Sunday, October 20, 2013

Audit The Federal Reserve Bill Approves House

By Cornelius Nunev


The House of Representatives has just passed a bill that would authorize the federal government to audit the Federal reserve. The bill may not go anywhere, but a growing number of people want more transparency in how the nation's central bank conducts its affairs.

Get audit getting support

The Federal reserve, since its creation in 1913, has held sway in ways that many don't realize impact daily life. It is the country's central bank, and controls the nation's cash supply, inflation rates and, through that, the expenses of lending money. In short, how much a dollar is worth and how costly it is for banks to lend mortgages, installment loans and so forth, is part of what the Fed controls, among other things.

As an "independent government agency," the Fed is still part of the government as a private business. Many people think it should be required to open its books to the public since there is not a ton of information made accessible to the public about its dealings. Citizens and legislators all support a bill that would require an audit of the Fed.

Getting house authorization

The Federal reserve has been criticized by Ron Paul of Texas for some time, which is why he sponsored the bill which passed 327 to 98 in the House of Representatives. ABC points out that the House is ready for more government agencies to show their finances.

The bureau has been taking care of finances by publishing its balance sheet every week and by getting internal audits complete yearly. Deloitte and Touche was the firm that did the most recent audit, according to CNN. One issue is that it takes way too long to get records from meetings where the bureau decides to increase inflation. It takes three weeks to release meeting minutes and five years for transcripts to come out. The bill is being put together to allow instant access to the policy decisions, particularly those relating to money.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke not okay with it

Congress might end up controlling the Federal reserve if the new Audit the Fed law is passed; Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is worried about, according to Bloomberg. This might cause a ton of corruption and manipulation of the Federal reserve, which is an enormous concern for Bernanke. He has no problem with more transparency in finances though.

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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