Kokesh: Rein in The Fed

The editorial below has been contributed by Adam Kokesh.   Adam Kokesh is running for Congress in his home state of New Mexico to unseat US Rep. Ben Luján.  He is calling for a full audit of the Federal Reserve and more scrutiny in general as to the role the institution has played in our economic debacle.

by Adam Kokesh

Rising unemployment, looming inflation, and a debilitated economy can only mean one thing: it’s time to bring back the misery index. We know something is terribly wrong and that our leadership is failing in its responsibility to maintain an environment that empowers economic growth. Rather than conduct the affairs of state in a fiscally responsible manner, politicians have sent spending skyrocketing with bailouts and handouts at the behest of special interests. Children born into America today are saddled with a personal share of the national debt of over forty thousand dollars. This is child abuse.

Americans are asking questions about what our government has been up to like never before and increasing attention is being paid to the underlying dynamics of our economy. The Federal Reserve System is the government’s instrument of monetary policy and many people are starting to connect it to the economic factors that affect our daily lives. When times get tough, average Americans must tighten their belts, and yet the Fed continues to bankroll out of control spending authorized by out of touch politicians like Congressman Ben Ray Lujan. The inevitable result is inflation, and the dollars in YOUR pocket lose value.

We need serious systemic changes to correct the situation. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke has invoked section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to conduct extravagant bank bailouts in secret. I have called for a full audit of the Federal Reserve Bank because we the people deserve to know where our money is going. After we have a careful examination of the effects of the policy of bailing out financial institutions, I believe there will be broad based consensus that the next step will be to remove this authority from the Fed altogether.

The Federal Reserve is currently mandated to conduct monetary policy to maintain price stability and ensure full employment.  It also regulates the largest financial institutions. By the basic principles of good government, if a program is not meeting its stated goals, it should be altered or abolished.

The misery index is simply unemployment plus inflation, and at twelve percent, it is at a near thirty year high. But that is by the official government statistics of 9.9% unemployment (with underemployment rising to 17.4%) and 2.3% inflation, and most people know that those numbers do not do the reality of the jobless situation and rising prices justice. We got plenty of change, but what about the hope? What hope do our children have when public schools do not offer them any practical skills? What hope do they have when they see their parents dependent on the government? What hope do they have for competing in a global economy with jobs going overseas because of the disadvantage our government has placed on American workers? What hope do our children have for their future? To give them a fighting chance, we must fight back against the Federal Reserve System.