A Less Than Opaque Look At Mel Watt's Motivations To Kill The "Audit The Fed" Bill

Zero Hedge ^ | 11/2/09

[FromLori]

There has been lots of speculation on why Representative Mel Watt has done his best to make sure that the Audit the Fed bill will be gutted, and why the Congressman is willing to promote the same irresponsible and unaccountable bubble-inflating behavior that got us to the current Fed-sponsored, bubble-reflation attempt, which is practically guaranteed to end much worse than just a few Goldman competitor banks imploding here and there.

Here are some attempts at reconstrcuting Representative Watt's motivations courtesy of Robert Wenzel at EconomicPolicyJournal.com. It should make all questions as to why Fed transparency is not Mr. Watt's friend, quite clear.

The Tom Woods' congressional testimony last week Friday in favor of the 'Audit the Fed' bill had two very curious turns, he set off extremely hostile questioning from two congressmen, by the hearings Committee Chair Barney Frank and Representative Mel Watt. Every other Congressman that questioned Woods, and Fed General Counsel Alvarez, was seemingly concerned about where the money the Fed is printing is actually going. But not Frank and Watt.

I discussed Frank's hostility, here. Watt was even more hostile. It looked like he was hit by a lightning bolt everytime Woods tried to answer a question that Watt posed. He interrupted Woods everytime, as though Woods was taking food off of his dinner table. But, maybe that's exactly how Watt's saw Woods testimony.

Most of the top industries donating to Watt are major beneficiaries of Fed money printing. His top industry donors are at #1 the commercial bankers industry, at #3 the building trade unions (All that Fed money printing benefited the building trade unions probably more so than anyone else), and at #5 the securities and investment industry. The current #1 corporate donor to Watt is Citigroup Inc.

During 2007-08 his top contributors were:

#1 Bank of America

#2 Wachovia Corp

#3 American Express

#4 American Bankers Assn

Overall in 2007-08, he received $187,359 from the Finance/Real Estate sector, more than double the amount of money he received from any other sector. Outside of North Carolina, his home state, Watt received the most contributions from Washington D.C. and New York City. Hmm, NYC donations for a North Carolina boy.

I wonder if the good people of North Carolina know what master their representative is really serving? Representative Watt's high voltage act during Woods' testimony suggests that Watt knows all too well where a tiny bit of the money the Fed is printing is ending up, and he is really making sure that tiny money flow doesn't stop, above anything else.

[FromLori]

Related

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=atc2o1ijLRno

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/11/aig-bailout-not-only-bailed-out-goldman.html

[org.whodat]

Watts is owned and operated by Bank America.

[FromLori]

Yes most of them are owned look at this

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/10/politicans-are-not-prostitutes-they-are.html

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/11/government-has-broken-social-contract.html

[FromLori]

Also related with video

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/10/congressman-watt-guts-audit-fed-bill.html