Our politicians have forgotten about us

A letter from a Senator

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Dear Mr. Babcock:

Thank you for contacting me to express support for legislation to increase transparency at the Federal Reserve. I appreciate your interest in monetary policy and welcome the opportunity to respond.

The Federal Reserve was originally established in response to the country's need for a sound and independent central bank to manage decisions relating to U.S. monetary policy. I understand your concern with some of the unprecedented steps that the Federal Reserve has taken recently to ease the flow of credit and stabilize financial markets.

On March 16, 2009, Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) introduced the "Federal Reserve Sunshine Act of 2009" (S. 604), which would require the U.S. Comptroller General to audit the Federal Reserve System before the end of 2010. This bill has been referred to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) has introduced a similar bill (H.R. 1207) in the House of Representatives. Please know that I will keep your support for this legislation in mind should it come before the full Senate.

While I recognize the importance of accountability in the operations of the Federal Reserve, I strongly believe that monetary decisions should be made independent of political influence or motives. You may be interested to learn that I supported an amendment to the Congressional Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 13) offered by Senator Sanders requiring the Federal Reserve to disclose how it has disbursed emergency economic assistance to financial institutions during this severe economic crisis. Be assured that I am carefully monitoring the actions taken by the Federal Reserve to help stimulate our economy and unfreeze credit for businesses and homeowners.

Once again, thank you for writing. I hope that you will continue to share your views with me. If I can be of any further assistance, please contact my

Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein

United States Senator

My answer

Dear　Madam Senator,

Thank you for your response to me previous e-mail in regards to recent legislation to increase transparency at the Federal Reserve.

I am sorry but I must correct you to certain facts on the origins of the Federal Reserve, here are some facts from WIKIPEDA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_reserve

“Centralized banking was met with much opposition from politicians, who were suspicious of a central bank and who charged that Aldrich was biased due to his close ties to wealthy bankers such as J.P. Morgan and his daughter's marriage to John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Aldrich fought for a private bank with little government influence, but conceded that the government should be represented on the Board of Directors. Most Republicans favored the Aldrich Plan,[10] but it lacked enough support in the bipartisan Congress to pass because rural and western states viewed it as favoring the "eastern establishment".[11] Progressive Democrats instead favored a reserve system owned and operated by the government and out of control of the "money trust," ending Wall Street's control of the American currency supply.[10] Conservative Democrats fought for a privately owned, yet decentralized, reserve system, which would still be free of Wall Street's control. [10] The Federal Reserve Act passed Congress in late 1913[12][13] on a mostly partisan basis, with most all Democrats in support and most Republicans against it.[14] The plan that was adopted as the Federal Reserve Act had similarities to the Aldrich plan, but the balance of public and private control was modified.[11][14]”


You state that the Federal Reserve was originally established in response to the country's need for a sound and independent central bank to manage decisions relating to U.S. monetary policy. I should be so bold as to remind you that the Federal Reserve has only increasingly caused fiscal mismanagement to the nation as a hole, not to mention the anguish it has brought to million of families across our once great nation. Madam Senator, what will you say when the commercial real estate market collapses and the banks like CITI group and B of A find them selves in filing for bankruptcy? I urge you to think about your position in regards to the Federal Reserve transparency act.

Might I remind you that if you are again such transparency I must break with the democratic party and find political redress with another party.

Thank you very much for your time and energy in regards to this matter.