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Friday 16 August 2013

Audit The Federal Reserve Bill Passes House

By Cornelius Nunev


The House of Representatives has just passed a bill that would authorize the federal government to audit the Fed. The bill may not go anywhere, but an increasing number of individuals want more transparency in how the country's central bank conducts its affairs.

Auditing the Fed

Every person in the country, and most around the world, are impacted by the Federal reserve and has been since 1913 when it was created. When you get installment loans, mortgages and borrow other cash, the federal reserve controls that. The costs of lending cash are controlled. It also controls how much a dollar is worth adjusting inflation based on the things it does.

A lot of legislators and citizens have asked that the Federal reserve be audited, which is why a brand new bill is being considered that would require the Federal reserve to open its book up to the public. It is an "independent government agency" technically meaning that it is part of the government but is a private business still.

Bill to audit passes House

A bill has just passed the House of Representatives, according to ABC, that would "open the books" of the Federal reserve, possibly to the GAO or some other bureau. The bill was, naturally, authored and sponsored by Representative Ron Paul of Texas, a constant critic of "the Fed." The bill approved 327 for to 98.

The basic idea of the bill would allow more access to Federal reserve policy decisions. Right now, records from meetings where the Fed decides to adjust the inflation rate on currency take three weeks to be released and five years for the transcript to come out. The agency publishes its balance sheet every week online too. CNN points out that Deloitte and Touche just did an internal audit. The audits are done each year. The idea of the bill is for more immediate access though.

A huge issue according to Bernanke

According to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, there is no problem with having more transparency in the fed, but he would not be okay with a law that requires an audit, according to Bloomberg. The problem is that it could trigger political corruption and manipulation if the Fed is controlled by Congress.

It is not that likely that the bill will become law, Representative Barney Frank said about the law, according to Bloomberg.




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