It's not merely a bad idea and a bad bill, it is mendacious and fraudulent.
The Fed of course is already subject to audit. It is almost certainly the most transparent financial institution in the country - detailed accounts and financial operations are available , the Fed publishes a detailed quarterly report on balance sheet developments full with graphs and tables, the fed and its member banks routinely publish all sorts of research and in-depth explanations of how they operate.
The only matters exempt from GAO review are the details of certain transactions with foreign central banks and the implementation of monetary policy operations, for which the need for confidentiality should be obvious. I doubt the politicians pushing the bill are really interested in these details. Since Bernanke and especially Yellen, the Fed and its governors have been very forthcoming about their policy decisions. If the sponsors of the "audit" bills had the courage of their convictions, they would state forthrightly their disagreement with that policy. But they are cowards, and cowards that are way out of their depth at that.
The nice thing about the Fed bill is that it makes it easy to figure out who in the GOP field is a legit candidate for President and who cannot be trusted with executive power. And at this point, it looks like Jeb is the only serious player out there.
Isn't spending time on this better than most of the other crap those same guys would otherwise be trying to do? It seems like a good distraction to me. Ooo! Shiny!
Why Minsky has so many threads lately?
He is not being productive in RL, I can tell.
Is he on vacation? Did he get fired? Did he retire?
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on February 03, 2015, 07:39:04 PM
The only matters exempt from GAO review are the details of certain transactions with foreign central banks and the implementation of monetary policy operations, for which the need for confidentiality should be obvious.
I instinctively understand Ron Paul etc. to be a crank and the audit the fed idea to be stupid, but I'm not sure why a need for confidentiality is a reason to be exempt from audit.
Are they still worried about counting the gold bars at Fort Knox?
Quote from: Razgovory on February 04, 2015, 06:34:27 PM
Are they still worried about counting the gold bars at Fort Knox?
There aren't any gold bars at Fort Knox.
These days Fort Knox doesn't even have the armor brigade they used to.
Now, is only HRC, Human Resources Command.
And that disgusts me. Going to Ft. knox's musuem was fun. Watching the Abrams playing alongside the roads was a bonus.
Quote from: Siege on February 05, 2015, 11:28:35 AM
There aren't any gold bars at Fort Knox.
These days Fort Knox doesn't even have the armor brigade they used to.
Now, is only HRC, Human Resources Command.
The Defense Manpower Data Center is there as well.
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 05, 2015, 11:30:16 AM
And that disgusts me. Going to Ft. knox's musuem was fun. Watching the Abrams playing alongside the roads was a bonus.
No shit. My ROTC basic camp was at Ft. Knox and I happened to have 3 other history tank nerds in my platoon. We spent most of our free time there.
Quote from: Siege on February 04, 2015, 01:50:58 PM
Why Minsky has so many threads lately?
:huh:
This is my first thread this year.
Quote from: alfred russel on February 04, 2015, 06:32:01 PM
I instinctively understand Ron Paul etc. to be a crank and the audit the fed idea to be stupid, but I'm not sure why a need for confidentiality is a reason to be exempt from audit.
The Fed is audited.
Yeah, isn't the point of the "audit the Fed" thing to get the audit information out so it can be used for partisan political purposes (and thus compromise confidentiality)?
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on February 05, 2015, 12:02:05 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on February 04, 2015, 06:32:01 PM
I instinctively understand Ron Paul etc. to be a crank and the audit the fed idea to be stupid, but I'm not sure why a need for confidentiality is a reason to be exempt from audit.
The Fed is audited.
I was responding to the part that certain transactions are exempt from GAO review. If those are still audited but by someone else, nevermind.
Quote from: Jacob on February 05, 2015, 12:08:01 PM
Yeah, isn't the point of the "audit the Fed" thing to get the audit information out so it can be used for partisan political purposes (and thus compromise confidentiality)?
Pretty much. The whole point of this exercise from the beginning was to discredit the fiat currency system and shift us back to a hard money system.
I think there are three points:
1) It is a dog whistle for the conspiratorial goldbuggy types for whom the Fed is anathema
2) It is a dog whistle for the hard money donors (similar to 1)
3) It is a vehicle for Congress to meddle in monetary policy and put political pressure on the governors, again presumably in a hard money direction although in theory it could go the other way as well.
Quote from: Jacob on February 05, 2015, 12:08:01 PM
Yeah, isn't the point of the "audit the Fed" thing to get the audit information out so it can be used for partisan political purposes (and thus compromise confidentiality)?
There are a number of institutions that can be used to confidentially audit an entity.
Quote from: alfred russel on February 05, 2015, 12:15:03 PM
Quote from: Jacob on February 05, 2015, 12:08:01 PM
Yeah, isn't the point of the "audit the Fed" thing to get the audit information out so it can be used for partisan political purposes (and thus compromise confidentiality)?
There are a number of institutions that can be used to confidentially audit an entity.
Yes, of course. As JR says, the Fed is audited.
I'm getting the impression that the "audit the fed" thing he's talking about is more about the how and to what end.
Part of the reason I put "audit" in scare quotes is that what is being talked about in these bills is not an audit in the usual sense of the word; i.e. an audit of the accounts of the banks to verify that they fairly reflect their true condition. That is already done by law and the Fed's accounts are very transparent. Thus, open market operations and foreign central bank transactions are subject to audit -- despite the statutory exemption - in the sense that those transactions and operations impact on the accounts which are subject to audit. Under Dodd-Frank, the GAO also has power of oversight even over the exempted operations for the purposes of verifying operational integrity, strength of internal controls, integrity of collateral policies, and fraud and abuse - although any confidential information it reviews must remain confidential in its report.
What the GAO can't do is carry out economic or policy evaluations of Fed policy, by examining internal policy deliberations. That is what is being placed in the cross-hairs here. The Fed of course is accountable for its economic and policy actions - formally via Humphrey-Hawkins and informally through Bernanke and Yellen's voluntary release of deliberative minutes and the mass of articles, press releases, and research publications from individual governors, their staffs, and the regional banks. One may think Fed policy confused, or wrongheaded, but is not hidden.
Quote from: Siege on February 05, 2015, 11:28:35 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on February 04, 2015, 06:34:27 PM
Are they still worried about counting the gold bars at Fort Knox?
There aren't any gold bars at Fort Knox.
These days Fort Knox doesn't even have the armor brigade they used to.
Now, is only HRC, Human Resources Command.
Your information is inaccurate.
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on February 05, 2015, 12:33:41 PM
What the GAO can't do is carry out economic or policy evaluations of Fed policy, by examining internal policy deliberations.
I agree that shouldn't be audited.