If you’re not yet angry enough to attend a tea party this year on July 4th I’m hoping you will be soon. My goal for the next 23 days is to write an article everyday and post a video on my blog about the real reasons so many tea party protestors are pissed off. Sure, there are plenty of people out there just using the tea parties as yet another excuse to bash Obama but the fact is these “revolutions” have been slow brewing for many years now. If you think the tea parties are just a bunch of conservatives getting together to whine about their dwindling pocketbooks then you haven’t been doing your homework.
For my first post I want to tell you about HR 1207, Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve. Why do we need to audit the Federal Reserve? Well, there’s a lot of reasons, but watching this video will make it all crystal clear.
The video today features two main speakers, Representative Alan Grayson (a Congressman representing the 8th District of Florida) and Federal Reserve Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman. In a nutshell, Grayson asks Coleman about the trillions of dollars that the Federal Reserve lent or spent, and where it went as well as the trillions of off balance sheet obligations. Coleman states that the Federal Reserve doesn’t know and isn’t tracking where the money is. This is OUR money. Nice!
All this got me thinking about who the Federal Reserve is and who they answer to. I found out that no one really knows who owns the Federal Reserve and they can pretty much do whatever they want. Why? Well, in 1950 a law was passed to exempt the Federal Reserve from any auditing procedures. Why? So they can use our tax dollars however they want, without any obligation to tell us what they’re doing. HR 1207 will repeal that portion of the law. There are LOTS of people who don’t want this happen and hats off to Ron Paul for risking life and limb to stand up for common sense.
He says, “I think I could make a case for saying that the chairman of the Federal Reserve board is more powerful than our President. When you think he can control trillions of dollars without appropriation, he’s certainly more powerful than the Congress. You know, we think we’re important voting on an $800 billion dollar package, but he can create $3 trillion dollars and not even tell us.”
Alan Greenspan (chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006) himself has stated that the Federal Reserve is above the law. If you have some extra time there are some interesting videos on YouTube featuring Ron Paul and the current chairman, Ben Bernanke.
The Federal Reserve is an independent agency NOT owned by the government. The Federal Reserve is made up of all the major banks in America and the banks are the ones running the show–NOT the government. So who really owns the Federal Reserve? Good question! No one really knows for sure.
The Federal Reserve website says: “The Federal Reserve System is not “owned” by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution. Instead, it is an independent entity within the government, having both public purposes and private aspects.
As the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve derives its authority from the U.S. Congress. It is considered an independent central bank because its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms. However, the Federal Reserve is subject to oversight by Congress, which periodically reviews its activities and can alter its responsibilities by statute. Also, the Federal Reserve must work within the framework of the overall objectives of economic and financial policy established by the government. Therefore, the Federal Reserve can be more accurately described as “independent within the government.
The twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, which were established by Congress as the operating arms of the nation’s central banking system, are organized much like private corporations–possibly leading to some confusion about “ownership.” For example, the Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks. However, owning Reserve Bank stock is quite different from owning stock in a private company. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, and ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the System. The stock may not be sold, traded, or pledged as security for a loan; dividends are, by law, 6 percent per year.”
Interesting. Here’s another explanation by Michael Ruppert, author of Crossing Rubicon: “The government borrows money from a private corporation using the name “Federal” and prints United States on it, and then it pays back to the Fed, which is owned by private banks. We don’t know who all those private banks are. The money that the government is paying back to the private bankers is the money that comes from you and me.”
Remember the recent government bank bailouts? Sooooo, if the government borrows money from the banks, and now is responsible for bailing the banks out . . . how does that work exactly?? Where is the money coming from?? Hmmm. Really, it all makes my head hurt. It’s a good thing I like Chinese food.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “I sincerely believe the banking institutions having the issuing power of money are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies.” Yes, we most definitely need to audit the Federal Reserve. They are not above the law.
Here’s what you can do:
1. If your representative is not yet a co-sponsor (supporter) of HR 1207 you need to get them on board. This is NOT hard to do. Simply call or send an email. If you don’t know who your representative is you can find out here: http://whoismyrepresentative.com/ This website is great–all you do is type in your zip code and your representative will come up along with contact information.
The list of co-sponsors is posted here: http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/audit-the-federal-reserve-hr-1207/ There is also a good video there which you should watch. You can also read more about HR 1207 here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1207
2. Tell everyone you know about this bill and encourage them to contact their representative.
There is a lot of bitterness among Americans today (spurred on by mainstream media) between political parties, religious issues, environmental issues, etc. and it’s all just one big distraction to keep us from focusing on the big picture here: WE ARE ALL CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. WE ARE ALL AFFECTED BY DECISIONS MADE BY THE FEDERAL RESERVE. Remember what Martin Luther King Jr. said? “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
If we don’t come together soon to stand up for our country the latter will happen a lot sooner than you think.
Amanda is a wife, toddler mom, PMAD survivor, certified nutrition and running coach, recovering perfectionist, and minimalist-in-training. Her mission in life is to help others get off the pity potty, embrace their own brand of weirdness, and get after their dreams. Proverbs 3:5-6