Addition by Subtraction
It is getting harder and harder justify not getting rid of the Fed.
by Julie Borowski
This week marks the conclusion of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s four-part lecture series on how the central bank “saved the economy” to undergraduate students at the George Washington University School of Business.
At this point, you almost have to feel sorry for Ben Bernanke. He is engaged in a desperate propaganda tour to convince the public that the Fed prevented a “total meltdown” of the U.S. economy. Thankfully, most Americans aren’t buying it.
The Fed’s new public relations campaign proves that it’s finally on the defensive. The central bank is feeling the pressure of accountability. It’s about time. The Fed has largely operated in secrecy since its inception in 1913.
Just a few short years ago, most Americans were unaware of the Fed despite its immense power to control the value of the dollar. But things have changed quite a bit, much to the central bank’s chagrin. Congressman Ron Paul deserves credit for exposing the Fed as the real culprit in the financial meltdown.
At this point, Ben Bernanke is doing whatever he can to save face. He has a lower approval rating than Congress. You can’t get much lower than that.
This is not Bernanke’s first attempt to create a façade of Federal Reserve transparency. The Fed held its first-ever press conference back in April 2011. Don’t be fooled, the press conference was only a hoax for the Fed to appear more transparent and boost its own public image.
The last thing Bernanke wants is for the American people to find out what’s really going on behind closed doors, but it’s doubtful that Bernanke can keep his smoke-and-mirrors act going for much longer. A whopping 80 percent of Americans want a comprehensive audit of the Fed, according to Rasmussen polls.
image: flickr.com/nichovonakron
