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You can date the end of dollar hegemony from China's decision last month to sell its first batch of sovereign bonds in Chinese yuan to foreigners. Beijing does not need to raise money abroad since it has $2 trillion (£1.26 trillion) in reserves. The sole purpose is to prepare the way for the emergence of the yuan as a full-fledged global currency. "It's the tolling of the bell," said Michael Power from Investec Asset Management. "We are only beginning to grasp the enormity and historical significance of what has happened." It is this shift in China and other parts of...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Ron Paul has America hungry. The former presidential candidate and 11-term Republican congressman from Galveston, Texas, seems to be doing what few have succeeded at: rallying support for radical change in Washington, on Wall Street and in the world. Paul, who rattled the Republican base with a strong showing in several primaries and caucuses last year, is upping the ante. He has a new and timely book, "End the Fed," and has been making a big media tour, including a stop on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last Tuesday. "It's hard to enforce the laws...

The prime sponsor of a plan to audit the Federal Reserve, which oversees U.S. monetary policy, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, says his plan has reached 300 co-sponsors in the U.S. House. The legislation calls for a full and complete audit of the Federal Reserve by the Government Accountability Office, reported to Congress by the end of 2010. "I continue to be pleased that so many of my colleagues are willing to stand up for transparency and accountability in government by cosponsoring this bill," Paul said today.

“….The policy of the US Federal Reserve by keeping interest rates near zero, and after 2001 they slashed it down to 1 % and kept it at 1% until 2004, reduces the purchasing power of money. One of the functions of money is to be a store of value. The Federal Reserve totally ignores that. The Federal Reserve totally ignores a lot of things that are important like credit growth. How can you have a country like the US where credit growth was running at 18% and the Federal Reserve ignores it? We believe cash is a terrible investment because...

CRP Fall Convention, Indian Wells, California — With the grassroots assistance of the Alameda County GOP and the Sonoma County GOP, the largest State Republican Party in the nation has adopted an official Party position in full support of legislation aimed to Audit the Federal Reserve (HR 1207 and S.604).

GLENN: And now I think most Americans, while they don't, still don't understand the Fed, they at least now something's not right here. RON PAUL: There's no doubt about it. I think that is reflected for the supportive for at least opening up the book, not so much to decide at the moment exactly what we should do with the Fed. But 75% of the American people now say that we, as a congress, have to at least, you know, have oversight, know what they're doing, how do they create money, who gets the benefit, what's the gimmick. And this...

Although Fisher has a reputation for being one of the Fed's toughest inflation fighters, it marked the second such warning by a central bank official in recent days. Fed member Kevin Warsh on Friday said the central bank will need to move swiftly when the time comes to raise rates. Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and also a hawk against inflation, waded into the debate in a speech Tuesday in Easton, Pa., saying the Fed may need to act "well before" unemployment -- now at a 26-year high of 9.7 percent -- returns to normal....

Following up on the quick mention now that I have a story to cite from Amherst: Cure rates for these distressed loans remain low. Amherst noted a near 0% cure rate of all loans in foreclosure, 0.8% for 90 plus days delinquent, 4.4% for 60 days delinquent and 26.5% for 30-day delinquencies. All told, Amherst expects 12.42% of units (from the 13.54% of properties delinquent and in foreclosure) to eventually liquidate. Let's put some numbers on this. There are roughly 125 million single-family homes in the US. Of those, roughly 30% have no mortgage on them at all. This leaves...

The Federal Reserve, in the 1970's, had a secret agreement with the German government whereby the German government agreed not to buy gold in the open market, or from other governments, at a price above the then-official U.S. government price of $42.22 per ounce, despite the fact that the open market price for gold was then trading between $160 to $175 per ounce...

Last week I was very pleased that the Financial Services Committee held a hearing on the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, HR 1207. The bill has 295 cosponsors and there is also strong support for the companion bill in the Senate. This hearing was a major step forward in getting the bill passed. I was pleased that the hearing was well-attended, especially considering that it was held on a Friday at nine o’clock in the morning! I have been talking about the immense, unchecked power of the Federal Reserve for many years, while the attention of Congress was always on other...

Zero Hedge has recently presented several declassified documents from the pre-1971 "Nixon Shock" days, that endorse the case for gold as a major historical factor in US monetary and foreign policy, as demonstrated by State Department and CIA disclosure. Gold's special status in policy and administrative decision-making was a direct factor in Nixon's choice to abolish the gold reserve at a time of an exploding budget deficit. Yet what about the days after 1971, and specifically, how did that critical "behind the scenes" organization, the Federal Reserve, perceive and manipulate gold in the post Bretton-Woods world? Was gold, freed from...

If you think speeches attacking the U.S. Federal Reserve couldn't excite a Friday night crowd on a college campus, think again. About 2,000 people -- students and older adults who were in the majority -- filled Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota to cheer libertarian Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, as he joined Rep. Michele Bachmann to preach the gospel of a less powerful federal government. Before Bachmann, R-Minn., introduced Paul, she hailed legislation of his that would require a detailed audit of the Fed. The crowd jumped to its feet and roared approval. When she described the...

This is probably the funniest video I've ever seen. This is Rep. Alan Grayson asking Federal Reserve General Counsel Scott Alvarez about the Fed manipulating the market. Watch him squirm! He stutters his way throught he grilling.

The Federal Reserve, under pressure from Congress to be more transparent,is "giving serious consideration" to releasing the names of firms that receive loans from the central bank, a top Fed official said Friday. At a House hearing,Fed General Counsel Scott Alvarez struck a conciliatory tone when a top lawmaker indicated that he wanted more information revealed about the Fed's loans. Rep. Barney Frank(D., Mass.),chairman of the House Financial Services Committee,said the central bank's loans and securities transactions should be disclosed, with a lag to avoid a short-term influence on financial markets. He said he wanted to include a provision to...

But the question of what the Federal Reserve is doing with trillions of taxpayer dollars makes the ACORN scandal look like peanuts. For the first time, a hearing is being held on Rep. Ron Paul's Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (H.R. 1207) by the House Committee on Financial Services. Grass-roots pressure has been credited with forcing the hearing into what has happened to trillions of dollars supposedly spent by the Federal Reserve on the stabilization of the financial system.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann had a chance Friday morning to question the top lawyer for the Federal Reserve Bank during hearings into an audit of the Fed proposed by Rep. Ron Paul (with whom she’ll share a stage at the University of Minnesota tonight). “The Federal Reserve seems to have the power to do anything it wants to do without any restrictions whatsoever,” Bachmann said. Bachmann was talking about Section 13.3 of the Federal Reserve Act, under which the Fed can make discount-rate loans to, for instance, bail out Bear Stearns. The Fed’s top lawyer, Scott Alvarez (who charmingly begins...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., on Friday backed a bill to require a broad congressional auditing of how the Federal Reserve carries out its monetary policy, including how much it has lent and will lend to specific banks as part of its bank bailout program. "We are serious about some legislation in this regard," said Frank at a hearing on the bill. "However, some time needs to elapse before certain disclosures take place...we are working together; we want there to be publicity, but we don't want there to be a market effect in the...

The event, hosted by Young Americans for Liberty, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Northrop Auditorium on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Organizers said Bachmann and Paul will discuss "monetary reform, limited government and free market economics" and that their appearance is designed to counter "President Obama's health care proposal, bailout mania and the rapid rise of government control and spending."

House lawmakers want to pry open the books of the famously secretive Federal Reserve with legislation that would subject the central bank to a sweeping congressional audit. The effort is overwhelmingly bipartisan. Hardline conservatives and liberal Democrats have banded together in their criticism of the Fed as a major power broker in the financial system that doesn't answer to Congress. Friday's debate comes as lawmakers consider a proposal by President Barack Obama that would give the Fed new powers to prevent another economic crisis. "Nobody in my district thinks that the Fed has done such a wonderful job of running...

<p>Legislation giving U.S. government investigators broader authority to audit the Federal Reserve could erode confidence in the central bank’s independence and ability to conduct monetary policy, a top Fed official will tell lawmakers Friday.</p> <p>Fed General Counsel Scott Alvarez, in testimony prepared for a Friday hearing, said legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives giving the Government Accountability Office greater leeway to examine the central bank could have a detrimental effect.</p>

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said Thursday he opposes proposals to strip the central bank of its authority over everything bank-related except monetary policy.Volcker, who chairs President Obama's economic advisory panel, told the House Financial Services Committee that removing the Fed's supervisory authority would be a mistake. The Fed conducts bank examinations and sets capital and liquidity standard. "The Federal Reserve Board should not become an academic seminar debating in its marble palace various approaches toward monetary policy without the leavening experience of direct contact with, and responsibility for, the world of finance and the institutions...

From the UN speech today (which, incidentally, got lots of press coverage while Geithner's dissembling in front of Congress got none): Developing nations must root out the corruption that is an obstacle to progress – for opportunity cannot thrive where individuals are oppressed and business have to pay bribes. That's why we will support honest police and independent judges; civil society and a vibrant private sector. How about developed nations? Let's run a short list right here: Congressfolk who got "Friends of Angelo" mortgages - even the name of the program was a statement of special privilege - while Countrywide...

In First National Bank v. Daly (often referred to as the "Credit River" case) the court found: that the bank created money "out of thin air": [The president of the First National Bank of Montgomery] admitted that all of the money or credit which was used as a consideration [for the mortgage loan given to the defendant] was created upon their books, that this was standard banking practice exercised by their bank in combination with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneaopolis, another private bank, further that he knew of no United States statute or law that gave the Plaintiff [bank]...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fired a shot at the Federal Reserve in her coming-out speech in Hong Kong today, blaming the central bank for the current crisis and disagreeing with the idea that the Fed should have a greater role in preventing the next crisis. It was an echo of fellow Republican and Texas congressman Ron Paul, who has led the charge in Congress to perform an audit of the Federal Reserve with an eye to eventually eliminating it. “How can we discuss reform without addressing the government policies at the root of the problems? The root of the...

... She also criticized the U.S. Federal Reserve's massive intervention in the economy over the last year, arguing its actions only exacerbated the crisis, according to another attendee. She also praised the conservative economic policies of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. ...

The degree of intermediation by the Federal Reserve in the issuance of US Treasuries hit a record in Q2, accounting for just under 50% of all net UST issuance absorption. This is a startling number, as the Fed's $164 billion in Q2 Treasury purchases dwarfs the combined foreign/household UST purchases of $101 billion and $29 billion, respectively, over the same time period. In fact, the Fed was a greater factor in UST demand than all three traditional players combined: Foreigners, Households and Primary Dealers, which amounted to a $158 billion in net Q2 purchases. This dramatic imbalance puts a lot...

This Friday, at 9:30 a.m., the House Financial Services Committee is going to hold a hearing on HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act introduced this year by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Even as President Obama vowed last week that he's "a strong believer" in the free market, he and his DC pals were moving to undermine it. The most troubling sign: The Wall Street Journal's story about a Federal Reserve plan to play a role in setting pay for tens of thousands of bank workers nationwide. That alone makes hair stand on end. But Americans might have shuddered -- or scratched their heads, anyway -- even as Obama was giving his big speech on the need for financial regulation. "We've worked closely with leaders in the Senate and the House," the...

WASHINGTON -- Consensus is building in the Senate for legislation that would significantly weaken the Federal Reserve by stripping its power to oversee banks and hand that job to a single federal bank regulator. The proposal by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd to merge federal prudential oversight into a single regulator differs from a plan by President Barack Obama. But it's gaining traction among Dodd's colleagues who think the Fed didn't do enough to prevent the current market crisis. "If you look at the record here of the failure of the regulatory bodies, all roads seem to lead to...

It's hard to fathom that the Federal Reserve might soon get even more power than they already have but an idea being floated now will do just that. Policies that set the pay for tens of thousands of bank employees nationwide would require approval from the Federal Reserve as part of a far-reaching proposal to rein in risk-taking at financial institutions. The Fed's plan would, for the first time, inject government regulators deep into compensation decisions traditionally reserved for the banks' corporate boards and executives

On Friday, September 25th the House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a full committee hearing on Ron Paul’s HR.1207 to audit the Federal Reserve. The hearing is slated to begin at 9am eastern time. For details and a link to the (eventual) live streaming video of the hearing check out the committee website. As with many of these committee hearings the schedule is tentative and right now there are no witnesses listed. By now we know what the opponents of the bill will argue, but it doesn’t change the fact that the bill has over 290 bipartisan cosponsors and 75%...

Updated on September 18, 2009 On record so far on www.thomas.gov. Title: To amend title 31, United States Code, to reform the manner in which the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is audited by the Comptroller General of the United States and the manner in which such audits are reported, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] (introduced 2/26/2009) Co-sponsors (290) Latest Major Action: 2/26/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. NEW - a link to contact the house financial services committee: http://financialservices.... Here's 2 related links for...

The Federal Reserve is among the most misunderstood organizations in our societies. For instance, most don't even know that it's privately owned. The folks that own the Fed are bankers themselves. In fact, it's the main names in the banking and financial services system: Goldman Sachs, Chasen, Wells Fargo, etc. The share of the Fed that each bank has is determined by the individual size of the bank. In other words, the larger the bank, the larger its share in ownership in the Fed. Then, each year each bank gets a dividend paid out from the Fed based on its...

Is anybody concerned where our money is going? I guess not according the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve. Rep. Alan Grayson asks the Federal Reserve Inspector General about the trillions of dollars lent or spent by the Federal Reserve and where it went, and the trillions of off balance sheet obligation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXlxBeAvsB8

Obama and his banker friends can't stop the Fed audit, 290+ co-sponsors in Congress means it's veto proof.

Rep. Ron Paul being interviewed by TIME magazine and answering questions [Click Here to Watch]

For three decades, Rep. Ron Paul has waged a lonely battle in Congress to abolish the Federal Reserve. But he has more foot soldiers across the nation today, particularly after the financial crisis, who are leading the drive for wider congressional audits of the central bank. In his new book — “ End the Fed” — released today, Rep. Paul walks through his critique of the central bank and lays out a strategy (briefly) for eliminating it. We sat down with the congressman to hear his views on a money system backed by gold, the Fed’s challenge of withdrawing its...

Glenn Beck just tweeted this - view the video!

Fed Plans to Limit How Lenders Can Structure Compensation for Executives, Traders, Loan Officers; 5,000 Firms Affected Policies that set the pay for tens of thousands of bank employees nationwide would require approval from the Federal Reserve as part of a far-reaching proposal to rein in risk-taking at financial institutions. The Fed's plan would, for the first time, inject government regulators deep into compensation decisions traditionally reserved for the banks' corporate boards and executives. Under the proposal, the Fed could reject any compensation policies it believes encourage bank employees -- from chief executives, to traders, to loan officers -- to...

See this link for detailed tables in PDF format - Z.1 balance sheet data for 2nd Quarter 2009

China, Russia, et al. are talking about shifting their monetary reserves out of U.S. dollars. Gold has hit $1000 per ounce, even though wholesale and retail prices exhibit a deflationary bias. The United Nations has called for a new world currency to replace the dollar. What’s going on? All of these phenomena are early death throes of Federal Reserve notes. I balk at saying “the U.S. dollar,” because a “dollar” is still defined in law as a certain quantity of silver or gold, whereas the U.S. currency that now circulates here and around the globe consists of nothing more than...

INTERNATIONAL. Legendary global investor and chairman of Singapore- based Rogers Holdings, Jim Rogers said the Fed and the US Treasury should have let 10 banks fail, not just Lehman Brothers, for the financial system to clean itself up. Speaking to CNBC Wordwide Exchange today Rogers said "All the government officials and bureaucrats loved the fact Lehman failed, because they could all jump in and support banks." "This whole problem was not caused by Lehman Brothers or Lehman Brothers failure. Lehman was an effect not a cause." "The real problem over the past 10-15 years has been that regulators have not...

At the core of a congressional push to audit the Federal Reserve are activists with a larger purpose: to abolish the central bank. Thousands of Americans are joining protests and lobbying their lawmakers in pursuit of the ultimate goal of replacing the Fed with a money system backed by gold or other commodities. Largely inspired by Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas Republican whose latest book, "End the Fed," will be released Wednesday, the movement draws its strength from people who want a sharp shift away from government dependency and toward a truly free-market economy.

who screwed America...Bush was clueless and intimidated by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, according to a GW speechwriter. Here they come, the Bush year tell alls. A GW speechwriter, Matt Latimer, is the first one out of the gate spilling the dirt, and does he have dirt: The secretary of the treasury, Hank Paulson, had sketched out a dire scenario... we’d have to write a speech for the president announcing his “bold” plan to deal with the crisis. (The president loved the word bold.) We had to reassure the American people that everything was going to be okay. As it turned...

President Obama is speaking tonight, apparently to assure us all that his administration has the financial crisis resolved. Don’t bet on it. To see why, let me take you back a couple of years. In the fall of 2007, facing billions in losses on Merrill Lynch’s holdings of toxic assets, then-CEO Stan O’Neal approached his board at least twice to sell Merrill or merge it with a major bank — and at least twice got rejected. Merrill was bleeding, he warned, and might not survive the huge losses on its balance sheet. The board’s response: No way. The firm would...

Regulators today won't define 'systemic risk,' unlike 25 years ago. With Congress back in session and the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers failure upon us, the Obama Administration is resuming its quest for greatly expanded authority to bail out American businesses. Under the Treasury reform blueprint, any financial company, whether a regulated bank or not, could be rescued or seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation if regulators believe it poses a systemic risk. If recent history is any guide, when the feds stage their next intervention, they will not define "systemic risk" and they will refuse to release the...

After years of selling cheap goods to debt-fuelled Western consumers, China now has $2 trillion dollars of foreign exchange reserves. That's 2,000 billion – a reserve haul no less 25 times bigger than that of the UK. BY LIAM HALLIGAN (snip) The entire non-Western world rightly sees serious inflationary pressures down the track in the US, UK and other nations where political cowardice has resulted in irresponsible money printing. (snip) ...to send the dollar into freefall. US inflation would then soar and interest rates would have to be jacked up. Even if a fast-collapsing dollar is avoided, Fed rates may...

NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A United Nations panel says the global economic crisis shows the need for new institutions and replacement of the dollar as reserve currency. The commission, headed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, said a global reserve system should not depend on a single currency. At a news conference Thursday, Stiglitz called for a new global lender to complement the International Monetary Fund and a coordination council broader than the Group of 20, comprising countries with the 20 largest economies.

Interesting. I would particularly like to know why the gold is valued at $44.22/oz? From the Wall Street Bear.. Would you believe me if I told you that BOTH the Fed and Treasury... Rasputin - Sun, Sep 13, 2009 - 05:07 PM ...claim to own the same U.S. stockpile of gold, in what is apparently a case of "double counting"? Well, it's true, unless there is something I'm missing. And I believe I can prove this allegation, NOT by citing some "Doom and Gloom", "End of the World", conspiracy-minded Website, but rather by providing links to the Fed and Treasury's...

LONDON (Reuters) – The former deputy Governor of the Bank of England said he was "astounded" the U.S. government let Lehman Brothers go under, and that the bank's collapse marked a clear moment when people lost confidence in the markets. Sir John Gieve said in an interview with Sky News he had fully expected U.S. authorities to step in this time last year to rescue the stricken investment bank, as it had done earlier with peer Bear Stearns. The Federal Reserve put up $29 billion in March 2008 to underwrite JP Morgan Chase's (JPM.N) rescue of Bear Stearns, and was...