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Fed Pressure Increases As Merkley, Corker Introduce Legislation To Audit The Fed, Protect Taxpayer Dollars
We diligently await the retorts from Senators Kyl and Hagan on how this is an "unnecessary" piece of transparency-promoting legislation, which will merely attempt to prevent the destruction of the endangered species better known as Americanus Middleclassus.
Merkley, Corker Introduce Legislation to Audit the Fed, Protect Taxpayer Dollars
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the wake of the Federal Reserve’s extraordinary actions last year to stabilize the financial system, U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN), members of the Senate Banking Committee, today introduced legislation that will require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an audit of the Fed’s emergency lending programs. The Federal Reserve Accountability Act will monitor and protect taxpayer dollars without intruding upon the Federal Reserve’s independent monetary policy or its role as lender of last resort.
“Transparency and accountability are fundamental principles of representative government,”Merkley said. “During this financial crisis, Federal Reserve credit contributed greatly to the stabilization of the system. In doing so, the Federal Reserve departed significantly from its traditional relationship with markets and took on unprecedented new risks. Such a significant change in the Federal Reserve’s traditional activities demands responsible, robust oversight. The Federal Reserve Accountability Act strikes the right balance between protecting taxpayer dollars and respecting the central bank’s responsibility to manage monetary policy. ”
“The Federal Reserve has provided our financial system with emergency credit during this time of financial hardship, and in the course of doing so, has seen a $1.4 trillion increase in its balance sheet. Despite its independence, these are still taxpayer dollars at risk, and many Americans have called for an audit of the Fed,” Corker said. “This bill is the way to do it. We give the Government Accountability Office the authority to audit the Fed's emergency credit facilities without inappropriately compromising the independence of the Fed or politicizing its role in crafting monetary policy.”
The Federal Reserve Accountability Act would require the GAO to audit all remaining emergency lending programs not already subject to audit. To protect against the risk that disclosure of the participation of particular institutions could disrupt markets, the GAO would be required to redact the names of the specific institutions. Names would, however, be made available one year after each emergency program is no longer used. In addition, to encourage greater accessibility for the average taxpayer, the Fed would be required to place these GAO audits along with additional audit materials on its website under a new “Audit” section.
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Lothar, Miles, where our you? Our Senator is doing something useful! Far fcuking out!
As I read again, I don't know. Some punches got pulled on this...hmm...
MsCreant, welcome to the world of the senatorial fluffernutter served to the general populace without the peanut butter. Sticky sweet and absolutely nothing of value inside...
Tastes sweet when you first bite into it, no nutritional value, but it might give you a little energy to run on for a while. Got it!
This reflects the absolute item I was referencing in one of our previous discussions. I hope you get the texture more fully now.
All The Best Sis...
"senatorial fluffernutter"
God that had me laughing when I read it. The phrase works on so many levels. I am definitely adding it to my vocabulary. Where do I send the nickel every time I use it? :>)
See your questions posed earlier CD
I went back earlier and saw your responses. I took the time to watch the entire video a few times and then read the article. Then I did a little more research.
So many times when we are being screwed we are told not to take it personally. It doesn't get much more personal that what you showed me.
I hate the people who have enabled, encouraged and profited from your screwing. Unfortunately we live in a "civilized" culture that is ultimately destructive and treats the value of a life differently, depending on where you fit in the world they created and we buy into.
Violence flows down hill and our lives are essentially worthless and expendable. While I have intellectually understood this for some time, I don't often meet someone who has taken the beating you have. Suddenly it's no longer an intellectual exercise but flesh and blood and pain and suffering.
My thoughts are with you tonight.
CD - Life of a disposed of used & rusted disposable razor. The kicker is that my second career from that point was with the DOJ.
this is making my blood boil...it puts out the belief that we can't possibly do without the Fed, and secondly that the Fed is "independent" when in fact the privately held federal reserve is a monopoly that single handedly gets ALL LEGESLATORS ELECTED AND INDEBTED, THEY PASS LEGISLATION TO LEGALIZE CRIMINALITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--how about the f#$%^&& truth Senator Corker and Merkley!!!!!!! The FED body pays for your campaign and now you want to give the old one/two to the public to show them you are a player--I HOPE YOU GET KICKED OUT OF OFFICE YOU ARE SHOWING YOUR ASSES BIG TIME YOU CROOKED SCUMBAGS!!!!!!!!!!
agrotera, I knew you would come through! No cynicism. Straight to that is fucking bull shit.
The practice of an abusive relationship is that the abuser makes the abused dependent upon the abuser. This "dependency" is reinforced through violence and a little strategically used sugary sweet talk.
If the abused starts to break away, the abuser re-reads the "rules" to the abused. If that's not enough, a terrible beat down will be applied to the abused from the hands of the abuser.
This describes so many aspects of our culture, of what it means to be "civilized" and part of the modern world. My explanation works on so many levels, from the way larger countries treat smaller countires to the Fed and it's minions to the company and the wage slave to the angry husband and the abused wife.
This is a start, but does not go far enough. These programs can be held open for YEARS, thereby preventing disclosure. I'll ask again: why does the unvarnished truth scare so many people so much? Why can't we have discussions using verifyiable facts?
We have children, miscreants, and neer-do-wells running our government. I want some adults in charge. Onces that can make decisions, and spank the kids (with a belt if necessary) if they misbehave.
Look up the definition of a miscreant. They are not all bad...
Main Entry: miscreant1Part of Speech: n
Definition: a disbeliever; heretic Etymology: Middle French mes- 'mis-' + croire 'to believe'
somebody with a smidgeon of common sense in Washington??
Good one.
No
"To protect against the risk that disclosure of the participation of particular institutions could disrupt markets, the GAO would be required to redact the names of the specific institutions."
Two more Fascists in sheeple's clothing.
If I can get a better handle on the terms and better description of the MBS & GSE assets I would be thrilled.
Unless they reveal the names of the institutions that have received taxpayer largesse, this is a total joke.
To paraphrase William Shakespeare - it is a piece of legislation pieced together by two idiots, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Yes, all the world's a stage, you deserve a more meaningful avatar.
Might I suggest Robin Hood or The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Glad to see your avatar back with us AN! I like being able to see your posts clearly!
We know that the fools involved in this issue use their cell phones and office computers to discuss any illegal activity. Would it not be better for disclosure if Bernanke proved only when he distributed the payola, then congress can audit the phone records and email records for the periods leading up to each distribution?
I do not believe the choice to not disclosed Fed activities includes these types of records-seems pretty simple to me.
redact the names of the recipients?
WTF? that's the whole point is to name names
I'll believe it when I see it.
Names would, however, be made available one year after each emergency program is no longer used.
A full year after program is no longer used??
Could or would someone tell me where is the incentive or benefit here?
FED bails out PIMCO: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pimcos-gross-unwinds-mortgage-positions...
Crap - my neophyte Senator has fallen into the trap of writing a competing bill to S. 604.
He likely heard enough from we activist and knowledgeable Oregonians, that scared him.
Unfortunately, he ran the wrong direction. Probably into the arms of Chris Dodd and the others that are protectors of the coven of vampire banksters.
Time to fire up the writing and letters campaign once again. "Get with the S. 604 program..."
S.604 or torches. Your choice. Merkley, Corker you listening?
Yes, it's odd indeed that neither Corker nor Merkley are co-sponsors of S 604.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-604
Although I think HR 1207 may have a chance at passing the house in (relatively) undiluted form, it'll get killed in conference (assuming it passes the Senate, which is debateable).
When might we hear something on the Bloomberg FOIA request? I know that appealed the decision on 9/30, but how long until we get some sort of decision - will be weeks, months, or years?
Campaign for Liberty Response:
Federal Reserve Accountability Act An Unacceptable Compromise
Washington D.C. October 20, 2009 -Today, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced the Federal Reserve Accountability Act, an attempted compromise on the issue of transparency for America's secretive central bank. The bill would permit an audit of the Fed's actions in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and similar high profile bailouts, but would not allow Congress to review the Fed's inflation of the money supply or the its agreements with foreign central banks.
Rest of the post here: http://bit.ly/3TwLPQ
Taxpayer dollars, can you find something less significant?
If money is needed, they just create it. done!
Tax collection is just an excuse to allow the infinite borrowing to go on. Think about it, where did all that money came from to be borrowed by gov't?
Federal Reserve Accountability & Filibuster Act.
This is weak ass horse shit. What if the programs go on forever??
Why would anyone respect the FED to manage monetary policy??
This is a watered down S604.
worse than watered down - its a direct attempt to neutralize the spirit and intent of HB1207/S604... ie, kill them.
Dear Friend of Liberty,
Earlier today, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced "The Federal Reserve Accountability Act," an attempt to kill HR 1207/S 604 by passing a bill that prevents a full audit and full transparency from America's secretive central bank.
While language in this bill would permit a limited audit of the Fed's actions in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and similar high profile bailouts, it would not allow an audit to review the Fed's inflation of the money supply or its agreements with foreign central banks, among other shortcomings.
Additionally, the names of the institutions who received the funds would not be available until one year after each "emergency" program ended, and you know how quickly the federal government likes to end programs.
Click here to get the contact information for your senators and urge them not to support this attempt at stopping our historic effort to force the Fed into a full scale audit.
You see, you and I have the FED and their internationalist supporters in the Senate running scared.
We've seen it time and time again in recent months.
Now, this is how they will fight back -- by having establishment senators who oppose a full audit the Fed, proposing watered down compromises in an attempt to sabotage our real goal.
We knew this moment would come. Now you and I must fight back.
Seventy-five percent of the American people, over two thirds of the House of Representatives, and over a quarter of the Senate support Ron Paul's Audit the Fed legislation.
With those historic levels of support, there is no excuse for settling for anthing less than a full Audit the Fed bill. Anything less is merely an attempt to stop our efforts as we get closer to passage of a real bill.
The freedom movement will not back down on requiring transparency and accountability from an institution that has helped to destroy our economy. This is another test of our strength and will.
Let's finish what we've started. Take action to stop this dangerous attempt to stop the real Audit the Fed bill TODAY!
Find contact information for your senators here and read more at CampaignforLiberty.com.
Let your senators know you expect them to support the American people's demand for full transparency, not some watered down measure designed to stop a full audit!
In Liberty,
John Tate
President
I WILL ACTIVELY CAMPAIGN AGAINST THESE TRAITOR SCUMBAGS!
IT IS TELLING THAT THESE TWO TRY TO CREATE THE LEGESLATION TO GET THE PUBLIC SIDETRACKED INTO THINKING THAT SOMETHING GOOD IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING...TOO BAD THEY HAVE SOLD THEIR SOULS TO THE DEVIL, WHAT A SHAME FOR THEIR FAMILIES THAT THEY COULD DECIDE TO TAKE SUCH A FRONT AND CENTER POSITION ON THE SIDE OF SUCH A MANIPULATION OF THE MINDS OF ALL AMERICAN EVIL--THEY ARE EVIL SCUMBAG TRAITORS!!!!!
This is a hit on 1207. Its bullshit and needs to fail. Never in the history of our republic, would 1207 have had a chance of getting passed. Its passed the house and is having trouble in the Senate. But this is nothing more than an attempt to over look it for a softer punch. Corker is bought and paid for.
Everyone already knows the banks are technically insolvent, we all know about the changes in accounting rules, the FDIC is broke, and the stress tests were just a feel good exercise covering up the capital problems, so why all the games? Just nationalize the insolvent TBTF's and back our deposits with the full faith of the US Military.
With redacted information, the release will be one large black magic marker because essentially all the banking institutions are or will be insolvent. We know how bad it is, what we demand is accountability for systemic corruption (jail sentences) with real reform and to tear down the insidious crony capital/lobby/campaign contribution system. These parasites will bring the system down if we don't stop them.
We are all most curious about the feds unapproved, unprecedented, and illegal payments overseas to BLANK (insert swiss bank accounts for the fed, paying off insiders, paying off those with knowledge, paying off politicians that will derail the sunshine act, paying off connected central banks in other countries, friends of the printing press, etc) that is outside its mandate.
If we were to really look at the records, you would find that we are more solvent than the fed with some assets and no liabilities for a positive net worth. They are not federal and there are no reserves but that is not stopping them from taking over all the assets of this country.
Understand that this is a takeover, I want to know the percentage ownership of the equities and bonds at the grandparent legal entity level after aggregating all the banking subs. They are taking your taxpayer money to buy your mortgage and property and then you will have to pay interest on the money they borrowed to buy your mortgage as well (adding insult to injury). They are taking over all industries.
Since the banks own the fed, it is just a shell game. In addition, they are using free funds to speculate and run up the cost of commodities and you will pay interest on this money borrowed as well until the middle class is ground down between inflation and taxes (Lenin Marxism quote) - you don't eat a $100 tomato, it eats you. Only everyone piling into physical gold and the sunshine act will bring down the death star.
Keep the pressure on, express your outrage - go agrotera.
Likewise, praise to all those representatives actually doing what they were elected to do - perhaps you could vote to censure all those representatives that are enemies of the constitution both foreign and domestic. Any one of you could capture a tidal wave of populist rage and ride to the 2012 presidency as a reformer!
That they are even attempting this legislation is proof they are scared shitless of us, need to try to derail our attention. PROOF.
Guess what? All of you who are hopeless, this means we stand a chance.
Get that into your thick helpless skulls. We have a chance to at least get the transparency we deserve. Justice? Probably not. Fixing the system, chances are, no. Returning to the way things were before? Fcuk no.
But transparency, so that we can at least see how bad it is and start building from there?
I think we have a chance.
I do feel like a tool. I actually wrote Corker asking him to support Ron Paul and Grayson's efforts. I didn't mean this...
Goddammit.