Federal Reserve is a target at Florida Republican debate

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke was in the bullseye Monday night at the debate of Republican presidential hopefuls in Florida.

Texas Governor Rick Perry stood by comments made last month that Bernanke's efforts to jumpstart the U.S. economy would be almost treasonous.

"I said that, if you are allowing the Federal Reserve to be used for political purposes, that it would be almost treasonous. I think that is a very clear statement of fact," Perry said.

"It is a travesty that young people in America are seeing their dollars devalued in what -- we don't know if it was political or not because of the transparency issue. But I stand by this, that we need to have a Fed that is working towards sound monetary policy, that creates a strong dollar in America, and we do not have that today," Perry said.

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Asked if she agreed with Perry on the treasonous comment, Rep. Michele Bachmann declined to say but said she think the Fed's power should be curtailed.

"As president of the United States, I would not be reappointing Ben Bernanke," Bachmann said.

"Congress has given the Federal Reserve almost unlimited power over the economy. That has to change. They can no longer have that power," she added.

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[slatep]

ELIMINATE THE FEDERAL RESERVE ENTIRELY.!!

The Federal Reserve is not part of the US government or any other government for that matter.

I agree steps taken by the Federal Reserve have only proven to worsen the financial situation here in the US for years.

However, because they are not answerable to any city, county, state or any other government agencies; they just keep on dictating destructive economic policies with the power given to them by Congress.

Unfortunately; no politician has the stones to tell them what they can do with their destructive actions.!!

We will continue to pay a high pice for these decisions for years to come; UNLESS we tell the Federal Reserve to stick it where the sun don't shine.

[Progress4USA]

"Congress has given the Federal Reserve almost unlimited power over the economy. That has to change. They can no longer have that power," she added.
----

Oh yessssss...that would work soooooo welllll. You saw how the political process deals with the deficit issue. Good god! And this is the same gang of idiots that think its just fine to invest your Social Security contribution in a stock market that runs up and down like a roller coaster...!

[ajvw]

"And this is the same gang of idiots that think its just fine to invest your Social Security contribution in a stock market that runs up and down like a roller coaster...!"


And you prefer to just let the government spend it. What's your alternative?

[wevano]

Ron Paul began this discussion in the first place and wrote THE BOOK! Why was he not asked during the debate? They simply let everyone else mimic what he's been saying all along.

Also, regarding the Santorum/Paul argument over the causes of 9/11: How long will it take people to realize our foreign policy has led us to be the targets for terrorist attacks? I cannot believe this myth is being perpetuated that we are being attacked because we are free.

[Verratic]

@Jarheadvet64

Read the 9/11 commission reports and the 2004 pentagon reports. These explicitly say exactly what Ron Paul was saying. Michael Scheuer the HEAD of the Bin Laden unit during and prior to 9/11 agrees exactly with Ron Paul on this.

Stop being a conspiracy theorist.

Ron Paul predicted the housing crisis and the economic collapse 5 years before it even happened, he literally wrote the book on the Federal reserve, and chairs the house banking committee on monetary policy. He deserved to answer that question and teach the johnny come lately's a little something about economics.

[meshine]

Bernanke can sleep easy at night knowing that his job is secure because Bachmann is in a deep sleep if she think that she is going to have to make that decision during her life time.

[nearl451]

I'm not a big fan of Bernanke, because his actions are flighty. He is a weak New Keynesian in philosophy because he believed so much in "The Great Moderation",that turned outlargely to be false. He supported Greenspans bubble blowing new liberal policies too much tobe of much use as a real databased Keynesian.

The Fed is simply out of arrows at present, because they overused their one tool:short term interest rates.

[nearl451]

There is no treatise or debate on true economic policy, because none of these people understand it (not even Romney) nor could explain it to the masses.

Someone has to decide if there should continue to be central banks that affect monetary policy and what the risk is of not having a Fed. Same for fiscal policy. I saw it posed today that Govts haveno business trying to influence the economy in any way. I guess some would just leave the spoils of the market place to hedges, futures, and CDS's. Apparently, tax cuts are OK for some (although they don't directly translate necessarily to increased demand - nor jobs).

[RuggedIndividualist]

It should be mentioned that the strangest part of this discussion was not asking Ron Paul his take. He has been critical of the Federal Reserve for over 30 years and wrote the legislation to audit the fed. He also wrote a book entitled "End the Fed" I will not speculate on the motivation for not asking Paul his take on this, but it clearly should have been done. This is the equivalent of not asking Perry his thoughts on forced vaccinations.

[xtrabiggg61]

MSNBC asked everyone about Health Care EXCEPT the ONLY DOCTOR on the stage! CNN asked everyone about the Federal Reserve EXCEPT the ONLY candidate who has written numerous books on the subject, and got over 300 Co-Sponsors on his House Bill to audit the Fed! This article doesn't even MENTION Ron Paul, even though his Committee in Congress OVERSEES the Fed, and he's known as Bernanke's number one nemesis on Capitol Hill!

Now try and deny the rampant media bias against Ron Paul! I don't care if you support, agree or even HATE Ron Paul- this type of treatment of a bona-fide Presidential Candidate who out polls most of the field by a wide margin is downright UN-AMERICAN!!!

[rightbehind]

The republicans want high interest rates. The ignorant will give them their wishes.