The Federal Reserve is not my issue. Audit it if you want, I’m with you. But it’s not something that drives me crazy or makes me passionate. But there is one issue that really gets me and the Fed has been at the center of it lately — crony capitalism. Barack Obama has nominated Jeremy Stein and Jerome Powell to the Federal Reserve Board of | Read More »
Senator Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) amendment to the Financial Overhaul Bill is set to go into effect in April that will allow Obama and the Federal Reserve to set the prices of debit card interchange fees. That may sound like a boring topic, but consider this: because of Dick Durbin’s amendment, banks are about to restrict the number of and amount of daily debit card purchases | Read More »
Proving they are a petulant bunch, the Senate Republicans today threw up their collective middle finger at conservative activists. David Vitter’s amendment to the Financial Deform package would have required an actual audit of the Federal Reserve. The amendment was heavily lobbied for by conservative activists across the country. in fact, so popular was Vitter’s amendment that even Senator Bob Benentt declared on Saturday in | Read More »
Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Bob Corker (R-TN) are throwing their own side under the bus on financial deform. It all involves the Federal Reserve. While saying they are working to ensure the federal government stops bailing out businesses, Corker and Gregg are working over time to defeat an amendment offered up by Senators Vitter and Sessions that would actually stop bailouts. You need to understand | Read More »
This is crazy. I realize Bob Corker wants to engage in these across the aisle compromises to get things accomplished, but at a time when most Americans want to audit the Federal Reserve, it is more than a bit silly to expand their powers by giving them control over consumer products. Senator Corker has said he’s willing to be the only Republican to get on | Read More »
My friend Jason Pye has video of Ben Bernanke up explaining why the Federal Reserve should not be audited. Bernanke’s comments are filled with red herrings. The legislation would not, despite his claims, allow Congress to take over the Fed or cause it to lose independence. I was not sure I supported the legislation until I heard Bernanke and others say they should not be | Read More »
![[RS]](/t/img/logo-footer.jpg){kind=logo}