Looks like the things, as they are, for the “The Fed” will continue… for now.
The Federal Reserve, which has showered literally trillions of dollars on U.S. and foreign mega-banks in recent years without any semblance of public oversight, can breathe a sigh of relief, for now at least. Democrats and one Republican in the U.S. Senate joined forces on January 12 to protect the secretive central bank from transparency and accountability, voting down the enormously popular “Audit the Fed” legislation that would have opened up the controversial bank’s books to government auditors.
A majority of senators supported the bill, with 53 in favor and 44 against. But it was not enough to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to invoke cloture. Still, supporters of the bill vowed to keep pressing forward, saying the public has a right to know what the enormously powerful institution is doing to America’s money and economy behind closed doors. And in a passionate speech on the Senate floor, “Audit the Fed” sponsor Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a GOP presidential contender, explained why the measure was both urgent and necessary.
The bill was supported by all GOP senators except one, Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee. Despite campaign slogans about reining in the bankers and Wall Street, transparency at the Fed was opposed by all Democrats except Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. Senator Bernie Sanders, the Independent self-styled socialist from Vermont who normally votes with Democrats, also supported the measure. However, Sanders, currently running in the Democrat presidential primary, previously played a key role in sabotaging and watering down an earlier audit, sparking outrage among transparency campaigners.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate ahead of the vote, Senator Paul lambasted the secrecy that protects the Fed from accountability. “I rise today in opposition to secrecy. I rise today in support of Auditing the Federal Reserve. I rise in opposition to the lack of accountability at the Federal Reserve, an institution that has been far too long shrouded in secrecy,” Paul declared. “The objective of the Federal Reserve Transparency Act is simple: to protect the interests of the average American by finding out where hundreds of billions worth of our dollars are going.”
The only thing I will add to this story is this: As long as “The Fed” is controlled, by a particular protected minority; nothing will ever change. These people have too much invested in that little project and they are not about to surrender it. They will protect it at any costs. Until we a president, who will stand up to these people and true-blue conservatives, and not the neoconservative posers; who say they’re conservative and vote liberally — who will dismantle the control of these people from the Fed, nothing will ever change, at all.