Accountability at the Federal Reserve

The citizens of this country have zero power.

 

Ask Ron and Rand Paul about control over Fed. There is none.

 

I am in total agreement with this statement except that I think the increasing lack of power of the citizens in the USA is not coming from accountability in the Fed Reserve but in the increasing lack of accountability in themselves. The merits of increased visibility into the Federal Reserve is a complicated subject with a delicate balance of various perspectives, which is difficult to discuss in this discussion format.

Zero power exists because we ourselves are giving it more and more to the government. The difficulty in reducing entitlement spending is a symptom coming from the people's desire to believe that the government owes them something. We have a natural born right to health care? We have a natural born right to have the government protect us when we get old? It does not take two parents to raise their children --- it takes a village someone said one time. We more and more no longer think that the power and accountability of raising our children belongs to the adults that are taking care of them. Every time one of us asks something from the government because we believe they owe us something, we give a little bit more of our power to it (which also includes the Federal Reserve). Therefore, bit by bit the citizens have been yielding the power to a more powerful government. Give this to me and give that to me, But in order to get it, we have to give up a lot more of our freedom and independence from the lawmakers.

 

Don't disagree with what you said, but want to add this. The goverment is a vast complex entity composed of millions of paid officials. Of these, I believe only the President and the Congress are actually voted in and held directly accountable to the public. When a non-elected official such as a department head, CIA chief, General, or even a quasi government official like Yellen give the finger to Congress they are giving the finger to the citizens. We've reached the point where people like Clapper can outright lie and get caught, or Yellen can refuse to answer a subpoena, and there is absolutely no repercussions.

The entitlement/handout mentality you alluded to is now part and parcel to our system. It is too big to dismantle and too top heavy to remain sustainable beyond a few years at best. That's just reality.

 

Musburger - No truer words than "it is too big to dismantle" and that is the scary part. Those in the Govt employment realize this only too well. Particularly when they see the waste, fraud, incompetence, and "nothing I can do" pervasive atmosphere. So many want to do right, or make some positive change but cannot get through the system at the 'worker' level, he'll at even the lower and mid management level.

 

Mus, I understand your point, but there is a difference between having no power over the Fed and being too stupid to exercise your power over the Fed. As you know, the Fed wasn't established by the Constitution. It was established by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Congress created the Fed, and it has as much or as little oversight on the Fed as it wants.

A congressman doesn't have to take any **** from Janet Yellen. He can go enforce his subpoena. Even worse, he can take her money and power away any time he wants. She doesn't have any power that he doesn't give her

The root of the problem is that anytime a politician with integrity (like the Pauls or Bernie Sanders) wants to do something about the Fed, the public's eyes glaze over and they get distracted by sexier issues like gay marriage or who hates Obama more. They don't know anything about the Fed and don't care. Furthermore, they think guys like you who do care about it are tin foil hat people. That makes it almost impossible to do anything meaningful about. Well, that's on us. We have the power. We just choose not to use it.

(Just to clarify, I don't think you're a tin foil hat guy. On the contrary, I think your concerns are well-founded.)

 

The public's apathy/ignorance certainly lets Congress off the hook since no pressure is applied to them to make anyone accountable. Setting that aside, why doesn't Congress act on their own without strong prodding from an angry public? Quite simple. In the case of Yellen and the Federal Reserve, the bank lobby has Yellen's back and literally has purchased probably 95% of Congress as well as the Presidency. A bought-and-paid for Congress combined with an ignorant and apathetic public leaves no room for things like truth, justice, or reform.​

 

You've answered your own question. The pressure for reform is nominal and has no money. The pressure to suppress reform is colossal and has virtually unlimited resources, because it comes from perhaps the wealthiest special interest in the country.

 

Follow up to video.
http://wallstreetonparade.com/2016/...ation-is-now-writing-for-the-financial-times/

 

This is why I laughed at HRC's response to Bernie Sanders' inference that Wall Street money has a significant impact on our politicians decisions. It doesn't have to be a single vote that is influence but rather what a someone entrusted with congressional oversight doesn't pursue may have more impact.

I do think the complexity of this issue is well beyond the average voter's knowledge level. Heck, even the 2008 banking collapse gets ignorantly simplified down to loanees taking out loans they couldn't afford by the right and banks gambling our money away in CDOs by the left. Yes, there is a grain of truth in both arguments but it's soooo much more.