I started reading the first draft of the financial regulatory reform legislation back at the end of October when it was 253 pages but it kept changing; first to 379 pages and now 1,279 pages. The latest draft was put out on the house floor a few days ago and guess what, they are voting on it today. Not very many people have been paying attention to the complete takeover of the financial sector by progressive democrats because everybody has been talking about the Senate health care bill. One needs to remember that whoever controls the purse strings, controls the world.
Michele Bachmann has called for Americans to melt the phone lines of their representatives in Washington over this sneaky legislation that gives control of the private sector to the White House. (202-224-3121). This legislation also has the Waters amendment that gives community organizations (like ACORN) a seat at the table. Barney and his cronies will tout this as a great bill because it contains the auditing of the Federal Reserve in it. Go here to watch live streaming coverage of the vote on amendments and this bill.
A very small excerpt concerning an oversight council:
H.R.4173 The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (Introduced in House)
SEC. 1001. FINANCIAL SERVICES OVERSIGHT COUNCIL ESTABLISHED.
(a) Establishment- Immediately upon enactment of this title, there is established a Financial Services Oversight Council.
(b) Membership- The Council shall consist of the following:
(1) VOTING MEMBERS- Voting members, who shall each have one vote on the Council, as follows:
(A) The Secretary of the Treasury, who shall serve as the Chairman of the Council.
(B) The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
(C) The Comptroller of the Currency.
(D) The Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, until the functions of the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision are transferred to pursuant to subtitle C.
(E) The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
(F) The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
(G) The Chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
(H) The Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
(I) The Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration.
(2) NONVOTING MEMBERS- Nonvoting members, who shall serve in an advisory capacity:
(A) A State insurance commissioner, to be designated by a selection process determined by the State insurance commissioners, provided that the term for which a State insurance commissioner may serve shall last no more than the 2-year period beginning on the date that the commissioner is selected.
(B) A State banking supervisor, to be designated by a selection process determined by the State bank supervisors, provided that the term for which a State banking supervisor may serve shall last no more than the 2-year period beginning on the date that the supervisor is selected.
(c) Duties- The Council shall have the following duties:
(1) To advise the Congress on financial domestic and international regulatory developments, including insurance and accounting developments, and make recommendations that will enhance the integrity, efficiency, orderliness, competitiveness, and stability of the United States financial markets.
(2) To monitor the financial services marketplace to identify potential threats to the stability of the United States financial system.
(3) To identify potential threats to the stability of the United States financial system that do not arise out of the financial services marketplace.
(4) To develop plans (and conduct exercises in furtherance of those plans) to prepare for potential threats identified under paragraphs (2) and (3).
(5) To subject financial companies and financial activities to stricter prudential standards in order to promote financial stability and mitigate systemic risk in accordance with subtitle B.
Update: 9.25.09: For those of you that missed the hearing, (like myself), go here for a 3 hour C-Span video of the hearing.
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(H/T Clyde)
For those of you that want to watch the live stream of the House Committee on Financial Services hearing led by Barney Frank on H.R. 1207; Ron Paul’s Audit The Fed bill starting at 9am Friday, 9.25.09, go here. I, of course, will have to catch up later….please keep me posted in comments if you do decide to watch, and there is anything newsworthy.
Watch this video and you tell me if Ben Bernanke doesn’t look like he is doing a damn fine impression of a deer in the headlights? It is a rare moment when one sees Bernanke squirming and speaking rather rapidly – two hallmarks of Bernanke freaking out. TurboTaxTimmie does the very same thing when he is under fire, and they both realize that their power is slipping away.
Bernanke: “My concern about the legislation (HR1207) is that if the GAO (Government Accountability Office) is auditing not only the operational aspects of our programs, the details of the programs, but is making judgements about our policy decisions, that would effectively be a takeover of monetary policy by the congress, a repudiation of the independence of the Federal Reserve which would be highly destructive to the stability of the financial system, the dollar, and our national economic situation.
Ya Think Ben? Our founding fathers were completely against a central bank system, (a banking cartel which is what the Federal Reserve System IS), and all four presidents that worked toward abolishing a central bank system were assassinated; coincidence?
Remember that quote “quite transparent”? Today’s AYFKM? Award: The Federal Reserve…for not being able, even using red crayon math, to account for $9 TRILLION DOLLARS!!! $9 FREAKIN’ TRILLION – NINE, not $9 Million or $9 Billion, NINE TRILLION!…and Ben does not want to be audited. Tough kibbles Ben!
If the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered – Thomas Jefferson
do people not understand? Are we there yet? Damned if I don’t think we are there now when every single American household owes over $500,000 now to the Federal Government for the crack smokin’ government’s spending bills. That $500,000 bill was something like $36,000 back in 2001.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a rare public rebuke of central banks, suggested the European Central Bank and its counterparts in the U.S. and Britain have gone too far in fighting the financial crisis and may be laying the groundwork for another financial blowup.
“I view with great skepticism the powers of the Fed, for example, and also how, within Europe, the Bank of England has carved out its own small line,” Ms. Merkel said in a speech in Berlin. “We must return together to an independent central bank policy and to a policy of reason, otherwise we will be in exactly the same situation in 10 years’ time.”
Ms. Merkel also said the ECB “bowed somewhat to international pressure” when it said last month it plans to buy €60 billion ($85 billion) in corporate bonds — a move that is modest in comparison to asset-buying by its counterparts, the U.S. Fed and Bank of England. Details are to be unveiled by the ECB’s president, Jean-Claude Trichet, Thursday.
The public criticism is unusual — and not only because German politicians rarely talk harshly about central banks in public. When politicians around the world do criticize their central banks, they almost always gripe that they are too tightfisted.
I found this video on RonPaul.com and wanted to make sure that my readers would have a chance to hear a more current interview with G. Edward Griffin, the author of “The Creature From Jekyll Island” who really opened up the pandora’s box of The Federal Reserve as a banking cartel. In this interview with Reality Report, Mr. Griffin speaks about H.R. 1207, ending the Federal Reserve, and returning to the gold standard.
For those of you that are new to the monster, and would like a more indepth series of posts about the Federal Reserve, go here. After that, go here.
Meanwhile, I am going back to making an effort to read H.R. 985, the super secret squirrel act to protect documents from domestic terrorists like us so that no transparency is allowed in this government. As soon as I actually can break it down in a manner that everybody can understand, I will put it up.
