Yves Smith Smashes the Fed's Looking Glass

Zimbabwe Ben (ZB) wrote a Washington Post, 29 November 2009, opinion piece. I planned to write about it and repeat my call to repeal the Federal Reserve Act and liquidate the Fed, when I read Yves Smith's (YS) 29 November 2009 post at her Naked Capitalism, link: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/11/bernanke-tries-to-defend-the-fed.html. YS dissected ZB's Fed apologia, comprehending everything I intended to say. Thank you YS. ZB's appeal to "global consensus", is an "argument" that would not have swayed my fifth-grade class. We would have said, "Bandwagon Propaganda", no argument. The Fed supposedly has "teams of economists, financial market specialists and other experts". So? My fellow fifth-graders would have said, "Appeal to authority. No argument". ZB, give up. Do you believe we here in the real world think your stress tests were any more than a public relations exercise? ZB notes, "Our financial statements are public and audited by an outside accounting firm". So? Didn't Deloitte & Touche (D&T) audit Merrill Lynch? ZB, call me about that audit. I'll give you an estimate. I wonder if the PCAOB "inspected" D&T's Fed audit?

Junior at Junior Deputy Accountant, 28 November 2009, has some choice words for ZB, link: http://www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/2009/11/zimbabwe-ben-defending-fed.html.

Robert Higgs smacks ZB at Beacon, 28 November 2009, link: http://www.independent.org/blog/?p=4214. "Such a warning seizes the high ground by creating the presumption that Bernanke and the present Fed have proved themselves to be beneficial to the causes of financial reform and economic recovery. ... Independent? Of you and me, to be sure, but not of Goldman, BofA, JPMorgan Chase, and the other old boys up there in the big city".