Why are Democratic lawmakers so eager to shield the
Federal Reserve Board from public scrutiny?
After Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska)
used a procedural trick in the U.S.
Senate to torpedo a longshot legislative bid that
would have had the Government Accountability Office
(GAO) audit the Fed, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina)
expressed
his disappointment on the "Glenn Beck Program":
Frankly, a lot of us here in this country and around the world,
are concerned that we're going to destroy the American dollar
and the worldwide reserve currency.
DeMint told substitute host Judge Andrew Napolitano that
If we could get the Federal Reserve under control, it would
make it more difficult for the Obama administration, I think,
to carry out the continued spending and growing of debt.
Fed deputy chairman
Donald Kohn is opposed to the idea. He told a
congressional hearing that auditing the primary
institutional enabler of Big Government in America
would interfere with Fed processes.
If the GAO, a congressional agency, were authorized to
audit the Fed, that "could cast a chill on monetary policy
deliberations," Kohn said.
Or Americans could find out where their tax dollars are
going from an unaccountable, opaque entity that
refuses to identify the recipients of $2 trillion-plus
in emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the
collateral backing the loans.
Making the Fed more transparent could also put to rest some of
the kookier conspiracy
theories about it.
