October 8, 2009 11:57 AM

Alan Grayson, Ron Paul Question if Bernanke is "Fit to Serve"

By
Stephanie Condon
Topics
Economy
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Two congressmen with opposing political viewpoints but similar populist streaks have joined together to ask the Senate to delay confirming Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term, questioning whether he is "fit to serve."

Representatives Ron Paul (R-Tex.) and Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) sent a letter Wednesday to Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) asking first for the release of documents "that will allow the public and the Senate to have a full understanding of the commitments that the Federal Reserve has made on our behalf," the letter says.

The letter excoriates the Fed for lending financial institutions immense sums of money against overvalued collateral, a lack of clear lending standards and setting up holding companies with no-bid contracts. The decline in real income, along with rising unemployment and falling consumer asset prices, "raises real questions about Bernanke's tenure as Federal Reserve chairman," the letter says.

"Even as the (economic) crisis is said to be subsiding," the congressmen wrote, "we still do not have credit markets that are able to function without substantial government support, we have not addressed institutions that are 'too big to fail' which the Fed oversees (and) bank availability is again shrinking."

Paul and Grayson asked for the Fed to release documents regarding the Bear Stearns rescue, which institutions received $1.2 trillion in Federal Reserve funds, documents relating to Bank of America's merger with Merrill Lynch, off-balance sheet Fed transactions, and transcripts of all Open Market Meeting minutes.

While the House of Representatives has no say in the confirmation process, Paul and Grayson are working to bring more transparency to the Fed.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is supporting a measure Paul sponsored to create mandatory audits of the Federal Reserve. The legislation has 301 co-sponsors.

Grayson, who most recently won attention for his passionate remarks regarding health care, has become an online sensation as a result of his zealous nature, the New Republic reports. His questioning of Federal Reserve Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman has been viewed more than one million times on YouTube, TNR points out.

Add a Comment
by o-o-o October 9, 2009 1:09 PM EDT
By the Fed's own criteria, Bernanke is unfit to serve. The purpose of the Fed, so they claim, is to create stable prices and a stable financial system. Obviously the Fed under Bernanke has been a stupendous failure. Any congresscritter who votes to re-appoint Bernanke is either an ignorant fool, or else they think that the public are ignorant fools. If you feel like you don't know enough about the Fed, you don't like what's happening, and you want to find out more about what's gone wrong, please see "End the Fed" by Ron Paul, "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin, and "Meltdown" by Thomas Woods. But you really don't have to. Just evaluate Bernanke's performance BY HIS OWN CRITERIA and then make up your mind for yourself.
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by stuart-johns2 October 8, 2009 12:59 PM EDT
I could'nt agree more with these two men. The Feds have not addtressed the "too big to fail" farce. Credit, even with fed help is not streaming down to the public. Wall Street regs are STILL not in place.

I would like some answers. Better yet, I would like to see some action.
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by endurorob_5 October 8, 2009 12:25 PM EDT
I guess when you throw a far left nut and far right nut into a mixing bowl you come up with some common sense.
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by stn_sage October 8, 2009 12:16 PM EDT
OMG! I don't believe this! I really don't!

This seemed OBVIOUS to me...BEFORE he got the appointment!

WHAT? A couple of the politicians are actually looking at WHAT he's doing (and probably what he hasn't done) and find him suspect...wonder of wonders?!

But, he'll get the second term...because he's an insider-buddy!
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