Excellent Insight

books:


	• Deception and Abuse at the Fed: Henry B. Gonzalez Battles Alan Greenspan's Bank Robert D. Auerbach University of Texas Press, 2008 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
	for more information click here

Excellent Insight

Auerbach- Has the credentials and the experience to back up his claims about the Federal Reserve. It is unbelievable that Americans and our Elected Officials have become so complacent and negligent in their protection of our rights and economy. One gets the impression that Auerbach's testimony is just the tip of the iceberg. Auerbach does not totally dismiss the Fed as most would but also offers suggestions on how to create better Checks and Balances for this institution which is a critical part of the US economy.

The Federal Reserve?the central bank of the United States?is the most powerful peacetime bureaucracy in the federal government. Under the chairmanship of Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), the Fed achieved near mythical status for its part in managing the economy, and Greenspan was lauded as a genius. Few seemed to notice or care that Fed officials operated secretly with almost no public accountability. There was a courageous exception to this lack of oversight, however: Henry B. Gonzalez (D-TX)?chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services (banking) Committee.

In Deception and Abuse at the Fed, Robert Auerbach, a former banking committee investigator, recounts major instances of Fed mismanagement and abuse of power that were exposed by Rep. Gonzalez, including:

Blocking Congress and the public from holding powerful Fed officials accountable by falsely declaring?for 17 years?it had no transcripts of its meetings; Manipulating the stock and bond markets in 1994 under cover of a preemptive strike against inflation; Allowing $5.5 billion to be sent to Saddam Hussein from a small Atlanta branch of a foreign bank?the result of faulty bank examination practices by the Fed; Stonewalling Congressional investigations and misleading the Washington Post about the $6,300 found on the Watergate burglars.

Auerbach provides documentation of these and other abuses at the Fed, which confirms Rep. Gonzalez's belief that no government agency should be allowed to operate with the secrecy and independence in which the Federal Reserve has shrouded itself. Auerbach concludes with recommendations for specific, broad-ranging reforms that will make the Fed accountable to the government and the people of the United States.

for more information click here