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What kind of audit do you want? The Fed is already thoroughly audited in the usual sense, by an independent inspector general and by an outside account
by milcron 10y ago
What kind of audit do you want?
The Fed is already thoroughly audited in the usual sense, by an independent
inspector general and by an outside accounting firm (currently, Deloitte and
Touche), and the resulting financial reports are made public online. Every
security owned by the Fed, up to the detail of the identifying CUSIP number, is
also available online. Moreover, the Government Accountability Office (GAO),
which does in-depth reviews and analyses (“audits” of a different type) of
government activities at the request of Congress, has wide latitude to review
Fed operations, including supervision and regulation as well as other functions.
For example, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the GAO conducted
reviews of the Fed’s emergency lending programs during the crisis and of the
Fed’s governance structure. Since the financial crisis, the GAO has done some
70 reviews of aspects of Fed operations.
You're right that they are unconstrained by politics, and are free to act how they think is best. But they do explain their thinking and operate very transparently.
- redblacktree 10y agoFederal Reserve "audits" omit everything interesting. I want an audit with teeth, that audits the things that Americans should be interested in: the activities of their central bank and their motivations. I want an audit that doesn't require the explicit permission of the subject of the audit. In 2010, Ron Paul introduced a bill with simple text. In part: Subsection (b) of section 714 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking all after “shall audit an agency” and inserting a period. The area of law that would be modified by his bill: (b) Under regulations of the Comptroller General, the Comptroller General shall audit an agency, but may carry out an onsite examination of an open insured bank or bank holding company only if the appropriate agency has consented in writing. Audits of the Board and Federal reserve banks may not include- (1) transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or nonprivate international financing organization; (2) deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations; (3) transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or (4) a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)–(3) of this subsection. edit: formatting.
- milcron 10y agoThanks, this gives me some info to work with! I'll read into this.