by BAR executive editor Glen FordA bill has begun its journey through the U.S. House that could crystallize (and polarize) public attitudes toward the wholesale Wall Street theft of mega-trillions in national treasure. Rep. Ron Paul has gathered over 300 co-sponsors for legislation that would force an audit of the Federal Reserve – “the heretofore unaccountable engine of bankster thievery on a cosmic scale.”
Audit the Fed? The Battle Against Obama’s Bankers Begins on Capitol Hill
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
“The sheer magnitude of the Great Obama/Federal Reserve Wealth Transfer, were it to become generally known, could work a sea change in political alignments in the U.S.”
For the first time since the Crash of 2008, there is cause for hope that Wall Street’s devouring of the U.S. state can be halted. Republican libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (TX), leading a bipartisan coalition comprising a solid majority of the U.S. House, last week won committee approval of a bill that would open the books of the Federal Reserve, the heretofore unaccountable engine of bankster thievery on a cosmic scale.
The Obama presidency has seen by far the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world – some $23.7 trillion as of July, in the form of grants, loans and guarantees to the financial sector. Only a small fraction of this mind-bending mass of money – a sum approaching in volume two years of total U.S. economic activity (GDP) – was legislatively authorized by the U.S. Congress. Aside from the congressionally mandated $700 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) monies, nearly all of the mega-trillions were put at Wall Street’s disposal by Barack Obama’s executive branch and the quasi-public monstrosity, the Federal Reserve.
Virtually every agency of government with a budget or a shred of authority was mobilized to refloat The Casino. The Federal Reserve offered at least $6.8 trillion to Wall Street, a figure that approximates the total debt of the U.S. Government in 2003, but does not begin to convey The Fed’s post-Crash role in pauperizing the U.S. state for the benefit of the finance capitalist class.
Barack Obama shows no sign of willingness to restrain The Fed – quite the opposite, he is eager to expand the Federal Reserve’s powers, doubtless because he shares the banksters’ general goals and because he, correctly, views The Fed as a de facto extension of executive power. That’s why he mimics the bankers who, since The Fed’s founding in 1913, have sustained the fiction that the central bank is, and must remain, “independent.” In fact, The Fed is anything but independent; it is the financial class’s permanent tool, their branch of government, which now acts in perfect harmony with Obama’s executive branch.
“Nearly all of the mega-trillions were put at Wall Street’s disposal by Barack Obama’s executive branch and the quasi-public monstrosity, the Federal Reserve.”
Make no mistake. The White House views an assault on The Fed as an attack on the Obama administration. If Rep. Ron Paul’s 313 co-sponsors hang together, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 could bathe The Fed’s dealings in light bright enough to make the bankster roaches run for cover.
The Act would, as spelled out in the official summary, direct “the Comptroller General to complete, before the end of 2010, an audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and of the federal reserve banks, followed by a detailed report to Congress.” Note that the Comptroller is “directed,” not requested, to perform the audits. These audits would include “every item on the Federal Reserve's balance sheet, all credit facilities, all securities purchase programs, etc.” Such an audit has never been carried out, because current law requires that The Fed give permission. The central bankers would no more permit an exhaustive audit than Dracula would allow his curtains to be parted at noon on a sunny day.
Accountants never won a revolution, but auditing The Fed can lay the groundwork for a hell of fight! The sheer magnitude of the Great Obama/Federal Reserve Wealth Transfer, were it to become generally known, could work a sea change in political alignments in the U.S.
Rep. Paul’s amendment, co-offered by Florida Democrat Alan Grayson, ultimately sailed through chairman Barney Frank’s Financial Services Committee, 43-26. But first the bill had to overcoming a blocking move by Black Congressman Mel Watt, who hails from Bank of America’s headquarters city, Charlotte. Watt carried President Obama’s water, offering an amendment that, in Paul’s words, would have “gutted” the legislation. He lost, badly.
“The Fed is the financial class’s permanent tool, their branch of government, which now acts in perfect harmony with Obama’s executive branch.”
Of the ten Black lawmakers on the committee, two (William Clay, MO; David Scott, GA) were already co-sponsors of the Paul bill. The other eight (Maxine Waters, CA; Andre Carson, IN; Keith Ellison, MN; Emanuel Cleaver, MO; Mel Watt, NC; Gregory Meeks, NY; Al Green, TX; Gwen Moore, WI), voted to shield the Federal Reserve and its collaborators in the administration. This is likely to become an increasingly untenable position for anyone that wants to avoid being portrayed as pro-banker. (Chairman Frank, himself, had previously endorsed the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, but suddenly changed his mind, no doubt after a talk with Democratic leadership.)
The other twelve Black Caucus co-sponsors of Ron Paul’s bill are Sanford Bishop, GA; Corrine Brown, FL; John Conyers, MI; Danny Davis, IL; Donna Edwards, MD; Marcia Fudge, OH; Jesse Jackson Jr., IL; Eddie Bernice Johnson, TX; John Lewis, GA; Donald Payne, NJ; Laura Richardson, CA; and Bennie Thompson, MS.
Congressman Paul’s stunning success in gathering over 300 co-sponsors, including all the Republicans and more than 100 Democrats, is indicative of broad and deep hostility to Wall Street – even in the corporate cash-soaked halls of Congress. Despite the administration’s efforts to distance itself from the banksters – the staged tempests in teapots about “clawing back” executive pay that ultimately come to nothing – the public knows who has been in office while most of the “bailout” has unfolded. Corporate media has rigorously avoided exposing the galactic scope of the wealth transfer that has taken place. But an audit of The Fed – even a vigorous public debate about auditing The Fed – could refocus attention where it belongs: on the great theft that has all but swallowed the U.S. state, whole.
“Corporate media has rigorously avoided exposing the galactic scope of the wealth transfer that has taken place.”
One benefit of such a debate, is that it would tear the Republican Party to bits. It should be remembered that Republicans were more opposed than Democrats to the initial bailout. President Bush lost all control of his congressional party, wracked as it was by the contradictions of its existence as a corporate servant with an anti-banker mass base.
The Democrats are in even greater need of a split along Wall Street fault lines.
The debate starts with the facts, and the facts should emerge from a congressionally mandated audit.
Nobody can hide a $23.7 trillion dollar transfer of the people’s wealth forever. First the audit, then the trials.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
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