Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who ran for president in 2008, has a different take on transparency than open government guru President Barack Obama.
Paul has a bill, H.R.1207, that he says would inject transparency into monetary policy by lifting a restriction on audits of the country's central bank, the Federal Reserve. Today, the Government Accountability Office cannot audit the Fed without the express consent of another federal regulatory agency. Paul's Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 would strike that condition and direct GAO to complete an audit report by the end of 2010.
But might disclosure of Fed decision-making processes undermine foreign powers' confidence in American markets?
That question arose on Wednesday at a financial policy forum in Washington hosted by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
"They're losing confidence by the day and they're threatening us. If the books are a lot worse, it could [dent confidence]. But why should we be afraid of the truth . . . eventually it will affect us," said Paul, who spoke at the event. "I don't think truth ever is detrimental to us."
COMMENTS
It's funny how people have to use put-downs (like "fool") to undermine a powerful force that they simply don't agree with. Politicians like Ron Paul and many of his Constitutional ilk are put down by the media or called radicals, haters, terrorists, etc. Dr. Paul, in fact, was the only real candidate that would've improved this excuse for a 3rd-World Country we've become.
It's a crime how the people of this country are so easily persuaded to hand over the rights that they are ENTITLED to. They've already been earned, yet we seem to have to fight to get them back more every day. We've a right to know how the Government spends our money. And, if it's embarrassing or revealing or a "danger," then we need to address it and not sweep it under the rug. If Obama is truly sincere about "transparency" efforts, he will support this act!
GAPKEE 06/28/09 07:52 pm ET
Aw come on - I think this is a good idea. Let's not forget however to get a copy of all the ledgers and all the books to audit. I for one do not understand why (even if we're not the united states of america anymore because we've sold our country to the chinese, etc) we the American people should be afraid of the TRUTH. The only thing I fear is standing before my GOD, being judged and found wanting.
Lee 06/25/09 11:25 am ET
Unlike many other politicians, Ron Paul has meaningful ideas.
This era of "funny money" has to cease.
The jig is up !
We are not in the early post-WWII decades where holder of the world's reserve currency really meant something.
China, India, et al. are ramping up and the US needs to sort itself out in the coming years by avoiding crony-capitalism and stimulating truly free market/capitalist
solutions (avoiding the less free Marxist/socialised approaches).
World perception is important as we live in a connected world and massive amounts of money printing does not help.
e.g. Tim Geithner being laughed at by Chinese students in China when Tim tried to assure the Chinese that their US investments were fine.
People need to educate themselves and see
the big picture.
Cade Foster 06/25/09 11:00 am ET
Ron Paul is a fool. That you are taking him seriously is disturbing. He wants the US out of the UN and out of NATO - and that's among his more sober proposals. He has never apologized for his blatantly racist comments (e.g., stating of D.C. that "I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.” )
We should not normally dismiss ideas based solely on their source, but in Ron Paul's case, that should be the default position.
John Douglas 06/25/09 09:34 am ET
While I would readily concede the value of such an inquiry I would question both its subsequent availability and the ability of Congress to protect its confidentiality. Such a report would have strategic value and incredible potential market impact. Congress has not demonstrated a continuing ability to protect such information: the phrase leaking-like-a-sieve comes to mind.
The bottom line may come down to whether we hold the credibility and past performance of the inquiry requestor or the inquiry subject in higher esteem. Personally, the Fed has a lot better record than the Congress. Perhaps we ought to let the FED’s IG do such a report (if it hasn’t already) and, when Congress has developed an adequate track record for responsible use of sensitive information, let them have a look-see…
Richard Warren 06/25/09 08:30 am ET
Interesting how some really lame reasons to not audit the Fed are now being discussed. Like "undermine confidence in American markets..." is one the lame excuses.
Markets already know the Fed and Bernanke are out of control. The unknown is how far out of control the Fed has gone. Let's get a full audit to find out where we are so we can consider if any changes would be helpful.
Mike 06/25/09 01:04 am ET