Glenn Greenwald explains why Ron Paul's victory in the House Finance Committee regarding his legislation to audit the Federal Reserve was such a big deal -- and such a great thing. Excerpt:
Our leading media outlets are capable of understanding political debates only by stuffing them into melodramatic, trite and often distracting "right v. left" storylines. While some debates fit comfortably into that framework, many do not. Anger over the Wall Street bailouts, the control by the banking industry of Congress, and the impenetrable secrecy with which the Fed conducts itself resonates across the political spectrum, as the truly bipartisan and trans-ideological vote yesterday reflects. Populist anger over elite-favoring economic policies has long been brewing on both the Right and Left (and in between), but neither political party can capitalize on it because they're both dependent upon and subservient to the same elite interests which benefit from those policies.For that reason, many of the most consequential political conflicts are shaped far more by an "insider v. outsider" dichotomy than by a "GOP v. Democrat" or "Left v. Right" split. The pillaging of America's economic security by financial elites, with the eager assistance of the government officials who they own and who serve them, is the prime example of such a conflict. The political system as a whole -- both parties' leadership -- is owned and controlled by a handful of key industry interests, and anger over the fact is found across the political spectrum. Yesterday's vote is a very rare example where the true nature of political power was expressed and the petty distractions and artificial fault lines overcome.
Greenwald recommends Ryan Grim's account of how the Paul legislation got through the committee, despite the opposition of Chairman Barney Frank, who was for it until it became apparent the thing was actually going to pass.
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Silly. There are reasonable criticisms to be made of the Federal Reserve System, but "the accounting is slipshod" is not one of them. It's like angrily demanding that the Church respond to the sexual abuse crisis by putting up smoke detectors in parish halls.
While I'm in favor of auditing the Fed, it doesn't address the real problem of fractional reserve banking.
Jon,
If you are sure that we will find money that is being wasted, why are you similarly convinced that this is a waste of taxpayer dollars? If we already know where the money goes, than why would an audit be so costly, and why is there so much opposition to the principle?
In an age of bank bailouts, we do not know where our money is going. TARP has nothing to do with Social Security or Medicare, or paying down the debt. Paul's advocacy might have been a reflection of wanton ideology decades ago, but it makes much more sense in this context.
Just another pointless turn of the screw,
and
Why Populists are know-nothings,
and
Why the likes of both Greenwald and Paul are rebels without a (pragmatic) cause ... or a clue,
and
Whenever has *Anger* ever produced wise and discerning Legislation
and
Whenever will folks understand that the Fed operates as a type of emergency room/ trauma center and having auditors coming in *post hoc* to determine how many extra (perhaps unneeded) 'bandages' were applied is simply absurd.
While I applaud even this tepid and watered-down "Audit the Fed" bill, I have serious reservations as to whether it's going to have any effect, even if Our Bright Young Thing At The Top Of The Ladder, the Peerless Leader and Coryphaeus of the Peoples of the Earth does decide to sign it, for one simple reason.
The American people, while well-intentioned (for the most part), are simply too ignorant of money and banking, as well as too short-sighted and indisciplined, to either a) make sense of the results of the audit, or b) be in a position to tell their equally-ignorant political elite how to handle those results.
Still, I'll cross my fingers and step up and play the game. After all, if you don't bet, you can't win---even at a crooked table.
Your servant,
Lord Karth
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