HR 1207 in the US Congress is Ron Paul’s ‘Audit the Fed’ initiative that has had conservatives, libertarians, and many other groups buzzing for a few months now.
The Fed is a private organization – which the supporters of the Audit the Fed initiative are among the first to point out. This private organization has been granted vast powers and basically dictates US monetary policy.
I agree that the Fed shouldn’t have these powers, that isn’t where Dr. Paul is wrong.
He is wrong in calling for a government audit of a private organization.
Instead, Congress should strip the Fed of these powers that Congress gave it nearly 100 years ago and either government should directly control monetary policy or individuals should have control over their own ‘monetary policy’.
Overall, Ron Paul is a hypocrite on this issue. He decries government intervention in other private organizations, such as the recent government takeover of General Motors or the government-backed bankruptcy of Chrysler, and yet he wants government to get involved in another private organization.
Auditing it is further government intervention into private organizations, and only bolsters Statists who want to take on still other private organizations (say maybe Phillip Morris or Southern Company).
Ending its domination of US monetary policy is and should be our initiative – not some hypocritical ‘audit’.
We need to urge Dr. Paul to drop this ‘audit’ the Fed initiative and urge him to do what he says he wants to do eventually anyway – call for the Fed to be disbanded.
After all, do we want to help the Statists, or do we want genuine Freedom for all?
Did you read HR 1207? Your comments indicate you did not. Ron Paul a hypocrite? I think not. HR 1207 modifies already existing US Code (read it here http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode31/usc_sec_31_00000714—-000-.html) which enables the government to audit the Fed — this is not new in Paul’s legislation. The problem is that the code allows for exceptions in the audit, thus rendering it ineffective. HR 1207 removes all exceptions, thus making the code meaningful.
But HR 1207 is just a stepping stone to removal of the Fed. First, get Congress to truly audit the Fed, then get them to abolish it.
So, that brings up Ron Paul’s HR 833 The Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act. Every year Paul puts in legislation to abolish the Fed, every year it dies in committee with not one cosponsor (HR 1207 has 222 cosponsors). Ron Paul is much smarter and wiser than you think he is. Under current economic conditions he has the chance to bring the Fed under scrutiny with HR 1207. Any other year it would die in committee as just another nutty piece of legislation, but not this year. Get Congress to look differently at the Fed and perhaps they will begin to warm up to HR 833. Ron Paul has a plan, let him carry it out.
We are reading The Creature From Jekyll Island for the book club. Our meeting is Thursday. The book is about the Fed. Should make for some interesting talk.