RSS Feed
Twitter
Facebook
Email
HomeIs Ben Bernanke a Grand and Wonderful Wizard?
Posted by Larry Doyle on July 21, 2009 10:53 AM |
“There’s no place like home.”
Just as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz merely wanted to return to the peace and comfort of her home in Kansas, aren’t we all hoping to ‘get home?’
What is home and how do we get there? Home is a sense of economic stability and future prosperity achieved by ‘following the yellow brick road.’ If it were only that easy.
Many believe The Wizard of Oz is not simply a whimsical child’s story. Having been written in the late 1800s, does the story represent a populist message? A progressive message? Is the yellow brick road a symbol of the ‘gold standard?’ I will defer to literary historians who are far more schooled than me on these topics.
What about ‘the grand and wonderful wizard’ Ben Bernanke? Are we merely supposed to disregard that ‘man behind the curtain?’ Well, folks, we’re not in Kansas anymore and if we are ever going to ‘get home’ then we had better start promoting an increased level of transparency and accountability along the way.
I am not here to impugn Mr. Bernanke. I do not question his character or his intentions. In fact, I think he is a far better Fed chair than his predecessor Alan Greenspan. However, is Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve all-knowing and all-powerful? I think not. Is the economic future of the United States of America so dependent on one man and one institution to determine an accurate and timely path for monetary easing and tightening? Whether we like it or not, our economic system is totally dependent on the Fed. Read what the ‘wonderful wizard’ thinks about The Fed’s Exit Strategy in today’s WSJ.
The risks involved in our dependence upon the Fed are far too great. What needs to be done?
The Federal Reserve must be audited. What is on the Fed’s books? What are all of the assets and the liabilities? What are the Fed’s short term and long term risks? The need for transparency in our economy has never been greater. The least transparent entity within our economic sphere is the Federal Reserve.
Two hundred and seventy five Congressmen have signed a bill, HR 1207 and S 604, sponsored by Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) requiring an audit of the Federal Reserve. This bill is currently in the House Financial Services Committee, a very critical stage. I beseech anybody who loves our country to solicit your representatives to support this bill. Instructions for doing so are in the above link.
Do we have the brains, the heart, the courage?
LD
For a fuller understanding of the inner workings of the Federal Reserve, please review:
The All Powerful Federal Reserve
June 12, 2009
The All Powerful Federal Reserve: Part II
June 12, 2009
Don’t Call the Fed Independent
June 17, 2009
Fed Independence and the Constitution
June 24, 2009
