US Senator Slams Washington Post Defense Of Fed Secrecy


Sanders: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), sponsor of S 604, the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act of 2009, has slammed a recent Washington Post editorial that contends the Federal Reserve should not be subject to a general audit.

Sanders vented his opinions in a letter to the editor which was published in the Post today.

“We must not equate ‘independence’ with secrecy.” Sanders writes in response to the Post’s Friday editorial entitled “Focus on the Fed” which attacked his own and Congressman Ron Paul’s efforts to enact the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, a move that would allow the American people to find out for the first time where trillions in taxpayer funded bailout dollars have been used.

“No matter how intelligent or well-intentioned the Fed chairman and his staff may be, it isn’t appropriate to give a handful of people the power to lend an unlimited supply of money to anyone it wants without sufficient oversight.” Sanders writes.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The American people have a right to know what is being done with their hard-earned taxpayer dollars. This money does not belong to the Fed; it belongs to the American people.” Sanders urges.

The Washington Post’s editorial angered many readers late last week by essentially advocating the continuation of non-accountability in government.

“Though the bill has attracted 276 co-sponsors in the House and 17 in the Senate, it is wrongheaded in the extreme.” the Post’s anonymously written piece stated.

“By opening up the Fed’s most sensitive interest rate and credit policies to public second-guessing, the bill would create a risk — real and perceived — of monetary policy bent to suit congressional overseers. This would destroy financial markets’ faith in the Fed and, by extension, the value of the U.S. dollar, just as surely as a political ‘audit’ of the Supreme Court’s deliberations would undercut public faith in the justice system.” the piece claimed.

“This article makes comparisons that are utterly dissimilar.” Libertymage writer Robin Grammer succinctly points out.

“Not only does our justice system make available verdicts and vote counts the same day that the court votes on the issue, they also make public the dissenting parties with the articulated minority opinion. This is a a world of difference from the transparency policy of the Federal Reserve, who graciously offers us meeting transcripts five years after the meetings occur. The transparency policies of these two groups are in no way similar and making such a comparison is disingenuous at best.” he concludes.

Furthermore, as Ron Paul himself explained during the Financial Services Committee hearings last week, the bill would do nothing to further politicize the Fed’s decision making given that the Fed is already overtly politicized anyway.

“Just the fact that they can issue a lot of loans and special privileges to banks and corporations, that’s political. This idea that it would be political because we know what happened afterwards just doesn’t seem to add up.” Paul beseeched.

The bill would not give anyone in Congress or elsewhere the authority to sit in on Fed hearings, thus it would have no impact monetary policy. All it would do is provide answers to the American people as to where their hard earned money is being spent.

The Federal Transparency Act would also expose the fact that it is the Federal Reserve that is responsible for the artificial inflation of the debt bubble and the issuing of credit out of thin air, the driving force behind the financial crises.

The Truth is that the Washington establishment knows that an audit would set the stage for a return of honest money and fiscal policies, in which the privately run Federal Reserve can play no role.

It comes as little surprise therefore to see the establishment media in Washington advocating a continuation of unaccountability and blanket secrecy.

interesting

Now I know who sponsors Washington Post. This isn't the first scandal of theirs recently.

read this:

Washington Post embroiled in media scandal

The media scandal of the moment involves a Washington Post initiative, now scuttled, in which lawmakers, officials, lobbyists and miscellaneous worthies were to be invited to exclusive private dinners hosted by The Post’s publisher and senior journalists.

The so-called salons were meant to be money-makers. The Post was trolling for a pair of $25,000 sponsors for each of 11 soirees. In return the sponsors would have a chance to mingle with decision-makers and opinion-makers involved in whatever public policy was, shall we say, on the menu.

From the pitch: “Washington Post Salons are extensions of The Washington Post brand of journalistic inquiry into the issues, a unique opportunity for stakeholders to hear and be heard. At the core is a critical topic of our day. Dinner and a volley of ideas unfold in an evening of intelligent, news-driven and off-the-record conversation. ... By bringing together those powerful few in business and policy-making who are forwarding, legislating and reporting on the issues, Washington Post Salons give life to the debate. Be at this nexus of business and policy with your underwriting of Washington Post Salons.”

After Politico.com broke the news this month, the inaugural salon on health-care reform was cancelled, and The Post has been getting slapped around with gusto. As with any big institutional blunder, key figures stammered and apologized, everybody’s accepting responsibility as long as it carries no consequence and subsequent reporting suggests nobody really considered just how bone-headed this idea was.

http://www.bradenton.com/442/story/1589129.html


People should be boycotting this news source, not reading it.

You need to check this out Warmachine



http://mingle2.com/topic/show/237114