Abolish or Reform the Federal Reserve Hearing Set for Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

“More and more people are beginning to understand just how destructive the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has been. I hope that this hearing will kick start a serious discussion on the need to rein in the Fed,” said Chairman Paul. “100 years is far too long for Congress to have taken a hands-off approach. The Fed continues to reward Wall Street banks while destroying the dollar’s purchasing power and driving up the cost of living for average Americans. This reckless behavior must come to an end.” -Congressman Ron Paul on the upcoming Tuesday hearing titled “Abolish or Reform the Federal Reserve” [Source & Press Release]

The Financial Services Sub Committee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology will discuss Six pieces of legislation dealing with Ending or Reforming the Unconstitutional Federal Reserve Central Bank on Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 at 10 AM in Room 2128 in the Rayburn House Office Building [Source].

Pieces of legislation are as follows, *explanations & links are further below*:

1. H.R. 245, introduced by Rep. Mike Pence
2. H.R. 1094, the Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act, introduced by Rep. Paul
3. H.R. 1401, the Democratizing the Federal Reserve System Act, introduced by Rep. Marcy Kaptur
4.  H.R. 2990, the National Emergency Employment Defense Act, introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich
5.  H.R. 3428, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank
6.  H.R. 4180, the Sound Dollar Act, introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady

Congressman & Presidential Candidate Ron Paul serves as Chairman of the Financial Services Sub Committee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, along with Vice Chairman Representative Walter Jones of North Carolina, Congressman David Schweikert of Arizona, and 11 other members of Congress which can be found HERE. The interesting factor here is that Ron Paul is well-known for his principled and consistent stand against the Federal Reserve, Trillions of dollars in Debt, artificial interest rates, fiat currency, Centrally Planned Economy, bailouts, and is also author of End the Fed. He has effectively made the Federal Reserve and its endless accumulation of debt a National issue for the Presidential Election currently going on. 

[The Ron Paul Austrian Economics V. Paul Krugman Keynesian DEBT debate that aired this past week & gained much attention]

LIVE Webcast (Lower Left Corner, click “Live Webcasts”) of Financial Services Sub Committee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology “Abolish or Reform the Federal Reserve Hearing”, 10 AM (Washington DC Time) Tuesday (May 8th, 2012). 

CSPAN-3 Live Link/Re-Play HERE. 

So, why is this such big news? The Financial Services Sub Committee has held hearings with Federal Reserve officials over the past year and they have slowly gained more attention, but not as much as this upcoming meeting. The unique aspect of this hearing on Tuesday is that it outright states the issue and title as “Abolish or Reform the Fed“, and gives the impression that some members of Congress are finally taking the debt and the Federal Reserve’s role in its accumulation seriously. I am a little more skeptical of Congress and the Central Bankers to believe this will fix everything, but it is a step in the right direction.

If the Fed is being taken seriously by Congress and the media, it’s been long-awaited. Since the recent Housing Financial Crisis, the Fed has gained more attention from the public because of the 16.1 Trillion Dollars in loans it gave out between December 1st, 2007 and July 21st, 2010, to Domestic and Foreign Banks & Governments revealed with the GAO Audit, without any approval from Congress or the people through their legislature. 

Page 131 of the GAO Audit, or Page 144 of the document on the website is it linked to (Click HERE for Direct), shows that the complete balance of loans added up to 16.1 Trillion with a capital T dollars, much more than the 1.2 Trillion discussed by certain news outlets, and double the Bloomberg figure of 7.77 Trillion.

The news outlets weren’t lying, but they did choose to present smaller figures that did not represent the complete and total loan revealed in the official Government Accountability Office Audit. I do have to thank Bloomberg for actually pushing for information on the Federal Reserve with the Freedom of Information Act, practicing the occupation of a REAL news network and a REAL Free press in this instance.

Short Summary on Legislation with links to Text, thanks to Open Congress for much of the information:

H.R. 245, introduced by Rep. Mike Pence: Amends the Federal Reserve Act to remove the mandate for the federal reserve board of governors and Federal open market committee to achieve maximum employment

-Requires more research, but removes one of the many mandates the Federal Reserve seems to have, which is achieving “Full Employment”. The only way governments achieve maximum employment is through a draft, which isn’t productive employment nor helpful to the economy. Of course, if the Fed retains this mandate, it can continue with its debt-infusing philosophy which damages the economy, and really begs the question, if debt is so good for the economy, why do Americans have jobs? Why not have the Federal Reserve just print as much money as needed and allows us to buy and do whatever we please with the fiat dollars? (sarcasm)

H.R. 1094, the Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act, introduced by Rep. Paul: Abolishes the Federal Reserve and its mandated roles in central planning of the economy

-This bill’s title is relatively clear with its purpose, to abolish the Federal Reserve. More reasoning for this can be found in End the Fed, but the artificial interest rates which the Fed sets, are a manipulation of natural market interest rates which are supposed to rise when savings in the economy is low to discourage mal-investment, & fall when savings is high to encourage investment and act as a sign of a strong economy.  Investment is derived from savings, which drives the economy. The Fed instead artificially manipulates these interest rates, tricking investors and citizens into thinking there is a large amount of savings and creates the boom-and-bust cycle exemplified by the recent housing bubble crash.

-The Fed’s destruction of the dollar is what also justifies this bill, in that because the dollar is no longer “Sound Money”, or Constitutional Money, meaning it is not linked to anything of value like gold & silver. The Fed is allowed to literally create worthless Federal Reserve Notes (also known as Dollars) without limit, funding every project Government wants passed. When a currency is linked to something of value, it limits the growth of Government because the money can’t simply be created out of thin air, but with the status of the dollar as it is now,linked to nothing of value, every dollar the Fed creates through the Treasury with ease decreases the value of existing dollars in your savings accounts, retirement accounts, wallet, ect… Additionally, those who receive the newly created money first, which is usually the government-insiders, as shown with the GAO audit, receives and spends stronger dollars, while everyone below suffers the cost of rising prices (price inflation) and deals with weaker dollars.

- Additional “Side-Bill”, not combined with H.R. 1094 in anyway, but I see Congressman Paul’s H.R. 1094 hitting many bumps, which is why I want to note one of his more popular bills, H.R. 1098, The Free Competition in Currency Act, which would simply legalize competing currencies, and offer an alternative to the dollar (while still keeping everything the same about the dollar). Many States have passed or are considering legalizing Gold and Silver as currency, & it would simply end the Unconstitutional monopoly on currency that the Fed has, allowing for a backup plan or stronger currency to emerge as the dollar is destroyed by the Fed’s monetary inflation. This is a VERY IMPORTANT bill, and I would ask everyone to call their representatives to support it. It does nothing that “both parties” should be disappointed about, simply legalizes competition as Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution mentions. 

H.R. 1401, the Democratizing the Federal Reserve System Act, introduced by Rep. Marcy Kaptur: Reduces and changes length of service of members of the Federal Reserve board of Governors from 14 years to seven years.

H.R. 3428, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank: Once again, I am reading over these rather quickly, and more research should be done if you intend to be interested in this, but as far as I can tell, H.R. 3428 adds 5 additional members to the Federal Open Market Committee, which artificially sets the interest rates. The 5 additional members are to be chosen by the President and agreed upon by the Senate. This seems like it could really go either way, but generally, giving more members to the Fed, even if selected by the President, seems like it would just turn into a contest to get members who will agree with spending increases and the traditional policies. 

H.R. 4180, the Sound Dollar Act, introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady: Seems to be a trick of the name, doesn’t stop the Federal Reserve from inflating the currency in anyway or create a “Sound Dollar”. This bill is described here, but has six titles that generally deal with re-enforcing the current mandates of the Federal Reserve while allowing Congress to analyze the budget of the Federal Reserve and requires the Federal Reserve to set metrics for its mandate of long term price stability by defining what long term price stability is based on analysis of goods.

What you can do:

Share information on this hearing, and watch it when you have time, I have now updated this post with two video links, 1 to C-SPAN and 1 to the Financial Services Committee webcast above.

Please find out more about the Federal Reserve HERE, and then consider calling & writing your Congressmen and Senators on the need to seriously reform and/or abolish the Federal Reserve to end its continued destruction of the currency and creation of boom-and-bust cycles.

You can contact the Congressional Switchboard and ask for your Representative and Senator’s office with this phone number: (202)224-3121

Ahmed Serag