Ron Paul to win one

[Startraveler]

An interesting find from Donny Shaw at OpenCongress today: fresh off dressing down dining room tables, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank recently discussed the limitations that the House intends to put on the powers of the Federal Reserve in October.

Have a watch:

.

Ron Paul fans (I know you're out there) will be most interested by the last 50 seconds or so where Frank confirms that he expects Paul's bill H.R. 1207 (Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009--i.e. the audit of the Fed) to pass in October.

FRANK: “We will subject [the Federal Reserve] to a complete audit. I’ve been working with Ron Paul, who is the main sponsor of that bill. He agrees that we don’t want to have the audit appear as if it is influencing monetary policy because that would be inflationary, and Ron and I agree on that. We also think, one of the things the audit will show you is what the Federal Reserve buys and sells. And that will be made public, but not instantly, because if that was made available instantly you would have a lot of people trading off of that and it would have too much impact on the market. Again, Ron agrees with that. So we will probably have that data released after a time period of several months – enough time so that it wouldn’t be market sensitive. That will be part of the overall federal regulation that we are adopting. The House will pass it probably in October.”

An überliberal and an überconservative working together to get something done. Hot damn.

[Mr Honeybadger]

Whooo - Hooo !!

Go Ron. You da man.

And you get a gold star beside your name Barney Fudd. I'll take back one single thing that I've said bad about you. ( but only one )

[WoIverine]

An überliberal and an überconservative working together to get something done. Hot damn.

*CHEERS!* Now that's what I'm talking about!

[Lt_Ripley]

An interesting find from Donny Shaw at OpenCongress today: fresh off dressing down dining room tables, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank recently discussed the limitations that the House intends to put on the powers of the Federal Reserve in October.

Have a watch:

.

Ron Paul fans (I know you're out there) will be most interested by the last 50 seconds or so where Frank confirms that he expects Paul's bill H.R. 1207 (Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009--i.e. the audit of the Fed) to pass in October.

An überliberal and an überconservative working together to get something done. Hot damn.

[Lt_Ripley]

Whooo - Hooo !!

Go Ron. You da man.

And you get a gold star beside your name Barney Fudd. I'll take back one single thing that I've said bad about you. ( but only one )

but Ron still is too unembraceable and weird to get elected president.

[WoIverine]

but Ron still is too unembraceable and weird to get elected president.

LOL, you do not know the power of the Dark Side! *whrrr hisssss*, *whrrr hisssss*

[Mr Honeybadger]

but Ron still is too unembraceable and weird to get elected president.

Hey ! I don't plan on hugging the guy. I just want him to save our country.

Go Ron Go !!

Does this mean we can throw that moron Ben Bernake out on his head and tar and feather him ??

[KRS-One]

The goal of this is great, but the concept of slowly leaking information like you're easing into a hot bath in order to prevent the markets from going nuts still concerns me.

I can't think of a viable way to do this even over longer periods of time. As information is released it's still going to affect the markets.

Also there's the fact that Ron Paul may actually be insane. Other than that though, as a whole, I think this is a good idea.

[WoIverine]

Hey Star, do you think this will allow Ron to see precisely how much funding goes into what types of governmental black projects?

[WoIverine]

Also there's the fact that Ron Paul may actually be insane. Other than that though, as a whole, I think this is a good idea.

Ron's got some cojones, so to does Barney, I underestimated him. Maybe this is the type of common ground we need to turn this country around! a Moderate conservative and moderate liberal as pres and vice pres. 4 years the liberal is pres, then 4 years the con is pres. Working together the entire time to establish common ground for all. That would seem very fair to me. Probably unrealistic, but hell, how cool would that be?

Edited August 28, 2009 by SpiderCyde

[Startraveler]

Hey Star, do you think this will allow Ron to see precisely how much funding goes into what types of governmental black projects?

I'm not sure I know what you're asking. This bill is just about opening up the Fed's books--if you're talking about something that doesn't fall under their jurisdiction or that they're not funding then this bill won't reveal anything about it.

[preacherman76]

but Ron still is too unembraceable and weird to get elected president.

Hu? As far as I can see he's one of very few who is totaly embraceable. Loyaly served the constitution for many years in congress. Works as a Doctor for free in his spare time. A dedicated husband, with no record of coruption in his entire time serving the country. Never one time voted to go to war. Never one time voted to increase taxes. The man is a rock.

[churchanddestroy]

Ron Paul fans (I know you're out there)

You rang?

but Ron still is too unembraceable and weird to get elected president.

I think he knew that. I think his whole point was to get a message out about (mostly) the epic failure of the Republican party. Yeah, he's kind of a kooky old man at times, but hot damn, he has a couple of messages that really really ring true.

I think that an audit of the Fed is one of the most important things we can do right now, above healthcare reform, above education reform, above everything else, because it is the one part of the government where there is ZERO transparency. And once the Fed is transparent, once we know what Bernake and the rest are up to, and once Congress actually tames the beast it lost control of, I really don't care or oppose anything else. An audit of the Fed is really the one and only important issue to me. Its high time we know EXACTLY what is going on in there, and it is high time Congress reigned the Fed in. I don't think the Fed should be a separate entity, or treated as such. Furthermore, we deserve to know exactly what is going on in there. Its our Gov't, they made it, we the people are owed that obligation.

There is absolutely nothing good or redeeming about the shroud of secrecy that veils the actions of the Fed.

[acidhead]

Misinformation Alert: Barney Frank Never Said That HR 1207 Will Pass In October

Several blogs and forums reported during the past 24 hours that Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank, said that Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve, HR 1207, will pass in October.

Incorrect Reports about Barney Frank’s Statement on HR 1207

Washington Times: http://www.washtimes.com/weblogs/back-story/2009/aug/28/barney-frank-says-ron-paul-bill-will-pass/?feat=home_blogs

Politico: Barney: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0809/Barney_Fed_audit_bill_will_pass_in_October.html

Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/barney-frank-yes-we-will-pass-ron-pauls-audit-the-fed-bill-2009-8

United Liberty: Frank: http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/frank-vote-on-hr-1207-in-october

Daily Paul: Video: http://www.dailypaul.com/node/104848

ZeroHedge: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/barney-frank-says-house-will-pass-hr-1207-october

Mish: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/08/barney-frank-say-ron-pauls-audit-fed.html

Washington Independent: http://washingtonindependent.com/56933/ron-pauls-audit-the-fed-bill-to-get-october-vote

The source of the rumor seems to be the following video:

FRANK: “We will subject [the Federal Reserve] to a complete audit. I’ve been working with Ron Paul, who is the main sponsor of that bill. He agrees that we don’t want to have the audit appear as if it is influencing monetary policy because that would be inflationary, and Ron and I agree on that. We also think, one of the things the audit will show you is what the Federal Reserve buys and sells. And that will be made public, but not instantly, because if that was made available instantly you would have a lot of people trading off of that and it would have too much impact on the market. Again, Ron agrees with that. So we will probably have that data released after a time period of several months – enough time so that it wouldn’t be market sensitive. That will be part of the overall federal regulation that we are adopting. The House will pass it probably in October.” http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1188--Audit-the-Fed-Bill-Will-Pass-This-Fall

With “This will probably pass in October”, Frank is referring not to HR 1207, but to his own financial regulation bill, which might or might not include some aspects of Ron Paul’s HR 1207. The preceding sentence, “That will be part of the overall federal regulation that we are adopting,” is for some reason missing from the widely distributed transcript, and has therefore been completely ignored by bloggers and commentators.

In recent weeks Ron Paul repeatedly warned against just this sort of thing happening: that HR 1207 might become part of a more comprehensive financial regulation bill and be watered down so that it appeases the angry masses without instituting any real changes. It would be an irony of history if that happened — if HR 1207 were watered down and integrated into an unconstitutional bill that Ron Paul would have to vote against.

What did Ron Paul really say?

It has become fashionable for the political elite to try to distort Ron Paul’s statements for political gain or even put entirely new words into his mouth. Just the other day, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said, “Even [Ron Paul] recognizes how important it is to us to have the Fed independent of politics.” http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-08-27/tim-geithner-even-ron-paul-understands-that-we-dont-want-an-audit/

Now Barney Frank claims that “[Ron Paul] agrees that we don’t want to have the audit appear as if it influences monetary policy as that would be inflationary.”

Ron Paul never said that an audit of the Federal Reserve would be inflationary. In fact, he has credibly demonstrated the exact opposite: that the secretive Federal Reserve itself is responsible for inflation, with the dollar having lost 96% of its value since the Fed’s creation in 1913.

Here is what Ron Paul actually said about HR 1207, the bill to audit the Federal Reserve, and why only a real audit will protect the public’s interest:

Click LINK to watch video below:

Ron Paul(August 1st 2009): “Mr. Speaker, the big guns have lined up against HR 1207, the bill to audit the Federal Reserve. What is it that they are so concerned about? What information are they hiding from the American people? The screed is: transparency is okay except for those things they don’t want to be transparent.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, argues that HR 1207, the legislation to audit the Federal Reserve, would politicize monetary policy. He claims that monetary policy must remain independent, that is; secret. He ignores history because chairmen of the Federal Reserve in the past, especially when up for reappointment, do their best to accommodate the president with politically driven low interest rates and a bubble economy.

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Arthur Burns, when asked about all the inflation he brought about in 1971 before Nixon’s reelection, said that the Fed has to do what the president wants it to do, or it would lose its independence. That about tells you everything.

Not by accident Chairman Burns strongly supported Nixon’s program of wage and price controls the same year, but I guess that’s not political. Is not making secret deals with the likes of Goldman Sachs, international financial institutions, foreign governments and foreign central banks politicizing monetary policy?

Bernanke argues that the knowledge that their discussions and decisions will one day be scrutinized will compromise the freedom of the Open Market Committee to pursue sound policy. If it is sound and honest and serves no special interest, what’s the problem?

He claims that HR 1207 would give power to Congress to affect monetary policy. He dreamt this up to instill fear, an old statist trick to justify government power. HR 1207 does nothing of the sort. He suggested that the day after an FOMC meeting, Congress could send in the GAO to demand an audit of everything said and done. This is hardly the case. The FOMC function under HR 1207 would not change.

The detailed transcripts of the FOMC meetings are released every 5 years, so why would this be so different and what is it that they don’t want the American people to know? Is there something about the transcripts that need to be kept secret, or are the transcripts actually not verbatim?

Fed sycophants argue that an audit would destroy the financial markets’ faith in the Fed. They say this in the midst of the greatest financial crisis in history brought on by none other than the Federal Reserve. In fact, Chairman Bernanke stated on November 14th 2007, “A considerable amount of evidence indicates that Central Bank transparency increases the effectiveness of monetary policy and enhances economic and financial performance”.

They also argue that an audit would hurt the value of the U.S. dollar. In fact, the Fed, in less than a 100 years of its existence, has reduced the value of the 1914 dollar by 96%.

They claim HR 1207 would raise interest rates. How could it? The Fed sets interest rates and the bill doesn’t interfere with monetary policy. Congress would have no say in the matter and besides, Congress likes low interest rates.

It is argued that the Fed wouldn’t be free to raise interest rates if they thought it necessary. But Bernanke has already assured the Congress that rates are going to stay low for the foreseeable future. And again, this bill does nothing to allow Congress to interfere with interest rate setting.

Fed supporters claim that they want to protect the public’s interest with their secrecy. But the banks and Wall Streets are the opponents of HR 1207, and the people are for it. Just who best represents the public’s interest?

The real question is: why are Wall Street and the Fed so hysterically opposed to HR 1207? Just what information are they so anxious to keep secret? Only an audit of the Federal Reserve will answer these questions.” --end of transcript

75% Want A Real Audit

We need to keep up the pressure http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/audit-the-federal-reserve-hr-1207/ to make sure that HR 1207 itself is put up for vote. 75% http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-07-30/so-much-for-secrecy-75-of-americans-favor-auditing-the-fed/ of the American people want a real audit of the Federal Reserve, not a pretend investigation that goes to great pains not to ruffle any feathers, claiming that too close a look at what the Wizard is doing behind the curtain would be “inflationary” (Frank) and “problematic for the country” (Geithner).

[WoIverine]

Ron! Please do a radio show buddy so we can hear what you really are intending on this without others speaking on your behalf.

Edited August 29, 2009 by SpiderCyde

[acidhead]

Ron! Please do a radio show buddy so we can hear what you really are intending on this without others speaking on your behalf.

... Ron Paul will issue a statement soon regarding Barney Frank's mis-leading comments.... http://www.campaignforliberty.com/

[Startraveler]

With “This will probably pass in October”, Frank is referring not to HR 1207, but to his own financial regulation bill, which might or might not include some aspects of Ron Paul’s HR 1207. The preceding sentence, “That will be part of the overall federal regulation that we are adopting,” is for some reason missing from the widely distributed transcript, and has therefore been completely ignored by bloggers and commentators.

In recent weeks Ron Paul repeatedly warned against just this sort of thing happening: that HR 1207 might become part of a more comprehensive financial regulation bill and be watered down so that it appeases the angry masses without instituting any real changes.

I find this somewhat puzzling. Like nearly all of Ron Paul's legislation, H.R. 1207 is extremely minimalistic. The actual text of the legislation is about 200 words. It requires that an audit be conducted of the Fed and the results be reported to members of Congress. I'm not sure how one could "water down" such a directive or alter "some aspects" of it. Either an audit is conducted or it isn't. This is the entirety of the text of H.R. 1207 (minus the bits about the title of the bill):

(a) In General- Subsection (B ) of section 714 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking all after `shall audit an agency' and inserting a period.

(B ) Audit- Section 714 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(e) Audit and Report of the Federal Reserve System-

`(1) IN GENERAL- The audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks under subsection (B ) shall be completed before the end of 2010.

(2) REPORT-

`(A) REQUIRED- A report on the audit referred to in paragraph (1) shall be submitted by the Comptroller General to the Congress before the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date on which such audit is completed and made available to the Speaker of the House, the majority and minority leaders of the House of Representatives, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the committee and each subcommittee of jurisdiction in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and any other Member of Congress who requests it.

`(B ) CONTENTS- The report under subparagraph (A) shall include a detailed description of the findings and conclusion of the Comptroller General with respect to the audit that is the subject of the report, together with such recommendations for legislative or administrative action as the Comptroller General may determine to be appropriate.'.

I understand the wariness of including this provision with the rest of the financial regulation that should be coming down the pike, since I suppose Ron Paul will probably feel compelled to vote against that. But "watered down"? I'm not seeing it. It's hard to water down water.

[WoIverine]

I find this somewhat puzzling. Like nearly all of Ron Paul's legislation, H.R. 1207 is extremely minimalistic. The actual text of the legislation is about 200 words. It requires that an audit be conducted of the Fed and the results be reported to members of Congress. I'm not sure how one could "water down" such a directive or alter "some aspects" of it. Either an audit is conducted or it isn't. This is the entirety of the text of H.R. 1207 (minus the bits about the title of the bill):

I understand the wariness of including this provision with the rest of the financial regulation that should be coming down the pike, since I suppose Ron Paul will probably feel compelled to vote against that. But "watered down"? I'm not seeing it. It's hard to water down water.

Yes, it does somewhat seem like a piece of the puzzle is missing here. When you created the OP yesterday, for a split second I nearly thought it was too good to be true, but you've always been dead on the money so far Star. Curious as to how this will all play out.

[preacherman76]

I find this somewhat puzzling. Like nearly all of Ron Paul's legislation, H.R. 1207 is extremely minimalistic. The actual text of the legislation is about 200 words. It requires that an audit be conducted of the Fed and the results be reported to members of Congress. I'm not sure how one could "water down" such a directive or alter "some aspects" of it. Either an audit is conducted or it isn't. This is the entirety of the text of H.R. 1207 (minus the bits about the title of the bill):

I understand the wariness of including this provision with the rest of the financial regulation that should be coming down the pike, since I suppose Ron Paul will probably feel compelled to vote against that. But "watered down"? I'm not seeing it. It's hard to water down water.

Oh its easy enough to water down. You just take it from 200 words, to 700 pages, and in them give them every means to not do what the bill was supposed to be intended to do.