"To the conspiracy theorists, the [Fed] is a dangerous, shadowy and unaccountable organisation--like the [UN] or CIA but without the black helicopters. For more than 200 years, [sic, the Fed was founded in 1913] critics of the central bank have railed against an alleged lack of transparenncy, a threat to the fabric of the US by unelected moneymen. ... Defenders of free-market capitalism worry about the actions of Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, who is alleged to have coerced Bank of America into completing its acquisition of Merrill Lynch in spite of mounting losses. ... There are fears of global skullduggery that Mr. [Ron] Paul outlined as he cross-examined Donald Kohn, vice-chairman of the Fed, last week. 'You say it's the public's interest, I don't that [that] reassures a lot of people, because all of a sudden we think, "What are you doing? Are you protecting the bankers' interests?"' ... Defenders of the Fed--including Tim Geithner, the former New York Fed chairman who is now Treasury secretary, and Barney Frank, the House financial services committee chairman--are trapped. ... The Fed does not believe that the sky will fall in if it faces more audits from the Government Accountability Office, as Mr. Paul's bill proposes, but it is concerned about the movement towards increased congressional oversight and the potentially chilling effects of its board discussions", Tom Braithwaite at the FT, 15 July 2009.
The move toward more Fed transparency is laughable. To effect monetary policy, the Fed must mislead the market. Think about it. Kill the Fed. Now! I don't ask if the Fed protects bankers. That's one of its jobs!
2 comments:
Well... ZimBen has a true balancing act on his hands...
Side one: the bondmarkets
Side two: the Congress
Side three: Euro central banks
Side four: China
The Financial Times quotes ZimBen:
"“But this is an extraordinary period. We want to answer the questions we know people have about what hit them in this economic crisis, what the Fed is doing about it and how we expect economic developments to play out.”
The Fed’s new openness is well timed. This week, as the debate continues over the bank’s role in the financial crisis and proposed prudential powers, Gallup showed it is held in lower esteem than the Internal Revenue Service."
Haha haha the Chairman of Paper says he wants openness... this is all a desperate act.
When Bloomberg and other publishers want to know what assets the Fed is piling on it's balance sheet "mums" the word...
ZimBen --- you have become the world's largest hedge fund. Bill Gross, Larry Fink and all of their brethren around the world are terrified they are going to go down with you...
What tools have you got left to fight debt deflation? The printing press is about burnt out... and your good friends in the bond markets are clamoring for higher rates... (banks gotta earn their way out... those dollar bills rapidly depreciating)...
Transparency? That would mean admitting that the game is almost up. Go on over the White House and sit down with Pres-O... tell him you must have a bank holiday. The "system is impaired"... (ain't no going back to Congress... worn out that welcome).
Your friends in the banks have balance sheets that are sinking by the day...
How are you going to terrify the people and Congress the second time?
Bail you out once -- shame on you... bail you out twice shame on me...
Come on now, IA, the official line is "price stability and maximum employment"
We better not talk about that other stuff, the black helicopters might come down and take you away...
"manipulation," though written directly in the mandate, is still denied. sad. you'd think they would at least get their story straight
Jr
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