffer, I bet that Audit the Fed will NOT pass this Congress, certainly not in any meaningful form.
You could well be right.
And it would one more reason why any incubents will face re-election issues in 2010 and 2012.
This is one corrupt club.
Exactly Assetman!
Congressmen... we are watching you this time...
represent your consitituents please...
they know.
Check out www.goooh.com
Tyler for President, Ron Paul for VP.
Tyler - - no time any more for SA?
..paraphrasing what I read somewhere else.-- Ignore what the fed says, follow what they do. They are not acting as if we are recovering AND they have much better data than any of us,...what does this tell you. the trend is DOWN
Another Rothschild employee (fund of funds head) is on CNBC affiliate again. Third time I've seen someone from their bank be 'interviewed' this week. The week of G20. These guys don't field phone calls asking them to appear; they arrange it, on occasion.
What is that saying about coincidences again?
Thomas Woods is a fucking idiot. I heard him talk once and he is moron. In his book, Meltdown, he acts like Lehman's collapse was "no biggie" and that everything was just hunky-dory afterwards. He has no background in economics or finance and is easily discredited.
Yeah...I second that. And there were some serious discrepancies in that book of his as well.
Sounds like you're one of those "we have to save the banks!" guys.
Fuse this: Fuck the banks.
Damn!
Criminal Enterprises LLC shutin' down shop if this crap passes.
Guess I'll head down to Mexico along with Paulson and Blankfien and increase my share of illicit narco profits.
Bury the dead, they stink up the place
remember last year-when the TARP money was requested and the Congress had issues with the freebies? Paulson and the FED crashed the markets 450 points and all the congresspeople signed it in 2 days. That's what will happen. Audit the FED and they will trainwreck the economy. They are too engrained in plitics and the system. They need to be purged and it will HURT to cut this cancer OFF the body-but we will survive. Keep them going and the FED will destroy this country
ahhhh, no , the market crashed the market
Hey, lots of folks on the left and the right agree about the need to audit the Fed.
Imagine what we could accomplish if we continue to join forces on issues we agree on. And the banksters is certainly one of them.
Mr. Watt, one of N.C.'s representatives seems to be defending the Federal Reserve. Telling people to visit the Federal Reserve's website to mine the data of interest. Watt keeps mentioning HR 1207 as a piece of overall reform which is not a good sign in my opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ5e5MfEY2o
Dylan Ratigan and Ron Paul skewer the FED.
If you were smart enough to buy gold at $35/oz. when
President Ford made it legal for U.S. Citizens to once again
own gold, then as Alfred E. Newman says, "What me worry." If
not, save your Confederate money boys, the South may rise again!
B. Eldorado
I recall it was more like rallying to almost $200 per ounce from the $70 dollar level in those 1975-76 dollars and after the boat was loaded dropped to approximately $103. Earlier in the 70's 71-72 Gold crossed $40 and shot to almost $160. Gold was not $35 an ounce except at gunpoint during Ford's gratis presidency.
It's clear Mr. Watt is bought and paid for. What a tool.
I want to move to the Austin Texas area so I can be represented by the "ONLY HONEST MAN IN WASHINGTON" Mr. Ron Paul.
It might be a waste, but here's what I sent to Grayson. I did get a response from Sen Cantwell, but I don't think she really gets the reason why the details of the audit are so important and the probable consequences to the political class that voted for the bank bailout. Never-the-less, here's what I wrote. Feel free to send to your Rep.:
Dear Rep. Grayson,
I indicated my support for HR1207 and the corresponding bill in the senate to my Washington state senators yesterday. My reasons for supporting this bill is that taxpayers have a right to know the contents of the Feds balance sheet. We know that over $1.5T has appeared as a new "asset" on this sheet in the last year but we don't know the details. Namely who are the counterparties, how much money was "loaned" to these counterparties on what date and, most importantly, the nature of the "collateral". Many people suspect that the major primary dealers of the FED, such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs etc. were able to unload their junk MBS and CRE securities (the thing that nearly crashed the system about a year ago) on the FED for full mark to myth value (i.e. what they had on their books). So, because these CDOs backed by MBS are backed by loans which are severely impaired, the taxpayers will have to take the write-downs, not the private banks and their bondholders/stockholder who should have known the risk before loaning them funds and thus should take the loss. This is yet another burden set upon present and future taxpayers by the big banks. In short, profits are privatized and losses are shared by all-the antithesis of a truly free market. Let's start the process of re-establishing free, transparent markets via a detailed audit of the FED.
Many suspect that the banks are then using their suddenly liquid assets (loans) to speculate in the capital equity and bond markets, essentially pumping and then dumping to make yet more profits. Goldman Sach and JP Morgan proprietary trading desks are working overtime in the market pumping scheme and it won't end well for average, uninformed investors. They are both likely frontrunnning the FED security purchases.
My particular worry is that this bill will be watered down in either the house or the senate by Barney Frank or Chris Dodd, both of whom are in the pockets of the banksters. Don't let this happen. I know Ron Paul and you are fighting for the average taxpayer/investor.