Legislation to Audit the FED inches Closer

April 6, 2012. Washington. Conservatives like Ron Paul proclaimed it at every single Republican Presidential debate. Progressives like the Occupy Wall Street movement support it as they camp out in front of FED buildings around the nation. The battle cry is – Audit the Federal Reserve! The secretive syndicate of a handful of the world’s most powerful banks may just be getting nervous. Legislation to audit the FED and open its books for the first time ever is slowly making its way through Congress.

Led by grassroots groups, an effort has slowly been building over the years to expose what has until now been considered wild conspiracy theories about shadow governments and global domination. In reality, behind those shadows are the largest banks in the world and they make up a non-governmental entity called the Federal Reserve.

Based on your author’s limited knowledge of the mostly secretive and always confusing Federal Reserve System, it’s safe to say that the reason the FED has gotten away with so much in its long existence is because the vast majority of Americans don’t have a clue what the Federal Reserve is or does. Critics argue that even after spending days, weeks, even months studying the FED, it’s still not apparent what it is. And therein lies the growing public demand for a public audit of the Federal Reserve System.

History of the Federal Reserve

The history of the Federal Reserve is one of the most widespread and long-standing conspiracy theories that can be found in American culture. As the underground pamphlets read, the Federal Reserve was created in 1913 by an act of Congress in the middle of the night on December 23rd when most of Congress was home for the holiday and a handful of corrupt Congressmen quietly and quickly passed the Bill that would create a National Bank.

While the name Federal Reserve was new, the concept and practice of having a national bank was as old as the United States itself. Few Americans are aware that neither the Federal Reserve nor the Treasury Dept are a part of the US Constitution. The Treasury was also created by an act of Congress in 1789. It should be no surprise to historians that Alexander Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton was a Federalist, believing in a large and powerful federal government, as well as a national bank. In fact, history shows that creating a national bank was more of a passion for Hamilton than creating a free country called America.

On day 1, the bankers become rich

The first attempt at a national bank was immediately after the Revolutionary War. The newly created free America had a mountain of war debt and used the national bank to somehow manage it. While some were sincere and thought the national bank would hold the nation’s tax revenue and then pay off the war debt, others knew there would be no such money to cover that large of a debt. The war bonds issued during the Revolutionary War were deemed worthless.

As the historic story goes, quietly, proponents like Hamilton and other financially savvy investors began buying up the worthless war notes. Then suddenly, the new national bank announced the government would make paying off the war bonds the nation’s top priority. Investors who were told beforehand increased their investments ten-fold.

When the first national bank’s charter ran out 20 years later, a second national bank was commissioned by Congress. From Jefferson’s vocal opposition to a central bank in the beginning, to Madison’s opposition, to the opposition of Jackson, who terminated the federal bank’s charter for good in 1836 – the US national bank has had a storied and strongly opposed history.

The modern-day money-changers

The website UndergroundPolitics.com has a detailed history of the Federal Reserve and America’s historic central banks. They cite the panic of 1907 and the acts of bank tycoon JP Morgan for beginning what has become the business model for the modern day Federal Reserve network of banks.

Quoting portions of the federal government’s own website at the FDIC, the report reads, ‘During the Panic of 1907, “Depositors ‘run’ on the Knickerbocker Bank. J.P. Morgan and James Stillman of First National City Bank (Citibank) act as a “central bank,” providing liquidity … [to stop the bank run]. President Theodore Roosevelt provides J.P. Morgan with $25 million in government funds … to control the panic. Morgan, acting as a one-man central bank, decides which firms will fail and which firms will survive”.’

In lay-terms, there are 12 physical Federal Reserve Banks scattered throughout the country. They basically act as the government protected vaults. Who uses the vaults? Member banks with privilege and power enough to secure the most coveted role in the world. They are global financial institutions including JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Prior to its forced bankruptcy, Lehman Brothers was also on the list. The 12 Federal Reserve banks, working hand in hand with a monopoly of for-profit banks, are bestowed with the bizarre responsibility of playing middleman between the American people and their currency’s printing presses.

The business model

Basically, to get US currency into the public to stimulate growth, the above banks borrow billions of dollars from the Treasury, aka the American people, for practically no interest and with almost no risk, as seen by the recent trillion dollar bank bailout. They in turn loan the money to the American people at much higher interest rates. When the American people pay back their 5, 10 or 20 percent interest loans, the banks keep the interest and return the borrowed amount back to the Treasury, plus their 0 or 1 percent interest payment.

The entire process is secretive, as evidenced by the midnight forced mergers of companies like JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, Countrywide Financial and a host of others. If the Federal Reserve Chairman has that sort of dictatorial power, not to mention the almost trillion-dollar bailout paid out entirely by two men in secret – Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke – how can the FED and Treasury operate in secret? Read the Whiteout Press article, ‘The $700 Billion Bank Bailout that was Secretly $7 Trillion’ for details.

HR 459 and S 202 – Audit the FED

A call to action was issued by Campaign for Liberty this week. The group is asking all Americans to call their Representatives and Senators in Washington and ask them to co-sponsor the above Resolutions, titled ‘Audit the FED’. Campaign for Liberty’s Vice President Matt Hawes asks, “As HR 459, Audit the FED, continues to gain momentum in the US House, I need your help today to turn up the pressure on the Senate to support its companion legislation S 202.”

Hawes notes that the Senate version, S 202, currently has 20 co-sponsors. His and Campaign for Liberty’s goal is simple, “When legislators get back from their break, they need to be greeted by their staff with one message: Support Audit the Fed now!”

Campaign for Liberty urges readers to check the list of co-sponsors by clicking on this link. They also urge all Americans to contact their Senators and Representatives by phone, as well as via their Congressional website, and ask them to support S 202 in the Senate and HR 459 in the House.

As the group’s call to action explains:

“Campaign for Liberty first made Audit the Fed its top legislative priority in 2009. Since then, we’ve seen millions of Americans rally to our side, legislation passed to peel back some of the layers of secrecy from the Fed, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke desperately try to spin his way out of the corner we’ve put him in. But we must not stop until a thorough audit is passed.

Every day the Fed remains unchecked is another day they can put you and me on the hook for trillions more in handouts and promises to their well-entrenched friends. This can be the year we finally put an end to the Fed’s stranglehold on our economy. C4L members have rallied to the cause to make sure H.R. 459 gains support in the House, so I hope you will help S. 202 advance by contacting your senators right away.”