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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Mnuchin Backs Fed Independence and Signals Reform Isn’t Priority Treasury nominee says he supports recent moves on transparency House Republicans seek closer scrutiny of Fed policy actions U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin isn’t jumping on the Republican bandwagon to audit the Fed. In written questions by senators following his confirmation hearing on Thursday, Mnuchin was asked about his thoughts on “politicizing decisions made by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the benefits of an independent central bank.” Mnuchin’s answer was crafted carefully. “The Federal Reserve is organized with sufficient independence to conduct monetary policy and open market operations,” Mnuchin responded to Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat. “I endorse the increased transparency we have seen from the Federal Reserve Board over recent years.” The response appears to lean against legislation such as the Fed Oversight Reform and Modernization Act of 2015, or FORM Act, which was introduced in the House of Representatives but never became law, that would have subjected the central bank’s monetary policy decisions to greater congressional scrutiny. As a candidate, President Donald Trump took aim at the Federal Reserve for playing politics, challenging its legitimacy as an independent institution. He accused the central bank of keeping interest rates low to benefit Barack Obama’s administration. Mnuchin’s comments are “certainly endorsing the principle, if not every current detail of the practice of Fed independence,” said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey. “He does not want to make waves at this stage.” Fed Vacancies The most important market news of the day. Get our markets daily newsletter. The seven-seat Fed Board in Washington currently has two vacancies, while Janet Yellen’s term as chair ends in February 2018 and Stanley Fischer’s term as vice chairman ends in June 2018. Trump can nominate his own choices for those positions, giving him significant scope to shape the Fed’s leadership and raising questions about the central bank’s future relationship with the Treasury and White House. “People are asking questions and are curious if the Trump appointments could affect the conduct of policy,” said Paul Mortimer-Lee, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas in New York. “I think it will be very tough to change very much” with the Fed’s mandate for stable prices and full employment so well established. The FORM Act would have required the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s policy panel, to submit its policy rule to Congress. If the Fed deviated from its rule, it would be subject to review by the Government Accountability Office and potentially an audit. Bogged Down The bill got bogged down in the Senate. Yellen opposed the FORM Act in a letter to Congress in November 2015, calling some of its provisions “significantly flawed.” A bill with similar requirements for the Fed called the Financial Choice Act hasn’t proceeded since being introduced last year. Mnuchin’s comments point to the fact that the Fed doesn’t have constitutional independence. That’s protected more by organization of the system, as Mnuchin highlighted, where the heads of 12 regional Federal Reserve banks are appointed by private citizens. That’s a check against the influence of the White House appointees on the Fed Board. Mnuchin also limited his discussion of independence to monetary policy. That could be significant if it suggests that Fed decision-making on financial regulation and crisis management will be up for challenge and debate under Trump. “There needs to be more democratic accountability at the Fed but he seems to be OK with the status quo,” said Jeff Hauser from the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. Poster Comment: The FED may have commercial value to the U.S. and even the world as relates to business, but it has been used to circumvent the Common Law and the Constitution of America by providing a privatized form of government services under commercial law that drafts all Americans into its web. I might not be opposed to the FEDERAL RESERVE Bank if it were restricted from imposing itself into every aspect of people's private lives and private business. Americans must be freed from FED RESERVE policies and legal obligations such as the IRS which taxes every private transaction rather than lawfully taxable events, and further invades the privacy that had always been a fundamental RIGHT in America. And lastly, no more Goldman Sach's Jews running the FED. They aren't able to control themselves around finances because they are always scheming to possess it all. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
#1. To: noone222 (#0)
This guy is not one of US. End the Fed.
End the Fed. The FED serves a purpose as a check clearing house and may have some value monitoring truly commercial paper transactions, but has no legitimate interest in spying on Americans doing their day to day business and in so doing imposing commercial laws on the people that are supposed to be free and subject only to common law under the Constitution. Damn near every license or permit would never be required under the common law / Constitution.
There are no replies to Comment # 3. End Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
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